I was going through the U.S. News & World Report's Best Careers of 2008 and I happily noticed that both Librarian and Usability/User Experience Specialist were on the list. But then I noticed this:
Median Pay: $51,400
Usability/User Experience Specialist
Median Pay: $98,800
It's no secret that librarians don't make much money, many librarians are willing to put up with this because the job is satisfying in other ways. This really bothers me though. For the same degree and using the same skills I could be making twice as much. I've been slowly sliding away from being a traditional librarian when I grow up, and I've even been advocating careers outside of traditional librarianship to anybody who will listen. The pay scale wasn't even my motivation either, I find that jobs outside of librarianship can be equally satisfying given the right circumstances and opportunities.
I'm not saying everybody in library school needs to consider jobs outside of traditional librarianship and that money is everything in choosing a career (although my husband is now convinced of what I should be doing with my life). I would love to see the librarian number higher though. We do spend a lot of money to get that piece of paper saying that we're a real librarian now. But many of the library jobs that are out there are not paid well, or they are even part time. I know that working part time appeals to a lot of people, I certainly enjoy it now that I'm in school, but why am I paying all this money to go school only to aspire for a part time job when I graduate? That's not what I want.
Like I said, money is not a motivating factor for me in choosing a career. I don't require much to be happy given that I'm pretty happy now and I don't make much. I think my point is more about value. What is my degree worth to me? It doesn't matter if I choose to be a librarian or anything else, I would consider carefully what my skills, time, and even my personal happiness is worth.
Yeah, it's hard not to look at all the options available to us now in the realm of the Library and Information Science. While being a traditional librarian may have been the allure for many to go to Library school so too is the allure of non-traditional library/information jobs that have begun to pop up from the progression of Technology. As we see now in our LIS programs. I find it refreshing to know there are so many options out there and people are beginning to look outside the box. Not sure where I'll end up....but I definitely think an MLS provides a lot of flexibility. :)
I wonder how much of this disparity is because the typical library job is a government job (in one form or another) whereas the typical information-focused career is more likely to be in business.