what steps did you do to get hired at the library? do you have to have any specific degree? I'd like to work at one someday
Hi! First, sorry for the long response time, I always end up procrastinating when I want to be thorough, and also my rabbit was sick last weekend (better now thankfully).
Anyway, tbh I really stumbled into this - my degree is in the fine arts (I'm not using it lol). I applied for a part time staff assistant position last year, and didn't get it, and then I started volunteering 2-5 hours a week. That went on for 7ish months, and then they were looking for an assistant for their publicity team, which I've been hired for - I spent a lot of my volunteer time working with them on Canva event flyers.
I have to say, my new job was not widely advertised (I'm not sure if there were even other applicants), and it's part time/minimum wage/no benefits. Most people with bills to pay would not be interested, but I live within walking distance with my family, and can continue my other work, so I'm happy to have it. This library is a small town library, not a part of our large county system, and none of the staff have library science degrees (there's only 6 other paid staff, all part-time) - the librarians are retired teachers.
I guess my advice would just be that volunteering and/or having experience working with customers/patrons is your best bet. If there's a specific library you want to work at, definitely try to get involved however you can - you'll have a much better chance if the staff already have firsthand experience working with you. Being able to use various computer programs and tech would also help - my job specifically wanted knowledge of Canva, Microsoft & Google suites, and Mailchimp. I just spent yesterday sweating over an Excel guide for magazine cataloguing, and I'm planning to look up some tutorials. At least at my library, everybody has to be able to do a bit of everything - while I'm ostensibly there to help with publicity, I only spend portion of my time on that, and I do it while running the checkout desk/manning the phone.
I hope that helps, but lmk if you have any other questions. I hope you get to work at a great library someday!
