US News & World Report has identified “librarian” as an excellent career for 2006.
This is an underrated career. Most librarians enjoy helping patrons dig up information. They learn in the process and keep up to date on the latest books and online resources. The need for librarians, unfortunately, may decline because search engines make it easy for patrons to find information without a librarian’s help. The job growth for librarians will be in nontraditional settings: corporations, nonprofit organizations, and consulting firms.
Ok, I agree with the underrated part.
But I have to disagree with the part about “the need for librarians, unfortunately, may decline because search engines make it easy for patrons to find information without a librarian’s help.” This is, in fact, why librarians are needed more than ever. Yes, you can find information with a search engine. Oh boy, can you find information!
Did you ever try to take a drink from a fire hose? Of course not! You’d get way too much water, when, in fact, you only wanted a little bit. Same goes for a poorly constructed query in a search engine. A good librarian can teach you how to narrow that stream of information to only the most relevant sources.
Thanks to LLAW President, Bev Butula for the tip.