I ran across an interesting article that provided the pros and cons of being a librarian. As I read through the lists, there were some that I agreed with, and some that I did not (at least not based upon my current position). So, here are the pros and cons with my perspective tacked (“?” = this has not been my experience).
Pros:
- Librarians can make decent money
- You can work indoors
- Working as a librarian is not that stressful
- You have lots of freedom during your workday
- You can help many different clients
- Librarians don’t have to work many extra hours (?)
- You will come home early quite often (?)
- Librarians don’t have to work on weekends (?)
- Librarians have a pretty good work-life balance
- You don’t have to work in a physical manner (?)
- You can expand your knowledge in many different fields
- Decent job security right now
- You will have lots of energy to do things apart from work
Cons:
- You need a college degree for becoming a librarian
- Student loan debt can become an issue (?)
- Librarians don’t get rich
- You may get bored with your job in the long run (?)
- Rather low social status of librarians
- People may make fun of you (?)
- Many librarians may become obsolete in the future (?)
- Librarians don’t provide that much value to society (?)
- Teleworking will not be possible for most of the time
- Limited promotion opportunities for librarians
- You don’t create real products
- Lack of creativity at work can be frustrating (?)
- Employability greatly depends on the region you live in
The Gun-Carryin' Librarian 