Thing 10: So You Want to be a Librarian?

Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, and Accreditation

In the United States and Canada, you are considered a “librarian” once you have completed a Master’s degree at a university accredited by the American Library Association.  There are librarian technician programs, but most people find their way to librarianship after completing their Bachelor’s degree and sometimes after a Master’s degree in another subject (English, Zoology, English, Political Science, English or History)  The two-year program varies somewhat from college to college, though the program at the University of Western Ontario, where I got my degree, you can do the entire degree in twelve months by taking an additional class in each of the three semesters.  Western includes an extensive co-op program where library school students can do one or more semesters and work at a paid, full-time position at a library, often a government library in Ottawa or Toronto, and then return to school the following semester.  

While in high school I worked at my local public library, as so many of us have, and worked at the university library and the Library of Parliament, while in college.  The public library in my hometown is unique as the collection is shared between the town and the high school, with the “public library” hours starting after school and on Saturdays.  In a public library you have the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects, and reference questions may involve equipment, such as copier or printer repair that they never teach you about in library school. 

Training for librarians in the States and Canada revolves around getting your Master’s degree, and then librarians can work in most libraries, though school librarians have a separate but equal specialization as a “school library media specialist”.  Having worked in academic, public and special libraries, I have really enjoyed all three, particularly the Library of Parliament while completing my political science degree and most crucially, public libraries, where I have spent my professional career.