Libraries Have Changed Even if Perceptions Have Not

Shushing the stereotypes: Librarians shed their stodgy image as the world of accessing information changes. (Columbus Dispatch, 3/14/2011.)

Excerpt:      Increasingly, librarians find the calling straight after finishing an undergraduate program - a shift from prior years when more folks explored the job as a second career.

At the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science - which operates an extension program in Columbus - half the applicants to the two-year graduate program are in their 20s; in past years, about one-third of the students were 30 or younger.

"There is definitely an attitude that's different," said Don Wicks, interim director of the Kent State library school. "You have to be flexible and adaptive."

The Kent State curriculum, likewise, has grown to include studies in HTML coding and information architecture, among other topics.

The occupation isn't bulletproof. The 2009 state budget included a 30 percent cut in library funding that, in central Ohio, led to layoffs, reduced operating hours and smaller purchasing budgets. Voters last year, however, approved levies that helped revive some shortcomings in the Columbus and Southwest systems.

Still, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 10 percent employment growth for librarians and library assistants through 2018.