It’s always nice to be able to take something you love, a passion if you will, and somehow leapfrog it into a career. It’s a great way to feel fulfilled in your career while staying motivated. If you happen to have a love of books then you may be able to do just that thanks to the online masters in library science through the University of Southern California.
An Exciting Career Path
The days where a library science degree meant you were stuck sitting at a desk answering questions or putting books back in the correct place are long gone. Now, the career path can lead to all kinds of exciting opportunities, and with the influx of electronic media the field has changed quite a bit. Today this degree is able to provide people with the training and skills they need to work in libraries, but also in a private business or government agency.
An online library science program is all about being able to manage and navigate large amounts of information, whether that is in a library setting or some other setting.
Non-Traditional Jobs
It may be that you’re happy working in the library with your degree, and that’s the exact job you’ve always dreamed of, but if not there are some non-traditional options available to graduates. These can include jobs such as a creative project manager, documentation specialist, meta-data analyst, researcher, information resources specialist, or even a consultant in any of these areas.
For busy moms with little ones at home, the idea of being able to use the degree to start your own consulting business can be very attractive, as you can determine your workload and schedule.
Sticking with the Traditional Route
If you prefer to stick with the more traditional career path, then your degree will allow you to work in a public, school, medical, or law library. As a librarian in one of these settings the average salary is $57,550.
In this more traditional role your responsibilities would include the organization, acquisition, and maintenance of all the material in the library. This also means helping people to locate what they need and checking books in and out. If your goal is to work in a school library, it may also be necessary to have a teacher certification. This is on a state-by-state basis.
As mentioned, there is also a lot of emphasis on digital media nowadays, so libraries are looking to become more digitized. This means you’ll need to be well versed in the various digital media offerings.
Future Plans of Advancing?
When you first start out in a traditional library setting you will be a “librarian”. If you have plans of advancing in your career to a manager or director position, it will be necessary that you have that master’s degree.
A Sound Career Path
In short, this particular discipline can be a wonderful and sound career path that opens all kinds of doors and feeds into your love of books and information.
