Organization Type:
Non-profit, NGO
# Employees:
approx. 300
Years in Business:
145
Contact:
The American Library Association (ALA) provides information and resources for librarians and future librarians for a variety of needs and situations. They are an authority of information as well as directory to further knowledge within librarianship.
Depending on your information goals, you will want to use the ALA website in different ways. Skip to the topic your interested in to see how the ALA can further your knowledge:
For those in the stage of deciding whether or not to become a librarian, the ALA provides multiple articles and perspectives that can help provide a little clarity on whether or not a career in librarianship is right for you. The following is a guide through the ALA's website to help you make better use of their information tools.
While short and certainly not an in depth analysis, there are some broad strokes touching on some basic truths of librarianship. If you find some parts of this webpage resonate with you, you should likely keep exploring the possibility of becoming a librarian.
ALA’s library type descriptions serve as great overviews of what certain types of librarians are required to do and what workplace environments are like in each type of library. Read each page and watch the videos (perhaps outdated, but worthwhile nonetheless) to get a better understanding of each librarian career type.
ALA’s librarian career specialization overviews are limited, but they do provide nice descriptions and some videos to help provide some background and basic introductions into a few specific career paths as a librarian.
Sometimes cold hard facts about a career are just not the thing that connects you with the idea of choosing that career. On occasion, someone’s personal experience can be just what we need to connect ourselves to the idea of entering a new profession.
The following is a link to an article written by a school librarian, Martha J. Spear. Enjoy.