Special Librarianship Can Be A Lucrative Career Path
One of the most eye-catching data points of Library Journal’s 2019 Placements & Salaries survey (see a terrific recap from library and information science job recruiter LibGig) was the salary breakdown (averages) between the various types of careers in the library and information science (LIS) field. The spectrum ranged from a low of $44,743 per year for public librarianship to a high of $86,451 for “private” librarianship, or jobs working with for-profit organizations.
For-profit organizations represent just one aspect of what is usually described as special librarianship, where you’re using your information skills within an organization (rather than in a public, academic, or school library).
The expanding universe of special librarianship roles
Information skills are in demand in law firms; healthcare, medicine, and pharmaceutical organizations; and media and technology firms, to name just a few types of employers. In addition to businesses, other types of special librarianship employers (with somewhat lower salaries) include organizations like nonprofits, government agencies, research institutes and think tanks, major orchestras, and religious centers, among others.
Although for-profit special librarianship used to refer to jobs located in a dedicated library or information center within the organization; that’s no longer necessarily the case. Increasingly, LIS professionals working for organizations are located within operational units, such as the marketing or product development or human relations or research departments.
Although many special libraries and corporate information centers continue to thrive, this concurrent trend toward decentralizing special librarianship roles and embedding them throughout the organization is great news for information professionals, who have even more ways to contribute their expertise and strategic value.
Students and special librarianship in graduate school
In LibGig’s overview, Brad Rogers, the company’s director of recruiting, makes a critical point about these high-paying jobs. However, it’s important for students interested in the for-profit sector of special librarianship to focus not only on mastering core information skills but also to find ways to get real-world experience in or at least familiarity with industries or career paths of interest.
While in grad school students will want to create as many opportunities as they can (part-time jobs, internships, independent projects, etc.) to work either with employers in industries that interest them or doing specific information work (e.g., taxonomy-building, knowledge management, digital asset management, competitive intelligence, records management and information governance, business research) related to their potential career path.
What this means for you as a student is that when you’re taking steps to ensure getting that practical experience under your belt (or in your portfolio) before you graduate, you don’t have to only consider opportunities that have “librarian” (as in corporate librarian) in their titles. Instead, you can search by the type of work that interests you or the industry you’d possibly like to work in. (If finding time in your schedule makes committing to internships difficult, see if your program offers virtual internships to make this a bit easier.)
Another important consideration is to make sure that your graduate program supports a student chapter of an information association, such as the Special Library Association, ARMA (for records management), Society of American Archivists (for corporate archives), or the Association for Information Science & Technology/ASIS&T for a strong information technology focus.
Take, for example, San Jose State University iSchool’s award-winning SLA student chapter. Student members will tell you that their membership in LIS professional associations is a great way to build their student-to-employed-professional connections while also providing opportunities to learn more about the many career paths available in special librarianship. (See also information about the iSchool’s other award-winning student groups, the ASIS&T student chapter and SAA student chapter.)
Lastly, make sure to work with an academic advisor who’s able to support your interest in special librarianship and help you choose appropriate courses to best position you for multiple options in working with organizations. This person is likely to have had some experience in working for non-library entities where information is in play as a strategic asset.
What to explore (and how to do it) in grad school
One of the great things about being a student in a Master of Library and Information Science program is that it’s essentially a target-rich environment for exploring alternative career paths. Here are some easy strategies for learning more about special librarianship roles of potential interest to you:
Do informational interviews with practitioners. You’ll find that almost all LIS professionals are happy to respond to questions from grad students, so take full advantage of your “student halo!” Find people who are doing work that intrigues you and get an insider’s insights about what the work really entails.
Regardless of what type of LIS work you pursue, it’s always smart to vet your assumptions with practitioners before you make too big of a commitment to a given career direction. Prepare a thoughtful list of questions, be respectful of your interviewee’s time, and always send a thank you note.
Tailor assignments to focus on exploring a specific industry or type of employer. Many faculty members are happy to let your tweak an assignment a bit to let you learn more about, say, medical librarianship or informatics, as long as you’re covering the core goals of the assignment. Could you interview a practitioner as part of the assignment? So much the better.
Consider independent projects. If you can fit it into your course schedule and your graduate program supports them, independent projects can be a great way to explore and/or practice information skills. Can you create and implement a custom taxonomy to help a local nonprofit? Can you research data management best practices in 10 healthcare organizations and then prepare a paper and/or presentation based on your research, analysis, and conclusions?
Can you interview LIS professionals doing knowledge management at 25 law firms regarding their opinions on core competencies for legal knowledge managers and trends in the field, then write an article that you submit to a peer-reviewed publication? These are just a few examples of independent projects that can create high-impact learning opportunities for you.
If the opportunity arises, work with faculty on research projects. Many LIS faculty members are doing fascinating research on topics that may align with areas that interest you. They often work with student assistants — which could include you. You may not get paid (or mentioned) in the credits, but the experience can be invaluable in terms of exposing you to cutting-edge developments in your field or discipline of interest.
Do an internship (or two or three). Internships are one of the most effective ways for students to 1) grow their network, 2) grow their visibility, and 3) practice valuable professional skills. Grad schools know that internships can give students an edge when job hunting, so many of them try to line up internship partners.
Internships may be place-based or virtual, can be part of your grad program or undertaken on the side, and can range from a few hours a week over a semester to a full-time position for several months or more. If your grad school doesn’t help with internships, check with relevant LIS associations for internship connections or in a pinch, hit the job-search sites (including LinkedIn Jobs) with your search terms plus “internship.” Also, don’t hesitate to let your network know you’re looking for an internship and describe some key parameters (takeaway: help them help you).
Make the most of your association memberships. Professional LIS associations such as the ones mentioned previously provide all sorts of options for advancing your career-exploration and expertise-building agenda. Most have sections or divisions devoted to specific industries, disciplines, or types of employers — these specialized “communities of interest” or special information groups (SIGS) support shared learning, best practices, professional development webinars, and often mentoring programs.
For example, the Special Library Association has divisions devoted to Biomedical and Life Sciences, Business & Finance, Advertising and Marketing, Financial Services, Chemistry, Competitive Intelligence, Engineering, Knowledge Management, Content Buying, Marketing, Military Libraries, Pharmaceutical & Health Technology, Physical-Astronomy-Mathematics, Nonprofits, Museums, Taxonomy, and Transportation, among others. Other LIS associations usually have communities of interest relevant to their organization mission.
A cruise through division membership lists provides an opportunity to build professional relationships by reaching out to members of interest, seeing who the key employers (and what the job titles) are, having access to their discussion lists and division publications, and taking advantage of job lists and internship postings if available.
Moving up, broadening out in special librarianship
So, what about that $86,000 salary? This actually isn’t an unrealistic salary to shoot for in the world of special librarianship, but it’s probably not an entry-level reality — more the outcome of diligently building your career skills and expertise as you move from opportunity to opportunity. But the terrific news is that in the constantly expanding universe of special librarianship (or alternative career) information work, the challenges, rewards, and new career paths just keep growing. Bottom line: the breadth of your career choices will only be limited by your willingness to keep learning new skills and — most importantly — to take that leap into the next cool project.
