Will there be a demand for libriarians in 20 years?

Question

I want to go to graduate schoeol for library science. Will this be an obslete job in 20 years? I'm 24 now, would be 27 when I finish graduate school. 2010 to 2030 would be my prime working years.

Answer 1

There will always be a demand for librarians. Library science has for many years had a close relationship with information science or information technology, and is very good at adapting.

You can even get your mls degree online. Texas Woman's University offers an MLS degree program that can be completely taken online, or you can attend classes on campus--or a mixture of both--which is what I did. :)

http://www.twu.edu/cope/slis/disted.htm
http://www.twu.edu/cope/slis/index.htm

Answer 2

That is certainly a good question. You don't say what sort of librarianship you want to get into--e.g.school, public, special, academic-- or whether you plan to do public service or technical service work. Whichever one you decide upon, it will change a lot in the next quarter century. So first, be flexible. There is also an emphasis now in being proactive--that is, reaching out to your possible patrons. In the past librarians had a reputation of being introverted, so it might be difficult for such people to reach out. I also hope you like computers, because you will be spending a lot of time with them.
I am most familiar with academic and public libraries. Many libraries in these two areas have declining number of people using them. Oddly, at least in the geographical area where I live, many communities are building new bigger public libraries. I don't quite understand this. In colleges, non-library administrators are looking at libraries as "black holes" into which they have to pore money. If they continue to view libraries in this way, watch out! On the other hand, there is a big building out in Chicago (the American Library Association) who will be telling people that they need libraries.
In sum, I'd talk to a bunch of people before I plopped down my tuition. Good luck.

Answer 3

i really dont think so........see the present situation you have a doubt ur refering to yahoo answers or other source on the net...will u go to the library and search a hundered books for the same answers????net will rule the books on refernce topics...

Answer 4

i think so, only more attention on administrative work plus every part of it is digital-wise