Yesterday I received an email to participate in a Library Leadership Survey. Recent graduates of a library leadership institute are researching librarians' opinions on leadership institutes and their impact on attendees' careers.

According to the email invite, the purpose of the research is to learn more about:

• The nature and impact of the leadership institute experience.
• The impact of such institutes on librarians' willingness to move into administrative positions (department head, director, etc.) or leadership roles (project leader, committee chair).
• The role of mentors on librarians' careers.
  

The this morning while I was going through my blog email I read a comment that said, "What personally concerns me about librarian recruitment efforts in any kind of library is the availability of jobs. Yes, I can recommend my profession based on my own personal experience. But if someone wants a job without moving across the country, what then do I say?"

Both the survey and the comment got me thinking about librarianship careers, specifically recruitment, growth, advancement, and leadership.

I am still a skeptic regarding the "great impending librarian shortage." I personally believe that it should not be one of the major carrots dangled out there by some people and organizations/institutions to recruit future librarians.

I think one of the bigger frustrations among some librarians who have been in the profession about 5 years is career advancement and growth. These librarians came out of library school, got a job and now have lost many of ideals and shiny glowing initiative they had newly entering the profession. By now they have realized that if they want to advance in their career they may have to move to another city/state for a salary that is not much greater than their previous position. There are many who are married, with children, or in committed relationships where moving means uprooting not only themselves but their partner and families. So they stay even though they have outgrown their current position. Some may be just staying long enough to find another job in the same city, while others in smaller locales may not even have that option.

This can be very frustrating. That was the way it was for me. While I loved where I worked, I felt I had outgrown my previous position. However, I was stuck. I had a child and a husband, so relocating to a new job meant moving three people, a dog, selling a house, and saying good bye to friends and my husband's family. There was also the issue of money. I never became a librarian to get rich. But how do I justify moving my entire family to another city for an extra $5,000-$10,000 a year in annual salary when my husband would have to find a new job in and he currently makes two and half times more money than I do? Would he even be able to find a new job in the new city, if so would he make his current salary, more, or less? That is a huge financial risk that I and others like me can not take. So, I had had begun to look at jobs that were not "library" jobs in my area.

Enter Library Leadership Ohio, a residential, week long leadership training program that develops the talents of emerging library leaders. It was an honor that my director thought I was right for the program and encouraged me to apply. I did and I was accepted. It was probably the best thing I ever did for my library career. I met librarians from all areas of librarianship and learned from them and from the library mentors. Attending that program I had an epiphany. I learned that you can be a leader without being a manager. Equally true is that you can be a manager but you may not be a leader. I discovered that while I was not a manager I could become a leader within my library and perhaps the library community (ok kind of lofty goal).

So, when I read the leadership email survey yesterday and noted that they are looking to study the "impact of such institutes on librarians' willingness to move into administrative positions (department head, director, etc.) or leadership roles (project leader, committee chair)," I kind of sighed a little bit. Leadership institutes may foster the willingness to move into administrative positions and leadership roles within one's library career, but those library positions may not immediately be available. Therefore, the survey may not accurately reflect whether the leadership institutes made an direct impact or whether outside factors played a role in career advancement to management positions. Leadership institutes and those who attend them should remember to foster the leadership qualities within you to serve the library profession and community as a whole. Measure how the leadership insitute has made its participants feel they were leaders within their profession, independent of their current job position. Just because a part time reference librarian has not "advanced" to a full time bigger position does not mean they are not a leader.

After all if it weren't for Library Leadership Ohio, I would not have gotten my AHIP, there would be no Krafty Librarian Blog, I would not have written some book reviews which in turn gave me the courage to write my first published paper. I also know I probably wouldn't have had the courage to leave my nice position at a big academic hospital library to be the hospital librarian for a community hospital (for the same yucky salary) where I am learning and growning professionally in ways completely different than I had before.

While there may not be a whole lot of library jobs out there, you can grow and be more than just your library position and become a leader within your area, whether that area is in your library, regionally, nationally, or just within your community independent of libraries.