The Book Charmer

This morning, I received this comment from Ms. Yingling Reads:

It's good that you have strong feelings, but as a former Latin teacher who became a librarian when I couldn't find a Latin job, I can't recommend your course of action. If our school levy fails, they could lay off all the librarians in the district. Since you're young, you might want to consider a career in the medical field! Of course, my advice is not the best. I almost double majored in Latin and ... home ec. Which no one teaches anymore!

I was tickled to hear thoughts from someone I'm not even connected to, and she gave me some food for thought. Not everything here is directed to Ms. Yingling, but please forgive me if I sound defensive or flippant.

1) Medical field? I am obviously not a person who makes sensible actions :)

2) While I'm beginning to lean towards school librarian services, that's primarily because, well, I volunteer in one. Of course I'm going to start loving the environment and envisioning myself in it. However, that doesn't mean that I am exclusively preparing myself for school librarianship or even librarianship in general. I already have a marketing and writing background, which I plan to keep using wherever I go. I also hope to expand into HTML and email marketing, eventually. So don't worry. I plan on having plenty on my utility belt.

3) Is this how we're encouraging young professionals? I've read enough about what you should know before entering the field. I've read enough to scare me off. Be real, but never discourage someone from following a dream, if that person has thought it through. (I'm not sure I've been clear on this blog about the research I've done.)

(On a side note, I feel like this "scare the youngins' away" tactic occurs more often in librarianship than in journalism. Why is that?)

by DieselDemon

4) Have some guts and optimism.

5) See past the picture. Just because I'm a journalism major doesn't mean that I'm entering the "dying" newspaper industry. If I become a librarian, I'm not confined to a library.

I appreciate advice from anyone who takes the time to give it. But I take offense when someone thinks I am blind to the potential consequences of pursuing a career path. (This happens so often that sometimes I leave out my major when introducing myself to people who aren't in college.) That probably wasn't Ms. Yingling's intent, but it no doubt happens when people give advice to young people.

What are your thoughts?