Corry, Jane

Mendez, Rachel

CommonKnowledge

Volume 12 , Number 3
Burnout (Fall 2006) | Pages 15 - 18
July 2014
No More Candles! Second Career Librarians Tell
Their Stories
Jane Corry
Rachel Mendez
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© 2014 by the author(s).
OLA Quarterly is an official publication of the Oregon Library Association | ISSN 1093-7374 | http://commons.pacificu.edu/olaq
Corry, J., & Mendez, R. (2014). No More Candles! Second Career Librarians Tell Their Stories. OLA Quarterly, 12(3), 15-18.
http://dx.doi.org/10.7710/1093-7374.1124
 15
“Wherever your path leads, remember 
the twisting paths these people took to 
get where they are today. And remember 
that the place you end up might be a 
place you like very much indeed.”
No More Candles!
Second career librarians tell their stories
AUTHORS
Jane Corry, Youth Librarian at 
Multnomah County Library. Graduated 
from Emporia State University School 
of Library and Information Manage-
ment in 1997.
Rachel Mendez, Director of Library 
Services at Paciﬁc Northwest College 
of Art. Graduated from Emporia State 
University School of Library and Infor-
mation Management 2002.
by Jane Corry
and Rachel Mendez
PANELISTS
Lee Catalano, Youth Librarian at 
Multnomah County Library. Graduated 
from Syracuse University School of Library 
and Information Science in 2001.
Victoria Oglesbee, Branch Supervisor at 
Multnomah County Library. Graduated from 
Emporia State University School of Library 
and Information Management in 2000. 
Steve Armitage, Reference Librarian at 
Multnomah County Library. Graduated 
from Columbia University School of Li-
brary Service in 1988. 
Rose Jackson, Reference Librarian and 
Information Consultant to the College of 
Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State 
University. Graduated from Syracuse Uni-
versity School of Library and Information 
Science in 2002. 
Susan Smallsread, Youth Librarian at 
Multnomah County Library. Graduated 
from Emporia State University School  
of Library and Information Management  
in 2000. 
“Although none of the librarians 
had seriously planned a career in 
libraries, every one present is quite a 
bit happier as a librarian than in their 
previous careers.”
 16
On a beautiful day in July, a group of 
librarians gathered around Jane Corry’s 
dining room table. They had been called 
there because they are all “burn-ins”: 
burnouts from other careers who found 
their way to librarianship. 
The assembled company chatted over 
iced tea and spice cake while Quincy, 
Rose’s beautiful young daughter, played 
with Toobers and Zots in the living room. 
The conversation meandered and people 
laughed a lot. Out of this easy conversa-
tion three threads emerged: 
• A mid-life career change to 
librarianship was a positive experi-
ence for all participants.
• Although none of the librarians had 
seriously planned a career in libraries, 
every one present is quite a bit hap-
pier as a librarian than in their previ-
ous careers. 
• All felt that library work is socially 
important, fulﬁlling and worthwhile. 
Some commented that librarians who 
have not had a previous career are 
sometimes less able to recognize this 
fact, and will even express a fear that 
library work is somehow unworthy or 
unnecessary. 
In my past life…
Our panelists came from an interesting 
variety of careers. As you might expect, 
a few came from other helping profes-
sions: two teachers (and one who tried 
teaching and just said, “No”) and a social 
worker. You might not expect, however, 
that our librarians include a former Navy 
ofﬁcer (still in the Reserves), a pharma-
ceutical salesperson, a furniture salesman, 
a candle maker, and one who quit her 
job at a power plant trade journal be-
cause she was afraid she was “becoming 
a Republican.” (Not that there’s anything 
wrong with that. – ed.)
Both our teachers quit after having 
their own children. Jane admitted that 
after she had her own child other children 
started seeming less cute and their parents 
pushy. Victoria quit her elementary school 
teaching job after having ﬁve children of 
her own. Rose, after leaving her full-time 
Naval position, brieﬂy tried teaching high 
school before realizing it was a very bad 
idea indeed. 
Susan put in a full 23 years as a 
social worker, working in youth services, 
sometimes with very disturbed kids. Steve, 
when he found his artwork wasn’t sell-
ing, became a salesman at a furniture 
store, and put in 20 years. After leaving 
her trade writing job, Lee became a grant 
writer for nine years, until she couldn’t 
stand to ask one more person for one 
more dollar. Done with teaching, Vicky 
started a candle making business. She was 
so successful that she had to quit because 
she was so sick of seeing candles. She got 
to the point of saying, “No more candles!” 
How I became a librarian
Only a couple of our panelists had consid-
ered library work earlier in life. Jane was 
the only one who wanted to be a librarian 
as a kid, although several panelists remem-
bered their elementary school librarians 
quite fondly. Lee actually applied to library 
school at age 22, but decided that she’d 
had enough school for the time being. 
Others, though, had no “calling” to 
library work at all.  Most seemed to fall into 
the career accidentally. Steve started con-
sidering it after meeting his future wife, a 
youth librarian at the time, who enjoyed her 
work much more than he did his. He took 
it more seriously after playing Trivial Pursuit 
with friends and impressing them so much 
that one told him he should be a reference 
librarian. One even sent Steve’s name and 
address to various library programs so that 
catalogs would come to his home. 
Rose, Susan, and Vicky all volunteered 
at the library and got hooked. When Susan 
O R E G O N  L I B R A R Y  A S S O C I A T I O N
 17
  V o l  1 2  N o  3  •  F A L L  2 0 0 6
started burning out as a social worker, she 
underwent career counseling. Tests con-
cluded she should be a social worker or a 
librarian.
In reality, not many librarians get to 
read on the job, and it seems naïve to us 
when patrons say, “I’d love to be a librarian 
because I just love to read.” Still, a few of 
our panelists did become librarians simply 
because of liking to read. When trying to 
ﬁgure out what to do next in life, they ﬁg-
ured, “Hey, I like books!” For example, Lee 
said, “I liked to read, and I liked the Central 
Library building” in downtown Portland. 
Vicky decided to go to library school for an 
even more unusual reason. She just wanted 
to get good at research for her own writing 
projects, not work in a library. 
The decision of where to go to school 
was just as capricious for many. Lee chose 
Syracuse because they didn’t require her 
to re-take the GRE. Vicky quickly changed 
her birthday plans when told she’d have 
to join the current cohort immediately, or 
wait three years for the next one. Steve 
chose Columbia over a school closer to 
his home in Connecticut because the local 
library director said she would hire him 
with a degree from Columbia, but not the 
closer school. He commuted to New York, 
worked 40 hours a week, and went to 
graduate school at the same time.
Rose ended up going to Syracuse while 
waiting for the University of Washington to 
start their distance program. Shortly after 
becoming a library clerk, Jane saw a ﬂyer 
for Emporia and thought, “Why not?” Susan 
heard about a coworker doing a distance 
program, and enrolled in Emporia. Except 
for Steve all attended distance programs.
Older and wiser
Steve was 47 when he started library 
school. Victoria worried brieﬂy about the 
fact that she’d be 50 when she got her MLS, 
but then realized that if she didn’t start 
school, she’d be 50 and not have an MLS. 
Lee worried, too, about starting at 45, but 
a friend told her that was stupid. Once she 
was in the program at Syracuse, she found 
that she was not the oldest student by any 
means. She met many mid-career students.
Jane never worried about her age, her 
own mother got a BS at age 40, followed 
by two masters. Susan is from a family of 
multiple degree holders, so it didn’t seem 
strange to her either. 
You look like a librarian
When she announced her impending ca-
reer shift, Rose got negative feedback from 
friends, not because of her age, but be-
cause she was going to take such a salary 
cut. She hadn’t even checked the salaries 
before pursuing a career as a librarian, but 
has no regrets.
Most people received positive com-
ments about their new career choices, 
although many of them were backhanded 
compliments. One of Vicky’s sons said, 
“Mom I know why you want to be a 
librarian, you look just like one.” (Another 
son was less enthusiastic, saying, “Mom 
you’re nuts, librarians are so mean.”) 
Rose’s family told her that being a librar-
ian was perfect for her since she was such 
a geek. Susan’s older brother thought 
librarianship made sense for her, since she 
had always been a reader. 
Happily ever after?
All of our panelists reported feeling quite 
satisﬁed as librarians. Most said they are 
happy to go to work. Every day at work is 
different. All the different questions, some 
quite unusual, allow the librarians to learn 
things themselves. Steve loves the job 
because we help people and information 
is free for everyone. Libraries, he pointed 
out, are a true democratic institution where 
everyone gets treated the same.  
For Susan, after so many years com-
mitted to helping children who had grown 
up in terrible conditions, she now relishes 
helping children and families develop 
from the start. She feels that she practices 
 18
society’s commitment to children as a 
librarian, rather than trying to repair the 
damage as she did in social work. 
Rose appreciates that she no lon-
ger has to have an edge. In the Navy, 
where she watched people tinkering with 
propulsion systems, everything was life 
and death. In sales, she needed an edge 
to convince people to buy her products. 
Now she gets to say, “How can I help 
you?” instead of telling them what to do, 
or cajoling them to buy.
As a grant writer, Lee had to always 
think of an angle to convince people to 
give money. As a librarian she can simply 
say, “We’re a good place.”
Vicky enjoys being in management at 
the library, and working with her branch’s 
community. She gets to do outreach to 
communities we don’t yet serve, and gets 
to help groups network with each other. 
She remembers fondly her library work in 
the 90s, when she helped seniors con-
nect with computers. It inspired her to 
see people so late in life being active and 
vibrant learners. 
Encourage or discourage?
Our panelists encourage interested people 
to pursue a career in libraries, but warned 
that the job market is tough these days. 
Many people with MLS degrees are work-
ing as paraprofessionals, our panelists 
reported. 
Be aware that you might have to 
move, they cautioned. You might have to 
take a pay cut from your previous career, 
and you might have to wait awhile before 
ﬁnding a job. 
Interestingly, several people men-
tioned that libraries are the only job 
they’ve been in where workers spend 
time questioning the relevancy of their 
work.  Panelists wondered if technologi-
cal advances, speciﬁcally the advent of the 
Internet, have caused this sort of question-
ing. All our panelists agreed, though, that 
they believe strongly in the importance of 
libraries and library workers. 
Burnout? Nein danke!
All in all, the panel was unanimous in lov-
ing library work. Would a group of other 
workers be so positive about their careers? 
And, as some panelists pointed out, is it 
harder for people who never had a ﬁrst 
career? Does coming to the library as a 
second career give one a uniquely positive 
perspective?
Perhaps the message to take from 
our panelists is that it is good to make a 
change when you feel burned out at your 
current job. That change, we also learned, 
doesn’t have to be something you’ve al-
ways planned on. It can happen suddenly, 
by accident, or because of all the wrong 
reasons. Maybe, as happened with Jane, 
you’ll apply for a job because a friend 
talks you into it. Maybe you’ll decide one 
day to follow a childhood dream. Maybe 
you already work in the library, but will 
decide to try a different track—go from 
clerical work to reference work, or from 
reference to cataloging. Maybe you’ll 
leave management, as Steve did, and feel 
refreshed by being able to focus on refer-
ence work once again. 
Wherever your path leads, remember 
the twisting paths these people took to get 
where they are today. And remember that 
the place you end up might be a place 
you like very much indeed. 
O R E G O N  L I B R A R Y  A S S O C I A T I O N


No More Candles! Second Career Librarians Tell Their Stories

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No More Candles! Second Career Librarians Tell Their Stories

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