Vantaggi
- Lots of in house training so professional development is easily available to you - If you have a good branch head then you will probably have a great time there, each branch is like it's own little island so your experience totally depends upon where you end up in the system - If you are starting out in the field or just coming out of library school then I would totally recommend that you apply here. It is a bit of a trial by fire and you learn a hell of a lot very quickly. Within a year you will either say yes this is where I want to be or no this is not the place for me but at least I got some decent experience on my resume.
Svantaggi
- If you have a bad branch head then you will probably have a horrible time there, each branch is like it's own little island so your experience totally depends upon where you end up in the system - The system is so massive now that the right hand no longer knows what the left is doing and things can get disorganized quickly. - The number of aggressive patrons is increasing which leaves you feeling vulnerable a lot of the time. It is also rare to meet a female member of staff who has not had to deal with male patrons asking inappropriate questions or becoming sexually aggressive at some point. - Chronic understaffing throughout the system means that you are almost permanently on desk which leaves you unable to do many essential tasks. It also means that whenever you go to take vacation or even call in sick you feel guilty for the added stress this will bring to your colleagues. The hiring process, especially for internal jobs, seems to take an extremely long time and leaves staff even more short staffed for longer which lowers morale in the branches. - There is a strange mix of boredom and stress, I found I really had to push to get involved in any projects just so that I had something to do other than man the desk. However when things start happening it's a total flip and you suddenly don't have enough hours in the day. Then suddenly your project ends and you go back to the boredom. There's no middle ground between these two states.