Good library jobs that don’t need an MLS?
I am interested in working in a library, but for different reasons, I will not get an MLS. I need suggestions on the collection of works from those who need it and pay a living wage. I have experience working in a library, if that helps.
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I guess it would depend on where you live, but I’m an Assistant MGR at a branch in Arkansas and I just have a bachelor’s degree (and currently working on my MBA). Most of the top paying jobs in a library do require a MLS, but you can make a decent living in a library without one.
The library jobs that do not require an MLS that pay the best are often those that involve managing areas staffed by other non-librarians. These jobs involve responsibility for a functional area and supervision of other full-time employees and/or student workers (if it’s a college or university library). These types of positions could include: managing a shelving department; running a circulation desk; working in copy cataloging; overseeing some acquisitions/purchasing functions; running the reserves room; or heading up the current journals room. The larger the library, the more positions like this there will be.
In smaller libraries, such specialized positions are less likely but there may be some general positions that require functional management or supervisory responsibility over multiple areas and that do not require an MLS.
Additional better-paying non-MLS positions are those that involve other specialized knowledge or experience, such as accounting and human resources.
If you work in a library that is part of a governmental system (including most public libraries and state-funded college/university libraries), non-MLS positions are likely to have pay grades and salary ranges pre-assigned. This information should be available on the job description.