Navigating Career Transitions

Transitions are an inevitable part of life and leadership. Sometimes they are prompted by personal circumstances—an ill family member necessitating more care - or in more dire situations, your relocation. Other times, they arise because library board members may not fully understand how to support and nurture strong leadership, leading to a natural conclusion of the working relationship. In unfortunate cases, transitions happen due to workplace harassment, bullying or retaliation. Sometimes, an opportunity is simply too beautiful to resist. And sometimes, it is necessary to take a break to better care for yourself and loved ones. Whatever the reason, accepting change is part of the professional journey. I hope that what I have learned along the way can benefit other librarians as they navigate their own career transitions.

Key Considerations

1. Do not apply if the salary is not listed.

   • Transparency in salary signals organizational integrity and respect for candidates' time. If an institution is not upfront about compensation, it could be a red flag. I have seen this more often for academic library postiions. Public Libraries in particular have a responsibility to be forthcoming. A candidate should never have to guess about what fair compensation looks like within a specific community.

2. Research the library thoroughly.

   • Explore the library’s website, strategic plans, and financial documents. This will help you understand the institution’s values, priorities, and financial health.

   • Ask to see board meeting minutes and learn about the library’s pain points. Are there recurring issues, funding struggles, or leadership conflicts? Understanding these dynamics can help you assess the challenges you may face.
     

     

     
     

3. Immerse yourself in the community—preferably in the off-season, OR immerse yourself in the culture during the high seasons when one community gets squeezed out by seasonal homeowners and visitors.

   • Seeing a town in its quieter moments will give you a more realistic sense of daily life and how the library fits into the community. Conversely, understanding how seasonal fluctuations impact the library’s role can be equally important, especially in communities with a stark contrast between local and visitor populations.

4. Pay attention to how you feel when meeting potential new staff.

   • It’s not just about whether they seem excited or collaborative, but about the kind of energy you feel inside yourself when communicating with them. Do you feel inspired, comfortable, or a sense of possibility? Or do you feel drained, hesitant, or uneasy? Your internal response can be a valuable indicator of workplace culture.

5. Don’t be lured solely by a high salary.

   • While financial security matters, salaries often reflect the cost of living. More importantly, the work should excite you. Your role (and pay scale) will not likely match that of a corporate executive. No matter where you go, you are still a librarian—your work is about service, education, and leadership.

6. Clarify your responsibilities upfront.

   • Are you responsible for setting policies? Will you make hiring decisions while managing the budget? Understanding and forming clear agreements will help avoid surprises or changes in expectations.

7. Understand how and when you will be evaluated.

   • How will you be evaluated, and when? If bonuses are part of the compensation structure, when are they awarded? It is usually made clear in words or in practice when your evaluation is conducted and when you receive bonuses. These should align with established expectations and ideally coincide with when your staff receive theirs. A fair and transparent evaluation process is key to ensuring that you can grow in your role and be recognized for your contributions.

8. Look carefully at any incentives that may have stipulations about your length of stay.

   • Some contracts include incentives designed to keep someone in place for a set period of time. While these can be beneficial, they may also create challenges when it is time to move on. Be sure you understand any contractual obligations that could make exiting a position more difficult than anticipated.

9. Understand the structure of boards and reporting.

   • Know how the board is structured and who you report to. Are you made aware of meetings and their basic content? Understanding the level of transparency and communication between leadership and the board can help you assess whether you will have the autonomy and support necessary to succeed in your role. A culture with a lack of transparency is catching and damages an employe's ability to be open with trust that an organization has their back.

10. Understand the funding structure.

    If you work for a municipal library, you must build relationships with city council members. For a county library, know your commissioners. In a special district, taxpayers come first. Private libraries are often donor-driven, meaning large contributors may hold significant influence. While generous donations can strengthen a library’s ability to serve its community, they can also shape decision-making in ways that impact leadership and workplace culture. It is important to understand the power dynamics between trustees, donors, and library administration to assess how leadership is supported—or challenged—within the institution.

11. Assess the community’s openness to change.

    Is the town progressive and adaptive, or does it resist innovation? Knowing this will help determine how effective you can be in enacting your vision.

12. Recognize the value of taking a break between transitions.

    Sometimes, stepping away for a period before moving into a new role is the best decision for both you and your loved ones. Career transitions can be emotionally and physically draining, and allowing yourself time to reset, when possible, can lead to a clearer sense of purpose and renewed energy when you step into your next leadership position.
    

    

    
    

13. Trust your instincts so that you can commit.

    Whether it’s knowing what will make you happy or being realistic about your current situation or your family's needs, be honest with yourself, so that you can fully commit to your next role. This is for your own well-being as well as for the libraries that are counting on you. While we can’t always predict the future, we can learn to listen to our gut about when to leap and when to bide our time.

14. Know yourself.

    Beyond your skills, understand what fuels your passion. A good director isn’t just competent—they feel alive and inspired by their work. Finding a directorship that aligns with your values and strengths will lead to a more fulfilling career.

Transitions, while often challenging, can be opportunities for growth and renewal. By taking the time to holistically evaluate a potential role, or your own need to step away, you can ensure that your next step is the right one—for you, for the staff you may one day lead, and for the community you hope to serve.

Faith When Hope is Lost: Holding Fast to the Ethics of Librarianship in Difficult Times

For me, public librarianship has always been an act of faith. Faith in the transformative power of knowledge. Faith in the right of every individual to access information freely. Faith that libraries serve the public good, providing sanctuary and possibility in an ever-changing world.

But what happens when that faith is tested? When library workers find themselves under threat for upholding the core values of the profession—access, intellectual freedom, equity? When policies, politics, or public pressures seek to dismantle the very principles that make libraries a beacon of democracy? In times like these, hope—the belief that our actions can bring about real change—can feel impossibly distant.

Standing Firm When Hope Feels Out of Reach

There are moments in life and work when something cannot be undone, fixed, or made right—at least not in the way we wish. Maybe it’s a book ban that passes despite our best advocacy, a position lost due to speaking out, or a community turning against its librarians. In these moments, we may still believe in intellectual freedom, in access, in equity—but we no longer believe that our actions will necessarily change the outcome.

This is what it means to have faith without hope: to trust in the principles of librarianship, to uphold our ethics, even when we cannot see the way forward.

Faith, in this sense, is not about certainty or control. It is about living with mystery, with surrender, with trust. It is about holding on to the belief that what we do still matters, even if the results are invisible, even if the fight seems endless.

The Core Values as a Guide

The Core Values we honor as students and practitioners of library arts and sciences are not just aspirational statements; they are the foundation of our work. They declare a shared set of ideals that unite library workers, trustees, volunteers, and advocates throughout the nation.

These values—Access, Equity, Intellectual Freedom, Privacy, Community empowerment, and Sustainability—are not contingent upon convenience. They are not upheld only when it is easy or safe to do so. They are our bedrock, even when standing upon them comes with risk.

To hold fast to these principles in a time of challenge is to practice faith. Not a passive faith, but an active one—one that keeps showing up, keeps making space, keeps bearing witness to the right of every person to seek knowledge and make their own informed decisions.

The Librarian’s Choice: Love Over Fear

In moments of uncertainty, we have a choice. We can choose fear—self-preservation at the cost of our values—or we can choose love. Love for our communities, love for the transformative power of books and ideas, love for the very mission that drew us to this work in the first place.

Hope may not always be possible. We may not always see the impact of our advocacy or our resilience. But we can still choose to believe in the worth of what we do. We can still stand in the knowledge that libraries—our libraries—matter, not simply because they are mystical places fueled by the imagination of our writers, artists and thought leaders, but because they represent something worth upholdiing: the public’s right to learn, to think, to question, to grow.

And perhaps, in that act of faith, hope is not so far away after all.

Public Librarians: Returning to Their Roots as Conveners and Connectors of Knowledge

Libraries have long been revered as sanctuaries of knowledge and literacy, but roles of librarians extend far beyond the mere provision of books. For centuries, they have served as conveners and connectors of people, communities, and ideas. However, in the aftermath of the McCarthy era, the image of libraries and librarians shifted toward a more restricted, guardianship-like role over information, focused on safeguarding against perceived threats to national security. Today, libraries are experiencing a resurgence of their original mission: as vibrant hubs for the equalization and democratization of knowledge, reconnecting with their roots as centers of public discourse and social progress.

The Early Roots of Libraries as Social Conveners

Before the McCarthy era, public libraries in the United States were seen as vital instruments for social change, educational access, and community building. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, public libraries were founded with the radical idea that everyone, regardless of their background or socioeconomic status, should have access to the same information. The rise of the free public library movement, propelled by figures like Andrew Carnegie and libraries such as the New York Public Library, marked a defining moment in the belief that libraries could provide not only books but also opportunities for social mobility, intellectual freedom, and civic engagement.

Libraries of this era were deeply embedded in the fabric of communities. They weren’t just places where people checked out books; they were hubs of public life—venues for lectures, meetings, and debates. Libraries hosted reading groups, political discussions, and educational programs, often in direct response to the needs of the communities they served. These spaces were intentionally designed to level the playing field, offering individuals access to information and education that may have otherwise been out of reach. The library was a place where ideas could be exchanged freely, and diverse voices could be heard.

The McCarthy Era: A Shift Toward Information Control

The idyllic vision of libraries as spaces for unfettered learning and the exchange of ideas began to shift dramatically during the McCarthy era of the 1950s. The rise of the Red Scare—marked by the intense fear of communism and the spread of Soviet ideology—led to a culture of suspicion and censorship, even in public institutions. Libraries, once seen as the guardians of intellectual freedom, became embroiled in debates about national security and the perceived dangers of certain ideas.

This era saw the rise of loyalty oaths and efforts to purge libraries of materials that were considered subversive or aligned with communist ideology. Librarians and educators were sometimes forced to self-censor, and public library collections were scrutinized for materials deemed “un-American.” The focus of libraries shifted toward protecting their collections from being perceived as dangerous or politically threatening, rather than serving as open spaces for free thought and discourse. This shift in focus led to a narrower understanding of the role of libraries—transforming them from conveners of community engagement to guardians of "safe" information.

While the library’s primary purpose had once been to provide open access to knowledge, during this time, many libraries adopted a more conservative role, ensuring they did not inadvertently contribute to the spread of "undesirable" ideas. This era also saw the rise of an idea that continues to influence discussions about library roles: the notion of libraries as neutral spaces. The neutrality doctrine—though rooted in a desire to maintain libraries as apolitical institutions—was often weaponized to prevent the inclusion of controversial ideas, thus shifting the library’s mission from advocacy for intellectual freedom to cautious curation and defensiveness.

Reclaiming the Roots: Librarians as Advocates for Knowledge Equalization

In recent years, public librarians have begun to reclaim their original mission, returning to their roots as conveners, connectors, and advocates for knowledge equalization. In the face of growing political polarization, social inequality, and an ever-expanding digital divide, libraries are once again becoming places where all members of society—regardless of background, race, gender, or political affiliation—can access the same information and participate in the exchange of ideas.

Today’s libraries are embracing their roles as advocates for intellectual freedom, equity, and inclusion, moving away from their more neutral stance to actively promoting a more equal distribution of knowledge. Libraries are tackling issues such as access to technology, literacy, and civic engagement, offering programs and resources that address the needs of diverse communities. Whether it’s providing free Wi-Fi, offering literacy classes for immigrants, or hosting community dialogues about social justice, libraries are reasserting their commitment to public service, not as passive providers of information but as active participants in the creation of an informed and connected society.

Furthermore, libraries are embracing the idea of "open knowledge." In an era when information is increasingly behind paywalls and proprietary systems, public libraries are at the forefront of advocating for free access to information. Many libraries are now working to ensure that their patrons can access not just books, but also databases, digital archives, and scholarly resources—often at no cost to the user. The library’s role as a connector has expanded to include fostering digital literacy, teaching patrons how to navigate and critically assess the overwhelming amount of information available online.

The modern library is also increasingly involved in advocacy, fighting for policies that preserve free access to information and challenging censorship. As political forces continue to push for the removal of books and restrictions on certain ideas, libraries are pushing back, often finding themselves at the forefront of battles over freedom of speech and intellectual freedom.

Libraries Today: A New Chapter in Public Knowledge

The resurgence of libraries as dynamic centers of community and knowledge reflects broader societal changes. As the public increasingly turns to libraries to address the challenges of a rapidly changing world—whether related to technology, education, or social equity—the role of libraries as conveners and connectors has never been more vital.

Libraries are embracing new technologies while also maintaining their role as safe havens for face-to-face interaction and intellectual discourse. Whether through book clubs, author talks, or community forums, libraries are spaces where individuals from all walks of life can gather, share ideas, and learn from one another. They are not just places to check out books but hubs for cultural exchange, political engagement, and social progress.

In conclusion, public libraries are returning to their roots as vital institutions for the equalization of knowledge and the promotion of intellectual freedom. The historical shift toward information control during the McCarthy era may have temporarily altered their course, but today’s libraries are once again focused on their original mission: fostering a society where all have access to the information they need to participate fully in civic life, to learn, and to grow. By embracing both traditional and modern tools, libraries are reclaiming their place as powerful conveners, connectors, and advocates for the free flow of knowledge, ensuring that the public library will remain a cornerstone of democratic society for generations to come.