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Art librarians’ professional paths: a careers survey with implications for prospective librarians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Eamon C. Tewell
Eamon C. Tewell*
Affiliation:
Sarah Lawrence College, 1 Mead Way, Bronxville, NY 10708, USA
*
Email: etewell@sarahlawrence.edu
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Abstract

Is there such thing as a ‘typical’ career path for art librarians? This article presents the results of a survey of art librarians’ motivations for selecting the profession, and also their educational backgrounds, current employment and professional experiences, and presents advice for graduate students and prospective librarians. A questionnaire was sent to six email discussion groups related to art librarianship, from which 280 responses were received from across the world. The results indicate that art librarians typically work in academic settings, chose the field of art librarianship while already employed in libraries, have an educational background in the arts at the undergraduate and/or graduate level, and selected librarianship primarily because they were attracted to the duties and work settings of the job. This study includes advice from current librarians for graduate students seeking employment as art librarians in today’s challenging job market.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , 2012 , pp. 41 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2012

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