What to Expect

There's more to being a library technician student than sitting around reading books all day.

Just ask Melanie Brissette. She took library technology at a community college. "A lot of people seem to think that the people who work in libraries have lots of free time and get to read books at work, and that is not the case," she says.

"You need more than a love of books to enter this field. You have to love organizing things and know how to think."

Brissette says that her teachers were great. She felt like they really loved the library business. They also sent out the message "that we must do everything we possibly can to accommodate clients in the library."

Brissette adds that instructors were constantly making students aware of other job possibilities. "They make sure we are aware of the thousand and one opportunities for library technicians, e.g. developing a collection for a cruise line library," she says.

Her favorite class was library issues, where they had guest speakers and visited libraries.

How to Prepare

Keyboarding, English and computer courses in high school are important. Volunteer work in a high school or elementary school library is also valuable experience.

"Be prepared to do homework and manage your schedule well," says Brissette. "The professors don't usually remind you of assignments due the following week. They tell you when they give you the project, what day it's due and you usually don't hear about it again until the day it is due."