Pandemic Professionals: Beginning a Librarian Career in a Crisis

Abstract

Acculturation to a new profession is always challenging, but the COVID-19 pandemic has created a unique set of difficulties for new librarians. As librarian colleagues at a large research university, the authors of this column find that their early-career experiences of networking, training, and the promotion process during a pandemic have differed from those shared by more established librarians. These differences have affected our experiences of our positions and the field of librarianship, as well as our relationship to our careers. This conversational column explores the complexity of these experiences. We hope that it offers validation to other librarians who began careers during the pandemic, just as we have found camaraderie in the process of writing it.