Transitioning to Academic Librarianship from Outside the Profession

Abstract

Even with experience, transferable skills, and education, a new job always has a learning curve. When the new job is also part of a new career in higher education, the curve is often steeped with different expectations, communication practices, and workplace culture in general. As two academic librarians who previously worked in other fields, we have discussed our observations with other second-career librarians and noticed some similarities. In this column, we share our perspectives on the differences in work procedures and culture. We hope these considerations will be helpful to librarians entering the profession, to their colleagues, and to supervisors.