for all those people who tease me about my career choices....

From an MSN report about the 5 careers that are most likely to experience a severe shortage of labor in the nest 3-5 years:

"Studies have shown that librarians are expected to exit the profession en masse in coming years. The American Library Association Web site quotes statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau indicating that more than one-quarter of all librarians will reach the age of 65 by 2009. A study published in the Library Journal found that 40 percent of library directors would retire by that same year.

In addition to the librarians expected to retire within the next decade, interest in the profession is waning among younger workers, according to the BLS. The situation is particularly dire for colleges and universities, which report the greatest difficulty in hiring librarians due to lower pay.

Graduates of library programs in 2004 reported an average starting salary of more than $39,000, an increase of nearly 3 percent over the previous year. The median salary for librarians is nearly $47,000, according to the BLS."

Rounding out the top five were registered nurses, machinists, truck drivers, and pharmacists.

I thought this was really interesting, and bodes well for my future--if only the universities that make up the academic field will stop whining about how they can't find anybody to hire and realize that their problem lies in their low wages. Why should I want to work someplace that pays a pittance when I can get a job with the government that pays two and a half times the salary the university is offering?

I also think its interesting that the other people in my program are like me--we are really looking forward to working in this industry--its one of those jobs where you don't do it unless you really love it.