In January of last year, I decided to leave academic librarianship. A huge part of that was due to factors that were particularly bad at my university, but that were part of a larger trend in academia – attacks on tenure, attacks on academic freedom, enrollment declines leading to budget cuts leading to understaffing, etc.
I thought about searching for another academic librarian job, but I just can’t bring myself to consider moving to any of the states where the politics are better. It took about a decade, but I’ve finally come around to not completely hating snow… primarily because, in Georgia, the whole state shuts down if we get like 3 snowflakes, so I can just stay inside my nice warm house and look out the window at it, never having to actually go outside in it. If I moved anywhere that reacts differently, I would go right back to thinking that is the nastiest, foulest 4-letter word in the English lexicon. And even then, I hear stories of academic toxicity in those libraries, too.
So now what? Deciding to leave is the first step, but how? Where do you even start? How do you figure out what your options are?
This was actually my second time making a major career shift. Once upon a time, I was a PhD student in anthropology, planning to do my dissertation research on how a small ethnic group in northwestern Borneo maintained their indigenous religious practices in the context of globalization and transnational labor migration, and then become an anthropology professor somewhere. And then a whole confluence of things happened that led me to decide to do something else with my life.
Instead of taking the time to explore all of my options and really reflect on what I find most rewarding, I just grasped the first thing that felt comfortable. During the orientation for my first graduate program in anthropology, my cohort had a library instruction session with the anthropology liaison librarian, and I guess my brain filed that away as a potential backup plan. It let me stay in academia and stay connected to anthropological research, and I could finish that degree in less time than it would take at that point to finish my coursework and anthropological fieldwork (normal is 12-18 months) for the PhD, and the job market for librarians was much better than for anthropology professors.
But, now here I was, figuring out how to leave libraries. I didn’t want to repeat that leap into a new career path without much research, but I didn’t really know where to start.
I wound up starting by just tweeting a question, asking what other options are out there for someone leaving libraries. That worked out better than I expected, and led to some live zoom conversations with former academics who were incredibly generous with their time.
I also spent some time posting here about some of the projects that I found most rewarding. That gave me space to reflect on which parts of the job I found most rewarding – which I don’t think we tend to talk about enough – to decide what to even write about, and then dissect what it was that I enjoyed about those projects.
I don’t know that I did the best job of exploring all of the options that fit my skillset, because I was really fumbling around through trial and error. But when I stumbled across a video about becoming a book coach, I thought that sounded absolutely amazing. Two of my favorite projects were the two books that I co-edited. And then, as I went down the rabbit hole of learning about coaching as a profession, I fell in love.
Over the past year, I’ve stayed connected to former academics who post on social media about this process, and I’ve learned a lot about what I got right and what I could have done better.
Sharing what I learned
I’ve put that to use in building a 4 week course, and then a fully self-paced guided program in Leaving Libraryland, sharing this process so that others don’t have to stumble around in the dark as much as I did.
This past June, I offered a fully asynchronous 4 week course on Library Juice Academy. That went really well, but it’s a really compressed time frame for the amount of self-reflection and exploration that should really be included in this process. Some of the comments on the course survey said:
I very much enjoyed this course. I feel like it taught me to look at things in a different way and it made it more understandable and less overwhelming. It also helped improve my focus and gave me some insight to alternative career paths. I would recommend this program.
This course was fantastic! I was a little lost on how to start with considering other professions and Angela Pahia helped me focus and direct my researching in a more structured and helpful way. I walked away feeling like I had a plan moving forward.
Great class! It really helped me to focus on a particular path forward. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me and I have confidence in moving forward. The assignments gave me a toolbox of resources that I will continue to use as I move forward in my career development. Thank you!
This format is great for working through the steps with a small cohort of folks going through the same steps at the same time. And, participants have perpetual access to the course, so they can always go back to work through things on their own time later.
However, that format doesn’t work for everyone.
So, in the interest of providing options, I developed a fully self-paced stand-alone program, Leaving Libraryland: Exploring other career options. Since this program is not limited to the amount that’s reasonable to cover in a 4-week format, it includes more exercises in several of the sections. And the big difference is that registering for this program gives you a full year of access with monthly live zoom sessions for Q&A and/or group coaching.
Similar programs for PhDs leaving academia charge significantly more. And that’s not even touching on the Cheeky Scientists in the news for pushy predatory tactics and 4-figure price tags. One thing you definitely won’t find here is pressure to sign up for anything you don’t want!
The investment to enroll for a full year of access to Leaving Libraryland is $299. It really is an investment in your future, if you’re considering a career change. And, for anyone who has read this far, until the end of September I’m offering a $50 discount. I haven’t figured out how to set up a coupon code, so here are the steps to use this discount:
- Use this payment link for the discounted price of $249.
- Use the same email address to create your account at https://angelapashia.com/moodle/ as you entered for your payment. Or, if you have some reason to really prefer using different email address for the different functions, email me at coach@angelapashia.com to connect the dots.
- Email me at coach@angelapashia.com if I haven’t manually added you to the course within 48 hours after you complete the payment.