Information Flaneur

So you want to study Library and Information Science in Australia?

Tips for studying librarianship and making the most of being a student.

1 January 2025
libraries

I've had a couple of people ask for advice on LIS courses recently, so I thought it might be useful to write up some thoughts as a blog post in case anyone else has similar questions. To situate my perspective: I completed a Graduate Diploma in Information Management at RMIT University in 2003. I've worked in public libraries, for the library-owned cooperative CAVAL, and in an academic library. In that time I have supervised placements for both diploma and higher degree students. I currently work at a university but it's more than two decades since I received my librarianship qualification so I'm not across what is taught in the LIS curriculum now.

This post is primarily for people intending a career in libraries, but most of it applies if you're thinking of working as an archivist or records manager.

Is LIS for you?

As soon as you start talking to people about a possible new career in libraries or archives you will hear misinformation. Many people – including those in the industry already – have strong assumptions about what librarians and archivists do, and what their career prospects are likely to be, without necessarily having subjected those opinions to any rigorous testing. If anyone tells you they know what the career prospects for librarians will be in five or ten years, don't believe them. Nobody knows – including the university recruiters who will tell you whatever they think you need to hear to enrol.

No particular "personality type" suits library work – it's a broad field and there's something for everyone. If you love talking to people and working in a big team you could have a great time in public libraries or in academic library liaison work. If you love quiet space and getting into the detail of things, metadata or systems work could be for you. Thrive on short deadlines and pride yourself on your thoroughness? Maybe a career in legal or medical libraries awaits. School libraries aren't for you if you don't like children or teaching, but a corporate library career could be just the thing. But these are broad strokes – the truth is that all these roles and libraries need people with many different skills and inclinations, and sometimes require people to work against their skill set. Technical specialists need to be able to communicate effectively with those working in client-facing roles. Public library staff often need to be able to pull off an entertaining storytime on the same day they help someone with a local history query. Staff answering reference queries won't get far if they don't understand how library metadata systems work.

Contrary to popular myth, you won't get paid to read books all day, and outside of some niche library and archive roles you won't even spend much time actively helping researchers to find relevant books and papers for their latest project. But you certainly might enjoy a rewarding career with interesting challenges. If you love sending and receiving email, LIS could also be a great choice.

Do you need a qualification?

You may not need an additional qualification to get started in LIS if you already have qualifications and experience in a related field – and you might be surprised by what is related. Don't assume you need to already have your library qualification before you can find a paid role in the industry. If you have qualifications and experience in education, computer science or information technology, publishing, law, health and medical sciences, or academic research, you may be able to get a start in a professional-level role straight away. Having said that, it greatly depends on both the role and the attitude of the employer - so you should always check before spending time applying. You also will have very limited opportunities without a formal LIS qualification.

Choosing a degree

A formal LIS qualification is helpful (and often required), but working out which qualification you need can be confusing. The four types of LIS qualification are:

  • Diploma
  • Bachelor
  • Graduate Diploma
  • Master

These courses all include a compulsory work placement.

After a period of consolidation there are now only three universities offering degrees - Charles Sturt University, Curtin University, and the University of South Australia. Diplomas are available from various TAFEs in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, and Fiji. Courses you may see at Monash and RMIT are being taught out and are not accepting new enrolments.

If you do not already hold a university degree

Generally speaking, to gain a Diploma level qualification you study at TAFE rather than university. This has two big advantages - greater access to courses, and lower fees. A Diploma of Library and Information Services takes one year and costs around $12,600 for a government-funded place. A Bachelor degree would take three years and cost around $16,000 per year. A Diploma will generally give you credit towards a later Bachelor degree, so it's a common first step for people who aren't sure they want to fully commit, or simply can't afford to spend three years studying full time.

However, there's a catch - a Diploma qualifies you to be a "Library Technician" rather than a librarian. This is what is sometimes referred to as a "para-professional" role. My personal view is that these roles perpetuate a class divide within the profession and are used to underpay highly skilled professionals. The important thing you need to know is that if you hold only a Diploma you will not be eligible to apply for most qualified librarian positions. When you start looking for library jobs you may notice some position descriptions require applicants to "hold a degree conferring eligibility for Associate Membership of ALIA" or similar wording. This means Bachelor and higher degrees - a Diploma only confers eligibility for "Library Technician" or "General" membership. The Bachelor of Information Studies is available through Charles Sturt University. If you do not already hold a university degree in any other discipline, and you're sure you want to become a fully qualified librarian or archivist, this could be a good option. Opting for a Diploma and a career as a Library Technician can also be a reasonable choice - just make sure you know what you're getting into.

If you already hold a university degree in any discipline

If you hold a university degree in any discipline, you have more options. The most common path is the (one year full time, two years part-time) Graduate Diploma. Some people choose to complete a full Masters degree, which takes another semester, or two if you enrol in Curtin's "extended" degree. You can usually "upgrade" from a Grad Dip or "exit early" from a Masters course with a Graduate Diploma, but you should check this before enrolling.

The advantage of the Grad Dip is that you end up with a qualification as a librarian in half the time. Why then, would you complete a Masters? Firstly, a Masters allows you to explore more options - most of the Masters courses qualify graduates as a librarian an archivist, or a records manager, depending on which electives and specialisations they have chosen. This is useful if you think you might be interested in either career path but need to explore a bit more to decide which one. The second reason is that the Masters degree is more widely recognised internationally. Specifically, in the United States generally only holders of a Masters degree are recognised as being fully qualified librarians. If you're considering working in the USA at some point, a Masters qualification will make things easier.

The hardest of the hardcore enrol in a Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship). Look forward to an exciting career keeping up to date with two different sets of professional knowledge simultaneously, whilst embodying the enduring mental picture of what a librarian is for generations of children. No pressure!

You may not be able to secure a Commonwealth-Supported place, for a Graduate Diploma or Masters, so they can be fairly expensive. If you're an Australian citizen you are still eligible for a FEE-HELP (HECS) loan.

Making the most of being a student

Students are seen as the future of the GLAM professions, so professional organisations offer generous membership rates and opportunities. Make sure you take advantage of these, because they will not last beyond your degree. Attending events, meeting people and reading reports and papers are all excellent ways to develop your knowledge and professional networks even if you are not yet working in the sector.

All GLAM professional organisations offer a heavy discount for student members:

Or to put it a different way, you could join all of the above organisations as a student member for $225 a year – less than the cost of joining one of ALIA, ASA, or RIMPA as a professional member.

Joining these organisations gives you cheap or free access to events like webinars, workshops and meet-ups, as well as some training, PD and professional literature access. Some conferences also offer free tickets to student volunteers, and heavily discounted tickets for students. Most importantly, you'll be able to meet people working in the industry and build connections to future colleagues and employers.

Work Placements

Every degree includes a compulsory work placement - usually two weeks, sometimes three. The quality of your placement experience may vary depending on how seriously the host institution takes placements, the time of year, your needs, and how well matched you are. The first thing you need to be aware of is that LIS placements are always unpaid, and usually your educational institution will not let you do your placement in your existing workplace if you already have a library job. You might think that if the point is to give you real-world experience and you already work in a library, you should be able to just get credit for that. You'd be right, but that's not how it works.

Whether you already have some kind of paid or volunteer library job or not, the work placement is a good opportunity to see what things look like in a real workplace that you're unfamiliar with. If you know all about storytime at the public library, consider getting a placement in a research archive just to see if you like it. If you're sure you want to be a metadata specialist, consider asking to be placed with an outreach and information literacy team. Lots of students surprise themselves partway through their degree and end up on a different career trajectory to the one they expected – placements are a great opportunity to try something new.

Some institutions expect the students to organise their own placements, or at least to identify somewhere they would like to be placed. Hosting student professional placements can be resource-intensive for the host institution. Whilst in theory students are contributing to real work, host institutions have to organise some onboarding, supervision, and usually some kind of special project that can be completed part time in two weeks. This is a lot of work for us! You can make things easier by:

  • checking whether there is any preferred/official communication channel for organising student placements with a library, and whether the library is currently open to hosting placements
  • being clear about what kind of things you would like to learn about or experience
  • preparing well before your expected placement period, and being flexible about potential hosting dates

Preparing for a LIS career

As well as studying hard, joining and participating in professional organisations, and preparing well for your placement, there are some other things you can do to prepare for a LIS career. Try to keep a cool head – you're going to receive a lot of advice, both solicited and unsolicited, about the best way you should or should not build a professional profile. The most important thing is to choose something that works for you and feels reasonably natural. Some people embrace social media and LinkedIn. Others never post online but join committees and volunteer at conferences. Others create a profile by writing articles or blogs.

Given we're information professionals, I usually encourage LIS students and graduates to register a personal domain name and create at least a basic personal website where you can post a professional biography and links to publications, social media and so on. Prospective employers will often do a web search for you, and it's good to consider which site you want to appear at the top of the list.

The other thing you need to keep in mind when meeting people is that it is a very small industry. Chances are high that you will meet these people again - at a conference, in an office, or across an interview desk. Try to remember this before you launch into your newly-formed opinion about a library service or professional colleague. You might be right, but it might not be what you want to be remembered for. I'm telling you this as a highly-opinionated friend.

Lastly: be careful about volunteer work. There's nothing wrong with volunteering your time for public service, as long as you enjoy the work and/or spending time with the other volunteers. It is easy, however, for volunteering to tip into exploitation of the volunteers and be used as a pressure point against paid workers. If you have no experience in the industry and want to "get your foot in the door", it's hard to avoid doing unpaid work, but take a broad view and consider who is getting the most value out of your experience. Every "volunteer" position that requires the same skills and knowledge as a paid role is one fewer of the paid positions you are hoping to secure.

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Updated with corrections 1 January 2025.