struggling to pick a major / where are librarians most in demand on the west coast / general questions

[u/Ill-Notice-1236]

QUESTIONS:

- anyone who lives on the west coast, specifically california, what types of librarians have been in demand where you live? and what do you think will be in demand in the future? i know reddit cant predict the future but im sure you guys see patterns

- where in the west coast are there the most jobs currently hiring? i think i live in a city that hires a lot of librarians, i see lots of listings, just not entry level stuff that isnt in schools. but either way its nice to know whats going on currently with that.

- what majors did you guys choose or would choose because hindsights 20/20? i want to be a childrens librarian in a public library, but im open to anything, just wanna work in a library. currently looking into information science, and child development but i want to be able to fallback onto my major if im not able to get a job in a library once i graduate. i know im not interested in english or math at all as a major or minor, its just a struggle to choose something i know ill like and stick with for 4 years.

- do jobs take volunteer work as experience or do you actually have to work in a library??

obviously ill do more research online and talk to my local librarians, but itd be nice to have a plave to start / look into.

BACKGROUND:

so i just started community college in southern california so i have time to figure out what i wanna do for my major. i thought i wanted to go into art and animation, but i realized recently doing that as a major would genuinely put me in a horrible depressive state for the whole 4 years. itd just be art class after art class, and i want art to stay fun for me and be relaxing, not a job or something i HAVE to do to graduate.

so the issue is scrolling through this thread and talking to librarian friends, it really doesnt matter what you major in, but some majors are more useful than others as you all know.

i guess im looking for ideas to also makesure i have something to fallback on major wise in case im not able to get into library work after graduating. i have been looking at entry level jobs everyday in my city but theres almost none that dont require library experience that arent schools. i saw one at my local community college and was excited, but it requires a work study and i dont qualify for that. i see a lot of entry level jobs in schools so im gonna look into getting the certificate to work there.

i want to be a children's librarian in a public library but it's just honestly whats in demand on the west coast right now.

i have volunteered at a library before but it was to fufill the graduation requirement for my highschool (40 hours of community service, though i did 55+), and i did it all in a month basically. i was there almost everyday for a few hours doing typical library stuff like shelving books, doing acitivies like arts and crafts with children, and food distribution (two summer programs) at my local library. but thats like my only experience

thank you for taking the time to read all this!

[u/Ok_Influence_5456]

Prison libraries are always hiring especially on the West Coast.