Multnomah County Public Library (Portland, Gladstone: live in, to move, renewal)

[buildings_and_bridges]

I am planning to move from Louisiana to Oregon at some point, and was wondering if anyone could tell me about the public library system in and around Portland. What is the likelihood that someone with a Baton Rouge, LA address would be considered for a librarian position? Or in any government job for the county, for that matter? Trying to decide if I would need to move first, then seek employment. Thanks for any insight you might have!

[doggiemama]

Library jobs in the Portland metro are tough to get. It's an extremely popular field here, and there are a great deal of folks with library degrees. I would say the position with the best chance of being filled by someone out of state would be something high up, like Library Director. Even then it's tough, though. My advice is to bring as much savings as you can, and sign up to volunteer at as many libraries as you can. You'll get to know the people and the feel of the libraries, and will have some connections when you apply for positions.

[buildings_and_bridges]

Originally Posted by doggiemama

Library jobs in the Portland metro are tough to get. It's an extremely popular field here, and there are a great deal of folks with library degrees. I would say the position with the best chance of being filled by someone out of state would be something high up, like Library Director. Even then it's tough, though. My advice is to bring as much savings as you can, and sign up to volunteer at as many libraries as you can. You'll get to know the people and the feel of the libraries, and will have some connections when you apply for positions.

Thanks for this info! Do you happen to know if any neighboring counties have public library systems comparable in size? I am not set on Portland, and my boyfriend is very fond of Seattle as well (I realize it isn't exactly neighboring).

[doggiemama]

When I said Portland metro, I meant surrounding counties as well. I'm not discouraging you from applying-- it could be that you have some very sought-after skill that would prevent HR from tossing an out-of-state application.

[buildings_and_bridges]

OK--thanks. Misunderstood at first. I won't let it totally discourage me, but I appreciate the dose of reality.

[crisw]

Let me also point out that while Multnomah loves its libraries, other nearby counties such as Clackamas have been downright hostile to them- check out the Gladstone library controversy, for example- http://topics.oregonlive.com/tag/gla...ary/index.html

[Leisesturm]

I live in Washington County but i have a card for Multnomah County. It took a couple of wasted visits to Portland before I realized that the libraries were closed on Monday for the longest while. Even now that they are open on Mondays once again there are a couple of weekdays where they do not open till noon! Seriously? An international city with libraries that don't open till noon? Washington County is a much poorer system for resources than Multnomah but the branches are open every single day of the week. I don't say this to single out Portland. NYC had its libraries closed Monday's for a long time and twice they were shut for the entire summer.

H

[oldtintype]

I used to work for the library. If you have a good resume there's no reason you wouldn't be considered for a librarian position from out of state (same with any county position as your applications are scored based on key things they're looking for--address doesn't play into the score). However, apart from the Central Library and branch Youth librarians they mostly use library assistants for reference work. So the total number of librarian jobs are lower than you'd imagine in a system that size.

I think your main barrier to getting a job would be the distance as they wouldn't fly you for an interview except for certain select positions (branch manager as an example). You would be part of the pool however if they considered you qualified and then you'd get a rank and number. Should they do an interview you'd have to fly here, though I know for some positions they do phone interviews first if the candidate is far away.

Mult. Co. is a great system and a great place to work.

[oldtintype]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

I live in Washington County but i have a card for Multnomah County. It took a couple of wasted visits to Portland before I realized that the libraries were closed on Monday for the longest while. Even now that they are open on Mondays once again there are a couple of weekdays where they do not open till noon! Seriously? An international city with libraries that don't open till noon? Washington County is a much poorer system for resources than Multnomah but the branches are open every single day of the week. I don't say this to single out Portland. NYC had its libraries closed Monday's for a long time and twice they were shut for the entire summer.

H

A long time ago the libraries were open 10-9. Then when the budget took a dive in about 2002 or so they had to cut the hours. They polled people and found that some people specifically used the libraries in the morning. And some people only in the evenings. So they had to figure out a way to cut the hours but keep both groups happy. The result was some days they would open at 10 and close at 6 and some days they'd open at 12 and close at 8. There is (or was--haven't checked recently) a branch open at 10 every day--they just rotated such as Central opened at 10 on Mondays but Hollywood opened at 12, etc.

I think part of the difference is that MCL has so many branches where as the WC libraries are both funded differently and fewer in number. Plus the MCL collection dwarfs Washington County, even though it's a good system. Huge numbers of people come to MCL to get materials they can't via WC. So it's a trade off--amazing collection, huge system, less hours than some of the other systems. You can also keep your materials a lot longer from MCL, more renewals, etc. Just depends on what you're looking for I guess.

[oldtintype]

To the OP--also check out Ft. Vancouver Library system. They're across the river from Portland.