I have decided that for the rest of this year while I am finishing my masters I am going to apply for Graduate Librarian Traineeships. Meanwhile I am going to start researching the possibility of living in either somewhere in the UK or London, Ontario Canada. Why these two locations I hear you asking, well first the UK is so culturally rich and it also has much more opportunities work in the cultural sector. And yes I know Ireland where I live is steeped in history but the country is broke and jobs are thin on the ground unless you know someone who knows someone. And London, Ontario because as I was researching new possible lives I could have I stumbled upon the Western University Canada and found they have a really good Graduate Program in Library and Information Science based in the Faculty for Information and Media Studies or FIMS as they call themselves. This seems like the best option for as I would get to see and experience Canada, pursue my ambition to become a librarian, live in another part of the world where nobody knows me. Now all these plans have two main hindrances number one is that I got a 2.2 grade for my BA degree and almost everywhere expects a 2.1 minimum. And second is money. I’m broke well actually I worse than broke I’m in debt.
The Graduate Librarian traineeships expect a 2.1 minimum, and also the want previous experience. My attempts at getting experience have been futile, I have offered to volunteer in libraries and archives both have been shut down. And not be the people who work in the libraries and archives, this has been vetoed essentially be the government through lack of funds and also due to the Job Bridge scheme introduced a few years back. My 2.2 grade will also more than likely hinder my chances of getting onto the Graduate Programme in Library and Information Science in Western University Canada.
My second problem is lack of funds; I think this is pretty self-explanatory. Im in graduate school, on a programme that turned out to be not right for me, I work part-time, I cannot take up second job as I barely make it through all my course work as it is. Oh and did I mention Ireland is broke which also means jobs offers are thin on the ground. Moving anywhere requires a set oneself up fund so moving to the UK or Canada would be January 2014. The graduate programme in Western accepts students in January so time wise that would be ok. So my main issue would be paying fees, as I would not qualify for funding as my degree is only a 2.2. Now if I got a place on a graduate traineeship in the UK money would not be an issue as I would be earning.
Despite these two hurdles I am going to continue on with my loosely thought out plan. I am twenty eight and time seems to be flying by before of my eyes and I feel as if I have been left behind. I feel as if I jumped off the life express years ago (that’s if I was ever on it) and now I am racing to catch up.
On-going Plans for 2013
- Apply for GL Traineeships (perhaps in one be brutally honest about suffering from depression, and how this scuppered my results).
- Get information regarding Western University Canada and London Ontario.
- Apply for jobs in various parts of the UK.
- Decide where in the UK to live.
I has occurred to me that I have not given my background history, I will try to write this during the week,
A, x