Staying Relevant in the Era of Budget Cuts and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Back in the stone ages of the early 2000s, I attended a panel session on career paths. At least once, each panelist found an occasion to state "I never learned that in library school!" At that time, the panelists predicted a turnover in current library administrators within 5 years. They also thought e-books would be the norm and that Google or Google Scholar, at least in academic settings, would put our profession out of business.Fast forward to present day and career path panelists might say, "I never learned how to do programming in library school." Or, "It's not possible to do my job because of declining enrollment, budget cuts, etc." My responses, when asked about my career or getting through a murky time, fall into three categories: Stay Agile, Community Connections, and Finding the Bright Spot.