Returning to librarianship after being a stay-at-home mom: Challenges, experiences, and lessons

Abstract

Early on in my librarian career, I decided to put my career on hold for a period of nine years while I stayed at home with my children. Once my kids were school-age, I felt ready to return to work, but I knew that a lot had changed in librarianship while I was away. Not only did I feel overwhelmed at the prospect of restarting my career, but questions ran through my head like “What am I qualified to do?” and “How will I get started again?” I didn’t know if finding a librarian job was feasible after all those years away. I wondered if I should consider working in another field altogether. Finding my way back into librarianship was complicated. In this article, I will discuss how I pivoted to refocus my librarian career. I will dive into some of the challenges I faced then, as well as challenges I am still facing now mid-career. I will share my personal experiences as a working mom in a variety of different library settings, and I will share overall lessons learned along the way.