Has anyone else considered working in a bookshop?

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I have my future career laid out for myself - and I'm only under 15.

I plan, full-time, later in life, to work in a bookshop. I love the environment of a bookshop and I love reading, so it would be the perfect job. I wouldn't have to do much training either. What would other people on here feel about this job?

It's really super cool that you want to work in a bookstore!! ! I would have felt like I'd have died & gone to heaven by getting a job in a bookstore. However, I realized that I'd never make/save any money because most of my paycheck would probably be spent on books. LOL So I decided on a different job.

How about working in a Library?

Library careers depend on what you want to do. If you don't mind shelving books for a living (ie being a page), you won't need a special degree, but these days, many library jobs will require a Masters in Library Science.

I've thought about and actually applied to a book store to help with bills while I'm in grad school, but despite that they told me they were desperate for new staff, I've yet to hear anything and it's been a couple weeks. Disheartening to say the least.

I've actually worked in 2 bookstores. It's good as a summer or temporary job, but like any retail job, it can get very repetitive after awhile. If you're interested in books, I think being a librarian (or maybe an editor/publisher) would probably be more interesting...that's just my take. It's always nice to have an idea of what you'd like to do for a job.
(It depends on the store, too-- cute little independent bookstores would probably be fun to work at. Large chains...not so much.)

Oh, most of the people you see working at public libraries in the US don't have MLIS degrees, they have BAs or associates' in random stuff, most frequently English Literature. The person behind the reference desk is a capital-L Librarian with a Masters. The circulation clerk almost certainly isn't. Somewhere in the library basement there are a handful of collections people and catalogers with MLIS degrees, but they're probably outnumbered by their minions who are unpacking boxes and tagging books with bar-codes and labels and adding a line or two into records and whatnot, and those people probably just have BAs, or less.

Trouble is, the competition for these jobs is fierce, especially if you're trying for one that's full-time, which tends to mean benefits. My public library appears to refuse to consider anyone who has not applied for at least five other previous openings and continues filling out application after application without encouragement, as if the library is a Buddhist monestary, or Project Mayhem.

The library near me? All jobs they advertise for -except pages- require a MILS. I've yet to see one that does not.

Wild. Mine, it can be a bit of a job to win at playing 'Spot the Librarian' at the library, most of them are 'library technicians' and they don't give off behavioral cues I can see as to who is the big L and who's not, aside from which desk they sit at.

I've just started in an MLIS program. When I went to the interview there was somebody lecturing about career opportunities and going off about how all the public libraries were passing off positions to 'paraprofessionals' and many of us so fortunate as to be accepted to the school would be going on to the thrills and chills of this or that other type of librarianship. I intend to dissapear into an archive, never to return.

I'd take the job without blinking. At this moment of financial desperation I'd take (almost) anything. But a bookstore would be wonderful.

I love, love, love books. I used to spend hours in the library as a child and had a bit of a childhood fantasy about being a librarian. But I probably wouldn't have gotten any work done, I'd have spent all my time reading.

Sorry I've been completely (almost) absent from this forum, here are my comments on some of the discussion that has been going on:

1. I would prefer to work in a secondhand/small bookshop than a retail one, but personally I think it might be more worth it doing the retail one. It all depends on where I move, I guess. At the moment I live in a place near my favourite ever bookshop, which is a big secondhand one. If I were old enough to work there, I would possibly try to get a job there (even though the man running it pretty much does it all by himself however).

If I move to a place where the closest and easiest bookshop to get a job is a retail one, I'd do it. I think I could manage it easy. And I don't mind repetitiveness, I could just add in unusual bits (like talking to new customers, etc).

I don't fancy working in a library and the only reason for that is because I'd have to go to university. I seriously do not want to go to university. I'm happy with GCSE's thank you very much.

It has to be a cool bookshop. Don't go for the big name outfits as the books they stock suck most of the time. Find a small old shop, especially one that also deals in rare books. They are around and they are very interesting. Start you own if noting works out.

The problem with bookshops is that there are customers.

Better to work as a cataloguer in a big library, or in a special library such as a hospital or law library that only deals with employees. I work as a library technician, and I quite enjoy it. Mainly I like the cataloguing. But I get the impression that in other countries, library techs aren't allowed to catalogue? Is that right?

I've considered it as a 2nd job; doing nights and weekends, where the youngn's would be out looking for a date (actually, some of the bookstores are open late at night so the literally-inclined can find like-minded partners...

I even went so far as to ask at the Barnes and Noble, and they said there were no openings. Que Lastima.

I've been trying to get on at some local book stores, but none of them have any openings.

I could see myself working in a library in the future. I think I'd quite enjoy it.

I'v been trying to get a job at a bookstore from some time now. Really not having much luck due to a lack of openings.

Could work in a library, but you need a degree to do that.