About.com’s Career Planning section offers an overview of careers in library science this week, culled from the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Most of the info will be familiar to those of us already inside the profession. This passage, however, should prove alarming:

Employment of librarians is expected to grow more slowly than the average for all occupations over the 2000-10 period. The increasing use of computerized information storage and retrieval systems continues to contribute to slow growth in the demand for librarians. Computerized systems make cataloguing easier, which library technicians now handle. In addition, many libraries are equipped for users to access library computers directly from their homes or offices. These systems allow users to bypass librarians and conduct research on their own.

These last few sentences should confirm all of your worst fears. Users have been “allowed” to bypass librarians for years now, but it’s never been the best approach, nor will it be anytime soon. Will anyone ever comprehend this?

At least the host of the Career Planning section seems to have some semblance of a clue: “If you think all librarians wear their hair in buns and walk around in their comfortable shoes saying “shhhh” you’ve been watching too many movies. Librarians are professionals who are experts at finding all sorts of information and presenting it in a form their clients can utilize.”