This site began when I was a student in the Library and Information Science program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). It was 1998 and I was starting to search for my first post-MLS job. I wanted a job that let me do a variety of things -- reference, instruction, Web design. I was told by several people that no such job existed. (Luckily, I didn't listen to them.) Today there are many, many jobs that offer a broad variety of duties and just as many job titles to describe them.

I created the "Job Title Generator" project completely on my own time without class credit or funding. I created it to play with some new Web design techniques and also to amuse my friends. Honestly, I didn't think anyone would look at it. In 2003, I moved it from the UIUC server to the one at Colorado State University and in 2005 I moved it to my personal site.

Job titles still fascinate me. I've learned that even though most people do not have control over their official job titles, they may modify them to suit their needs, personalities or circumstances. "Biology Librarian," "Reference Librarian," and "Assistant Professor" may actually be all the same person. Would you offer the same job title at a cocktail party, on an airplane, a job interview? Does it matter whether you are speaking to your next door neighbor or a colleague at ALA? Does your resume, telephone answering message, tax return, email signature file, and business card all proclaim the same job title?

Since I graduated from UIUC, my own job titles have included: assistant professor, reference librarian/web specialist, web librarian, digital projects librarian, interim coordinator of instruction, associate professor and web marketing coordinator, and online editor. I'm not currently working in a library and I do not have the world "librarian" in my title. Am I still a librarian? I think so--my librarian skills definitely help me with my current job--but there are many who disagree and have not been shy about telling me!

This site has not been updated in more than ten years. I've periodically tried to take it down over the years, but every time I do, I get requests from librarians to make it accessible. So it's here, but extremeley out of date! There are likely hundreds or thousands of interesting job titles for librarians not listed here.

Thanks for visiting and good luck with your job search.