Wanted: a few good librarians. (Up front: news, trends & analysis).

There has never been a better time to become a librarian. According to the American Library Association, there is a massive job surplus in the field because of retirements, the movement of librarians into lucrative business positions, and the new prosperity of many library systems, which has created new positions.

"Today, the American Library Association Placement Center lists more open library positions than at any time in the last 20 years, and library administrators are wing for the smallest pool of candidates in three decades," said Judith S. Robinson, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Library and Information Studies at the University of Buffalo (UB) School of Informatics.

Librarians are in such demand, according to Robinson, that an estimated 80 percent of UB's 120 library science graduates last year were employed in the field within three months of graduation. School libraries, which project 25,000 job vacancies by 2005, call the current critical shortage of librarians a crisis. School, university, and public library administrators, Robinson said, are "beating the bushes" to find qualified applicants to fill thousands of vacancies today. Many urban libraries cannot staff new branches and small-town libraries, which often are handicapped by lower salaries, often remain understaffed for years.

Catherine L. Phelps, an academic advisor in the UB Department of Library and Information Studies, predicts that New York State will need about 300 certified school media specialists in the next five years. Last year, an informal survey of libraries in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, New York, and Broward County, Florida, found that there were 10 jobs open for every application received.

From the beginning of the information technology boom, librarians have been Web-site developers, database experts, technology leaders, trainers, and system integrators. Some also have academic specialties. "That's why so many of them are lured into lucrative non-library specialties such as archivists, informatics freelancers, or Web designers, and corporations are snatching them up to bolster their online presence," Robinson said. The continuing high demand for hot information technology skills means librarians will remain precious commodities.