Monthly Archives: April 2015

Jobs! Got to Catch Them All!!

by Leigh Milligan, Senior Editor previously published 8/11/14 Jobs! Got to Catch Them All!! I love Pokémon games! I have been playing Pokémon since the red and blue editions were on Game Boy. I am now playing the newest one Pokémon X for 3DS and I can’t put it down. I love that there are so many…

Librarians Are Superheroes (Literally and Figuratively)

by Claire Schmieder, Volunteer Coordinator previously published 10/22/14 Librarians Are Superheroes (Literally and Figuratively) Last year, I spent just one day at New York Comic Con, and it was absolutely not enough time for me to take it all in. This year, I snagged a four-day Professional Badge. During those four days, I spent a lot of…

Threading the Corkscrew: Non-Ladder/Non-Lateral Job Advancement

by Naomi House, MLIS previously published 4/24/14 Threading the Corkscrew: Non-Ladder/Non-Lateral Job Advancement I have not had the most traditional work-life for a librarian.  I didn’t get my undergrad degree, then my MLIS and then get a job in a library or information center.  I spent years in grocery stores and import stores working the…

So, you have an interview?

So, you have an interview? by Amy Steinbauer, Senior Assistant, INALJ California I am having a bit of an interview streak. In the past month, I have been on 8 job interviews, and they have all been extremely different. Hopefully, one will pan out into a real job! The following examples mostly pertain to a public…

JP Porcaro – Candidate for President of the American Library Association

JP Porcaro – Candidate for President of the American Library Association All information taken from the candidate’s website.  Also check out his mention of INALJ here! “JP Porcaro’s ALA Presidential Platform! My platform for my time as ALA President revolves around ensuring a stronger future for librarianship. Presidential initiative: We know from the data [OCLC…

Jamie LaRue – Candidate for President of ALA

Jamie LaRue – Candidate for President of the American Library Association   When I was 22, at the end of the 70s, I hitchhiked out to Arizona to look for work. At that time, I had a double major in Philosophy and English (mostly creative writing). It turns out there wasn’t a lot of demand…

Joe Janes – Candidate for President of ALA

Joe Janes – Candidate for President of the American Library Association Let’s start with things we all already know:  The job market in libraries has been rocky for a while, though it is getting somewhat better as time goes on and budgets stabilize and occasionally even improve.  There’s lots of guidance about how to pursue…

Julie Todaro – Candidate for President of ALA

Julie Todaro – Candidate for President of the American Library Association I Needed A Library Job, Too! Do I want you to vote for me for ALA President? Yes, I do. And I could spend a great deal of time articulating why I think I am the best candidate, but instead let me just say…

A Selfie is Worth 1,000 Words

by Jazmin Idakaar previously published 10/9/13 & 5/30/14 A Selfie is Worth 1,000 Words Putting your best face forward can be tough when it comes to the web. You know you need a photo for your website or LinkedIn profile to help make it stand out, but you don’t have any professional shots so you…

Bringing Humanity into Libraries

Bringing Humanity into Libraries by Angela Piccola, Senior Editor Libraries function as a common ground to nurture knowledge and foster community. The idea of the library being a brick and mortar storage house for books has shifted in the new digital age. What more can we do as a profession other than to provide answers…

Ask a Special Librarian – April Edition

Ask a Special Librarian – April Edition Tracy Z. Maleeff Library Resources Manager at Duane Morris LLP in Philadelphia @LibrarySherpa & LibrarySherpa.com   No money, more problems? I once overheard someone lament, “I can’t even afford to job hunt right now.” It’s true that it could be a costly proposition to get new clothes, business cards and…

Crowdsourcing, Digital Volunteering and Science

Crowdsourcing, Digital Volunteering and Science by Gabrielle Spiers, Senior Editor One of the great things about the internet is that it brings people together from all over the world and allows them to collaborate on projects. Many people have heard of the Citizen Archivist Dashboard, which is part of the National Archives. It allows people…

Not Feelin’ It: Tips for Improving Your Internship Experience

Not Feelin’ It: Tips for Improving Your Internship Experience by Josh Rimmer, Senior Editor   We’ve all been there. When a job, an internship opportunity, or volunteer experience transpires to be something completely different than what we thought. Rather than developing negative thoughts, it’s best to turn the experience into a learning opportunity. It’s okay…

There’s a Twitter Chat for That

There’s a Twitter Chat for That by Naomi Gonzalez, Senior Assistant, INALJ Virginia    For those of you who spend what could be called an inordinate amount of time online (ahem), the world of Twitter chats is probably not new ground to you. For those that prefer to spend your time in the physical realm…

4 questions to ask before applying to a for-profit university job

Four questions to ask before applying to a for-profit university library job by Rebekah Kati, Senior Assistant, INALJ North Carolina   Libraries at for-profit universities are pretty mysterious.  For-profit universities have libraries and some employ MLS-holding librarians, but accounts of for-profit librarianship are scarce.  I spent four years working as a librarian at a large,…

Six Tech Teaching Tips for Public Librarians

Six Tech Teaching Tips for Public Librarians by Alphild Dick, Senior Editor   Before I joined the library world, I honestly didn’t spend much time thinking about technology. My father taught my brother and I how to use computers and type when we were in grade school. I have had a cell phone since I…

Rise Like a Phoenix: The Story of the Glasgow School of Art

Rise Like a Phoenix: The Story of the Glasgow School of Art by Kate Kosturski, Volunteer Coordinator and Senior Editor, INALJ Ontario and INALJ Quebec While we in the States were settling in for the Memorial Day weekend 2014, our friends across the pond in Glasgow, Scotland, were watching one of the most historic educational buildings, a beautiful example…

Knowledge is power: an Ideal Library Community Center

Knowledge is power: an Ideal Library Community Center by Angela Piccola, Senior Editor   Libraries often expand programming to best serve the community. Libraries have to be receptive to the needs of patrons and adapt accordingly to maintain relevancy within the community. During difficult times, such as a recession, the unemployment rate goes up causing many…

Shoebrarian Extraordinaire: Meet Leslie Howerton-Hicks

In order to better reflect how LIS folk currently feel I am removing all interviews that are more than 1 year old. This interview may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions, so it has been harvested to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine (see link below) and removed from INALJ. All…

Prepping for ALA Annual 2015: A Job Seeker’s Perspective

Prepping for ALA Annual 2015: A Job Seeker’s Perspective by Oscar Giurcovich, Senior Editor About 2 weeks before I wrote this blog post, I received an email from ALA asking me to confirm my hotel reservation for Annual in June. “Why are they sending this out so early?” I thought to myself. I then glanced…

7 Tips for Moving Past Job Search Rejection

7 Tips for Moving Past Job Search Rejection by Erin Kinney, Senior Assistant, INALJ Wyoming There are several strategies for coping with rejection of any kind, not just during the job hunt. Rejection on the job hunt has been covered on INALJ, but a refresher is always good. Process Your Emotions It is natural to feel angry…