Articles, Interviews About non-Library Jobs

On Insights Design Coordinator Work : an Interview with Ta-Shirè Tribbett

This is an interview with Ta-Shirè Tribbett, Senior Insights Design Coordinator, done by Naomi House of INALJ. This is part of INALJ’s 2020 series on non-library jobs for library workers. 

On Insights Design Coordinator Work :
an Interview with Ta-Shirè Tribbett

Q1: Thanks so much for taking the time to help us better understand what Senior Insights Design Coordinator work is and how LIS folk can get into this field. First could you tell us a little bit about yourself, where you got your MLIS and what you do?

After bouncing around the East Coast, I currently live in Northern Virginia. I got my MLS from North Carolina Central University in 2012, but I had been working in the field since 1996. I completed my Masters in Information Architecture and Interaction Design from the University of Baltimore in 2019. I work for an international law firm in the role of Senior Insights Design Coordinator, where I center on system redesign and analysis, information architecture and project management of legal automation tools, with a focus on artificial intelligence. 

Q2: Now can you tell us how You personally got into doing this type of work?

After I arrived at my place of employment, I noticed that most of my colleagues had their JD. I wanted to solidify my contributions to the department and knew that law wasn’t my wheelhouse, so I looked into other advanced degree options that would compliment my MLS and be beneficial to the firm. While deploying our new library catalog I became very interested in taxonomy and information architecture and I found a graduate degree program that combined my newfound interests with my skillset. Four years later I was able to take that experience and education and leverage it into a newly created position within the firm.

Q3: What makes this a great field for LIS workers and likewise, what do you think makes LIS workers strong candidates for hiring managers in this field?

UX and librarianship go hand-in-hand. The reference interview easily lends itself to the user interview. Structural design of online environments lends itself to the concept of cataloging, and so on. If you have your MLS you have these basic tools that can take you anywhere if you market yourself hard enough.

Q4: What is the best way to get your foot in the door or your first insights design coordinator job?

You can take a UX role anywhere, so I’d look around at online classes and such to get a feel for the field and see where your skillset lies. You can shore up with additional training, classes or pursue a certification if necessary. Then, I’d try to leverage that into your current position, or look for jobs that contain keywords that align with what you want to do.

Q5: Finally what are some of the most important skills / certifications / etc that LIS folk can do to prepare them? Any last tips?

As the Membership chair of the Taxonomy division of the SLA, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that taxonomy is a fantastic skill for librarians to engage with. There are some great UX bootcamps and certifications out there if you’re interested, as well. If you can get funding for another degree, I’d recommend going that route. As far as tips go, I always say that you are your best asset in any job-seeking situation. Be prepared to tell that company why they need *you* and what you bring to the table that other people may not. 

 

Interviewee Bio

Ta-Shirè Tribbett resides in Northern Virginia and is always on the lookout for new opportunities. An avid reader, she enjoys cooking, baking and watching movies.

****
Views expressed are those of the interviewee and not INALJ or their employer. Photo provided by the interviewee and permission granted to use it for this interview.

All INALJ Library and LIS jobs may be found here. How to Sponsor or Post a Job information here.

Naomi House

Naomi House, MLIS, is the founder and publisher of the popular webzine and jobs list INALJ.com (formerly I Need a Library Job) and former CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of T160K.org, a crowdfunding platform focused on African patrimony, heritage and cultural projects. INALJ was founded in October 2010 with the assistance of her fellow Rutgers classmate, Elizabeth Leonard. Its social media presence has grown to include Facebook (retired in 2016), Twitter and a LinkedIn group, in addition to the interviews, articles and jobs found on INALJ. INALJ has had over 21 Million page hits and helped many, many thousands of librarians find employment! Through grassroots marketing, word of mouth and a real focus on exploring unconventional resources for job leads, INALJ grew from a subscription base of 20 friends to a website with over 500,000 visits in one month. Naomi believes that well-sourced quantity is quality in this narrow job market and INALJ reflects this with many new jobs published daily. She has also written for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 LexisNexis Government Info Pro and many other publications in the past decade. She presents whenever she can, including serving on three panels at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Las Vegas; as breakout presenter at OCLC EMEA in Cape Town, South Africa; as a keynote speaker at the Virginia Library Association annual meeting; at the National Press Club in Washington DC; McGill University in Montreal, Canada; the University of the Emirates, Dubai, MLIS program and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Naomi was a Reference, Marketing and Acquisitions Librarian for a contractor at a federal library outside Washington, DC, and has been living and working in Budapest, Hungary and Western New York State. She spent years running her husband’s moving labor website, fixed and sold old houses and assisted her husband cooking delicious Pakistani food. She is preparing to re-enter the workforce and is job hunting. Her husband is now the co-editor of INALJ, a true support!  She has heard of spare time but hasn’t encountered it lately. She pronounces INALJ as eye-na-elle-jay. 

Tags: