Articles

Library Superstar Dream Jobs

by Emily Guier, Head Editor, INALJ Wyoming

Library Superstar Dream Jobs

Often, I’ll see a news story about a cool space and know that a librarian is the unsung superstar. That’s right, I said superstar. The following is a list of some dream jobs:

1)      GM Heritage Center, http://www.gmheritagecenter.com/about-gm-heritage-center/. I heard about this archive on the radio, and maintaining the history of a car company seems as if it would be pretty varied and interesting. I would say the only downfall would be the looming threat of funding cuts—a heritage center would be an easy budget cut to make for an automotive company.

2)      Books by the Foot, http://www.booksbythefoot.com/. I don’t think a library background is necessary to work at this company, but it couldn’t hurt. Basically, clients purchase books by the linear foot to suit a decorative scheme. There are also instant library options, which I think would be awesome to create.

3)      Baseball Hall of Fame, http://baseballhall.org/. I’m throwing this one in for my husband who is a big baseball fan. I think this would be an opportunity to work with a specific collection and interact with some die-hard fans.

4)      Entertainment Weekly, http://www.ew.com/ew/. There are several research librarians on staff at Entertainment Weekly. Working at any major publication would be interesting, but I’m into pop culture making this an ideal gig.

5)      Cruise Ship Librarian. I wouldn’t apply with Carnival, but a job on a cruise ship would be an opportunity to see the world and meet a whole range of patrons.

I am sure I can’t be the only one who keeps an eye out for unique opportunities. Feel free to share other dream library jobs you have come across with the states editors of the INALJ.com jobs pages.  Simply click on the state the job is in and fill in the Contact Us form.

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. 

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