Interviews, Success Stories

Sarah Schlageck …In Six

My interview with success story Sarah


Naomi: How did you find your current job?
Sarah: My Mom mentioned it to me first. I ignored her until I saw it in the INALJ daily digest and thought it looked interesting. I applied for it and received a phone interview. After that they asked me to come in and complete a technology test. Two days later they offered me the job. Mother always knows best!

Naomi: Favorite library you have been to?
Sarah: The Champaign Public Library in Champaign, IL is one of my favorite libraries. Since it’s been recently renovated, it has a very modern feel. The layout is very open and inviting. They do a great job providing a variety of spaces to fit their users’ needs. There’s several study rooms, collaborative space, and cozy reading areas. My favorite part is the awesome light up children’s desk.

Naomi: Favorite book?
Sarah: Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford. It’s a hoot! I’m a sucker for clever YA novels. Carter is pretty much the female equivalent to Georgia Nicolson from Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison. I definitely recommend it if you are looking for a good laugh.

Naomi: Favorite thing about libraries/ library technology?
Sarah: I love the sense of community that libraries embody and create. It’s a space for people to come and explore new things, meet new people, and have fun. I enjoy being a part of that process.

Naomi: Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?
Sarah: Oh so many! For job hunting/interview advice I recommend Hiringlibrarians.com and www.askamanager.org. I also follow ALAJobList, INALJ, and Libgig on twitter.

For YA related things I like readingrants.org, www.the4yablog.com, and www.foreveryoungadult.com

Looking for cat humor? My favorite comic of all time is Cat vs. Human. So great!

Naomi: Best piece of job hunting advice?
Sarah: Have other people look at your application, resume, and cover letters! It’s really helpful to get another person’s perspective on how you are coming across on paper.

I graduated from the University of Kansas with my B.S. in Secondary English Education. Throughout my undergrad I held a variety of positions in libraries; dabbling in youth services, interlibrary loan, and circulation. I just finished my Master’s in Library Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and soon will be starting a job at the Mid Continent Public Library in Missouri. My hobbies include reading (of course!), hanging out with my cat, Jaspurr, and attempting to make things off of Pinterest.

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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