Stefanie Caloia …Success Story

All Jobs for INALJ can be found here: http://inalj.com/?p=1441 Updated daily
Naomi House’s interview with success story Stefanie.

 

Naomi:  How did you find your current job?
Stefanie:  At the SAA annual meeting in Chicago, I placed my resume at the Networking Cafe, but honestly did not expect anything to come of it. My future employer had a booth at the show and they were recruiting people to work on a National Parks project. I spoke with the person who would eventually hire me, and mentioned I had done an internship at Yellowstone. She mentioned she had seen my resume, which frankly kind of blew my mind. I applied, got an interview and eventually was offered the position.

Naomi:  Favorite library you have been to?
Stefanie:  The Yellowstone Research Library. They have everything you could ever imagine relating to the park, including science fiction and romance novels. They also have a fantastic rare book collection. All in a beautiful location — just outside our first National Park.

Naomi:  Favorite book?
Stefanie:  Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates.

Naomi:  Favorite thing about libraries/ library technology?
Stefanie:  Maybe this is cheesy, but the enormous power libraries and archives have is amazing. You never know what book or document could change a person’s life.  I’m really excited to be a part of a profession that can have such a positive impact on the world.

Naomi:  Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?
Stefanie:  I’ve found anything SNAP (Students and New Archives Professionals roundtable) is doing is pretty interesting and exciting. A lot of great things are going to come from this roundtable! I recommend subscribing to the listserv and checking out
http://www2.archivists.org/groups/students-and-new-archives-professionals-snap-roundtable.

Naomi:  Best piece of job hunting advice?
Stefanie:  When possible in your cover letters, try to draw a personal connection to either the position or collections, whether you have direct experience (not necessarily at a job), or a particular passion for the subject matter. It was only in the cover letters where I did this that I got to the interview stage. It was pretty much win-win since I was interviewed for the positions I wanted the most! Along the same lines, I think spending time crafting quality application packages rather than applying for as many jobs as you can is beneficial.

Stefanie is an archivist for History Associates Incorporated processing the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company records at Keweenaw National Historical Park in Calumet, MI. She graduated from Wayne State University with an MLIS and graduate certificate in archival administration in 2011, and is a provisional member of the Academy of Certified Archivists. She has a BA in photography from Grand Valley State University and hopes to one day be a visual materials archivist.