Top 10 Interviews of 2014

by Naomi House, MLIS

Top 10 Interviews of 2014

We interviewed and profiled some amazing people in 2014 and before, and these 10 interviews/profiles were the most widely read in 2014.  Just like a countdown I am listing them from 10 to 1, in reverse order. You can find them all on Twitter with the hashtag #INALJ2014TopInterviews.

10) LeoNard3Meet LeoNard Thompson, Manager of Adult Information Services for DC Public Libraries

“Come to know, accept, and appreciate, that at its core, librarianship is a service industry. Librarians are the stewards of said service, and the concierge of quality information. Whatever branch you belong, public, academic, or special, if the driving force behind why you want to be involved is not in due course to ultimately serve others, not only will you be unhappy and unfulfilled, but those around you will be unhappy and unfulfilled as well.”

– Ta-Shirè Tribbett, Assistant for INALJ DC, interviewer

 

christy_inalj9) Deep in Archives: Interview with Archivist, Christy Tomecek

“As far as job hunting advice: network, network, network! Your fellow friends and colleagues often hear about jobs that may be under your radar and can pass them on to you. Also, many professional organizations like the SAA, ALA, and ART have job hunting resources that have very useful to me personally.”

– Kasia Piasecka, Senior Assistant, INALJ Rhode Island, Interviewer

 

JP8JP Porcaro, MakeItHappenDay and ALATT founder

We are all trying to answer that question: HOW do we get a library job?! The answer to that is “together”.

Build up a solid network of friends. Use each other as therapists. Talk to each other about everything. Become friends, invite each other to parties and to dinner and crash at each other’s houses.

There are resources on HOW to dress, WHAT to say,  WHERE to look for a job, but I don’t see ANYONE saying “do it as a team”. I guess I’m a big fan of teams (which is how #ALATT happened).”

Naomi House, CEO & Founder, INALJ, Interviewer

 

stephenxflynn7) Stephen X. Flynn of Open Cover Letters

“While applying for jobs, I thought “wouldn’t it be great if there was a website with real cover letters”? After accepting my current job and being out of market, I solicited cover letters first from friends and colleagues, then from the wider librarian community. I built the website with the hope that it would help many librarians looking for jobs, especially people graduating from their LIS program and applying for their first professional position.”

Naomi House, CEO & Founder, INALJ, Inerviewer

 

winonap6)  Winona Patterson …Success Story

“When I am at a library (either where I live or where I work) I enjoy just browsing the shelves and seeing what looks interesting to me that day. As far as technology, I really love my Kindle!  I have been reading so much more now that I always have books right at my fingertips. At my library, I sometimes work at the Connection Desk, which is where patrons can check out pre-loaded Nooks and Kindles, and we also assist patrons with their own e-readers, any Overdrive questions and other technological questions.”

Naomi House, CEO & Founder, INALJ, Interviewer

 

Silvia Spiva5) Silvia K. Spiva – Senior Manager of Customer Service and Social Media and Success Story

“Be genuine.  Don’t maintain separate accounts for work and personal updates. Give people the chance to like you for who you really are.  Your conversations will be more valuable.”

– Kiersten Bryant, former Head Editor, INALJ California, Interviewer

 

nataliecoolen4)  Meet Natalie Coolen, Head of Circulation at Rodgers Memorial Library!

“From the moment I started working in my current role as the Head of Circulation at the Rodgers Memorial Library, the staff had faith in me to fulfill my job requirements. Circulation staff would come to me with questions, trusting completely that I could provide them with useful and pertinent information. It felt wonderful!”

– Kasia Piasecka, Senior Assistant, INALJ Rhode Island, Interviewer

 

sarahhinb3)  Sarah Houghton, the Librarian in Black

“Don’t rely on national services to catch all the jobs available. If you are looking in a particular area, be sure to check websites and listservs for that state, region, county, city, etc. Many jobs are not well-advertised, so you really have to check multiple places.”

Naomi House, CEO & Founder, INALJ, Interviewer

 

miab2)  Mia Breitkopf …In Six, author of “61 non-librarian jobs for LIS Grads”

“Last year, when I was itching to define my career goals, I went to the bookstore and walked away with Life’s A Bitch and Then You Change Careers by Andrea Kay. I worked through the exercises and this is what I learned: I want a job where I can apply my passion for learning and teaching to help people of all ages. I want to work collaboratively in a setting that values intellectual curiosity, and I want to be up and moving, not sitting at a desk all day.”

Naomi House, CEO & Founder, INALJ, Interviewer

 

and ….

 

sana khan kabob1) Sana Khan … Success Story

Sana is my husband and partner and I love that so many of you wanted to read what I had to say about him.  His favorite actor is Amitabh Bachchan and if you can get him an audience with Amitabh he would be thrilled!

Naomi House, CEO & Founder, INALJ, Profiler

 

We had so many wonderful interviews this year and all can be found on our INTERVIEWS category.  Looking forward to what 2015 will bring!

 

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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