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Top 5 LinkedIn Groups for Library Job Seekers

There are many places you can interact online with other library job seekers. What I love about LinkedIn is that overall the discussions tend to lean towards being more professional than they do on Facebook, Twitter and other sites. In no particular order:

    1. INALJ- The I need a Library job Group : I founded this group for several reasons. Facebook discussions show up in Google and other search engine searches so I was looking for a more private space. LinkedIn offered the possibility of a locked group that anyone could join but search engines couldn’t crawl. Also I wanted all discussions to take place in one place instead of scattered over Facebook and other forums.“A positive space online for information professionals, library staff and librarians looking for jobs to congregate and share tips and information.”
    2. LIS Career Options LinkedIn page A subgroup of ALA and founded and managed by Kim Dority, a renowned info pro, the LIS Career Options page is one of my favorites because the discussions go beyond the scope of library jobs and into related fields.“This is a forum devoted to exchanging information about LIS careers, both traditional and alternative, for LIS professionals, students, and those aspiring to a career working with information.One of the great things about LIS career paths is that they offer so many possibilities: in the type of work you do, who you do it for, whether you do it as an employee, a contractor, a part-timer, or a solo entrepreneur, what you get paid, etc. Our goals will be to 1) explore all of those options (and more), and 2) share career strategies and tactics for achieving career goals, otherwise known as “getting from here to there!”
    3. Librarians In The Job Market LinkedIn page: Started by Jason Mulack this group is a great place to find what other librarians job hunting love- it is full of tips and suggestions for blogs and other resources.“This is a networking group about potential available library positions.”
    4. Librarianship Job Search and Careers LinkedIn page A subgroup of ALA with a focus on job hunting.Job seekers and employers in the library and information science and technology field can meet here to discuss current events, best practices, and industry trends related to library jobs, as well as network. No commercial messages or job postings, please. Brought to you by ALA JobLIST.
    5. Librarian Alternatives LinkedIn page Geared towards those seeking jobs both within and outside the library community.In this market, libraries are feeling the “pinch” Many of us are temp workers and have been looking for the librarian career opportunity for up to 3 years since graduation.

If you have any recommendations please join our LinkedIn discussion online.

Kim Dority, the Infonista has a great list as well called Only Connect!

Updated 7/10/12 and reposted from 1/24/12 and 8/3/12

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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  2 comments for “Top 5 LinkedIn Groups for Library Job Seekers”

  1. Pingback: Just a Jobs Fangirl | INALJ (I Need a Library Job)
  2. Pingback: Social Networking for Professional or Personal Purposes « Lisa's Blog

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