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.

Soft Skills = Success: Self Awareness

by Julie Watson, former Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania Soft Skills = Success: Self-Awareness  This is the second in a series of articles on soft skills. Employers are looking for soft skills in their in prospective employees and having these skills often makes the difference between who can do a job and who gets a job. Since…

Kate Theimer …of ArchivesNext

This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions Naomi House’s interview with Kate of ArchivesNext formerly entitled Kate Theimer …In Six and published on 2/13/12 Naomi: What blogs should we be reading? Kate: Well, mine of course (http://archivesnext.com )! I’m sure your readers…

On Being a Good Mentee

by Ashley Crace, former Head Editor, INALJ West Virginia On Being a Good Mentee A mentor’s expertise is priceless.  During graduate school, your job search, or your first years as a librarian or information professional a mentor can provide vital guidance and support.  Mentors may be found among professors, internship or volunteer supervisors, colleagues, and…

Professional Advancement for Shallow Pockets

by Rebecca Crago, former Head Editor, INALJ Virginia Professional Advancement for Shallow Pockets In the LIS field there is a huge emphasis on professional advancement, but the cost of doing so can be a barrier for many of us. Workshops and conferences are not cheap; they often require travel, registration and supplies costs. In many…

Join us for #INALJchat tonight, Monday, 9-10:30pm EDT

What: #inaljchat Where: Twitter.com When: Mondays at 9-10:30pm EDT (last Monday of the month is Noon EDT and international focus)- all four Qs asked each hr so our west coast and further fans can participate Why: Crowd-sourcing the best of the web from the best on the web (ie: librarians) on job hunting topics How:…

Rory Litwin of Library Juice Academy

This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions My interview with Rory Litwin, founder of Library Juice Academy, Library Juice Press & Litwin Books! “Library Juice Academy offers a range of online professional development workshops for librarians and other library staff, with classes.…

#INALJchat starts Monday! 9-11pm EDT

What: #inaljchat Where: Twitter.com When: Mondays at 9-11pm EDT (last Monday of the month is Noon EDT and international focus)- all four Qs asked each hr so our west coast and further fans can participate Why: Crowd-sourcing the best of the web from the best on the web (ie: librarians) on job hunting topics How:…

February 2014 Roundup (INALJ Stats)

February: 4.5 million views and best month ever! What a great month!  The big news is we had our best month ever despite February being the shortest month of the year, and we reached over 4.5 million page views at INALJ.com.  February’s busiest day  and our busiest EVER was 16,939 views on 2/24 (the day I…

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler, Everyday! (ie: #mih)

by Naomi House, MLIS Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler, Everyday!  (ie: #mih) It is cold and rainy in New Orleans this Mardi Gras 2014 but that has not dampened participation or spirits all that much.  Revelers walked by our house near Bayou St John warmly dressed, masks on and umbrellas held high prepared for the…

Almost Back from South Africa and OCLC EMEA!

Hi Everyone, I have been away from decent wifi for the past 10 days and I am still 4-5 days away from regular access.  I can’t wait to share with you my wonderful experience speaking in Cape Town, South Africa at OCLC EMEA RC14 but til then keep checking INALJ.com for fab blog posts and…

To Volunteers, With Love

by Naomi House, MLIS INALJ is an all volunteer effort and I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who puts in time Monday-Friday each of the 52 weeks of the year to help bring job opportunities and advice to job hunters.  On every page of INALJ.com you will see a list of…

INALJ Needs Donations

Hi Everyone, What a terrific start to the new year!  We are hoping to have over 1,000 success stories again in 2014.  This is an all volunteer run organization and all expenses come out of my pocket.  I don’t do donation calls often but it would be swell if you could donate, especially as this…

MLIS + Non-Library Job = A Much Bigger Picture

by Claire Schmieder, Head Editor, INALJ New Jersey MLIS + Non-Library Job = A Much Bigger Picture About two months ago, I started a new job as Program Associate at the Alice Paul Institute. We’re a small non-profit organization, based out of suffragette Alice Paul’s childhood home, Paulsdale, in Mount Laurel, NJ. The site is…

Tips for Writing Amazing Cover Letters

by Rebekah Kati, Head Editor, INALJ North Carolina Tips for Writing Amazing Cover Letters Cover letters are an essential part of the job application.  In the cover letter, you have the opportunity to explain your interest in the position and how your qualifications relate to the job. Do you have non-library experience that could be…

Keep the Log Rolling

by Grey Maixner, Head Editor, INALJ Vermont Keep the Log Rolling As we all know, applying for jobs is a daunting task. Cover letters need written, resumes revised, and every 6 months or so you need to contact your references to ensure that they are still willing to vouch for you. Compounding these problems is…

Problem Patrons

by Michele Frasier-Robinson, Head Editor, INALJ Oklahoma Problem Patrons Before I was a librarian, I naively believed that academic libraries did not face the same problem patron issues that are so common to public libraries. I was wrong. We have had our share of incidents—a few of them quite alarming. I have witnessed unassuming patrons…

The Unexpected Benefits of Commuting

by Katherine Kimball Adelberg, Head Editor, INALJ Michigan The Unexpected Benefits of Commuting Imagine that you have a job, but it isn’t as challenging or exciting as it used to be.  You recently finished your master’s degree, but you don’t have enough seniority to be promoted.  Then you find a position online that sounds intriguing…

Crafting your LinkedIn Summary

by Bradley Woodruff, Head Editor, INALJ Wisconsin Crafting your LinkedIn Summary If you’re a LinkedIn user, you may have pondered over the summary portion of your profile. What IS the LinkedIn summary for? Your profile already summarizes your work history, education, experience, volunteer work, and every accomplishment you’ve made. The Summary? That’s what grabs whoever…

What is GIS?

by Fallon Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas What is GIS? I started a new position this year—thanks to finishing up my MLIS and my awesome new networking skills—and while it’s not in a library, I do use a ton of my library skills! First off, never let anyone tell you that a MLIS doesn’t transfer…

Who ARE You (choosing to be)?

by Sheryl L. Christensen, Head Editor, INALJ California Who ARE You (choosing to be)? Many of you have probably seen this TedTalk by Shawn Achor. In this video, he very entertainingly tells stories and offers information about how our happiness and positive, self-affirming outlook oftentimes precedes or even brings about what we distinguish as success. …

Networking: From Dirty Word to Mantra

by Rossy Mendez, Head Editor, INALJ Puerto Rico Networking: From Dirty Word to Mantra Networking is often treated as a dirty word, it is the thing we have to do to get ahead but don’t want to acknowledge as the reason we got our jobs. If you are anything like me you stress over things…

My Experience as an Archivist: Part 1

by Jennifer Crutchfield, Head Editor, INALJ Connecticut My Experience as an Archivist: Part 1 In my previous place of employment, I noticed a small room in the front of the library labeled “Archives Room”. Having a specialization in archives management, this sparked my interest and I asked if I could spend an hour or two…

The Myth of the One Page Resume

by Jennifer Devine, Head Editor, INALJ West Virginia The Myth of the One Page Resume When I first started my job search while still in my graduate program, I read a lot of resources on how to create a great resume.  Most sources will tell you that as a student just coming into the workforce…