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.

New Adults Need Libraries, Too

by Abby Hargreaves I know we’re out there, because I’m one of them: New Adults. This category, often used as a marketing demographic for publishers, has more recently been creeping into the periphery of public library service. The Arlington Public Library in Arlington, Virginia, recently hosted an “indoor recess” event as part of their summer reading programming,…

October 2015 Roundup (INALJ Stats)

14 million page views! What a great month!  And incredibly busy as I had little access to wifi for the last two weeks!  And we celebrated 5 years doing this!!!!  Happy birthday to us! Our busiest day in October had 20,706 views on 10/5, and our busiest week had 119,379 views, and our month had 445,878 views!  We…

Learn a New Language For Your Library Career!

by Raymond Pun, reference and research services librarian in New York University Shanghai peviously published 7/14/2014 Learn a New Language For Your Library Career! One of the most important and useful skill to have is knowledge of another foreign language. Libraries today are interested in having someone who has multilingual skills and experiences working in a diverse…

September 2015 Roundup (INALJ Stats)

Multiple photos of Naomi House of INALJ

13.9 million page views! What a great month!  And incredibly busy as I went back to my roots re-taking over much of the daily grind! Our busiest day in September had 23,017 views on 9/1, and our busiest week had 119,822 views, and our month had 511,791 views! We also hit 13.9 million page views in total!  Also hoping…

Reference isn’t dead, just different

by Andy Woodworth I recently read Brian Kenny’s latest column piece for Publisher’s Weekly “Where Reference Fits in the Modern Library” which talks about the state of reference in public libraries. It’s worth a read and I’d suggest taking it in before continuing here. Don’t worry, I can wait. … First off, Brian nails some…

Khan, Kahn, Caan, Khaaaaaaaan!!! A Homophone Trick for Email

by Naomi House, MLIS previously published 5/23/14 Khan, Kahn, Caan, Khaaaaaaaan!!! A Homophone Trick for Email Back in 2007 when I was helping my husband set up his moving labor business Khan Moving, LLC, we realized early on that approximately half of his customers misspelled his name; his name is Sana Khan but they spelled…

8 Reasons Informational Interviews are Useful

by Rebecca Ciota 8 Reasons Informational Interviews are Useful I have always been a thinker and a planner.  My mother recounts several times when, as a child, in a toy store, I would consider which toy would be the best purchase.  If I was like that before I can even remember, it is no wonder…

August 2015 Roundup (INALJ Stats)

13 million page views! What a great month!  August was such an amazing month at INALJ, though bittersweet.  It was also the end of an INALJ era as it was the last month long serving volunteers Rachael Altman, COO and Ashley Mancill, Volunteer Manager, were with us. Starting in August I went back to my roots and was the…

I am not a librarian (and neither are you)

by Naomi House, MLIS previously published 11/26/14 I am not a librarian (and neither are you) What do you do?  I’m a librarian!  Right?  This is how we often answer because the jobs we hold are truly what we do for much of every day. Sometimes we are lucky and hold a job we are…

Sponsor or Donate to INALJ

Sponsor or Donate to INALJ INALJ works hard to find you jobs and needs and appreciates your support!  Libraries, orgs, and individuals can sponsor a page! Here is how you can donate at the individual level or become a page Sponsor: To Become a Sponsor $400 per page per month Sidebar sponsorship is $1000 per…

July 2015 Roundup (INALJ Stats)

12.5 million page views! What a great month!  July was such an amazing month at INALJ!  It was the one year anniversary of my most popular personal blog post ever, Why I Quit My Library Job and Why I No Longer Want One.  My how time flies.  It was also the end of an INALJ era…

Why We Should Banish Business Suits for Interviews

Multiple photos of Naomi House of INALJ

by Naomi House, MLIS Why We Should Banish Business Suits for Interviews When I graduated from high school back in 1995 I had no idea just how different college was going to be, especially the costs.  We were rural and poor to lower middle class growing up, though lower middle class might be a stretch. …

Over Prepare Then Go with the Flow

by Sarah Porter, former Head Editor, INALJ California previously published 12/17/13 Over Prepare Then Go with the Flow Yesterday I opened a fortune cookie with ideal advice for someone prepping for a job interview. It read: “over prepare then go with the flow”. I am actively seeking jobs and interviewing, as I am relocating to…

Happy Eid to All the Librarians Celebrating!

by Naomi House, MLIS So grateful for another peaceful, uneventful Ramadan for my husband, Sana!  It was hot here in New Orleans but we are lucky this year to be in a finished home, with AC and fans. May everyone’s Eid be blessed and here is to another year!

Bloggers Desired

by Naomi House, MLIS Bloggers Desired INALJ.com is a platform for anyone in the LIS spheres, whether they are students, patrons, staff, or in tangential fields. Our main goal and focus is finding and sharing jobs on the Jobs pages, however the blog posts have been nearly as popular over the past few years. Until…

How INALJ Can Help You Get a Job

Naomi House standing in front of a mural

by Naomi House, MLIS How INALJ Can Help You Get a Job Our extensive jobs lists for the US, Canada and a few virtual & international jobs (6000-9000+ jobs a month) Our advice in articles & blog posts Sponsored jobs Tweets & Facebook posts Private LinkedIn group advice Yup, that about covers it!  INALJ, one…

Making the Case to Attend ALA Annual Conference…to Yourself

by Sara Dixon, former Head Editor, INALJ Kansas previously published 5/21/13 & 6/16/14 Making the Case to Attend ALA Annual Conference…to Yourself If you are like me, you have been weighing the pros and cons of attending the ALA Annual Conference.  ALA says, “Expand your network. Build your knowledge. Improve your profession.”  Why, yes, ALA, I would…

Happy Ramadan Librarians!

by Naomi House, MLIS Happy Ramadan Librarians! Happy Ramadan! Many of you know my husband, Sana, is Muslim and from Pakistan. Usually Pakistan is a day behind the US for starting Ramadan, but only the moon shall tell. 🙂  I have observed Ramadan 3 times, only once successfully, and certainly not in the heat of…

#SLALeftBehind for #SLA2015

by Naomi House, MLIS #SLALeftBehind for #SLA2015 I was supposed to present at SLA in Boston on Sunday, June 14th, but on May 29th changed any chance I had of attending.  I had my 4th miscarriage and with the blood clotting disorder I have my Doctor recommended I not fly.  We didn’t announce this miscarriage…