by Ashley Mancill, Head Editor, INALJ Alabama Tips for Completing a Self-Evaluation I recently had to complete a self-evaluation, a task dreaded by nearly every employee no matter what field he or she works in. Having been in the position for only three months and having limited responsibilities, I couldn’t help feel that I hadn’t made any significant contribution…
by Ruth Kitchin Tillman, Head Editor, INALJ Maryland How to Prepare for an Interview Like an RPG In my free time (so, y’know, not since August), I enjoy playing and running role-playing games. When I started job hunting in the fall, my friend Mary Richardson, a fellow gamer-archivist, gave me the advice to think about the boring parts of…
by Nicolas Resteiner, Head Editor, INALJ Mississippi Don’t Discount Library Assistant Experience When I worked at my local library in high school, I was just a page. I shelved books for a couple of years, went to college and came back home and worked as a movie theater manager before realizing that I did not want to…
Angela J.A. Kent, Head Editor, INALJ-Virtual Work Thinking outside the box: moving beyond the cubicle and other office space Need to stretch your library skills? Need some extra cash? Looking to fill a gap in your skills, interests, or time? One way to fulfill these needs is through virtual work. Cut the commute time and…
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…
by Veda Darby Soberman, Head Editor, INALJ Hawaii Unemployment Opportunities Throughout graduate school I also worked full-time (in a non-library setting). I spent many a sleepless night tackling research papers, only to get a few hours of sleep before heading off to a full workday. Time to do anything besides work or schoolwork came in precious little nuggets. I…
Aimee Graham, Head Editor, INALJ New York State Micro-managers and How to Deal Let’s face it, regardless of what sector of employment you may find yourself, there is the potential to work with less than agreeable coworkers and supervisors. As an individual it can be degrading, having your every strength criticized and the experience in general can…
by Emily Guier, Head Editor, INALJ Wyoming Staying Relevant Outside the Profession I graduated from my library program in 2011 and have yet to be employed as a professional librarian. I worked as a legal assistant while getting my degree and then moved to a job in student affairs shortly after receiving my MLIS. I have…
by Courtney Baron, Head Editor, INALJ Georgia Overcoming Roadblocks When Job Searching I have decided this is the year I will get a library job. I’ve been looking for a paraprofessional position since I enrolled in the MLIS program at my university in January 2013, but so far I haven’t had any luck. I learned a lot during my…
Anastasia Gould, Head Editor, INALJ Nunavut, INALJ Yukon, INALJ Northwest Territories Using technology to tailor your professional identity New technologies figured prominently at this year’s OLA (Ontario Library Association) conference, one of the largest in Canada. It was a welcome opportunity for LIS students and working professionals to explore the ways in which new technologies…
Charissa Brammer, Head Editor, INALJ Maine How to get a volunteer position Resume-building is something that has been on my mind a lot lately, as I have been applying for scholarships and grants and trying to build my LinkedIn profile to attract potential employers in a year when I graduate from library school and enter the world…
by Diana La Femina, Head Editor, INALJ South Carolina Using Social Media to Get Yourself Out There I have a project I’m setting for myself during the next two months: I want to finally get my online portfolio together. I’ve been planning it out for a while but just haven’t had the time to get the…
by Holly Boyer, Head Editor, INALJ Virginia Emerging Technologies – Social media As a recent MLIS graduate, job seeker, and INALJ Virginia head editor, I have been reading a lot of job ads. I’ll be honest, occasionally I don’t understand what all of the required/preferred qualifications mean, which usually leads me straight to Google. Early on…
by Sara Dixon, Head Editor, INALJ Kansas Great Resources for Developing Services to Teens! At my small library, I felt that the teen population was getting largely overlooked. Unfortunately, the sad truth is it’s because no one had much time to devote to the group. I think this has often been the case in smaller libraries.…
by Mary-Michelle Moore, Head Editor, INALJ California The Would-Be Librarian Monologue: a play for solo performer in 3 acts This month’s article was inspired by a recent interview I went on. I hope that by sharing some of my internal monologue, some readers will draw comfort in knowing that what goes through their heads is similar to…
by Brad McNally, Head Editor, INALJ Ohio 5 Ways to Simplify You Job Search Job searches can be an extremely taxing experience. You will invest a large amount of time in combine through job listings. You will invest your effort into crafting each cover letter and resume for each position. You will likely make a large emotional investment…
Erin Wells, Head Editor, INALJ Oregon Consider Rural Libraries Many larger cities are saturated with job-hunting librarians and my hometown of Portland Oregon is no exception. After I finished my MLS in 2012 I quickly realized that the number of job seekers significantly outweighed the number of jobs. This helped me realize that it was time for…
by Ryan Nitz, Head Editor, INALJ Alaska Job Hunter, Know Thyself One of the more interesting and enlightening things that I’ve done recently is take the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). I had heard about the MBTI a few times, but never really thought much about it or its implications. For those of you who don’t already know,…
by Mychal Ludwig, Head Editor, INALJ New Mexico LIS Predictions: A Cartoon Written & Illustrated by Mychal R. Ludwig, with conceptual contributions from Carl Burnett & Jonathan King. In the library & information science community there is a strong tendency towards attempting to predict the future, whether concerning the ascendency of an upcoming piece of technology, or the importance…
by Emma Pinault, Head Editor, INALJ Delaware Starting Your Job Search Early – Tips for Library School Students As a library student, you’ve already got a lot on your mind, keeping up with your classes, and it can be easy – particularly around final exam week – to lose sight of larger end goals as you…
by Lauren Bourdages, Head Editor, INALJ Ontario Reflecting on my first Library Conference experience – #OLASC14 Tips for: networking, resumes, and cover letters My original conference plans that I talked about in my last post turned out to be overly ambitious on my part. After writing that post I ended up going in a completely different…
Angie Solis, Head Editor, INALJ Missouri Pinterest for the Library and for Life In 2012 I attended a SEFLIN (Southeast Florida Library Information Network) conference and sat in on some very useful information sessions which included using Infographics, Prezi and Pinterest. While all these topics are nothing short of interesting and functional, I have come…
by Ashley Mancill, Head Editor, INALJ Alabama Tackling the Job Search with Evernote Those familiar with the note-taking app Evernote know that it serves a variety of uses. It helps researchers organize and track data, collaborate and share drafts and documents with colleagues, and delegate study-related tasks. Foodies use it to manage and share recipes…
by Renee Holden, Head Editor, INALJ Nebraska Cool New Webinars Working in a public library, my time is often spent at a reference desk answering questions from patrons, but I try to squeeze in webinars on various library topics at least once per week. This keeps me updated on a variety of library issues and…
by Gabrielle Spiers, Head Editor, INALJ Montana Thoughts on Libraries and Archives On Tuesday January 21st there was a post on the Archives and Archivists listserv which is the discussion list for the Society of American Archivists entitled “Do We Eat Our Young?” about the non-sustainable business models of archives and the effect that that…