by Sarah Porter, Head Editor, INALJ California Become More Marketable: Learn Spanish Sadly, “No hablo Espanol. Un momento por favor” is about the extent that I can speak Spanish to library patrons. Furthermore, when I apply for jobs, many California job postings state “bilingual preferred” or even “bilingual (English/Spanish) required”. If you are in the…
by Amanda Viana, Head Editor, INALJ Massachusetts Seminars and Webinars and Online Courses—Oh My! I’m insatiably curious; a committed lifelong learner. I think of it as one of my greatest strengths and one of my main motivators in working to make public libraries centers of lifelong learning. Since graduating in late 2012, I’ve been trying…
by Rebekah Kati, Head Editor, INALJ North Carolina Library Jobs in North Carolina: Key Statistics Over the past six months, I have collected data on the type, title, and location of jobs that I post to the INALJ North Carolina page. At first this was an effort to cut back on the number of duplicates…
by Shelley Macon, Head Editor, INALJ Florida The Slide A couple of weeks ago I was at one of my children’s extracurricular activities. And, as usual, the parents were congregated in one area chatting. Most of these parents are acquaintances, not what I would label “friends.” So, normally the conversation consists of talking about our…
by Courtney Baron, Head Editor, INALJ Georgia 5 Tips for Attending your First Conference I just got back from my first library conference last week! It was a great learning experience and I’m excited to share my tips with other library students and first time attendees. I can’t stress enough how important it is to…
by Emily Guier, Head Editor, INALJ Wyoming Halloween Book Round-Up In the spirit of the season, I’ve rounded up a list of spooky(ish) reads to get you in the mood for October. I will note that these are mostly YA, and chosen because I’ve read them (Forever YA, anyone?) and can offer an opinion. Beautiful…
Matching Needs with Wants: or how job hunting makes sense to me by Naomi House, MLIS We all need to work to pay the bills, or at least most of us do. We do not think to apply to every single job out there because we (as info pros) have degrees (MLS, MLIS) and skillsets…
by Gabrielle Spiers, Head Editor, INALJ Montana How Being a Researcher Has Made Me a Better Archivist I do research for a living, more specifically I do historical research with primary sources – mostly military history with some genealogy as well as anything else that comes my way. As with many things in life, I…
by Tiffany Newton, Head Editor, INALJ Missouri How Many Jobs Should You Apply For? I’ve been without a job for several months now. I had a student position while getting my MLS, and when I graduated, I lost my job. That’s just how student positions go. I was recently talking to a colleague and I…
by Nicole Usiondek, Head Editor, INALJ Michigan Finding Common Ground: Publishers and the Libraries eBooks, publishers, and the library were all much talked about topics in 2012. eBooks have become a staple in the lives of many and so it was only natural that more and more patrons began looking to their local libraries to…
by Elinor Crosby, Head Editor, INALJ Nova Scotia Authors Advocating for Libraries “I see libraries and librarians as frontline soldiers in the war against illiteracy and the lack of imagination.” – Neil Gaiman Who out there besides librarians, library staff, and patrons are advocating for libraries? Authors, that’s who. Many authors love libraries, grew up…
by Ashley Crace, Head Editor, INALJ West Virginia The Replacement It is so exciting to take on a new job! Sometimes, it is easy to forget that someone else was doing that job before you (unless it is a new position, of course). Though you may wonder under what circumstances the previous person left the…
One of my favorite things about INALJ is how busy it keeps me and this week was no exception. In fact it took a question at a networking even for the DC 85 broads group to make me realize just why today is special. Someone asked when I founded INALJ and it hit me, October…
by Sarah Deringer, Head Editor, INALJ Mississippi Don’t Get Lost on Your Job Search! Getting lost in the job search can be very easy without a plan. Before beginning a job search (or after getting lost), take a moment to breathe and reflect. It’s easy to rush around trying to apply to every job out…
by Lauren Bourdages, Head Editor, INALJ Ontario How I Jumped in with Both Feet Every library and information professional has that moment in their life where, with 100% certainty, they realise that the LIS industry really is where they belong. That moment happened for me in the midst of what was the most intense year…
by Aimee Graham, Head Editor, INALJ New York State Why I Volunteer (And Why You Should Too) My first encounter with INALJ came during a summer session in graduate school; I was going to be completing my MSIS at the end of the upcoming fall semester and needed to find a professional position before they handed…
by Stefanie Maclin, Catalog Specialist, EBSCO Information Services Looking Outside the Box Recently, I spoke on a panel to an Archives Management course at Simmons College on the topic of ‘Lone Arrangers’. At the time, I was working part-time as the Special Collections Librarian at Bunker Hill Community College Library and Learning Commons. Towards the…
I spoke a little while back at an SLA MD Job Searching event and one of the questions I received inspired me to make a list of Keywords For Job Hunting which can be found on every single page of INALJ.com in the right sidebar. I have included the most recent list below. As library…
by Brad McNally, Head Editor, INALJ Ohio Unique Library Programs: The Listening Dog I’ve seen this at many libraries, but I was lucky enough to work at a library where this program was already occurring on a regular basis. Although I have moved on from that library, I’m glad to say that their Listening Dog…
by Alexandra Janvey, Head Editor, INALJ Iowa Tips for Creating Your Online Portfolio An online portfolio is a great branding tool that every job seeker should have. It is a great way for candidates to differentiate themselves, offer insight into their personalities and showcase their talents. Here are three tips for creating a great online…
by Emily Guier, Head Editor, INALJ Wyoming If I Were in Charge of the World, or at Least the Children’s Department Since having my son, I’ve attended my fair share of library programming for babies and toddlers, and explored a number of different children’s areas in public libraries. It amazes me how public libraries are able…
by Matthew Tansek, Head Editor, INALJ Rhode Island Our Shelves Have Changed: A Look at the Evolving Home Library There are many articles floating around that would seem to suggest that the home library is going the way of the parlor or the coat room – a throwback to when people read books printed on…
by Elena Bubelich, Head Editor, INALJ Quebec My First Job after Graduation So, I have now my first real job at the library. Since August, I’ve been working in a private school library as an assistant. I’d like to share in this article my impressions about the job interview, about my place of employment, and…
by Duda Trickovic, Head Editor, INALJ New Brunswick and INALJ Prince Edward Island Using SlideShare to Market Yourself SlideShare, which was recently voted among the World’s Top 10 tools for education & e-learning is an online professional and educational community where anyone can share slides from presentations for free. SlideShare allows you to upload your presentation publicly or privately…
One of the reasons you most likely found INALJ.com was that you are a job hunter or you want to see what else is out there. It can be very isolating job hunting online, by yourself. Maybe you are unhappily employed and can’t tell anyone you are on the hunt. Maybe you don’t have a…