by Matthew Tansek, Head Editor, INALJ Rhode Island Advice on Finding Career Advice Right now as you are reading this there are thousands of articles, books and blogs out there waiting to provide you with all of the career advice you would ever need. Unfortunately just sticking a couple of words into the google search…
by Ryan Nitz, Head Editor, INALJ Alaska Soon-to-be grads: have you considered an internship? One of the most frustrating aspects of being a recent graduate in any field is the how-do-I-get-a-job-without-experience-but-how-do-I-get-experience-without-a-job conundrum. Well, if you’re still in your LIS program (not that it’s impossible to do an internship outside of school, but it’s harder and…
by Alexis Stapp, Head Editor, INALJ Minnesota What (not) to do while job hunting Here is my tongue-in-cheek guide to what you should do while job hunting: Take longer than a week to complete a single job application. Complain endlessly – especially to library school friends who are in the same boat. Be super disorganized…
by Marlena Barber, Head Editor, INALJ Tennessee Sharing My (Jobs) Sources I go to many websites to locate open positions to share with Tennessee job hunters. I would like to share a few of my favorite local and national resources here for you. Each is also linked on the INALJ-TN page. 1. ATLA American Theological…
by Mary-Michelle Moore, Head Editor, INALJ Vermont 10 Takeaways from #SLA2013 With more than 200 programs and 2,800 attendees the Special Libraries Association recently finished up their annual conference. The 2013 conference occurred in San Diego, CA and included an unofficial INALJ meet up! If you are not yet involved in SLA, please consider it…
by Nena Schvaneveldt, Head Editor, INALJ Utah Believe (that you will get a library job) I had a rough start to my professional life. I was quickly laid off my first job out of college and was fired from my first librarian job. In hindsight, I can see that I wasn’t quite ready to handle…
I wish I had attended ALA this year instead of only presenting one day. You could feel the energy and excitement and I know I missed a ton of wonderful events and people. But I was fortunate and had many ‘fangirl’ moments as well and I want to share some of them here (apologies for…
Happy 4th of July! See you all tomorrow with many more new articles and jobs!
Jill Olsen, Head Editor, INALJ Nevada There are no jobs, there are needs to be filled! Recently I attended a workshop facilitated by an Executive Recruiter. One thing he said really struck me and changed how I approach every aspect of my job search. It’s really simple but powerful. “There are no jobs, there are…
by Emily Guier, Head Editor, INALJ Wyoming What I Should Have Learned in Library School Like me, my sister is a librarian. Unlike me, she’s gainfully employed (minor detail), and so I like to live my librarian life vicariously through her. She was recently telling me that her boss wanted to put something together entitled,…
by Gabrielle Spiers, Head Editor, INALJ Montana Dealing with Rejection Let’s face it: rejection sucks. Rejection for your carefully composed cover letter and tailored resume stings but it hurts even more when it is after an interview. It makes it feel more personal somehow. Since I have dealt with a few job rejections in my…
by Claire Schmieder, Head Editor, INALJ New Jersey The Cover Letter, Demystified I must confess that, not all that long ago, I did not enjoy writing cover letters. Or, more precisely, I did not enjoy writing about myself. My lackluster self-selling skills made the cover letter writing process excruciating. I’d hem and haw, do Internet…
by Sarah Porter, Head Editor, INALJ California Failing to Succeed It’s easy to feel like a failure when entering or attempting to enter the LIS field. When applying for jobs, it’s not uncommon to be rejected by job after job. Even when you land a job it’s likely that you will fumble in the beginning.…
by Africa Hands, Head Editor, INALJ Kentucky 4 Ps of writing and publishing Many librarians use blogging as a means to express opinions and ideas about library programs and services. We blog about books, we blog about our angst with library systems, we blog about our wardrobe, we blog library and information trends. While blogging…
Amazing milestones reached! 2 million total page views & over 319,000 page views in June alone! In June the total page visits were over 319,000, which is 20,000 more than last month. Half way through 2013 and we already have more than doubled the page views for 2011 and 2012 combined! We reached 2 million…
by Sarah Deringer, Head Editor, INALJ Mississippi Living Through the Oopsies Librarians live a Hannah Montana life. By day, they’re librarian professionals and information superstars; by night, they’re just normal, laid-back, and relaxed readers in bed. Even in their most shining moments, every librarian is human. Disney’s Hannah Montana sang in “Nobody’s Perfect,” “Everyone makes…
2,000,000 INALJ.com started as a small webspace to host my daily jobs and share success stories in November of 2011. Just over a year later, on March 17th, 2013, I had hit the 1 million page views mark and now, 3 months later I am at 2 million!!! I would write more but I am…
by Elinor Crosby, Head Editor, INALJ Nova Scotia The Joy of Active Participation How do you participate in your community? Are you a member of your local, state/provincial, or national library and information professional organization? Do you attend meet and greets, fundraisers, or conferences? Do you keep in touch with your fellow alumni? During my…
by Rebekah Kati, Head Editor, INALJ North Carolina Four Free Useful Tech Tools I’ve downloaded many tech tools and apps over the years, but rarely use them. I seem to forget that I have them during the times that they would be the most useful. However, there are a few tools and apps that I…
by Shayna Monnens, Head Editor, INALJ South Dakota Teen Programming – The Biggest Gamble in the Library As everyone in the library/reading world knows, teen literature is the hottest thing since the invention of the sandwich. Every day it seems to be the best and hottest new YA release has come out, and everyone is…
by Mary-Michelle Moore, Head Editor, INALJ Vermont Professional Organizations: Beyond ALA This is part three of a three part series on professional organizations. Part one was published on June 14, and part two was published on June 21. While ALA is the largest and best known of professional library associations, did you know that there…
Ruth Lincoln, Head Editor, INALJ Washington, DC 6 Tips for a Great Phone Interview Phone interviews are often a first stop on the road to your next library job. They’re a chance for the organization to screen applicants and narrow its choices. As much as we text and email, it’s easy to forget once-simple tasks…
by Caitlin Moen, Head Editor, INALJ Louisiana ALA’s Emerging Leaders program In 2007, American Library Association president Leslie Burger established the Emerging Leaders program, where librarians new to the profession could apply to participate in networking, problem solving and project completion, and ultimately work toward leadership positions within ALA. Each year there are about 50…
by Alexis Rohlfing, Head Editor, INALJ New Hampshire A Midsummer’s Resolution Resolutions are something we usually associate with New Year’s: new year, new goals, a way to restart some aspect of our lives. By the time we hit midsummer, those resolutions are usually in the rearview mirror — we’ve abandoned the gym membership, the new…
by Rachael Altman, Head Editor, INALJ Alabama 15 restaurant recommendations for eating your way through ALA Chicago “Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.” – “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg Chicago. Chi-Town. The Windy City. Whatever you…