8 tips to pay your way to ALA by Angie Solis, Senior Editor Each year librarians all across the world are invited to attend ALA’s Annual and Mid-Winter Conferences. But at $255.00 (super early bird special) for the ALA Annual Conference plus hotel and airfare we’re looking at a nice chunk of change to…
Library Makerspaces: libraries are places to learn and create by Erin Kinney, Senior Assistant, INALJ Wyoming Makerspaces, also known as hackerspaces, hackspaces, or fablabs, are DIY creative spaces where people gather to invent, create, and learn. As David Lankes said “imagine libraries are places to learn and create, not consume and check out.” Library makerspaces have been…
Life as a Librarian aboard the Training Ship ‘Empire State VI’ By Laurel Angrist If you’ve ever felt like putting your MLS degree to good use towards an unusual opportunity, now may be your chance. State University of New York’s Maritime College is now accepting applicants for the position of Ship’s Librarian, a unique chance to…
by Sean O’Brien, former Head Editor, INALJ Colorado previously published 3/20/13 & 3/25/14 6 Tips to Beef Up Your Resumé So, you’ve beefed up your work history, found a great resource for job listings, and now you’re itching to get out there and start applying for jobs. However, sending out applications can be one of…
My #PositiveVibes Campaign By Leigh Milligan, Senior Editor Why #PositiveVibes? This all started during an #INALJchat on positivity on the job search. My good buddy Claire Schmieder then fellow senior editor now volunteer coordinator, tweeted at me during the chat #PositiveVibes. I got a really good feeling from that, and then it hit me, why…
5 Songs to Get You Moving By Naomi Gonzales, Senior Assistant, INALJ Virginia Okay, admit it. Even though you LOVE what you do, there are some days you just can’t get yourself out of bed or in the right mindset for the job. Sometimes you wake up and the will to work just isn’t there. So…
A great beginning to 2015! What a great month! Another year, and getting better! Why? Because in 2015 INALJ has a fantastic new Leadership Team, lead by Rachael Altman and Jennifer Devine, with Kate Kosturski, Ashley Mancill, Claire Schmieder and Stephanie Sendaula! Here are the top 25 INALJ articles and top 10 interviews in 2014!…
SEEKING VOLUNTEERS for INALJ Round 1: Canada Content Editors + Submissions and Formatting Editors (non-Canada) Seeking volunteers for the following positions in February: Canada Content Editors– unpaid volunteers to format jobs for assigned Canadian provinces – 3 days a week, 1 hr each day. 1 calendar year commitment. Submissions Content Editors– unpaid volunteers to format…
Do’s and Don’ts of Job Applications: Take Aways from #inaljchat 1/16/15 By Jennifer Divine, INALJ CIO Hosted by Leigh Milligan, Senior Editor Join @inaljchat MONDAYS 9pm ET for #inaljchat on Twitter Q1: Have you ever made a mistake or an error on a job application? If so, what was it? Everyone had made mistakes some…
Librarians and Mass Media – Where are the Role Models? By Lisa Iannucci, Senior Editor I would like to think that we librarians lead fairly interesting lives. But apparently the powers that be in the entertainment industry seem to think we are capable of much more. A recent keyword search of the estimable Imdb.com yielded…
by Naomi House, MLIS Top 25 INALJ Articles of 2014 We are very lucky at INALJ to have some amazing bloggers and guest bloggers. In 2014 these were the most widely read articles/blog posts. At the very end of this posting you will find the top 125 blog posts for 2014 along with their page…
By Sarah Morrison, Senior Assistant, INALJ Alberta and INALJ Manitoba Show Our Value When I first started at library school, I really didn’t know if my previous experiences would be useful – how relevant will a Master’s degree in a bunch of dead languages and a 3 year stint in retail management (albeit in a…
by Oscar Giurcovich, Senior Editor How I Survived Library School For my first blog post, I thought I’d talk about something that has recently happened in my life: finishing library school. Before I continue, let’s set the scene: I live in a state that does not have a MLIS-type program, so I had to…
by Gabrielle Spiers, Senior Editor Large Job Boards and Recruitment Agencies: Some Thoughts When searching for jobs I have always looked for jobs and applied for them. I know that some industries have headhunters and I have certainly used temp agencies in my pre-library life for temporary work mostly in the non-profit world . In…
by Kellee Faulconbridge, INALJ contributor What I Learned from My Internship in a Scientific Librarian in Germany While in graduate school I met an amazing classmate whose career had taken her to niche libraries in Geneva, The Hague, and all over Europe working for organization like Cern and the International Court of Justice. It…
by Natalie Browning, Senior Assistant, INALJ DC Innovations in Information Literacy Instruction I graduated with my MLS in August 2014, and have been filling out job applications (mostly academic librarian positions) ever since. Most of the positions I have applied to have an instruction aspect. A recent application I submitted required that I write…
Rima Makari-Saliba, former Head Editor, INALJ Saskatchewan previously published 2/18/14 Lifelong Learning within our Fast Paced Lives Every day is a learning experience. We wake up and get ready to tackle the day’s events. What we choose to do with our day is solely our choice and the requirements that encompass our daily lives. We…
by Tracy Wasserman, Senior Assistant, INALJ Florida Working With Your Friends Libraries have Friends. Very valuable Friends – in the form of Friends groups, run by volunteers who spend many hours raising money to support library programming, and booking and coordinating events that draw people to their libraries. They run library book clubs, contract and…
by Clare Sobotka, former Head Editor, now Senior Assistant previously published 2/25/14 Know Your Job Search Organizational Style There is a lot to keep track of when applying for jobs, such as due dates and application materials, so it’s important to develop a system of organization that works for you. Several INALJ editors have shared their excellent…
by Angela Piccola, Senior Editor New Year of Professional Development: 7 Great Sites to Use Each year we have new opportunities to improve and grow as information professionals. Free resources to engage and further our knowledge skillsets are available in several different online formats. There are some set to the standard classroom and module…
by Alphild Dick, Senior Editor Please Remain Seated: 5 Tips for Dealing With Coworker Turbulence When we train to be librarians, we talk a lot about how to work with patrons. Libraries are people places, and it’s easy to get jazzed up about a career spent helping people. However, libraries are people places beyond patrons;…
by Emily Woodcock, Senior Assistant, INALJ Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island 8 must haves for going to a Library Conference In the near future, I am going to be attending my first library conference. I am going to the OLA Super Conference in Toronto, Ontario at the end of this month. I haven’t been to…
by Stephanie Noell, Senior Editor Comics You May Have Missed in 2014 I love lists. Whether it’s in Mental Floss Magazine, the Lambda Literary Awards, or grocery lists, I enjoy reading them. While many choose to write end-of-year lists on the best comics out there, I thought it might be prudent to create a…
by Amy Steinbauer, Senior Assistant, INALJ California One Year Done: Lessons from my first year of work! By the time this is published, I will have my first year of professional library experience under my belt! It has been a really crazy and mixed up year. My personal life has been full of grief and…
By Lisa Iannucci, Senior Assistant, INALJ New Jersey Resolve to Communicate in the New Year As we all move on into a new year, we’ve all probably taken some time to reflect back on the year that just ended. For me, there were job and schedule changes that required some adjustment, and some daily tasks…
Ask a Special Librarian Tracy Z. Maleeff Library Resources Manager at Duane Morris LLP in Philadelphia @LibrarySherpa & LibrarySherpa.com Greetings, INALJers! This is the first installment of my new “Ask a Special Librarian” column for the INALJ.com site. I’ve gathered that there are many myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings about special librarianship through my interactions during…
by Holly Boyer, former INALJ Senior Editor Your Unofficial Guide to Socializing at ALA Midwinter Meeting 2015 Going to Chicago later this month? Great! I bet you’ve got a pretty good idea which sessions you’ll be attending. You’re going to learn so much and bring all that Midwinter energy and enthusiasm back to work with you.…
By Angie Solis, Senior Editor Why I Love INALJ One year ago I began volunteering for an amazing organization – INALJ. My time at INALJ has been not only a fulfilling one, but an educational one. I never thought that I would volunteer for an organization that would allow me to help other professionals in…
By Brad McNally, Senior Editor 5 ways to de-stress during a long job search Searching for a job takes a huge amount of effort. When the job search is unexpected, or goes longer than you originally thought it would, you can definitely begin feeling the stress. Some people even feel like finding a new job…
By Valarie Swayze, Senior Editor “You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.” -Stephen Covey Optimizing Your Time: 8…
By Kate Kosturski, MLSIS, Canada and International INALJ Volunteer Coordinator Fun for all that librarians call their favorite time of year! (Now you have the song from A Charlie Brown Christmas stuck in your head. Sorry about that. Okay, maybe not ) Much like the Golden Globes kick off the film awards season, January…
by R.C. Miessler, former Head Editor, INALJ Indiana previously published 2/13/14 7 Great Sites for Academic Librarians Whether you are currently employed by an academic library or are looking for a career in one, keeping up to date on the fun, exciting, and soul-crushing world of higher education is of vital import. It’s pretty easy…
by Caitlin Moen, former Head Editor, INALJ Louisiana previously published 2/13/14 Is Honesty Really the Best Policy in Interviews? I’ve been thinking a lot about HOW honest to be in a job interview or in a conversation with someone who is a possible contact for an opportunity. This came up recently for me as I…
by Aimee Graham, former Head Editor, INALJ New York State previously published 3/24/14 Debunking 10 Librarian Misconceptions Whether I have physically been in a library, running errands, talking to family and friends, or during social events I have been presented with a similar series of questions when I inform others that I am a librarian.…
by Kate Kosturski, Senior Editor and Volunteer Coordinator previously published 3/31/14 The Key to Your New Job is You: Self-Care During the Job Hunt While your resume/CV, cover letter, and other professional presence are vital to landing your new job, don’t overlook another key component of the puzzle: you. All those documents I mentioned above…
by Fallon Bleich, Senior Assistant, INALJ Arkansas previously published 3/12/14 Why Frozen’s “Let it Go” is the Perfect Job Hunting Anthem I’m obsessed with all things Disney. I’ve been to Disney World five times and Disney Land once; I’ve seen every film at least twice; and I collect both the pins and the Vinylmations. I love me…
by Alexis Rohlfing, former Head Editor, INALJ New Hampshire previously published 2/19/14 Making Peace with the 24 hour day – taking the good, the bad, and the haggis I don’t know about you, but from time to time, I find myself suddenly faced with a time deficit. The 24 hours a day that used to do…
by Leigh Milligan, Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania previously published 2/21/14 Ten Conference Tips for a First Timer Last weekend, I went to my first big library conference, ALA Mid-Winter in Philadelphia, PA. I was very nervous and jittery going into this conference. It was my first conference, and I went by myself since my other librarian friends had…
by Kristen Jaques, former Head Editor, INALJ Maine previously published 1/16/14 The Art of Finding Room to Grow in Your Current Job While those of us who currently have jobs in or related to our field are fortunate, many underemployed librarians and information professionals will tell you that this can be a mixed blessing. Harsh…
by Joe Hudak, MLIS previously published 1/13/14 Translating Non-Library Skills to a Library-Directed Résumé It’s easier to get a job as a professional librarian if you’re already working in a library. But it’s not always easy to get a job in a library if you’ve never worked in one before. One way to improve your…