by Alexis Rohlfing, Head Editor, INALJ New Hampshire Spring Clean your Resume Spring has finally sprung! With it, we all have our spring rituals—going back outside every day without being bundled, spring vacation, cookouts, and spring cleaning. Spring cleaning is probably the least favorite, at least for those who have to do most of it, but it is…
by Jennifer Devine, Head Editor, INALJ Maryland To Business Card or Not to Business Card With the Spring Conference season upon us I have been contemplating the relevance of business cards. In this world of technology you no longer have to write a phone number down on a piece of paper to remember it. You can easily…
by Naomi House, MLIS 5 Million page views!!! Today at Noon Central time we hit the 5,000,000 page view mark! We have had a remarkable month hitting new ‘bests’: best day ever, best week ever, best month ever and now also hitting 5 million before the end of the month. I want to thank all…
by Naomi House, MLIS We Built a Community! Presenting at the 5th annual OCLC EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Regional Conference, in Cape Town, South Africa, Feb. 24, 2014 “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.” –African proverb ***** It was my pleasure to present…
by Naomi House, MLIS Every night during dinner my husband and I watch Seinfeld. There is an episode (the one where Elaine dances) in which she makes a toast. “Here’s to those who wish us well, and those who don’t can go to hell” Job hunting can be a very stressful time, especially for the…
by Suzanne Schultz Pick, Head Editor, INALJ UK Academic Library Job Applications – What to Expect in the UK Many library jobs are posted through universities or colleges in the UK. Many of these jobs require applications rather than a CV/resume submission. So how can we make sure that our applications stand out? Let’s look at what the…
by Clayton Hayes, Head Editor, INALJ North Dakota Combating satisficing through relevance: Facebook, Reddit, and beyond The increased availability of information online has presented information seekers with an often overwhelming array of sources to choose from. This (along with other factors) has led to a growing concern in the academic world with satisficing. Satisficing, put briefly, is the…
by Julie Watson, former Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania previously published 6/11/13 Soft Skills = Success: 5 Ways to Manage Your Emotions During the Job Hunt This is the fourth in a series of articles on soft skills. Job hunting is a stressful time – the effort you put into applications, the uncertainty of not-knowing when/if…
by Sarah Roark Schott, Head Editor, INALJ Arizona Interested in Applying for that Job in Tucson? 8 reasons you should consider relocating Have you been checking out different states on the INALJ job boards lately? Thinking about moving somewhere new? Have you considered Tucson, Arizona? With over 20 public library branches, a bunch of museums, the largest public…
by Sandra Hoyer, former Head Editor, INALJ Washington previously published 5/9/13 9 Ways to Brand Yourself: A Few Thoughts on Personal Branding and Standing Out Having survived the last year in the Washington, D.C. area in a large library, I spent much of that time absorbing and writing down what makes people successful in the…
by R.C. Miessler, Head Editor, INALJ Indiana previously published 3/5/13 Applying for jobs isn’t fun Applying for jobs isn’t fun. Everyone has advice to give that supersedes what everyone else has to say about finding a job. And there’s the stress of filling out applications and waiting. And then, even worse than the “We’re Sorry”…
by Alexis Rohlfing, Head Editor, INALJ New Hampshire previously published 5/21/13 Elevating your Elevator Speech We’ve all been told, at one time or another, that we need to perfect our elevator speech. The very name makes you think of something out of Mad Men– a chance encounter that leads to a pitch that leads to…
by Sheela Sur, former Head Editor, INALJ Washington, DC previously published on 3/25/13 The Importance of Saying Yes: My Job Hunt Story After our first round of INALJ Head Editor articles were posted, I believe Kristen Jaques’s (INALJ Maine Head Editor) “What I Learned During My Two and a Half Years on the Job Market”…
by John Jay Miller, librarian Zen and the Art of Unemployment-or-Catcher in the Wry February 3, 2014 Dear reader: “I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man”. It is 2:00AM on a Tuesday and I am unemployed. I have applied for over 70 jobs and remain unemployed after…
In order to better reflect how LIS folk currently feel I am removing all interviews that are more than 1 year old. This interview may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions, so it has been harvested to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine (see link below) and removed from INALJ. All…
by Christina Wilson, Head Editor of INALJ Alberta and INALJ Manitoba Why Big Data Matters to Libraries Earlier this week I attended a lecture at Red Deer College as part of their “Perspectives on the World” series. I was invited to represent Red Deer Public Library, a co-sponsor of the series. The topic was “Big Data” and the engaging…
by Naomi House, MLIS We Built a Community (on the rocky sea) Community building can happen at unexpected times and in unexpected ways. I was a breakout speaker at OCLC EMEA‘s regional conference in Cape Town, South Africa on February 24. I was speaking in a session called “We Built a Community” and the day…
Update! Sold!!! Hi Everyone, My house is on the market (or will be later today) and we would love to sell it to you. It is located in MidCity in New Orleans and is a 1924 Craftsman style kit house with glass door knobs. We converted it from a double to a single. 3 beds…
by R.C. Miessler, Head Editor, INALJ Indiana Low-Cost Emerging Tech Tools for Librarians Emerging technologies are inseparable from librarianship, especially when it comes to instruction and reference in an academic library. Sometimes acquiring certain tools can be difficult due to their expense; thankfully, there are lots of free and low-cost tools that librarians can use to…
by Elinor Crosby, Head Editor, INALJ Nova Scotia The Union and You: A Primer Most library jobs are unionized. What does this mean for the library job seeker? It certainly seems like it can make the job search harder in an already unforgiving economy. However, there are definite perks to landing a union job. Now, some people are…
by Julie Watson, former Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania Soft Skills = Success: Self-Awareness This is the second in a series of articles on soft skills. Employers are looking for soft skills in their in prospective employees and having these skills often makes the difference between who can do a job and who gets a job. Since…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions Naomi House’s interview with Kate of ArchivesNext formerly entitled Kate Theimer …In Six and published on 2/13/12 Naomi: What blogs should we be reading? Kate: Well, mine of course (http://archivesnext.com )! I’m sure your readers…
by Ashley Crace, former Head Editor, INALJ West Virginia On Being a Good Mentee A mentor’s expertise is priceless. During graduate school, your job search, or your first years as a librarian or information professional a mentor can provide vital guidance and support. Mentors may be found among professors, internship or volunteer supervisors, colleagues, and…
by Rebecca Crago, former Head Editor, INALJ Virginia Professional Advancement for Shallow Pockets In the LIS field there is a huge emphasis on professional advancement, but the cost of doing so can be a barrier for many of us. Workshops and conferences are not cheap; they often require travel, registration and supplies costs. In many…
What: #inaljchat Where: Twitter.com When: Mondays at 9-10:30pm EDT (last Monday of the month is Noon EDT and international focus)- all four Qs asked each hr so our west coast and further fans can participate Why: Crowd-sourcing the best of the web from the best on the web (ie: librarians) on job hunting topics How:…