by Rachael Altman, Head Editor, INALJ Illinois Learn something new today: Listen to these 5 podcasts If you have a few minutes on your commute or lunch break, tune into one of these three fact-filled podcasts guaranteed to teach you something new. Whether you want to learn about fire breathing, woodworking, cognitive neuroscience and music, life without a refrigerator,…
by Aimee Graham, Head Editor, INALJ Georgia Addressing an Elephant: Active Shooter in the Library April 20, 1999 started off like any normal school day at the end of an academic year; students joked in the hallways, attended classes, seniors discussed plans for after graduation, and friends met in common spaces such as the cafeteria. Little did…
by Brad McNally, former Head Editor, INALJ Ohio “Thank You” Notes and Pronoun Use As an undergraduate student, I was extremely interested in Linguistics. I would have majored in it, but it wasn’t an option, so I majored in English and took every Linguistics course I could. This makes a person very aware of the…
by Fallon Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas Why color matters in Children’s Literature There’s been a lot of press lately on the lack of diversity in children’s lit. I, for one, am trying to become a champion behind that issue and work to get more diverse literature not only in libraries but also published…because if there is no…
by Jennifer Devine, Head Editor, INALJ Maryland Keeping up with your Career through Professional Development One of the great and frustrating things about being an Information Professional is that information is ALWAYS changing! Most of the information you gain from you Master’s Degree eventually will be outdated within a year or so of graduating, which is why we…
by Nicolas Resteiner, Head Editor, INALJ Mississippi 4 Things I Learned My First Year in Library School Come early May, I will finally have completed a year at the University of Arizona’s SIRLS program! While I was in school I worked first as a page, then as a library assistant. I also completed an internship with…
by Lisa Huntsha, Head Editor, INALJ Sweden previously published on 6/19/13 How Volunteering may actually be Hurting your Job Hunt If you’re job hunting, undoubtedly countless people have suggested that you spend some time volunteering. This can, of course, be beneficial for a several reasons: You can get your foot in the door at a…
by Naomi House, MLIS The “In” Crowd: Librarian Jobs Beyond the Library As a long time member of SLA and someone who got their start in a specialized library I have been aware my entire library career that ‘librarian’ was just one title LIS grads can have. One thing I want to emphasize is that…
by Sarah Porter, former Head Editor, INALJ California previously published 5/15/13 Search Smarter: becoming an information detective using advanced job searches One exciting aspect of volunteering as a head editor for INALJ is being an “information detective”: solving the mystery of where some of the hidden non-traditional LIS (Library and Information Science) jobs are and…
by Sara Dixon, Head Editor, INALJ Kansas previously published 9/25/13 4 Things to Do When the Job Wave Wanes Lately, it’s been a bit slow on the Kansas page. I’ve noticed that jobs seem to come in waves – sometimes they to pour in, and then it tapers down to slight sprinkling. So what’s there…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions By Ruth Lincoln, Head Editor, INALJ Washington, DC previously published 8/30/13 Why a High School Librarian is Still Excited to Return for Her 41st First Day of School It’s back-to-school time! As many of you…
by Naomi House, MLIS Letting Go of “Librarian” I love discussing INALJ’s scope and strategy for finding jobs with anyone and everyone I meet. Often those who are familiar with our INALJ Jobs pages are curious as to why we post more than just the traditional librarian jobs. Either they are unfamiliar with some of…
by Jill Olsen, former Head Editor, INALJ Nevada Previously published 8/26/13 Has Your Career Ladder Morphed into a Career Jungle Gym? I’m sure we have all heard and know about climbing the infamous career ladder. But times have changed and it’s a whole new world out there. Early in my career it felt like I…
by Alexis Rohlfing, Head Editor, INALJ New Hampshire previously published 2/26/13 Make mine a double tall non fat latte, with a librarian job on the side Whether you’re looking for your first library job or switching careers later in life, snagging that first (paying) library job is the brass ring that you hope for but…
by Naomi House, MLIS 7 (Must-Have) Tools for Your Job Hunting Kit Most of us already use tools in our job hunt but what we may not be doing is using them together. Tools are different from characteristics and attitudes because they are things that you use- not aspects of who you are. Especially where…
by Fallon Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas So You Want to Do A Poster Session? Going to conferences is probably one of the most fun things that I get to do as an information professional. At no other time do I get to be in a room/city with thousands of people who are just like me! However, the…
by Elinor Crosby, Head Editor, INALJ Nova Scotia previously published 6/10/13 So You Have Blue Hair Or maybe you have fully tattooed arms, or a labret or septum piercing or stretched ears. Can you still get a job looking the way that you prefer to look? I feel that the answer is a resounding yes.…
by Naomi House, MLIS The Less Trap: 8 Tips on Combating Doing the Same with Less Last May I was invited to speak at the National Press Club by LexisNexis. My passion for volunteer work and reality of staffing cuts at my workplace at the time were colliding. I spoke to the group about building versatility…
by Naomi House, MLIS EveryLibrary Needs our Help: details on how you can help We all have seen the headlines: libraries being cut. Librarians losing their jobs. It is heartbreaking not only to us as a profession but to our communities. That is where EveryLibrary comes in. it is the only national PAC devoted to…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions .Naomi House, MLIS’s interview with the founder of EveryLibrary, John Chrastka. EveryLibrary is the first and only national organization dedicated exclusively to political action at a local level to create, renew, and protect public funding…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions Naomi House, MLIS’s interview with Every Library’s Erica. EveryLibrary is the first and only national organization dedicated exclusively to political action at a local level to create, renew, and protect public funding for libraries of…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions Naomi House, MLIS’s interview with Patrick Sweeney of EveryLibrary. EveryLibrary is the first and only national organization dedicated exclusively to political action at a local level to create, renew, and protect public funding for libraries…
by Kasia Piasecka reposting from 1/26/12 and 3/28/12 Networking on LinkedIn: Informational Interviews vs. Librarianesque Stalking Personally, I enjoy meeting new people online in the interest of making new friends, business associates, tennis partners, pals to toss hackey sack, and yes, you guessed it, for the purpose of gaining knowledge from an informational interview. I…
by Cynthia Engle previously published on 11/9/11 Pity Party for One Recently, a friend asked for advice on how to go about finding a job in the city she just moved to- the same city that I have called home for the last three years. How exciting to be starting a brand new chapter in…
by Qraig De Groot previously published 12/5/12 Information (Mis)Management Please bear with me for a moment. I’m writing this column mere moments after applying for a job online. As has become the norm, I had to fill out a lengthy application with all the information that is already clearly highlighted on my résumé. But before…
by Nicole Usiondek, former Head Editor, INALJ Michigan previously published on 3/22/13 Changing Public Perception One Patron at a Time Libraries have worked hard to redefine themselves, and the public perception is the last lingering hurdle many libraries are facing. The perception of what a library is has made times bleak for some libraries, but…
Denise Peeler, Head Editor, INALJ West Virginia Don’t Quit Your Day Job Before I applied for grad school, I asked a professor in the department I wanted to join for an interview. He granted it to me. One thing he said during the interview was, “Don’t quit your day job.” I was in the early stages of…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions Anastasia Gould, Head Editor, INALJ Nunavut, INALJ Yukon, INALJ Northwest Territories Ulla de Stricker, on getting noticed Anastasia: What is your dream job and why? Ulla: Your question provokes reflection: If I were to imagine myself in any…
by Rachel Wightman, Assistant Editor, INALJ Washington previously published on 5/4/13 4 things I Learned About Library Service by Leaving the Country At the end of 2009, when I received my MLIS, the economy wasn’t great. But I started looking for and applying to jobs and was fairly optimistic. I had worked as a paraprofessional…
by Mychal Ludwig, Head Editor, INALJ New Mexico previously published on 4/4/13 Becoming Mnemonic: Sticking In Your Interviewers’ Minds Clearly, standing out in an interview is the goal of most job seekers. By this stage (the interview), it’s likely, though not certain, that all candidates match to some extent what the employers are looking for…
by Alexandra Janvey, Head Editor, INALJ Iowa The First Libraries Libraries developed shortly after the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, invented writing, which was around 3500 BC. Called cuneiform, this early form of writing involved engraving simple shapes onto clay tables. It was only natural that after societies began recording information, the need for storing and organizing that knowledge…
by Scottie Kapel, former Head Editor, INALJ Oregon previously published on 4/4/13 The Possimpible Those of you who watch How I Met Your Mother may recognize the title of this post from Barney Stinson’s video résumé. Beyond the possible, beyond the impossible is the possimpible. Even though the word is used for laughs in the…
Erin Wells, Head Editor, INALJ Oregon Negotiation 101 Recently a story has gone viral about a female professor having a job offer rescinded when she asked what many considered to be too much after a job offer had been made. There are always two sides to any story, but many people thought she asked too much when she tried…
by Aimee Graham, Head Editor, INALJ New York State Why Co-op Libraries Are the Greatest Gift to Your Career One of the most important questions I was asked during my time at the University at Albany in the MSIS program was “what type of library do you want to work for?” Not having much experience in the…
by Claire Schmieder, Head Editor, INALJ New Jersey Things You Should Never Say to a Job Hunter (and What to Say Instead) Just be satisfied with what you’ve got right now. You know who’s never satisfied with what they have right now? Driven, highly-successful people. In fact, the drive to learn more, to lead, and to innovate…
by Rebecca Tischler, Head Editor, INALJ Tennessee 5 Things That People Don’t Realize their Librarians Do Many people still have the stereotypical image of a librarian stuck in their head: an older kind of frumpy woman wearing glasses on a chain, her hair up in a bun, shushing people with one hand while stamping books with…
by Amelia Zavala Vander Heide, Head Editor, INALJ NYC Job Hunting 300 Miles Away In my last semester of library school I seemed to hear over and over again that I should be applying for jobs. The application process can be so arduous and time-consuming that it is best to start early, but I had a problem. I…
by Bradley Woodruff, Head Editor, INALJ Wisconsin But what if the interviewer asks me a question about myself? Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it. Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure. Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it? How do you…
by Leigh Milligan, Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania Confidence Goes a Long Way Once upon a time back in 2011, I graduated library school. I was getting called into interviews left and right. I had been volunteering at a public library and had many great skills and qualifications to share. But it never got back the interview stage. I…
by Grey Maixner, Head Editor, INALJ Vermont Keep On Keeping On: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Job Hunt As we all know, it’s never fun to be without a job. Even when we do have one, if it’s not the one we want, or the one we imagined all those years…