by Jess Bruckner, Assistant Editor, INALJ Virginia The Condition in Which You Leave Your Library Position If you’re leaving a library position, the condition in which you leave your job has an impact. Before you move on, you should make a mental checklist of things that need to be done so the new person is on track…
by Fallon Bleich, Senior Assistant for and former Head Editor of, INALJ Arkansas previously published 3/18/13 4 Sites That Every Librarian Should Know and Show I’m a giant techie and love discovering new sites and sharing them. As a librarian in training, it is even more fun to share the findings with patrons. Below are…
by Veda Darby Soberman, former Head Editor, INALJ Hawaii previously published 11/6/13 Footloose and Fancy Freelancing If you are unemployed, underemployed, or just looking for a change, why not consider freelancing? A lot of the skills and knowledge of the information professional are sought after in the freelance market. Beyond the usual suspects of writer, editor,…
by Stephanie Leigh Taylor, former Head Editor, INALJ British Columbia previously published 8/1/13 How to Get Out of the Job Search Head-Space and Do Something Else with Your Time You’ve been clicking refresh on your email like you’re waiting for your Nigerian pen-pal to send you your millions. You’re checking your phone like someone’s having…
by Sean O’Brien, former Head Editor, INALJ Colorado previously published 10/10/13 4 Things to Keep in Mind during a Difficult Job Search I have been trying to avoid writing this sort of posting for some time, mostly because the other article authors have done a pretty good job discussing it. However, I know that the…
by Anastasia Chiu, MSLIS 5 Ways to Maximize Your Graduate Assistantship Experience ALA recently announced its new Opportunities Exchange search interface for the Financial Assistance for Library and Information Studies Directory, allowing library school students and applicants to find ways to fund their studies more easily. Many of the opportunities listed in FALIS are assistantships, either…
by Melody Townley, Educational Media Specialist Be Your Own Patron Recently, a student asked if she could interview me. Her class was in the process of completing a research project on careers. One question she asked me was, “Does your job involve problem solving?” I responded, “My job IS problem solving!” It got me thinking about…
by Ruth Kitchin Tillman, previous Head Editor, INALJ Maryland previously published 12/19/13 Why Job-Hunting Isn’t Like Dating Sometimes, the hunt for a job and for a date can seem awfully similar. You scan websites looking for good matches. You visit networking events hoping to meet someone who has similar interests to your own. You exchange…
by Sarah Dashow, Senior Assistant, INALJ Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nunavet & Yukon To co-op or not to co-op? I can’t say I know any statistics on how many people go through library school with little to no professional or working background in libraries or information science, but I do know that I am one of those people.…
by Naomi House, MLIS A Change You Might Not Even Notice Next week INALJ will undergo a significant change in its volunteer structure…and if I was not sharing this with you you might not even notice once it happened. That is intentional. The change is to lesson the time each volunteer spends on INALJ, while concentrating…
by Julie Watson, former Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania previously published on 10/29/13 The Art of Job Seeking It’s easy to feel stuck when you are job seeking in this economy. Try un-sticking yourself by tapping into your inner artist: Innovation – Artists think outside the box to overcome challenges and/or respond to opportunities. They don’t…
by Mary-Michelle Moore, Head Editor, INALJ California Creating or recreating your library network after a move Whether you’re just starting out in the library community or trying to make new connections after a recent move – trying to create a network from scratch can seem overwhelming. Happily, librarians are a sharing group so there is always someone you…
by Emma Pinault, Head Editor, INALJ Delaware Spreading the Word About Library Events Whatever educational or entertaining programs your library offers, it’s important to know how to get the word out. Whether you’re starting a book club, teaching a computer class, or inviting a local author to talk about a book, few things are as frustrating as planning an…
by Angie Solis, Head Editor, INALJ Missouri Acing the job interview – Personal and Professional Interview prep Part 2 of 4 Last time we talked about Pre-Interview Prep to be the best interviewee you can be. Now that we have mastered the skills to prepare for anything an interviewer is going to throw at you, it’s time…
by Clare Sobotka, Head Editor, INALJ Idaho Taking a Break and Leaving Town Recently I left home and work behind for ten days and traveled to another state for some family business. It wasn’t a vacation per se, but once I had left town I realized how badly I needed to get away for a while. I had…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions By Elena Bubelich, Head Editor, INALJ Quebec Mykola Krupko, Hospital Librarian In this blog post I would like to continue to share experience of job search of some graduates of MLIS programs in Quebec, Canada. In…
Valarie Swayze, Head Editor, INALJ Massachusetts Share Your Passion-Be a Library Advocate! One of the best qualities you can share during a job interview is your passion for what you do. Library advocacy is an ideal activity to demonstrate your knowledge and enthusiasm for your area of interest. Advocacy is a mutually beneficial endeavor as you help…
by Fallon Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas Small Talk at Conferences: How to Survive It I have major social anxiety and therefore going to ALA conferences can be a huge chore for me. It’s not that I don’t love seeing all my fellow librarians and learning awesome new things, it’s that I have to face the dragon known…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions by Rachael Altman, Head Editor, INALJ Illinois Meet Megan Ashley, School Librarian and INALJ Assistant Editor Favorite Library you have been to? I studied at Loyola University Chicago for my undergraduate degree, and spent a lot…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions by Rachael Altman, Head Editor, INALJ Illinois Meet Paula Pergament, Former Nonprofit Development Professional, Current MLIS Student and INALJ Illinois Assistant Editor Favorite Library you have been to? The British Library in London. My family and I…
6.5 million page views total! What a great month! The big news is June was our second busiest month ever! In addition our busiest day EVER was 23,893 views on 6/2, and our busiest week Ever was at 120,716 views, and our second busiest month EVER at INALJ.com with 496,126 views! June actually was a record month for average page views per day…
by Ryan Nitz, Head Editor, INALJ Alaska Maximize your effectiveness: Rein in overextending Aside from my career as a librarian, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time as a student of music. I’ve been fortunate to have worked with some brilliant pedagogues. One of the most important things I’ve learned on the journey so far is that overextending…
by Sheryl L. Christensen, Head Editor, INALJ California The Brilliance of Being Earnest – Job Search Edition The job search. I know, right? It is intimidating enough to make the strongest of us weep. A year out of my MLIS, about a “zillion” searches into the process, and I am at a point where I am speculating a…
by Lauren Bourdages, Head Editor, INALJ Ontario Online vs. F2F Programs: Why Employers Need to Stop Stereotyping Grads Based on Their School Lately I have seen a trend in the Hiring Librarians survey responses, a handful of hiring managers have, recently, stated in one way or another that they have a bias against students who have completed their library education…
George Hawtin, Head Editor, INALJ Saskatchewan Library hiring from the other side of the table In my misspent youth, I served on my hometown’s library board, where one of our duties was to hire a new chief librarian. Later, I served on the selection committee to hire my own replacements at the library board. I would dearly love…