by Renee Holden, former Head Editor, INALJ Nebraska previously published 10/15/13 Zombies! They’re Coming for You! With Halloween just around the corner, and since zombies have replaced vampires as all the rage, I thought that some of my library’s most popular zombie reads would get everyone in the mood for the walking dead on Halloween.…
by Jennifer Devine, Senior Assistant, INALJ Maryland Happy Halloween: 10 Top Scary Reads this Halloween In the month of October Libraries, Archives, Museums decorate and prepare for Halloween with books for the season. Children grow up understanding Halloween is a day you dress up in a costume and collect candy from neighbors by trick or treating or…
by Veda Darby Soberman, former Head Editor, INALJ Hawaii previously published 8/7/13 Response to Rejection: A Networking Opportunity All job seekers will have been rejected for a position or two…or many. Those letters, phone calls or emails can each feel like a stab in the heart of to one’s hopes and dreams, but it doesn’t…
by Sarah Roark Schott, former Head Editor, INALJ Arizona previously published 6/18/13 Do You Have Business Cards? Like many of the new archivists I know, I am a contract project archivist. This means I am only guaranteed two years of work at the institution I work with right now, not an employee who is expected…
by Diana La Femina, Senior Editor, INALJ Canada previously published 5/16/13 5 Right Questions for an Informational Interview I can’t remember how I first heard about informational interviews, but I now believe them to be one of the most powerful and underutilized tools in any professional’s repertoire. (And by “professional” I mean anyone who’s serious…
by Christina Wilson, Senior Assistant, INALJ Canada previously published 7/15/13 Boldly Go “Speed Networking” and Beyond …. Embarking on a job search has given me courage to boldly go where I’d never think to go before. On a Wednesday night in early June, this quest took me to my first ever speed networking event. Organized…
by Jennifer Crutchfield, former Head Editor, INALJ Connecticutpreviously published 10/31/13 Where are the Books? A Cruise Ship Library Recently, I went on a week-long cruise to Bermuda. One of the first places we visited was the library. I was excited to see what the library looked like. The room was beautiful with comfortable seating. I…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions by Ta-Shirè Tribbett, Assistant for INALJ DC Meet LeoNard Thompson, Manager of Adult Information Services for DC Public Libraries I first encountered LeoNard Thompson through a retweet on my Twitter page. When I realized he…
by Jennifer Reisch, Senior Assistant, INALJ NYC Are You Cultivating Executive Presence? Have you ever been passed over for a promotion you know you should have gotten? Ever had a great idea or important feedback that was discounted without any consideration whatsoever? Been in a competition where you performed flawlessly but still were passed over for top awards? You…
by Mary-Michelle Moore, Senior Editor, INALJ California, DC, and Illinois What to do while you’re waiting – Library Assistant edition Congratulations! You’ve done it – you sent off a beautifully researched, proof-read, edited and complete application packet to your latest dream job listing. Now what? Well if you’re like me and many of my colleagues, you still have…
by Cassidy Charles, Senior Assistant, INALJ NYC Decoding the Job Posting As a senior assistant with I Need A Library Job I read through a lot of job posting every week. There is an art to writing a job posting and it is fascinating to read through the different ways similar jobs can be pitched – albeit…
by Naomi House, MLIS What Do You Support Beyond Libraries? Librarians are often passionate advocates in the LIS world, for their patrons, for their jobs, for the field as a whole. The advocacy I have seen in person and in social media has been impressive. But we are passionate about more than just the work…
by Amelia Zavala Vander Heide ,Senior Editor, INALJ Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virtual Work Teen Read Week: Learning to Love YA Lit This year Teen Read Week, October 12th-18th, will be celebrated in libraries across the country. You might be currently working in a public library, you might be interested in youth services and teen librarianship, or maybe…
by Leigh Milligan, Senior Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee Positivity and Leadership through Tweet Chats So a few months ago, Naomi announced that she would be starting #INALJchat. I did not really know what this would entail, as I never did a tweet chat before or spend much time on…
by Josh Rimmer, Senior Editor, INALJ Missouri, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana How to Tread the Waters of Uncertain Job Prospects to Stay Afloat and Keep Your Head Above Water. No matter the amount of articles written about job hunting, or the amount you have personally read. The job hunt affects all of us differently,…
by Valarie Swayze, Senior Editor, INALJ Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware Ask the Teens! Five Resources to Help Build a Teen Advisory Board The library offers a unique experience to each member of the community. Similarly, each member of the community can offer a special contribution to the library. Teens are a talented group…
by Rebekah Kati, Senior Assistant, INALJ North Carolina Dealing with Rejection During the Job Search One of the few certainties in the job hunt is that you will receive a rejection letter. Or two. Or hundreds. These polite but ultimately vague missives can be discouraging to even the most seasoned job hunter. As the rejection letters pile…
by Naomi House, MLIS INALJ Turns 4 Today! This year I just want to say Thanks! We have no way of accurately knowing exactly how many people we have helped find jobs. We know it is significantly more than the 1500 we count but the job hunting process is stressful and often times job hunters…
by Naomi House, MLIS The Very 1st INALJ Jobs List On October 16th, 2010 I emailed a bunch of my Rutgers classmates about sharing jobs with each other. I decided on a listserv format and wanted to share with you the very first email I ever sent of jobs, sent October 18, 2010 at 10:14am…
by Naomi Gonzales, Senior Assistant, INALJ Virginia 5 Tips to Surviving (Institutional) Change Recently, the institution I’m affiliated with underwent some organizational changes. It was a difficult few months for me, but I learned some valuable things along the way. The following are some survival tips for those of you dealing with a difficult work situation: 1)…
by Clayton Hayes, Senior Assistant, INALJ North Dakota Keeping your library skills cultivated outside of the library The job search can be a long and drawn-out process, and for many it begins as soon as they settle into a new position. A large part of the job search process is identifying and maintaining important professional skills. For…
by Marian Mays, Former Senior Editor, INALJ UK, Nunavut, Yukon, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island Librarians, Technological Literacy, and Those Who Get Left Behind The common person would assume that all librarians are extremely tech-savvy. Sadly, this isn’t always the case. This weekend, I attended the Montana Library Association’s Annual Fall Workshops. While there, I…
by Rebecca Kluberdanz, Senior Editor, INALJ Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Wyoming To Intern or Not to Intern… As a graduate school student I’m always hearing about new internships becoming available, peers that are working internships, how valuable internships are for your resume and so on and so on. When I first started my program I was working in a…
by Erin Kinney, Senior Assistant, INALJ Wyoming Don’t Be Afraid to Relocate My husband and I are both originally from San Diego. He grew up in Nebraska, and I spent time in the Four Corners area of Colorado. We wanted to get back to that general area after graduating from library school in Florida, so we targeted…
by Kate Kosturski, Senior Editor, INALJ Ontario and INALJ Quebec Let’s Get Digital (Humanities) When one often thinks of research in the humanities, the following quote from Friends comes to mind: Joey: What the hell does a paleontologist need a beeper for? Monica: Is it, like, for dinosaur emergencies? “Help! Come quick, they’re still extinct!” In other words, the…
by Stephanie Noell, Senior Assistant, INALJ Texas Maintaining balance in your everyday life I don’t know about you, but I have a tendency of getting so wrapped up in my work that I forget to disconnect. I often forget to take a step back and go do something else to get my mind off of…
by Diana La Femina, Senior Editor, INALJ Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta Make Sure You Look the Part Appearance matters, whether you want it to or not. But it’s not so much how you look as it is how you present yourself. Anyone who knows me personally can tell you…
by Whitney Zahar, Senior Assistant, INALJ Pennsylvania Librarians Against Bullying! First, I want to open with a little personal story. During my elementary and middle school years back in the 80’s and 90’s, I was bullied frequently by my classmates. It was mostly emotional and psychological bullying; I was teased, ostracized, and manipulated for nearly 7 years. I’ll…
by Suzanne Schultz Pick, Senior Assistant, INALJ UK Teaching in our UK School Libraries We all know that libraries in schools are important for students, but do we really know how to use them effectively? Sometimes the school libraries are run by Teaching Assistants, or a teacher who if manning the library shelves half the time while working…
by Sandra Hoyer, former Head Editor, INALJ Washington preciously published 7/11/13 For the Love of Volunteers and Unpaid Interns Volunteers and unpaid interns are one of the greatest resources that businesses, organizations, and federal agencies can have; including libraries. These unpaid warriors are even more critical as institutions face dwindling budgets and shrinking staffs. One…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions by Elena Bubelich, former Senior Assistant, INALJ Quebec Interview with Olga Statnaia, Quebec Public Librarian In this blog post I would like to continue to share experience of job search of some graduates of MLIS programs in…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions By Kasia Piasecka, Senior Assistant, INALJ Rhode Island Deep in Archives: Interview with Archivist, Christy Tomecek Kasia: How did you find your current job? Do you have any job hunting advice for INALJ readers? Christy:…
by Lisa Iannucci, Senior Assistant, INALJ New Jersey A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That When I first received my M.L.I.S. degree, I was dead set on a full-time position in the archives field. The Great Recession seemed to be abating, and the jobs numbers were on an upswing. However, New Jersey, where I make…
by Emma Pinault, Senior Editor, INALJ Florida, INALJ Idaho, INALJ Indiana, INALJ Iowa, INALJ Kansas, INALJ Georgia, INALJ Hawaii Connecting with potential library users A long-standing and frustrating question for libraries everywhere is how to draw in potential library users. Often, many of the people in a community who would benefit greatly from library services are…
Making an Impression: what to read this weekendby Naomi House, MLIS previously published 6/15/13 – I added 2 more on 10/3/14 Making an Impression: what to read this weekend Too often in the job hunt we reach a point where we are frustrated with the process and start becoming demanding and uncooperative. We forget to…
by Alexandra Janvey, former Head Editor, INALJ Iowa previously published 12/10/13 10 Great Art Apps Art Swipe by Jody Zellen Price: Free An app developed by artist Jody Zellen and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to coincide with the exhibition “In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the…
Another fantastic month! 8 million page views in total! What a great month! Another fantastic September! Our busiest day in September was 21,344 views on 9/8, and the busiest week with 116,451 views, and our 5th busiest month EVER at INALJ.com with 488,856 views! We also hit 8 million page views in total. Fantastic! Also some big news,…