Naomi House, Exploring New Opportunities and Open to Work!
Naomi House, MLIS
Autumn is here, and as the seasons shift I am ready and prepared to jump into something new. Really new. I am open to many types of work from traditional LIS (library and information science) and GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) jobs to related work in administrative management, talent acquisition and management, human resources, knowledge management, competitive intelligence, grants administration, compliance work, or beyond. In fact, on my site I keep a running list for job seekers of job titles called Keywords for Job Searching (on the left sidebar) and I see value in each and every one. I am open to and for work in multiple ways, so to speak.
- I am a founder, leader, and colleague who desires to work strategically in ways that make the world better, whether for one individual or a large organization.
- I am a lifelong library lover, always looking to learn, whether through reading or in conversation with others.
- I am an information worker with over 20 years experience including as a presenter, a writer, a job hunter for job hunters, a social media strategist, and CMO.
- I believe all of our work experience is potentially relevant experience.
- I endeavor to support information access to all, with a focus on disability access and global access to resources and conversations online.
I have lived in multiple U.S. states across 3 of our 6 time zones, as well as Budapest, Hungary, and I’ve traveled to and through all 50 U.S. states and 42 countries. I’ve leaned into the challenges of integrating into a number of very divergent cultures and communities. I believe these are important skills and capacities in the global economies.
In a few short weeks my webzine, INALJ (formerly I need a library job), turns 16 years old. I am proud of what I built, the teams I’ve assembled, and I appreciate that this combined labor and support has made INALJ successful by every metric that matters to me. Through this labor I’ve helped many thousands of information professionals find their jobs, while advocating for using our skills in non-traditional fields.
Happy to chat with any and all potential employers and recruiters. Please see my contact info on my linked resumés.
Over the years I’ve captured the spirit of the work done on INALJ with several key phrases / catchphrases and I’d like to share some of the “whys” behind them and how they represent my own work in and beyond INALJ, as well.
Finding and filling a need on the fly: My access services work on the front lines of libraries and information centers inspired this perspective. All work I do needs to be agile, and information management is central to this work. As an information professional spotting a data or knowledge gap in real time and building a solution immediately without waiting for top-down bureaucracy, is a valuable skill I bring to the table.
From the grassroots up: Through grassroots marketing, word of mouth and a real focus on exploring unconventional resources for job leads, INALJ grew from a subscription base of 20 friends to a website with over 500,000 visits in one month. This community-led growth carried into my work as CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of T160k and our outreach on social media, springboarding off of the fundraising work of librarians, and archivists around the rescued Timbuktu library manuscripts.
Well sourced quantity is quality: From the early days INALJ strove to expand job seekers opportunities by exposing them to job titles they might have self-selected out of. Yes, the decision to make a simple jobs list was strategic and led by the perspective that in using a database too many job seekers will not cast a wide enough net and miss key opportunities. After all, information skills are deeply valuable outside of traditional libraries.
INALJ, the nexus of information professionals and information potential: This represents the crucial intersection of trained human expertise and the problem of unverified and unorganized data. Information professionals (Info Pros) are the ultimate catalysts, turning vast pools of unstructured data into actionable knowledge, strategic intelligence, and innovation. Context is key for info pros. Which tool to use is often the bigger question.
In this season of my own job hunt this is my mantra: May every job seeker find their job. May I find a wonderful workplace to grow within. May this be the year we all hoped for, and may the changes that happen be swift and meaningful.
*My profile photo contains disability justice symbolism (the mask you see is the mask I wear in person in group settings) and I use #AltText as a way of making sure my images are understood by all. Additionally, you will note the frame around my profile photo is the colors of the Sudan and Palestine flags which are both red, white, black, and green. I stand in solidarity with any and all oppressed peoples and choose to wear this advocacy clearly, publicly, and without hesitation. May we choose to do what we can, each of us. May being better humans to each other matter more than anything. May our work enable and sustain these goals in big and small ways.
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