Interviews, Success Stories

Lauren Rasmussen …In Six

Reposted from 2/14/12

Naomi: How did you find your current job?
Lauren: Through the “I Need a Library Job” list. I checked it every day until I found a job I was qualified for and that would allow me to work in an archival environment. When I found the position, I didn’t hesitate. I applied immediately. Job openings are competitive these days, and you have to jump at a position if you want it.

Naomi: Favorite library you have been to?
Lauren: The national library in Athens, Greece. Not only do they have beautiful collections, but the architecture is breathtaking.

Naomi: Favorite book(s)?
Lauren: “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” by Salman Rushdie, and “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle. I love the classics, fantasy, historical fiction, and books that remind me of my childhood.

Naomi: Favorite thing about libraries/ library technology?
Lauren: The best thing about libraries is that you can always find multiple books you want to read. And they’re all free!

Naomi: Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?
Lauren: I’ll pop on Twitter and browse postings from #libday8, where librarians tweet sporadically about their workdays. It can be really funny, even informative. It’s a way to build a great sense of community.

Naomi: Best piece of job hunting advice?
Lauren: I know it’s cliché, but it’s true: persistence pays off. Be willing to make sacrifices to get your foot in the door. And network! Networking pays off a thousand fold in the end. The lead archivist I interviewed with happened to know the librarian I interned under last semester. Having her name on my resume gave the archivist and I a talking point and a connection.

My name is Lauren Rasmussen, and I’m from San Diego, CA. I recently interviewed for and started a position at the San Diego History Center working as their new student processor. I’ll be assisting in the creation of finding aids and organization of several of the library’s collections to help make them more accessible to the public.

I’m currently in my last semester in SJSU’s MLIS program. It wasn’t until I graduated from the University of San Diego in 2009 that I realized I wanted to be a librarian. I originally wanted to go into publishing, but after an internship at a literary agency, I discovered that the industry too business centered for me. When I graduate from SJSU, I hope to pursue a career in archives and preservation work.

Editors note: Lauren was promoted in July 2012!- Naomi

Naomi House

Naomi House, MLIS, is the founder and publisher of the popular webzine and jobs list INALJ.com (formerly I Need a Library Job) and former CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of T160K.org, a crowdfunding platform focused on African patrimony, heritage and cultural projects. INALJ was founded in October 2010 with the assistance of her fellow Rutgers classmate, Elizabeth Leonard. Its social media presence has grown to include Facebook (retired in 2016), Twitter and a LinkedIn group, in addition to the interviews, articles and jobs found on INALJ. INALJ has had over 21 Million page hits and helped many, many thousands of librarians find employment! 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. Naomi believes that well-sourced quantity is quality in this narrow job market and INALJ reflects this with many new jobs published daily. She has also written for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 LexisNexis Government Info Pro and many other publications in the past decade. She presents whenever she can, including serving on three panels at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Las Vegas; as breakout presenter at OCLC EMEA in Cape Town, South Africa; as a keynote speaker at the Virginia Library Association annual meeting; at the National Press Club in Washington DC; McGill University in Montreal, Canada; the University of the Emirates, Dubai, MLIS program and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Naomi was a Reference, Marketing and Acquisitions Librarian for a contractor at a federal library outside Washington, DC, and has been living and working in Budapest, Hungary and Western New York State. She spent years running her husband’s moving labor website, fixed and sold old houses and assisted her husband cooking delicious Pakistani food. She is preparing to re-enter the workforce and is job hunting. Her husband is now the co-editor of INALJ, a true support!  She has heard of spare time but hasn’t encountered it lately. She pronounces INALJ as eye-na-elle-jay. 

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