Interviews, Success Stories

David del Norte …Success Story

This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions

My interview with success story David

Naomi: How did you find your current job?
David: Through volunteer work at the library, I had made myself known as a dedicated librarian impartial to disengaged staff, patrons, or scholars. After two applications for different positions, about 40-50 hours of volunteer work for the Special Collections and the Info Zone at Rawlings public library, and a lot of searching outside of my area: I finally earned Circulation Clerk II at Lamb branch library in Pueblo.

Naomi: Favorite library you have been to?
David: Santa Fe Public Library in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Naomi: Favorite book?
David: Frankenstein, the modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly

Naomi: Favorite thing about libraries/ library technology?
David: Reading print copies and abolishing all user devices except card catalog kiosks. The return of the reading library is eminent.

Naomi: Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?
David: www.hyperdictionary.com
www.steelworks.us
www.santafelibrary.org
www.pueblolibrary.org
www.yourworldoftext.com/home/

Naomi: Best piece of job hunting advice?
David: Be professional, engaged, and prepared to teach patrons. Prove this to interviewers by treating them like you would an engaged and knowledgeable patron. NEVER call a patron a customer, and NEVER consider a patron more or less than equal. Also, humor is the best way to humble even the grumpiest of souls. Smile.

My name is David del Norte. I have worked for libraries throughout my college education and in all capacities of library science; from circulation, reference, special collection, archives, government documents, information commons and, most recently, recorded oral history management for Bessemer Historical Society and CF&I Archives. My first paid library employment is at Lamb Branch Library for Pueblo City-County library district. When not reading, working at libraries and archives, or riding skateboards and one-speed road bikes, I write poems, short stories, and love letters. In addition, I plan to start a master’s program in Sound Archives in the Fall of 2013.

 

Formerly entitled David del Norte …In Six and published on 6/26/12

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. 

Tags: