Interviews, Success Stories

Gretchen Hendrick …In Six

My interview with INALJ success story, Gretchen


Naomi: How did you find your current job?
Gretchen: I found it on the INALJ daily list, and since its close to where I already am I thought it might be worth checking out. I saw that the job description was a combination of all my career experiences, so I applied and about 3 weeks later they hired me!

Naomi: Favorite library you have been to?
Gretchen: I am rather partial to the one I’ve been working at…Spring Arbor University White Library.

Naomi: Favorite book?
Gretchen: The Bloody Jack Adventure Series, and Fahrenheit 451

Naomi: Favorite thing about libraries/ library technology?
Gretchen: The fact that they are continuously evolving and making a positive difference in the world of learning.

Naomi: Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?
Gretchen: I like Slate’s feed on Twitter just because I find their stories interesting. 🙂

Naomi: Best piece of job hunting advice?
Gretchen: Remember that you have a lot to offer, and don’t let a lack of interviews get you down. Everyone belongs somewhere!

I’ve been working to learn more about libraries since I did a job shadow at a public library in high school and loved it. I have nearly finished my MLIS and will be done in the middle of August. My hobbies include bike riding, kayaking (whenever I can), reading, and playing with my dog. I have been working in an academic library for the past 5 years as a student and then as staff once I started graduate school. In grad school I focused primarily on academic libraries and reference services, but oddly enough I have just accepted a position in acquisitions. My new job will be a combination of all of the library experience I have had and I look forward to starting this new adventure. :o)

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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