David McBee …In Six

My interview with success story, David

Naomi: How did you find your current job?
David: I was regularly checking USAjobs and I also saw the job in the INALJ daily listing. I definitely found it useful to check both of those resources as well as Indeed.com to see available jobs.

Naomi: Favorite library you have been to?
David: The Tretter Collection at the University of St. Paul. They have built underground storage facilities to archive materials. The storage facilities are large enough to hold two aircraft carriers.

Naomi: Favorite book?
David: So hard to choose – so many good books. What comes to mind is Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. It was a great read – I laughed out loud and also cried.

Naomi: Favorite thing about libraries/ library technology?
David: The ability of finding what the patron wants using technology, networking with other librarians and sometimes a lot of determination.

Naomi: Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?
David: Government Info Pro is great. I recently rediscovered the Internet Public Library –www.ipl.org

Naomi: Best piece of job hunting advice?
David: Apply for every job that interests you. Put your best foot forward, be honest and play to your strengths. Also have a clear idea in mind of what you want – location, minimum salary, environment etc.

I have always explained that I fell into being a librarian. I went to work for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the library. Initially I checked in serials and opened the mail. My abilities led to my becoming the Cataloger and I began working with the library’s databases and built our first OPAC. Eventually I enrolled at University of Maryland and completed my MLS in 2000.

I have worked in all areas of librarianship – Technical Services, Reference, Electronic Services Acquisitions and even some Administrative work. I have benefited from working with some very talented professionals who have taught me a lot.

This week I started as Command Librarian with the US Army Corps of Engineers where I will be working with Corps librarians around the country.

I live in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, DC and am active with church and community groups. I am still interested in film and theatre. I play piano and also play trombone with a local community band. Read meat http://www.librarybuzz.blogspot.com/

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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