Four questions to ask before applying to a for-profit university library job by Rebekah Kati, Senior Assistant, INALJ North Carolina Libraries at for-profit universities are pretty mysterious. For-profit universities have libraries and some employ MLS-holding librarians, but accounts of for-profit librarianship are scarce. I spent four years working as a librarian at a large,…
Staying in Touch: Moving On Doesn’t Have To Mean Cutting Ties by Cassidy Charles, Senior Assistant, INALJ NYC Staying in contact with someone after a move or a transition is rough. You go from seeing them on a regular basis or communicating regularly to not seeing them as much and infrequent talks. You get…
Prepping for ALA Annual 2015: A Job Seeker’s Perspective by Oscar Giurcovich, Senior Editor About 2 weeks before I wrote this blog post, I received an email from ALA asking me to confirm my hotel reservation for Annual in June. “Why are they sending this out so early?” I thought to myself. I then glanced…
7 Tips for Moving Past Job Search Rejection by Erin Kinney, Senior Assistant, INALJ Wyoming There are several strategies for coping with rejection of any kind, not just during the job hunt. Rejection on the job hunt has been covered on INALJ, but a refresher is always good. Process Your Emotions It is natural to feel angry…
Off the Beaten Path: a Blueprint for LIS Career Moves Q&A with Dr. Sandra Hirsh by Alison Peters, INALJ Contributor As a San José State University iSchool student, I’d heard of Dr. Sandra Hirsh, iSchool Director, and her many, many accomplishments, projects and accolades. But I was not expecting to speak with such a happy,…
Taking Chances and Blooming Where You are Planted by Heidi Greathouse, Senior Assistant, INALJ New Mexico So, you may be in a situation in which you haven’t found your dream library job yet or even a library job at all and still are looking. You may be in library school and will be graduating…
Librarian Certification and Good Vibrations by Rose Noel, Senior Assistant, INALJ Kentucky I felt the vibrations as I entered the library. There was a new energy pulsing through the beautiful, but normally serene public library building. I wondered as I stuffed my purse into a spare employee locker whether I had forgotten a particularly grand…
Resume Missteps & Solutions by Amy Steinbauer, Senior Assistant, INALJ California The job search is a messy, complicated game of employment. It can seem like all of the hiring factors are out of your control. You get excited at job ads and prospects, send your resume and cover letter in, and wait, and wait, and wait.…
Tips for Boosting Your Presence in the LIS Community by Angie Solis, Senior Editor Being a part of the INALJ team means that I’m surrounded by many amazing people who rock my world every day with their knowledge and ability to be superstars in the LIS community. Seriously, it’s like I know celebrities. I find…
Ask a Special Librarian – March Edition Tracy Z. Maleeff Library Resources Manager at Duane Morris LLP in Philadelphia @LibrarySherpa & LibrarySherpa.com Spring cleaning time is almost upon us. It’s a good way to clear out some cobwebs, air some things out and just prepare for a new season of your life. Yes, I’m…
Why Running Makes Me A Better Librarian by Alphild Dick, Senior Editor I’m not fast. I don’t wear a GPS watch. I don’t track my mileage on MapMyRun and I usually wear my old winter reading sweatshirts on cold runs rather than the high tech gear my family buys me for the holidays. But I…
Techniques, books, and e-books for the young, unengaged reader Melodi Pulliam, Senior Assistant, INALJ Kentucky I would like to tell you all a little story. My son has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and I am sure we all know someone (or know someone who knows someone) who has a child that has been diagnosed with…
5 Ways to Take Control of Your Job Search by Brad McNally, Senior Editor A job search is an extremely large undertaking. It is easy to let it get out of control and become overwhelming. Recently, a friend of mine was in a show (The Art of Acting Out) about a young man that…
Tips for a successful internship or practicum by Gabrielle Spiers, Senior Editor As a former intern who did a practicum during library school I have experience from the the LIS student perspective. I know my LIS program is far from the only one to require a practicum. Additionally, I currently run an internship program…
5 Strategies for Dealing with Problem Behavior by Ruth Harries, Senior Assistant, INALJ Kansas I’ve worked in public services for the past seven years, and my experience has been that the majority of transactions with patrons are emotionally neutral. Truly memorable experiences with patrons – whether good or bad – are rarer, but they…
You Are Not an Imposter! By Lisa Iannucci, Senior Editor I recently assumed increased hours and responsibilities at one of my part-time jobs–reason to celebrate, right? But after sitting down at my desk on day one of my new schedule, I felt nothing but dread. Reading through my email and daily schedule, I immediately felt my…
On celebrating all victories in the job hunt by Mary-Michelle Moore, Senior Editor One of the greatest things about volunteering as a senior editor for INALJ is the opportunity to see and work with people who have found jobs/internships/volunteer opportunities using our site. My favorite INALJ articles to read and to write are the success…
The Telephone Interview: Why am I so Nervous?! by Natalie Kahn Last week I had my first telephone interview for a university librarian position. This was a brief, first-round interview that covered the basics listed in the job description, and I appreciated the lack of curve ball questions. I was surprised by my nervousness…
Hello! My name is Heidi Greathouse and…I’m a cataloger! by Heidi Greathouse, Senior Assistant, INALJ New Mexico You may be thinking, “cataloging is a dying field!…or “there are still catalogers?” My reply “Yes, there are catalogers and they are more essential than ever!” I am not going to tell you why cataloging is important…
And Now For Something Completely Different by Josh Rimmer, Senior Editor For my first blog post of the year, I decided to change things up a bit. Instead of writing the obligatory advice piece; maybe create a list of web resources or grind my gears to rehash an older topic and attempt a new…
What to do when you are #ALAleftbehind by Leigh Milligan, Senior Editor Unfortunately, I rarely get to go to ALA conferences, unless it’s local in or near Philadelphia. I currently don’t work in a library so my employer will not pay for it and I have yet to receive funding from different conference sponsorship…
Speed Mentoring: Why all the Rush? by Kate Kosturski, Senior Editor and Volunteer Coordinator The 2015 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting was quite an adventure – and this is outside of travel woes leaving Chicago, the Super Bowl, and the inevitable post-conference crud. One adventure I participated in for the second time of late was…
7 Tips for Getting to Know Your New Community by Annice Sevett, Senior Assistant, INALJ Minnesota Like many of us in our profession, I moved to a new town for my first and current library job. As the new Adult Services Librarian, I was faced with the task of getting to know this new…
5 Tips for Handling Bad News at Work by Brad McNally, Senior Editor It’s a difficult topic to deal with, but bad news does sometimes come out in the workplace. In any job, this is a possibility. Many in the library world have felt the effects of budget cuts, for example. While no one…
Why do you want to be a librarian? by Cassidy Charles, Senior Assistant, INALJ NYC The question comes up in graduate school orientation, conference happy hours, professional development workshops, and job interviews: Why do you want to be a librarian? The answer can be as simple or complex as you want to make it.…