by Christina Wilson, Head Editor, INALJ Alberta Celebrate! Commemorate! And Tell the Story Well! I moved to Alberta in 2007 to take on a position as Emerging Technologies Librarian for The Alberta Library, a consortium serving all libraries in the province. As it turned out, it was a significant year to be working for Alberta’s…
by Tiffany Newton, Head Editor, INALJ Missouri Are Librarians Taking over the World? Libraries are everywhere. I can’t think of one town that doesn’t have at the very least a public library. Schools also have libraries, colleges and universities have libraries, organizations like law firms and zoos have libraries. Hospitals have libraries; there are libraries…
by Kathleen Kosiec Finding the Right Library Job Is Kind of Like Dating Ok, I can’t take credit for this analogy, but if you really think about it, isn’t finding the right library job a lot like dating? Let me count the ways. Searching and applying for jobs (Flirting) Ahh, the fun stage. You’re searching…
by Nena Schvaneveldt, Head Editor, INALJ Utah Other Benefits of Volunteering When I was 14, I started volunteering at a local hospital. My parents wanted me to get experience and give back, as well as help my college applications stand out. For several years, I volunteered in order to get something in return. Even in…
by Sarah Deringer, Head Editor, INALJ Mississippi Designing Your Web: Learning HTML, CSS, XHTML, and More Read many job descriptions these days, and you might find certain skills needed that include being able to design websites using HTML, CSS, XHTML, Javascript, PHP, MySQL, and a number of other coding languages. You may have had some…
by Roselle Pendergast, Head Editor, INALJ Minnesota How to Make Yourself More Valuable by Being Self-Aware “If you want to be more valuable to the organization, know who you are. Self-awareness breeds people who are more easily managed.” There are many different ways to become more valuable, such as taking classes on the side to…
by Caitlin Moen, Head Editor, INALJ Louisiana My Working Soundtrack I have a hard time working in silence at home, which is important to know, since I work full time from home. So I’ve worked to find some specific artists that strike the right balance for a work soundtrack for me to have going while…
by Lisa Huntsha, Head Editor, INALJ Sweden Feeling Awkward around Business Cards? Does anyone else feel awkward when handing out business cards? I always did. I felt like I was on a first date asking for a second one before it was even over yet. To get over this, I developed a sort of script…
by Renee Holden, Head Editor, INALJ Nebraska Steampunk – Science Fiction and Fantasy with a Twist I am a collection development librarian in a public library that also specializes in reader’s advisory for my library. Patrons ask me all day long about books that are similar to this author or that author and books that…
by Christina Wilson, Head Editor, INALJ Alberta The Hardest Button to Button: Closing the Deal The White Stripes’ song title came to mind recently when posting yet another job that requested applicants to submit their salary expectations along with their resume and covering letter. It’s a helpful colorful metaphor for a thorny application issue. The…
By Elena Bubelich, Head Editor, INALJ Quebec Working at Library and Your Health I’d like to talk about a subject that nobody discusses before and during our education at MLIS program: our health. We listen to attentively to everything about potential salary, benefits, and career progress, but nobody talks with us about the potential impact…
by Jess Bruckner, Assistant Editor, INALJ Wisconsin Cross-Training with MOOCs Today, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are shaking up the educational landscape due to the surging popularity of distance education platforms such as Coursera, Udacity, and EdX. These dynamic platforms have the potential to be game changers for librarians, allowing them to self-educate outside their…
by Diana La Femina, Head Editor, INALJ South Carolina The Comparison Trap I’ve written about finding your strengths, about tracking your accomplishments, and about taking risks and following through. I know some of these are rather generic and obvious, but sometimes it’s the obvious things that need to be brought into conversation or else we’ll…
by Tiffany Newton, Head Editor, INALJ Missouri Keep in Touch with Your References One of the most important parts of getting a job is your references. Usually prospective employers will wait until after the interview to call your references, but occasionally, they will call before. I just spoke with one of my references, Keith, and…
by Sarah Parramore, Head Editor, INALJ Middle East/Arabian Gulf Spotlight on Libraries – Istanbul, Turkey What is it? Istanbul Museum of Modern Art Library Where is it? Istanbul, Turkey Meclis-i Mebusan Cad. Liman İşletmeleri Sahası Antrepo No: 4, 34433 Karaköy – İSTANBUL Tel: +90 212 334 73 00 Why should you visit? No doubt, Istanbul’s rich…
by Roselle Pendergast, Head Editor, INALJ Minnesota What to Read While Waiting for Season 4 of Downton Abbey to Start in January 2014? I’m sure many of us are eagerly waiting for the start of Downton Abbey’s 4th season, which starts January 5th 2014 on PBS’s Masterpiece Classic. I’ve been finding myself reading Jane Austen’s…
by Stephanie Taylor, Head Editor, British Columbia Oh, Sit! Gone are the days when job searching meant actually walking the streets, moving and shaking, hustling your groove. Much to the chagrin of my parents, job searching in 2013 is done sitting on your gluteus maximus while you pore over job websites (like this one!) with…
by Claire Schmieder, Head Editor, INALJ New Jersey Gearing up for a Phone Interview I recently had my first ever phone interview. Obviously, I was excited – and seriously nervous. (I am not what you would call a “phone person.”) The only way for me to relax enough for the phone call was to prepare…
by Sandra Hoyer, Head Editor, INALJ Washington Library-Themed Music for the Soul I find that music, above almost anything else, always has the power to shift my mood to a more positive place. Here are ten fun/silly/rocking/serious library-related tunes to get you through any lumps, bumps, library woes, or plain old slow days. Time…
by Kate Kosturski, Head Editor, INALJ NYC Location, Location, Location: If I Can Make It There…? While I was at New York Comic-Con this weekend, I received the following email: I did my MLIS at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I moved to New York to pursue an internship for school at an archive and then…
by Ruth Lincoln, Head Editor INALJ Washington, DC Stand Up! Everything You Need to Know about a Standing Desk While our jobs as information professionals can run the gamut, we often find ourselves sitting. A lot. All that sitting can take a toll. For the past six months, I’ve been working behind a standing desk,…
by R.C. Miessler, Head Editor, INALJ Indiana Support Open Access Week (All Year ‘Round)! Open Access Week was October 21-27 this year, but it’s not too late to get involved. If you’re new to the idea of OA, there are numerous open access resources available for librarians; the Open Education Database has a two-part list of resources,…
by Fallon Zschiegner-Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas The Best Not Quite Free Apps for Reference We’ve all seen the lists of free apps out there (I cannot say enough great things about the 40 free apps presentation I went to at Annual this year), but what about those that are fabulous apps but aren’t free?…
by Courtney Butler, Head Editor, INALJ Idaho The Many Sides of Reference: Special Collections versus Academic Libraries I recently accepted two different part-time positions that both require that I man the reference desk for a significant portion of each shift I work. One position is in a special collections department within a public library and…
by Brad McNally, Head Editor, INALJ Ohio Beyond Basic Tech Programs for Libraries In recent months, I’ve worked with a large number of people regarding technology in the library. While it is absolutely wonderful that libraries can offer basic computer skills courses, there are patrons that would like to go beyond that and explore deeper…