by Rebekah Kati, Head Editor, INALJ North Carolina “Do You Have Any Questions?”: Four Areas of Focus I dread the “do you have any questions” part of the interview. It can be difficult to know what to ask, especially if you are interviewing for an area of librarianship that is new to you. I’ve found…
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Articles
Services vs. Service: What Keeps Patrons Coming Back for More?
by Amanda Viana, Head Editor, INALJ Massachusetts Services vs. Service: What Keeps Patrons Coming Back for More? I recently had the pleasure of attending a customer service workshop hosted by the wonderful Sarah Sogigian and Deb Hoadley of the Massachusetts Library System. “Services, Smiles, and Support: How the Experience You Provide Creates Support for the…
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Banned Books Week – our top 5
by Leigh Milligan, Head Editor, INALJ Wisconsin Banned Books Week – our top 5 (pt 1) One of my favorite weeks of the year to promote libraries is Banned Books Week. Banned Books Week is the annual celebration of the Freedom to Read. Libraries and bookstores all over the world bring attention to the problem…
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MLIS: The First Few Weeks
by Paul Marks, Head Editor, INALJ Virginia MLIS: The First Few Weeks This month, I moved to Pittsburgh, got a job, a pet, three houseplants, and the dozens of books I’ll need for my first MILS classes. The anxiety that had been built in anticipation was wiped away once the ducks were in their colloquial…
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“Mother Knows Best” Isn’t Just a Song in a Disney Movie
by Claire Schmieder, Head Editor, INALJ New Jersey “Mother Knows Best” Isn’t Just a Song in a Disney Movie, AKA One Reason Why Your Support System Matters Over Labor Day weekend, my mom and I caught up with a long-overdue phone call. She asked, “So, what’s going on with you?” I started talking…and talking…and talking……
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Constructing a Job Posting Infographic
by Lauren Bourdages, Head Editor, INALJ Ontario Constructing a Job Posting Infographic One of the many LIS industry blogs that I follow is the Hiring Librarians blog. A common complaint of Hiring Librarians’ readers is that not every job posting comes with a salary range. That concern, along with the INALJ desire for more postings…
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Top 10 Alternative Library Borrowing Collections
by Mychal R. Ludwig, Head Editor, INALJ New Mexico Top 10 Alternative Library Borrowing Collections After having many a Buzzfeed list thrust upon my Facebook newsfeed, I decided I would respond by creating my own Letterman-style LIS top ten list. So here it is folks, my top ten alternative borrowing collections in libraries (in no…
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Acing the Interview Question, “Tell Me about Yourself”
by Jill Olsen, Head Editor, INALJ Nevada Acing the Interview Question, “Tell Me about Yourself” I don’t know about you, but I used to be unsure of how to answer the interview question, “Tell me about yourself.” Now I’m happy to say I know exactly how to answer that question. First, let me say that this…
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That Other Big Green Monster: Burnout
by Kate Kosturski, Head Editor, INALJ NYC That Other Big Green Monster: Burnout This has not been a good past few weeks. Since my last blog post, my other team member left our company to go back to school, which means I had been covering both her territory and mine through the end of summer…
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Confessions of a First-Time Program Planner
by Scottie Kapel, Head Editor, INALJ Oregon Confessions of a First-Time Program Planner I am currently in the midst of planning my first program at my first library job, and so far the process has raised more questions than it has answered. For that reason, this article will be the first in a two-part series. Today,…
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Favorite Fantasy Series (YA and Adult)
by Elinor Crosby, Head Editor, INALJ Nova Scotia Favorite Fantasy Series (YA and Adult) Yesterday afternoon during an information desk shift, I had the chance to talk with a patron who is currently writing a book of children’s poetry. He had the interesting observation that when writing for children, one had to not just try…
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Looking Outside the Box
by Stefanie Maclin, Catalog Specialist, EBSCO Information Services Looking Outside the Box Recently, I spoke on a panel to an Archives Management course at Simmons College on the topic of ‘Lone Arrangers’. At the time, I was working part-time as the Special Collections Librarian at Bunker Hill Community College Library and Learning Commons. Towards the end of…
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Inspire Collaboration: A Quick and Easy Guide for Super Busy School Librarians
by Sarah Deringer, Head Editor, INALJ Mississippi Inspire Collaboration: A Quick and Easy Guide for Super Busy School Librarians I finished my first of two practicum experiences yesterday for this semester; this practicum was a 10-day experience at a southern Indiana elementary school, where I saw first-hand the pressures that school librarians face on a…
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Learn a Second Language and Improve Your Marketability!
by Tiffany Newton, Head Editor, INALJ Missouri Learn a Second Language and Improve Your Marketability! I took 3 years of Spanish in high school, and 2 years in college, I even went to Mexico for a week, but sadly, I cannot understand most native Spanish speakers. They just speak too fast and their words get…
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Stop Focusing on your Career! (Soft Skills = Success)
by Julie Watson, Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania Stop Focusing on your Career! (Soft Skills = Success) This is the fifth in a series of articles on soft skills. Ladies (especially), listen up: Are you anxious for that big breakthrough promotion or that dream job offer? Do you worry that you don’t know what you’re doing…
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What to Do, What to Do: Finding the Library That Fits You
by Aimee Graham, Head Editor, INALJ New York State What to Do, What to Do: Finding the Library That Fits You When you peruse the job vacancies posted on INALJ (or any job board), you can clearly see that the title of “librarian” can be found in a variety of entities: public, academic, corporate, legal…the…
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The Thank You Note
by Ashley Crace, Head Editor, INALJ West Virginia The Thank You Note You have perfected your resume, crafted an awesome cover letter, and practiced many interview questions. It is easy to let the thank you note slide when you finally complete your job interview. The thank you note is important for several reasons. First, it is…
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Diary of a Recent Grad
by Kathleen Kosiec Diary of a Recent Grad March-May I only applied for about 10 positions over three months. After all, I was finishing my final semester at grad school. I tell myself after I turn in my last project, I will step it up. In the meantime, I need to finish an information architecture redesign…
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Body Language During Interviews
by Duda Trickovic, Head Editor, INALJ New Brunswick and INALJ Prince Edward Island Body Language During Interviews Going for an interview requires a lot of preparation. The better you are prepared the more relaxed you will be. Apart from verbal communication during the interview it is important to remember that we all communicate not just…
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My Bucket List of Libraries-Global Edition
Fallon Zschiegner-Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas My Bucket List of Libraries-Global Edition Last month, I wrote about my bucket list of libraries that I want to visit in the U.S. This month, I’ll tackle my ever growing list of international libraries I want to visit. Granted, most of these are probably not going to ever…
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Don’t Feed the Drama Monster
by Caitlin Moen, Head Editor, INALJ Louisiana Don’t Feed the Drama Monster So you’re job hunting. Maybe you’re working, maybe you’re unemployed. Either way, beyond the stress of job hunting itself, I would bet that you have additional stress from a current job, professional development, activities you’re involved in, and family stuff. I would also…
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Three Things I Can’t Do Without
by Adrith Bedore Bicchieri, Head Editor, INALJ Maryland Three Things I Can’t Do Without I will freely admit that right now stress has me by the tail, instead of me having stress by the tail. In addition to my job search going into the fourteenth inning, my husband is now deployed and I’m home alone…
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Keeping an Open Mind on the Job Hunt
by Sara Dixon, Head Editor, INALJ Kansas Keeping an Open Mind on the Job Hunt A common theme around INALJ is to think outside the box when it comes to library and information professional jobs. This usually encourages you to consider jobs outside the library field that still utilize your information professional skills acquired via…
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Designing (and Maintaining) an ePortfolio
by Brad McNally, Head Editor, INALJ Ohio Designing (and Maintaining) an ePortfolio Online presence is an interesting thing for job seekers. On one hand, the easier it is to find out information about a candidate, the more a potential employer might feel confident that the hire is a good decision. On the other, a poorly…
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The Case for Community-Led Librarianship
by Christina Wilson, Head Editor, INALJ Alberta The Case for Community-Led Librarianship In a recent presentation by John Pateman, CEO, Thunder Bay Public Library, I learned how public libraries are positioned to become more relevant by adapting community development approaches to library service. Along with his colleague, Ken Williment, Halifax Public Library, Pateman has authored…