by Shelley Macon, Head Editor, INALJ Florida Did You Know That? (The Library Edition) I have had a terrible case of writers block this month. I had no idea what to write about. So, as any good librarian would do, I turned to research for help. I figured if I dug around the internet enough…
Tag Archive for blog
Articles
What Makes You a Librarian?
by Nena Schvaneveldt, Head Editor, INALJ Utah What Makes You a Librarian? I had no dilemma about calling myself a librarian when I was the only one around with The Master’s and not working in a library. It’s when I was a library assistant that it got complicated. On one hand, I had the degree.…
Interviews
On the Education of Librarians: Introducing Anna Altmann, Interim Director
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions by Christina Wilson, Head Editor, INALJ Alberta On the Education of Librarians: Introducing Anna Altmann, Interim Director, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta Earlier this month, the University of Alberta, School of…
Articles
Negotiating Your Job Offer
by Courtney Baron, Head Editor, INALJ Georgia Negotiating Your Job Offer So you just got offered your dream library job. Congratulations! Once you recover from the excitement, it’s time to review the offer and make sure your bases are covered. Don’t accept the offer right off the bat – ask when they need an answer.…
Articles
What Not to Do While Job Searching
by Stephanie Leigh Taylor, Head Editor, INALJ British Columbia What Not to Do While Job Searching Everybody has a piece of advice that they like to trot out when somebody they know is searching for a job, likely because they feel it’s how they got their job. I’m no better, and have been known to…
Articles
Networking Nerves
by Courtney Butler, Head Editor, INALJ Idaho Networking Nerves I know there have been a huge number of articles on the web (including on INALJ) that contain testimonials as to why it is, in fact, worthwhile to go to conferences and other continuing education type events. Spoiler alert: this is another one of those articles.…
Articles
“Do You Have Any Questions?”: Four Areas of Focus
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…
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
“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……
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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,…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…
Articles
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…