by Jill Olsen, former Head Editor, INALJ Nevada Previously published 8/26/13 Has Your Career Ladder Morphed into a Career Jungle Gym? I’m sure we have all heard and know about climbing the infamous career ladder. But times have changed and it’s a whole new world out there. Early in my career it felt like I…
by Alexis Rohlfing, Head Editor, INALJ New Hampshire previously published 2/26/13 Make mine a double tall non fat latte, with a librarian job on the side Whether you’re looking for your first library job or switching careers later in life, snagging that first (paying) library job is the brass ring that you hope for but…
by Fallon Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas So You Want to Do A Poster Session? Going to conferences is probably one of the most fun things that I get to do as an information professional. At no other time do I get to be in a room/city with thousands of people who are just like me! However, the…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions Naomi House, MLIS’s interview with Patrick Sweeney of EveryLibrary. EveryLibrary is the first and only national organization dedicated exclusively to political action at a local level to create, renew, and protect public funding for libraries…
by Cynthia Engle previously published on 11/9/11 Pity Party for One Recently, a friend asked for advice on how to go about finding a job in the city she just moved to- the same city that I have called home for the last three years. How exciting to be starting a brand new chapter in…
by Qraig De Groot previously published 12/5/12 Information (Mis)Management Please bear with me for a moment. I’m writing this column mere moments after applying for a job online. As has become the norm, I had to fill out a lengthy application with all the information that is already clearly highlighted on my résumé. But before…
by Nicole Usiondek, former Head Editor, INALJ Michigan previously published on 3/22/13 Changing Public Perception One Patron at a Time Libraries have worked hard to redefine themselves, and the public perception is the last lingering hurdle many libraries are facing. The perception of what a library is has made times bleak for some libraries, but…
Denise Peeler, Head Editor, INALJ West Virginia Don’t Quit Your Day Job Before I applied for grad school, I asked a professor in the department I wanted to join for an interview. He granted it to me. One thing he said during the interview was, “Don’t quit your day job.” I was in the early stages of…
by Mychal Ludwig, Head Editor, INALJ New Mexico previously published on 4/4/13 Becoming Mnemonic: Sticking In Your Interviewers’ Minds Clearly, standing out in an interview is the goal of most job seekers. By this stage (the interview), it’s likely, though not certain, that all candidates match to some extent what the employers are looking for…
by Alexandra Janvey, Head Editor, INALJ Iowa The First Libraries Libraries developed shortly after the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, invented writing, which was around 3500 BC. Called cuneiform, this early form of writing involved engraving simple shapes onto clay tables. It was only natural that after societies began recording information, the need for storing and organizing that knowledge…
by Scottie Kapel, former Head Editor, INALJ Oregon previously published on 4/4/13 The Possimpible Those of you who watch How I Met Your Mother may recognize the title of this post from Barney Stinson’s video résumé. Beyond the possible, beyond the impossible is the possimpible. Even though the word is used for laughs in the…
Erin Wells, Head Editor, INALJ Oregon Negotiation 101 Recently a story has gone viral about a female professor having a job offer rescinded when she asked what many considered to be too much after a job offer had been made. There are always two sides to any story, but many people thought she asked too much when she tried…
by Aimee Graham, Head Editor, INALJ New York State Why Co-op Libraries Are the Greatest Gift to Your Career One of the most important questions I was asked during my time at the University at Albany in the MSIS program was “what type of library do you want to work for?” Not having much experience in the…
by Claire Schmieder, Head Editor, INALJ New Jersey Things You Should Never Say to a Job Hunter (and What to Say Instead) Just be satisfied with what you’ve got right now. You know who’s never satisfied with what they have right now? Driven, highly-successful people. In fact, the drive to learn more, to lead, and to innovate…
by Rebecca Tischler, Head Editor, INALJ Tennessee 5 Things That People Don’t Realize their Librarians Do Many people still have the stereotypical image of a librarian stuck in their head: an older kind of frumpy woman wearing glasses on a chain, her hair up in a bun, shushing people with one hand while stamping books with…
by Amelia Zavala Vander Heide, Head Editor, INALJ NYC Job Hunting 300 Miles Away In my last semester of library school I seemed to hear over and over again that I should be applying for jobs. The application process can be so arduous and time-consuming that it is best to start early, but I had a problem. I…
by Bradley Woodruff, Head Editor, INALJ Wisconsin But what if the interviewer asks me a question about myself? Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it. Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure. Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it? How do you…
by Leigh Milligan, Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania Confidence Goes a Long Way Once upon a time back in 2011, I graduated library school. I was getting called into interviews left and right. I had been volunteering at a public library and had many great skills and qualifications to share. But it never got back the interview stage. I…
by Grey Maixner, Head Editor, INALJ Vermont Keep On Keeping On: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Job Hunt As we all know, it’s never fun to be without a job. Even when we do have one, if it’s not the one we want, or the one we imagined all those years…
by Renee Holden, Head Editor, INALJ Nebraska You Don’t Have to be a Teen to Enjoy a Teen Book As an adult librarian, I am often tasked with finding awesome teen books for adults who don’t want the world to know that they are reading teen books. I will often get adults at the reference desk who whisper…”So…
by Gabrielle Spiers, Head Editor, INALJ Montana Why I like Volunteering There have been several articles on INALJ over the years about the pros and cons of volunteering but rather than go into that I thought I would talk about how volunteering has helped me. So what kind of volunteer work do I do? Well I am the…
by Mychal Ludwig, Head Editor, INALJ New Mexico Document Spotlight: Raising a Reader! or How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love To Read! The publication, Raising a Reader! How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love To Read, presents the Comic Book Legal Defense Funds argument for protecting comic books and other sequential-art fiction…
by Michele Frasier-Robinson, Head Editor, INALJ Oklahoma The Cross-Country On-Campus Interview You have successfully navigated the telephone and/or Skype interviews and you have been invited for an on-campus interview—on the other side of the country! Congratulations! This often means you are one of two or three other candidates that received the same invitation. The cross-country or long distance on-campus…
by Alphild Dick, Head Editor, INALJ Washington Not Bossy—the Boss! 10 Tips for Building Librarian Leadership Skills Recently, a good friend confessed to me that she struggles with taking leadership roles at work. This friend is sharp, dedicated, and has years of experience in her field. She is one of the most competent individuals that…
by Brad McNally, Head Editor, INALJ Ohio Behavioral Interviews (And how you can use them to your advantage) As most other job seekers, I’ve been to many interviews in the past. Some have been extremely interesting, but a few stick out in my memory. There are many types of interview questions to prepare for, and…