by Marlena Barber, Head Editor, INALJ Tennessee Long Distance Librarian While I was searching for work, I read many posts online from fellow information professionals who were seeking advice on how to secure a position out of state. Many posts I read were from those who were disheartened at perceived and real lack of opportunities…
by Diana La Femina, Head Editor, INALJ South Carolina Non-Library Positions on Your Resume Let’s talk a bit about looking outside the field for job experience. I know as well as anyone else just how hard it can be to get a professional position without a good deal of experience first (it’s a Catch-22, and…
by Shelley Macon, Head Editor, INALJ Florida Can I Put That On My Resume? It’s been a long time since I have had an actual “job.” And by “job” I mean – a reoccurring time of work that is accompanied by a salary which is paid in money (as opposed to macaroni art and sticky-faced…
by Kate Kosturski, Head Editor, INALJ New York State Should You Go to That (Non-Library) Conference? My fellow INALJ editor Sarah Dixon talked about attending the ALA conference in her latest blog post – and hers is not the first I have seen, so conference season is upon us. But, conferences are expensive, and a…
by Fallon Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Oklahoma On Library Advocacy: You Don’t Need to Work There to Support Your Library Recently, there has been a kerfuffle in the library world over an article written by Michael Rosenblum for Huffpost (seen here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rosenblum/whats-a-library_b_3239502.html) and what that means for libraries as a whole. I will admit that…
by Christina Wilson, Head Editor, INALJ Alberta Managing Your References Team: a necessary soft skill At some point in your quest for the perfect position, you will be asked to provide references. I think of my references as my team. They are a trusted group of colleagues who know my work style and achievements and…
by Dawn Thompson, Head Editor, INALJ Ohio MLIS and Motherhood While attending graduate school my partner and I decided to try and have our first baby. We’d seen lots of friends go through the process and figured that we’d have just as much if not more trouble so we didn’t need to worry too much…
by Alexandra Janvey, Head Editor, INALJ Iowa Crafting a Superb Cover Letter Cover letters are an important part of the job application process. Your cover letter can have a very strong influence on prospective employers, as it’s the first item employers read. Therefore, your cover letter is the basis of the prospective employer’s first impression.…
by Kristen Jaques, Head Editor, INALJ Maine Outside-the-Box Jobs in Maine and Beyond Hello, jobseekers! If you’ve been perusing the job listings on the beautiful and fascinating INALJ Maine page lately, you may have noticed that I post an assortment of jobs which do not feature the word “library” or “librarian” in the title, and…
by Lisa Huntsha, Head Editor, INALJ Sweden My On-Campus Interview: Lessons Learned After reading R.C. Miessler’s post regarding on-campus interviewing, I thought it might be worthwhile to share my experience. A little over a year ago I interviewed for, and landed, a position on a college campus. My interview lasted 2 full days, I met…
by Nena Schvaneveldt, Head Editor, INALJ Utah Scary New Things #1: Go to a Conference Well, I have begun my journey into doing scary new things: I attended the Utah Library Association conference. I’m starting locally because I want to meet local librarians, and I thought that jumping into ALA Annual as my first conference…
by Genise Gorman, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas Landing a Job the “Old School Way” Technology is a great way to look for a job, but in today’s economy why not try a different approach to your job search, the “old school way.” Listed below are several approaches to finding a job using old school job…
by Rachel Wightman, Assistant Editor, INALJ Washington What I Learned About My Job Search by Helping Others Find Jobs Last fall I relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota after living and working in Kampala, Uganda for a year and a half. I was a librarian at a small college and, as a solo librarian, spent my time…
by Shayna Monnens, Head Editor, INALJ South Dakota Summer Reading Magic: Bring on the Kids ..and the DIRT! It’s that mystical time of year again where libraries and their staff are working diligently and quickly to finalize and implement their library summer reading program. As a children’s librarian and one who handles teen programming, I…
by Holly Lipschultz 18 Tips for Writing a Manual for Work I’m one of those Hermione-types of people who read manuals. If I need to learn something, my first order of business is to read the manual. Give me a job manual, and I’ll read by tomorrow morning. And if there is no manual or…
by Veda Darby Soberman, Head Editor, INALJ Hawaii Seeking a Library Job While Employed Many of us are lucky enough to be in the process of hunting for our dream library jobs while currently employed either in another library job or at a job in a different field. Even if you think you already have…
by Amanda May, Head Editor, INALJ North Dakota 4 Tips for Editing Your Resume and Cover Letter This past spring, I participated in my first library search committee. After being the “job searcher” for so long, it was really interesting to be on the other side of the process. I’ve read so many articles on…
by Sarah Porter, Head Editor, INALJ California Step by Step: Building Your Professional Website Isn’t the job search process weird? It’s one of the few times when it is socially acceptable and even expected for a stranger to virtually stalk you. Instead of allowing prospective employers to judge you based on a YouTube video of…
by Courtney Butler, Head Editor, INALJ Idaho Defeating Discrepancies Without naming any names, let’s just say I recently visited several libraries in several different geographical regions, and the discrepancy in quality between the institutions got me thinking about library funding strategies. Why has it been deemed acceptable for large, rich communities to have state of…
by Rebecca Crago, Head Editor, INALJ Virginia How to Deliver a Presentation: Lessons from MARAC At the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) last April I attended a half-day seminar called “Let’s Go On With the Show: Skills for Developing and Delivering Conference Presentations.” The title alone grabbed my attention, but I had to register because…
by Sandra Hoyer, Head Editor, INALJ Washington Scholarships for Everyone! – Funding your MLIS or MLS Everyone knows how pricey a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) or Master of Library Science (MLS) program can be. Here are some excellent sites that feature a variety of different scholarships and fellowships to help fund your…
by Shelley Macon, Head Editor, INALJ Florida Gaming @ Your Library There are many diverse (and often heated) opinions on whether video games belong in libraries or library collections. Are they library-worthy digital media? Are there benefits to playing video games in terms of social issues and their educational value (including their link to literacy)? …
reposted from 1/23/12 I love lists and I have made many of my own but sometimes I find I can miss something great buried in the middle of a list so I wanted to spotlight ALA Joblist on Facebook and explain why I love it so. The folks over at ALA Joblist don’t just post…