by Claire Schmieder, Volunteer Manager previously published 8/5/14 You Worry About You (Taking Charge of My Narrative) Both of my boys had the same wonderful Kindergarten teacher. Like most educators, she has tons of bite-sized bits of knowledge for her students. Occassionally, I would end up applying those bits to my own life and one in particular…
by Claire Schmieder, Volunteer Manager Previously published 11/11/14 The Job Hunter’s Guide to Positivity Just about one year ago, I started working at my current job. Hooray! This upcoming anniversary has gotten me reflecting on the time BEFORE I started working, when I was a verging-on-desperate job hunter. After I earned my MLIS, I spent nearly…
by Claire Schmieder, Volunteer Coordinator previously published 10/22/14 Librarians Are Superheroes (Literally and Figuratively) Last year, I spent just one day at New York Comic Con, and it was absolutely not enough time for me to take it all in. This year, I snagged a four-day Professional Badge. During those four days, I spent a lot of…
Tips for Boosting Your Presence in the LIS Community by Angie Solis, Senior Editor Being a part of the INALJ team means that I’m surrounded by many amazing people who rock my world every day with their knowledge and ability to be superstars in the LIS community. Seriously, it’s like I know celebrities. I find…
by Kate Kosturski previously published 1/31/14 Don’t Get Chopped in Your Job Search My partner and I are big fans of the Food Network show Chopped. If you’re not familiar with the program, it is a cooking competition featuring four chefs who have to prepare three meals (appetizer, entree, and dessert) with mystery ingredients –…
8 tips to pay your way to ALA by Angie Solis, Senior Editor Each year librarians all across the world are invited to attend ALA’s Annual and Mid-Winter Conferences. But at $255.00 (super early bird special) for the ALA Annual Conference plus hotel and airfare we’re looking at a nice chunk of change to…
By Angie Solis, Senior Editor Why I Love INALJ One year ago I began volunteering for an amazing organization – INALJ. My time at INALJ has been not only a fulfilling one, but an educational one. I never thought that I would volunteer for an organization that would allow me to help other professionals in…
by Aimee Graham, former Head Editor, INALJ New York State previously published 3/24/14 Debunking 10 Librarian Misconceptions Whether I have physically been in a library, running errands, talking to family and friends, or during social events I have been presented with a similar series of questions when I inform others that I am a librarian.…
by Claire Schmieder, Senior Editor, INALJ NYC, INALJ New York State, and INALJ Texas Luck Is the Residue of Design Branch Rickey began his Major League Baseball career with the St. Louis Browns and the New York Highlanders in the early 1900s. He wasn’t a strong player and quickly left the MLB to attend college at the…
by Claire Schmieder, Senior Editor, INALJ NYC, INALJ New York State, and INALJ Texas The Art of Making Mistakes Confession: I make mistakes all the time – at work, at home, with friends. Most of the time, these mistakes are minor with smaller, manageable consequences. Things like not giving myself quite enough time to meet a…
Rebecca Kluberdanz, Head Editor, INALJ New York State Why Didn’t I Get the Job and What Should I Do Next? For me, and I am sure many others, the most frustrating thing about the job search is not hearing why I didn’t get the job or even an interview! Is it my experience level? Is it…
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…
Aimee Graham, Head Editor, INALJ New York State Micro-managers and How to Deal Let’s face it, regardless of what sector of employment you may find yourself, there is the potential to work with less than agreeable coworkers and supervisors. As an individual it can be degrading, having your every strength criticized and the experience in general can…
by Aimee Graham, Head Editor, INALJ New York State How Soon Is Too Soon? Putting Yourself Back on the Job Market After I completed my MSIS from the University at Albany I was eager to take any position with “librarian” or a relevant term in the title; I was starting at the bottom of the…
by Aimee Graham, Head Editor, INALJ New York State Why I Volunteer (And Why You Should Too) My first encounter with INALJ came during a summer session in graduate school; I was going to be completing my MSIS at the end of the upcoming fall semester and needed to find a professional position before they handed…
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…
by Kate Kosturski, Head Editor, INALJ New York State New Librarianship Master Class: What IS a Librarian? What is a Library? This month, I am participating in the Syracuse University iSchool’s New Librarianship Master Class. I’m just finishing up the first week of classes, which will set the precedent for the rest of the course.…
by Kate Kosturski, Head Editor, INALJ New York State Kate Goes Conferencing, Part 2: Tips and Tricks In my last blog post, I talked about stretching out of your conference comfort zone and attending non-librarian conferences. Now that you have a list of conferences in your toolbox, and you’re getting ready to attend your first…
by Julie Watson, Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania INALJ Summer Reads – you’ll love these books! I asked some of my favorite librarians, who also happen to be INALJ volunteers, what books they are recommending this summer. Here’s what they had to say (and my recommendation as well): Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy…
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 Pam Ameigh, former Head Editor, INALJ New York State New York, the state Several weeks has flown by! I’m delighted that Naomi shared the opportunity with me to be a state page editor, and I’m thankful to all the volunteers and visitors helping me improve every day. New York is a pretty…