{"id":37999,"date":"2013-08-28T08:30:02","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T12:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=37999"},"modified":"2019-01-01T20:54:37","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T02:54:37","slug":"mary-alexandra-smith-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=37999","title":{"rendered":"Mary-Alexandra Smith &#8230;Success Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"background-color: #fcfc29;\">This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee\/interviewees&#8217; positions<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><em>Naomi House\u2019s interview with success story Mary-Alexandra.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/maryalexandras-e1377649528964.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-38001\" src=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/maryalexandras-e1377649528964.jpg\" alt=\"maryalexandras\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 How did you find your current job?<br \/>\n<b>Mary-Alexandra:<\/b>\u00a0 I actually found my current position as librarian for Touro University Worldwide through networking. A professional contact and good friend shared the job posting and I applied.<\/p>\n<p><b>Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 Favorite library you have been to?<br \/>\n<b>Mary-Alexandra:<\/b>\u00a0 There are so many wonderfully beautiful libraries I haven\u2019t had the opportunity to visit just yet. Though I do have a soft spot for the <a href=\"http:\/\/library.csun.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oviatt Library<\/a>, since I spent many hours studying for my bachelor degrees there.<\/p>\n<p><b>Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 Favorite book?<br \/>\n<b>Mary-Alexandra:<\/b>\u00a0 One of my favorite books is <em>The Giver<\/em> by Lois Lowry, but I highly recommend <em>The Dark Tower<\/em> series by Stephen King. One of the things I love most about The Dark Tower series is how Stephen King essentially illustrates his journey as a writer, beginning the series in 1974 and releasing the eighth installment in 2012. The novels are beautifully written and definitely invoke the imagination.<\/p>\n<p><b>Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 Favorite thing about libraries\/ library technology?<br \/>\n<b>Mary-Alexandra:<\/b>\u00a0 I have always been drawn to libraries, the smell of old books and the free access of information. One of my favorite things about libraries in the current information environment is how easily accessible library materials have become. While I tend towards physically visiting libraries to checkout books, there are so many information hungry individuals who are physically unable to do so. I love how library technology has evolved to the point where patrons can utilize libraries beyond their physical structure.<\/p>\n<p><b>Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?<br \/>\n<b>Mary-Alexandra:<\/b>\u00a0 Other than<a href=\"http:\/\/ INALJ.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> INALJ.com<\/a>, I frequent Indeed.com for job listings. I also highly recommend visiting <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sla.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SLA.org<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/cla-net.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CLA-net.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 Best piece of job-hunting advice?<br \/>\n<b>Mary-Alexandra:<\/b>\u00a0 My top three pieces of job-hunting advice are:<br \/>\n<strong>1) Network<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 2) Have an open-mind<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 3) When in doubt, apply anyway<\/strong><br \/>\nAlthough rejection can be difficult, there is nothing worse than not applying.<\/p>\n<p><i>I am a graduate of the University of North Texas Greater Los Angeles Cohort where I earned an MS in Information Science with a concentration in Information Organization as well as a Graduate Academic Certificate in Digital Content Management. I also hold bachelor degrees in both English and Journalism from California State University Northridge. I live in Southern California with my husband, three cats and a life-sized statue of Dracula who consequently does not pay rent. I love to read fiction novels and dabble in writing short stories, though my passion for making information accessible to all who seek it is why I became a librarian. I am also a 2013 Beta Phi Mu inductee!<\/i><\/p>\n<p>All <b>Jobs<\/b> for INALJ can be found here: <a href=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=1441\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=1441<\/a> Updated daily<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee\/interviewees&#8217; positions Naomi House\u2019s interview with success story Mary-Alexandra. Naomi:\u00a0 How did you find your current job? Mary-Alexandra:\u00a0 I actually found my current position as librarian for Touro University Worldwide through networking. A professional contact and good&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=37999\">Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,141],"tags":[5271,5,3760,5268,216,1956,5264,5270,5266,59,548,144,5267,1955,5265,5269],"class_list":["post-37999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-six","category-success-story","tag-beta-phi-mu","tag-bio","tag-california-state-university","tag-cla-net","tag-interviews","tag-lois-lowry","tag-mary-alexandra-smith","tag-northridge-los-angeles","tag-oviatt-library","tag-sla","tag-stephen-king","tag-success-story-2","tag-the-dark-tower-series","tag-the-giver","tag-touro-university-worldwide","tag-university-of-north-texas-greater-los-angeles-cohort"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/maryalexandra.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-9ST","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}