{"id":90926,"date":"2015-04-24T09:17:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-24T14:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=90926"},"modified":"2015-05-02T10:32:29","modified_gmt":"2015-05-02T15:32:29","slug":"joe-janes-candidate-for-president-of-the-american-library-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=90926","title":{"rendered":"Joe Janes \u2013 Candidate for President of ALA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Janes \u2013 Candidate for President of the American Library Association<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"Joe<\/a>Let\u2019s start with things we all already know: \u00a0The job market in libraries has been rocky for a while, though it is getting somewhat better as time goes on and budgets stabilize and occasionally even improve. \u00a0There\u2019s lots of guidance about how to pursue these jobs, and most of it is correct and helpful: \u00a0get a great education and preparation; network and make professional connections; be as flexible as you can about kind of work, kind of institution (libraries and beyond), geography; prepare and present yourself and your documentation well. \u00a0(We\u2019ve decided not to admit more than a few people to our degree program who say, in their statements, with great earnestness and enthusiasm, how much they want to attend some other school.) \u00a0All good, all useful.<\/p>\n

We all also know that much of any hiring process involves dumb luck, timing, and the sometimes elusive \u201cfit;\u201d I\u2019ve been on both sides of those and they can sting when they don\u2019t work in your favor.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen a lot of students and alumni over the years, who I thought the world of, struggle mightily to get a first position for seemingly no good reason, so I won\u2019t pretend to have the magic key that opens the magic door. \u00a0I do know, though, that there are lots of great people out there who will do great things, but who haven\u2019t yet gotten their foot in the right door. \u00a0That\u2019s frustrating, maddening, and eventually discouraging and dispiriting.<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/a>So what can I offer? \u00a0This may well sound facile, but I mean every word of this:<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t lose the optimism. \u00a0Remember what it was that first attracted you to this field and this work: \u00a0the excitement of having found what calls you, the work and the institution that just feels right, that feels like what you were meant to do. \u00a0I see that idealism and passion in our new students every year, and it\u2019s infectious and energizing. \u00a0I say all the time that the work we do is the most important work that can be done, because we make every other human activity better. \u00a0There is great nobility, even grandeur, in what we do. \u00a0There\u2019s also grubbiness and detail and routine and crud, which can obscure and cloud your vision, so it\u2019s important to look up once in a while and see the dignity and significance of what we do and what we represent.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m running for president of ALA because I want to tell that story as widely as possible, to further convince the world that we represent critical and necessary infrastructure throughout society, that libraries matter and deserve greater support. \u00a0I also want to help us all think together about how we move forward to make our work even better and more effective in an ever-changing information world. \u00a0You can find out more at joejanes.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Please know that if I win, you\u2019ll have a president who knows you\u2019re out there, and that I\u2019ll work every day, as hard as I can, to make it possible for you to do the work you were meant to do. \u00a0I\u2019d appreciate your support, and your vote. \u00a0Thanks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Janes \u2013 Candidate for President of the American Library Association Let\u2019s start with things we all already know: \u00a0The job market in libraries has been rocky for a while, though it is getting somewhat better as time goes on and budgets stabilize and occasionally even improve. \u00a0There\u2019s lots of guidance about how to pursue…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":90927,"comment_status":"closed","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":[145],"tags":[231,712,69,5,3592,6825,10,6824,111,6814],"class_list":["post-90926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-ala","tag-american-library-association","tag-article","tag-bio","tag-blog","tag-candidate-for-president","tag-inalj","tag-joe-janes","tag-tips","tag-vote"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Joe-Janes.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-nEy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90926","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/90927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}