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For any current college students on work/study, if you think you may ever have an inclination to work in a library in the future, see if you can get a student position at your college library, even if it's just for a semester. That's one easy(ish) way to get your foot in the door. Also think about working in related jobs and fields, like literacy programs, book vendors, education, data management, etc. I worked for LexisNexis for a few years after college, and then I was a reading clinician in an elementary school before going for my MLS. So even though I didn't have 10 solid years of library experience before getting my current job, my employer could see that I had experience working with librarians, working with a library, etc. Definitely volunteer if you have the time. You might start doing shelving and then ask if they have any special projects you could work on. Also consider volunteering in a place with an archival collection, like your local historical society or local museums.
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Feb 28, 2011 20:01
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Insane Totoro posted:Change happens slowly in libraries. Cue stereotype of librarians never dying. My next big project will be bringing our crappy website into the 2000s. It's all done in tables, no style sheets. We aren't even web 1.5. Rabbit Hill posted:Definitely volunteer if you have the time. You might start doing shelving and then ask if they have any special projects you could work on. Also consider volunteering in a place with an archival collection, like your local historical society or local museums. I did an internship (collection development) and a practicum (everything...like the only things I didn't do were ILLs and storytimes) for credit (and for qualifying for the GI bill in light of my other classes being online, though the rules have since changed on that). After my practicum I kept volunteering, mostly at the reference desk. I kind of like my new job, and having a paycheck...but I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything important compared to where I was before. I mean...the people here are all not just literate, but somewhat computer literate, even. I'm just not as needed. loving shithole was hell, but dammit, I had icewater. Corrupt local government and teabagger voters ain't gonna pay for it, though. VideoTapir fucked around with this message at 15:16 on Mar 2, 2011 |
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Mar 2, 2011 15:09
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Is there a difference between practicums and volunteering? I know you get course credit for practicums, but I don't see how it's all that different from what I'm doing at the Local History Department scanning newspapers for its digital collections. I've been enjoying this the past few weeks because I'm scanning some right-wing rag from the '90s that features Vince Foster conspiracy stories in every issue. And concerning internships, how too are they different from volunteering? You mentioned the GI bill. If worse comes to worst, could I enter the military as an officer to become a librarian, or are those standard civilian type jobs? The only knowledge I have of them is from the movie Idiocracy.
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Mar 3, 2011 03:30
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:You mentioned the GI bill. If worse comes to worst, could I enter the military as an officer to become a librarian, or are those standard civilian type jobs? The only knowledge I have of them is from the movie Idiocracy. There are professional and paraprofessional-level positions out there for military, ex-military, and civilian personnel alike. From USAJOBS, here is an example of a job anyone can apply for: Uncle Sam posted:WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED: Public This one, also from USAJOBS, has somewhat stricter criteria: Uncle Sam posted:WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED: Applicants who reside on Okinawa: Current permanent Department of Defense (DoD) Employees, Current permanent DoD employees on LWOP, Reinstatement, Military Spouses, (DoD) Civilian Family Members, Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA), Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) and (GS-9 and above OR GS-9 Level Only) NAF.
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Mar 3, 2011 05:05
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:
http://www.libraries.army.mil/employment.htm is where to go if you're interested in that.
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Mar 3, 2011 06:27
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:You mentioned the GI bill. If worse comes to worst, could I enter the military as an officer to become a librarian, or are those standard civilian type jobs? The only knowledge I have of them is from the movie Idiocracy. No, you couldn't, they are civilian jobs (that is what I have, actually). I imagine a library science degree might be desirable for an intelligence officer, though. I believe they are looking to add a few hundred of those soon (while in other categories, thousands of officers are getting cut). Lee Harvey Oswald posted:Is there a difference between practicums and volunteering? There are actual expectations you have to meet in a practicum or an internship (well, if the internship is both for credit and well-run). kombatMedik posted:http://www.libraries.army.mil/employment.htm is where to go if you're interested in that. All federal agencies including the military have been migrating their job listings to USAjobs. I am pretty sure they are supposed to all be on there now, if not, it won't be long. Compared to the dizzying array of sites there were before (many of which still exist farther along in the application process and it is INFURIATING), it is a huge improvement. VideoTapir fucked around with this message at 09:48 on Mar 3, 2011 |
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Mar 3, 2011 09:43
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Might be a long shot, but is anyone else studying at (or have studied at) Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand? I've just started this week in the Information Studies program (formerly called Library and Information Science), with a focus on archives.
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Mar 3, 2011 10:17
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Thanks for the information. Reading the other thread, I've heard cronyism is a major problem with the USA jobs site. I guess that's a problem everywhere, though.
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Mar 3, 2011 18:11
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:Thanks for the information. Reading the other thread, I've heard cronyism is a major problem with the USA jobs site. I guess that's a problem everywhere, though. Sort of. The problem is, say you've got a person you know you want to hire for a position. Guess what, legally, you still usually have to advertise it. So you end up having to make an ad for a position that is already effectively filled. Typical warning sign of this is when they have requirements that sound just ridiculously specific, like that combination couldn't cover more than a half dozen people. The problem with using this rule is that the incompetence of many HR people when it comes to writing job requirements means that it will produce many false positives.
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Mar 4, 2011 10:10
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If a library wanted to lock their public site printer paper trays, what's a good way to do so? We're having a lot of people stealing the printer paper... I've seen these before: http://www.locdown.com/paper-tray-lock.htm
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Mar 4, 2011 15:39
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Insane Totoro posted:If a library wanted to lock their public site printer paper trays, what's a good way to do so? We're having a lot of people stealing the printer paper... That looks like a pretty good way. I was going to suggest building furniture.
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Mar 4, 2011 15:47
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They used those locks at UCF when I studied and worked there. They never had any problems as far as I know.
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Mar 4, 2011 16:36
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http://www.versalock.com/papertraysecurity.php I also saw this product. It looks less mechanically complicated and thus less prone to failure.
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Mar 4, 2011 16:54
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I may have asked this before and don't remember, but it seems that when I browse job sites like indeed.com for library jobs, there are far more openings for academic libraries than public ones. Are those jobs easier to get, or am I not looking in the right places for public positions?
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Mar 4, 2011 21:54
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Most academic jobs want two masters, including the MLS. I haven't looked in a while and it wasn't where I wanted to work, but from what I remember, most public libraries posted their positions on either their own website, or on some sort of local government job board.
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Mar 4, 2011 22:29
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Is anyone going to ALA this year? I get to go for free this year, and I have to start the process of planning which events to go to. What's worth it?
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Mar 4, 2011 23:10
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Based on my conference experiences: Authors are generally cool. Authors know they're surrounded by fans who will order hundreds/thousands of copies of their books and genuinely love reading, so librarians are a dream audience for them and make an effort accordingly. If you follow any two tech blogs, you're probably overqualified for tech presentations, but sometimes someone with real passion and ideas (say, Michael Stephens) will be worth a seat. Check credentials/homepages of presenters when possible to avoid slogging through Twitter For Dummies when you could be enjoying New Orleans.
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Mar 4, 2011 23:27
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:I may have asked this before and don't remember, but it seems that when I browse job sites like indeed.com for library jobs, there are far more openings for academic libraries than public ones. Are those jobs easier to get, or am I not looking in the right places for public positions? Apologies if you knew this already, but two of the largest library-specific job sites out there are ALA JobLIST and LISjobs.com. Ratios of public to academic postings seem more balanced, and you'll even see the occasional museum or special library posting.
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Mar 5, 2011 01:56
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semihippie posted:Is anyone going to ALA this year? I get to go for free this year, and I have to start the process of planning which events to go to. What's worth it? Louisiana in June does not sound like fun, especially not with librarians, who can be a very picky lot. I went to D.C. last year and found that author talks were really good, as Space Fish said. And actually it's hit or miss with the rest of them. Half of them don't end up being about what's advertised, they're poorly prepared for or the person just ends up talking about himself/herself so much that you never actually understand why they were doing it. So if possible, have a few back up options if you get to one talk and it turns out to be a bust/full. People leave early/come late all the time. The most useful one I went to (being a public librarian) was about serving underserved populations such as the homeless, immigrants, etc. Go to either stuff that'll help you in your job or that you find genuinely interesting, otherwise you'll be bored out of your mind.
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Mar 5, 2011 08:59
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innocent_deadly posted:Louisiana in June does not sound like fun, especially not with librarians, who can be a very picky lot. Thanks for the tips- hopefully I'll be going with a friend who's very unlibrarianish, so we should be able to have a good time there. There's a lot of things that I could go to/am interested in. I'm currently in programming, but am moving to a branch in 2 weeks. I'm also doing media digitization as my track for library school, but with the way that jobs are going now, that has little connection with what I'll actually doing on the job.
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Mar 6, 2011 16:58
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I have applications out for the archive programs at University of Michigan and UT Austin. I received an acceptance email and some financial aid from Michigan this week, and I'm waiting on a decision from UT Austin. Barring something amazing from Texas like full tuition support, I think I'll end up choosing Michigan. However, I'm making this decision from the other side of the Atlantic while I finish up a history master's. Does anyone else have experience choosing between these two schools?
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Mar 6, 2011 19:01
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I went to UW-Milwaukee for my MLIS - concentration archives but I know and have worked with people from both Michigan and Austin. The Austin people seem to be everywhere, and the program is well respected. Michigan's is as well, but I see fewer of them around. I can say that it depends somewhat where you want to focus in archives. If you want to look at human rights issues, Michigan seems to be the better school.
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Mar 6, 2011 22:25
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I'm in the University of Missouri's library program, currently taking their online program in St. Louis. I'm interested in going into cataloging after I graduate, is the job situation worse or better with that?
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Mar 7, 2011 05:52
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Not sure about the job situation, but I do know that catalogers are typically the lowest paid of librarians if that matters to you. Have you taken any cataloging courses yet?
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Mar 7, 2011 13:18
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Fame Throwa posted:I'm in the University of Missouri's library program, currently taking their online program in St. Louis. I'm interested in going into cataloging after I graduate, is the job situation worse or better with that? A university library in Florida had a position for a metadata cataloger librarian that had 140 viable applicants. My advice is to work your rear end off and separate yourself from the mediocre cat ladies and housewives who went back to school. In the grand hierarchy of things too, no one respects you or what you do. They also expect you to catalog every book in a day because they think you just scan a barcode and are done. The people who matter usually know you do an important job but you're going to be hard pressed to find a noncataloger who knows what you really do. It's a thankless job.
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Mar 7, 2011 14:41
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Any advice on the best ways separate yourself from the cat ladies if you can't find paying work?
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Mar 7, 2011 18:10
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What if you like cats?
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Mar 7, 2011 18:24
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What type of library position are you looking for, exactly? From your posts I can't tell if its public library, specifically reference services, or just whatever you can find. The only general advice I can give without knowing specifically where you want to work is tech skills and enthusiasm. I know a lot of people who went to library school just because they didn't know what else to do. Separate yourself by demonstrating you really like library/information science. Volunteer, attend events, do some independent research and try to publish something, start a LS relevant blog and keep it up to date with more than just links to interesting articles, etc. As for tech skills, it needs to be beyond just knowing how to use google effectively. Any sort of programming, website design or information architecture skills, and knowing how to use a database properly can help a lot. Again, though, it all depends on what exactly you want to be doing.
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Mar 7, 2011 18:29
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:Any advice on the best ways separate yourself from the cat ladies if you can't find paying work? Go to conferences, try to get published, and get any work experience you can. It's really hard in an industry with an easy to achieve benchmark and many qualified people to stand out in the mob. You really just have to sell yourself and keep trying. I think younger people are going to be in the front soon enough because libraries are now going to have to pay the least amount they can and get someone who won't need serious benefits. Nothing wrong with liking cats, just don't like them that much.
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Mar 7, 2011 18:43
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nesbit37 posted:What type of library position are you looking for, exactly? From your posts I can't tell if its public library, specifically reference services, or just whatever you can find. Well, I'm leaning towards special collections, but the second part of your question is applicable as well since I am pretty desperate for any type of library work. Sorry to keep asking questions, but I'm in the middle of registration for fall courses. Anyway, I'm doing a practicum next semester and was thinking of performing it at my local university's special collections department to broaden my experience. I could perform it at the public library's Local History Department where I volunteer, but I was thinking that having experience in public and academic special collections could perhaps give me a leg-up, and would give me potentially more references. Should I get this diverse experience, or should I just focus on public libraries exclusively and perform my practicum at my Local History Department? And about publication, which journals seem to be more open to student publishing, and what are some good topics for students to focus on when writing articles?
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Mar 7, 2011 19:56
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Do the practicum at the university's special collections. It will hit usefulness for both LS and history related references and professions. If you have specific questions about special collections and don't want to clog up the thread feel free to send me a pm. I direct a department at a historical society and am on hiring committees so hopefully my advice would be of some use.
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Mar 7, 2011 20:18
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I don't have a platinum account, so I can't send a PM, but if you don't mind an email correspondence, I listed one of my email accounts under "Interests" in my profile. If you want, just email the post you just made and I'll respond with some of my questions. Thanks for the offer, and I'll understand if you don't want to communicate through email.
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Mar 7, 2011 22:01
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While people are asking broad questions about job markets... I'm a biology major. I've been told by a few university librarians that the market for biology/science subject librarians is relatively non-horrible, and what I've been able to find through job postings and the like confirms this. I'd like to work in a college, university, or non-health sciences bio-related specialty library. I'm totally fine with getting a Biology MS. Is the science+MLS market as unsaturated as I've been told? What backup skills should a science librarian even have? (I can manage HTML and Python, I can read Japanese like anyone cares, and I love cats.)
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Mar 8, 2011 00:59
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I don't know about the specific situation for biology/science libraries, but I can tell you that most specialist libraries have less saturation because they have more requirements that fewer people have. Part of the reason public libraries have 1000 qualified people applying is because in most circumstances you only need the MLS to qualify. Archives get a little tougher because you need the MLS and often a concentration an archives as well. An MA in history will help as well, but those aren't the rarest of things and most jobs you can get with an MA in history don't pay the best to begin with. Most academic libraries go a little further by wanting at least 2 masters, but they generally don't care what they are in unless they want a subject specialist. You start getting into law and science libraries that want the MLS and things like a JD or MS you find fewer people who are qualified that want to work in the library, if for no reason other than they quite possibly could find higher paying jobs in their field with the MS, JD and without working in the library. This is also why information architects get paid so much. How many people have an MSCS and MLIS? Now, granted, you don't have to have all of those degrees to get entry level jobs in those fields but it certainly helps. I know I was lucky enough to find my position because I had the MLIS, MA-History and a background in computer science with experience in the private sector. You have to do something to set yourself apart, be it education, experience, networking, enthusiasm, or some combination. nesbit37 fucked around with this message at 13:10 on Mar 8, 2011 |
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Mar 8, 2011 01:10
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I did a storytime yesterday (my second, I'm still pretty bad at it) where I tried something new I came up with. I figure one of the things that isn't really focused on very much, if at all, for little kids is "and," "or," and "not." I think that being more adept at combining these concepts would make a lot of people suck less at finding things. I made a set of 18 cards. Each one has one of three different types of animal on it, a dog, a cat, or a bird. There are two versions of each type, and three different colors of each of those versions. Then, I had kids (2-3 years old) pick out all the cards, for example, that were blue OR birds; or that were red and dogs and such. I think for kids that young, I made it too complicated. Xor seemed to be a little tough for one kid to understand, particularly with that many items. If I use these again, I'll use 9 cards or less for the little kids, and the full 18 for the 4 and 5 year olds. Overall, the kids seemed to like it, and the parents thought it was pretty cool, they saw where I was going with it pretty quick. If anyone wants me to send the file, let me know. Once I've got it arranged nice and neat so as to not waste a bunch of the expensive card stock I want to use, and I figure out how to export a PDF from Publisher (seriously, WTF?), I'll post them. Lee Harvey Oswald posted:Any advice on the best ways separate yourself from the cat ladies if you can't find paying work? Computer skills. They have little to none.
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Mar 8, 2011 13:04
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Have any information science majors (the more computery aspect of the field) ended up working in IT after they finished grad school?
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Mar 11, 2011 17:21
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IT is pretty broad, could you be more specific? What I do could be considered IT, for example. Information architecture work is certainly IT, as is anything with systems.
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Mar 11, 2011 17:24
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I'm going to be in New Orleans with my family the same time that ALA is going on. I've never gone before but a group of people from SJSU are going to be there. Given that I never actually got to meet my professors or peers in person (online student), it might be neat to go to their reception and put faces to names. Plus I want to thank them for being so supportive. If you're considering an online degree, I can't recommend their program enough. Due to the flexibility of their distance program, I was able to complete it while working full time at an academic library. It was really helpful to be able to apply what I was learning in school at my job. VideoTapir posted:Computer skills. They have little to none. I can't agree more. My boss is over the moon to have someone who can write/edit HTML, pHp, and CSS. Now our quarterly journal has a discussion forum and accessible online archives. As for the job market, my county (Arlington) is currently in the midst of a hiring freeze so there are no public library jobs to be had  . Several universities in the area are hiring though, so if anyone is looking for something in the DC metro area I would recommend taking a look at George Mason University and Catholic University. Georgetown also has a few research positions open if you're into that sort of thing.
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Mar 11, 2011 20:21
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So, I'm going to have a meeting about my practicum goals at my local university's special collections department. Does anyone have any suggestions about what goals to seek in such a practicum? I want to gain experience with metadata and preservation techniques, but I may need more specific goals when submitting my proposal to the practicum coordinator.
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Mar 16, 2011 20:06
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:So, I'm going to have a meeting about my practicum goals at my local university's special collections department. Does anyone have any suggestions about what goals to seek in such a practicum? I want to gain experience with metadata and preservation techniques, but I may need more specific goals when submitting my proposal to the practicum coordinator. I was shooting more for public libraries and community colleges in my job search, so maybe being a generalist was a better bet there than it would be in a university, but I'd say a goal should be to work at least a couple of days in every major work flow in the department.
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Mar 17, 2011 09:52
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