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I've been sending applications all over and I've just been rejected by the fourth place to interview me.  I've been a reference librarian for years and I'm trying to move out to a new city, but the job search has felt as hopeless as it did when I was just out of library school. There just aren't enough Smiths to describe how I feel right now.I worry that I'm a terrible librarian, but no one's telling me. My employee evaluations are good. I seem to do OK at my job. Yet I'm paranoid that I'm actually quite stupid and maybe everyone at my library is incompetent or not that bright (a few for sure) by comparison. Or maybe I'm just a contemptuous rear end in a top hat and that's not true? I don't feel challenged at my library, and it bothers me. In my most recent interview the panel had really sharp questions and they knew exactly what they were doing. At my dept. we never talk about developments in the field of library science and we don't get enough time to do library instruction at all, let alone analyze it. I've developed a lot professionally since I began working here, but lately I feel stuck in a rut. Does anyone have any advice for early-to-mid career librarians? My advice to prospective librarians so far is: don't expect it to get any better 
Syntax Erin fucked around with this message at 17:37 on May 30, 2015 |
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May 30, 2015 17:35
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quote:Put the professional development in high gear and get into committees or local associations. Attend continuing education sessions. Volunteer to develop a continuing education session. I do a lot of stuff like that. I've worked with library associations, been to webinars and conferences, done some presentations of my own. I've been proud of that work, but my work within the actual library has become much less fulfilling over the years. quote:Does your library have all of its processes and procedures documented? If not, hop to it and start writing. Oh Lord! If I tried to do that my supervisor would get her panties in a twist. Since I'm the person who edits our website, I've had conversations like this before about our policies. One of our bosses is currently working updating the polices, because our college keeps its official policies in a special part of the site which I cannot edit. I asked them, "Shouldn't we have our rules in plain sight on the website so that people might actually read and obey them?" But they said no. As far as I know, she hasn't updated them all yet because she has to consult with other depts. within the library. quote:If they haven't, are there liaison committees that bridge that gap in communication? No? Start one.  "Does that clear up why I'm feeling so all the time and why I'm thinking of leaving? What I don't understand is why I keep getting interviews and then not getting jobs. Maybe I'm terrible, I don't know.
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May 31, 2015 22:02
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Been busy for a while and missed this thread. I've had three more interviews and all of them have rejected me, including one I got really close to getting. My boss also knows I'm looking for new jobs now because that one library required me to have a current manager as a reference. Thanks a lot.  Another community college library had the brass to offer me a chance to interview in a tiny town with zero travel reimbursement, no faculty status, no tenure, and a salary range more or less equal to my current one. Said thanks but no thanks. Not sure if I should be insulted or grateful. Insane Totoro posted:A late response to this, but how do people external to your organization feel about your work? Have you ever presented at a conference and had positive or negative feedback? Oh, it's been mostly positive feedback at work and at conferences. My work gets good employee reviews. My ability to navigate internal politics isn't as good, though, and it's been getting worse as it's been getting harder and harder to pretend I'm happy here. These interviews are just making me hate my current job more and more as I realize how much I'm missing in my skill set that I cannot get where I am now. This was supposed to be an entry level job that would get me to another job one day. But now I'm starting to think of this job like a pitcher plant, where if you don't manage to crawl out as soon as you're able, each passing year saps the strength you'll need to escape it while strengthening the plant itself, until you simply die there. What do I know about collection development? Well gee apart from weeding and going to workshops about collections development, my actual experience on it is crap because our library hasn't even had a book budget in years, so I have to fake my way through saying how I have used GOBI and faculty input to acquire books, hoping nothing's changed since 2009 since that's actually the last time I ever got to do anything like that. How many library instruction sessions have I done this semester? Well about two or three because our Info. Lit. program has no support and faculty think we're dirt beneath their bootheels. 
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Jul 11, 2015 01:00
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 I finally, FINALLY found a new academic library job. The library director was very interested in me, and called to ask me if I could start in the middle of March, a little more than a month away. I said yes, since she said she was preparing to offer me the position and thus I expected them to mail me a contract very soon. I live 1000+ miles away. They know this. They have also never told me what my salary might be. So the next week comes, and I hear from two of my references that the new job called. HR is still calling people? A week passes, no contract. TWO loving WEEKS LATER, no contract. What the gently caress? In a little while it's going to be too late for me to give my 2 week notice at my current library and have enough time to stuff all my poo poo into a truck, throw it into an apartment, and get to work at the new library. I’m trying to make plans, but I can’t because nothing’s certain at the moment! What do I do? Should I just forget about it? I’ve been wanting a new job for years, but this whole thing is giving me bad vibes. They can’t even wait for me to actually start working for them before they start loving me? Am I being tested? What is this poo poo? I am literally crying over this.
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Feb 18, 2017 02:50
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U-DO Burger posted:What are they telling you? Have you called them? On Monday the director said she'd make sure the letter was sent out before the end of this week, but that's all I've heard. That's still cutting it real close.
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Feb 18, 2017 04:46
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Fortunately things have improved! Kind of. The director emailed me about the delay yesterday before I had to, which is nice. Apparently the paperwork is stuck in a gear somewhere, since it needs a bunch of signatures and not everyone who needs to sign has signed yet. That's pretty believable for academia. She says we can also change the starting date. But still no work on what the $$ will be, or an ETA on when this paperwork might be shipped to me. Schmetterling posted:I got a highly sought-after graduate librarian position at one of the biggest academic libraries in the country! It's an amazing opportunity to learn and get experience... so should I just suck it up and get over myself even though it's made me cry multiple times in four months, triggered self harm and suicidal thoughts, and I learned last week that crying in the toilets is actually an almost weekly occurrence for many of the staff here?... I guess it depends on how long you plan to be there.
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Feb 21, 2017 21:16
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Here's an Update on Schrödinger's Job Offer: I'm still both in a state of hired or not hired, until the letter finally arrives and the offer can be observed. On Friday the director finally told me via email that the offer would be $38,000, which is more than what I make now  and that she'd contact me about getting a new start date and fixing the paperwork to show that new date. So I had a happy weekend.But now it's Tuesday and via email I've been told that it still needs the Uni. president's signature and that April 1 could be the new start date (but that's a Saturday?). So it might be coming... but I also got a call for a Skype interview with another college in Memphis. Naturally, I said yes, I'd be there. There is SO much poo poo I can't plan for or begin without receiving official notice from the new job.  My Lovely Horse posted:Update: have been offered a six month extension on my contract and said no before even thinking about it. They also dug up a task that's at least kind of related to my skills so that's nice for as long as it'll last me. It takes guts to refuse a job because it's not fulfilling enough. At my current job, I do a whole lot of nothing and no one has noticed, but it's taken me years to understand that it's making me feel awful rather than happy. Syntax Erin fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Feb 28, 2017 |
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Feb 28, 2017 22:53
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Yeeeaaahhh.... speaking of that, my current job is faculty tenure-track, and I've attained tenure. The new job offer is NOT a tenured position. So my gently caress-ability is something I'm quite worried about here. 
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Mar 1, 2017 02:44
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Oh, nothing new to report. Just needing a place to  about still having no offer letter.
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Mar 7, 2017 20:06
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Well great! I finally got the letter emailed to me! ...since the print copy still hasn't shown up. The letter's signature is dated March 1. The director had almost 2 weeks to email this loving thing to me. When she sent me the offer letter scan, she said she "thought" she'd already sent it. Which she had not. The offer letter also says that I confirm receipt of the Employee Handbook upon signing it. I have never been given a copy of the Employee Handbook. So I emailed the library director and asked for a copy, and she told me to look at my other emails because again she "thought" she sent it already.   WTF? Why even stop to question me about it?! Why not just loving give me the drat file!? And they want me to start 3 weeks from yesterday. 3 weeks to quit my current job, move 1000+ miles, get a place, and start work. That's it. That doesn't give me much time to make a decision and put in my 2 weeks notice, plus they neglected to give me the information that any normal person would NEED for making said decision!  Still, I told her I'll be there on April 3rd, since getting out of my apt. before the end of the month is ideal, but if I can't get out of my lease, that doesn't even matter. Thank god I only have 3 months left. I've handed in my resignation at my current library already, because I had to do it right now in order to give them 2 weeks notice. I only had a day to decide. I had to contact HR directly to get the info about the benefits and the employee handbook. They actually did email them to me and were nice about it. The beneits are good; not unlike what I have now. So that's nice. Kinda weird that I had to procure that info myself instead of getting it right when I was offered the job though. My future boss may either be stupid or incompetent or a oval office or all the above. I'm hoping for just plain stupid. I'm at least accustomed to that. Was she doing all this poo poo on purpose to make it extremely difficult for me to refuse the offer? Or to remind me that I'm a worthless peon who exists to serve her whims? I really can't tell. I feel like I can't ask for more time or complain about any of this because I'm so desperate for a new job, especially one so close to my hometown and family. I don't want to seem like a demanding whiny entitled person. I want to make a good impression. There's a 60-day evaluation period at the start, so I don't want to give anyone any reason to hate me lest I end up fired and homeless and have to kill myself. This new library is already pissing me off and stressing me out and I haven't even started there yet. Maybe I just need an attitude adjustment. Or maybe I'm too desperate to get out of the dirty ol' south. Or maybe taking this job is a stupid, stupid idea. My rationalization is that I'm underpaid at my current job, our library is under the control of upper managment who neither respect nor understand us, I don't like the location, and I'm nowhere near any family or real friends, so I figure I should at least be paid more for being unhappy. ...right? Insane Totoro posted:Okay I'm dying here: http://awfullibrarybooks.net/email-addresses-of-the-rich-and-famous/
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Mar 15, 2017 02:25
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remigious posted:That makes sense. I'm hoping they will let me use them as a reference in the future, so I don't want to leave them high and dry. Leave them a box of donuts? That helps.
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Mar 16, 2017 20:09
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