Author: carriewajda

Q: Where do I look for home-based cataloging jobs?

Q: Where do I look for home-based cataloging jobs?

by carriewajda ♥ 3 Comments

Q: I have a MIS and M.Ed. School Library Media. I have 6 years’ experience as a university/college librarian, mainly cataloging periodicals and academic materials. I also have 5 years’ experience as an elementary school librarian.

I love cataloging. I was thinking of finding a cataloging job I can do from home (online). Can you advise me on where to search for home-based cataloging jobs?

CNW: How I adore the Internet for opening up remote working capabilities. Cataloging is an area that could lend itself to home-based work, if you are cataloging digital rather than physical materials.

Therefore, you’ll need to think broadly about what kind of cataloging opportunities are available on a remote-working basis. As a cataloger, you may find that taxonomy development or information architecture jobs are new ways to use your skill set and similar enough to cataloging that you could find them enjoyable. You’re also more likely to find these types of jobs more suited to location independence than traditional cataloging jobs that require physical interaction with books and other materials.

To find opportunities, you will have to broaden your search beyond the usual library list serves to include sources like Indeed.com and LinkedIn, as well as any local job sources for your geographic area. Inside Higher Ed and The Chronicle of Higher Ed will be more targeted to your background and experience. Also consider library vendors like OCLC.

You don’t say whether you’re employed now, but if so, I also suggest approaching your current employer about the possibility of working remotely. The response may be no, but  asking for a trial period has the benefit of trying out the arrangement before committing to it fully. While working from home can be wonderful, some people find that productivity becomes a challenge, or that they miss the activity of a traditional office.

In your search, look at colleges and universities with distance learning programs. These institutions may be more comfortable with remote work arrangements than schools with a more traditional, in-person approach to instruction. Keep your eyes open, think creatively about who might need your cataloging skills, and you will likely find a work-from-home arrangement that works for you.

Suggested resources:

“Location, Location, Location,” The New York Times, 3/2/2013

“Pros and Cons of Working at Home,” CareerBuilder.com, 4/17/2009

Q & A with Tiffany, 10/17/2011

Q: Can an urbanite adapt to rural life, or is it time to move on?

Q: Can an urbanite adapt to rural life, or is it time to move on?

by carriewajda ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Q: I graduated in 2012 with my MLS and landed a wonderful tenure-track academic library position. While I love what my job entails, key coworkers have been difficult to collaborate with and the town the university is in is small. I came from a huge metropolitan city where there were always fantastic cultural arts events going on. This university is focused on engineering and agriculture, and the town is completely based around the university. There are no major cities within 2 hours. While I enjoy my job, I extremely dislike the rural nature of the town. I know the job market is tough…but how do you balance a love of your job with disliking any time outside of working hours?  I also have a spouse who will be relocating to my location in a few months, but there aren’t many positions, if any, in this small town in what my spouse is focused on. Do I stay, or move back to my beloved metroplex?

CNW: Congratulations on landing a job you love right out of school – and tenure-track no less! – in a tough economy. Your experience highlights one of the factors that anyone thinking about a career in academia needs to consider carefully: you have to go where the jobs are. Academic employers in urban areas can pick and choose from a large pool of highly qualified candidates. If you are truly committed to academic librarianship, you may find yourself living in a small-town or rural area, at least in the early stages of your career. For someone who prefers that environment, this might be just fine. For others, the trade-offs can be less appealing.

In your case, I would suggest taking a critical view toward what you truly love about your job. From your description, it isn’t your colleagues, and it isn’t the subject focus on agriculture and engineering. There are probably other opportunities in more cosmopolitan locations that include similar responsibilities, unless your role is truly unique.

You may also want to think carefully about your spouse’s earning potential. If he or she stands to earn a higher salary than the typical academic librarian’s over the long term, you might consider following your spouse’s career wherever it may lead. On the other hand, it is also possible that the arrival of your spouse will make the rural town more palatable, in which case you should hang tight and work on your relationships with those key coworkers.

Ultimately, your job is only one factor in your life. You have a solid beginning in an academic library career, which is no small thing. But if you are already feeling constrained by your location, how will you feel in six or seven years when you get tenure? Will you and your spouse still be happy there, if he or she is not able to find meaningful work? If the answers to these questions are both no, start looking for a graceful exit.

SM: To add to Carrie’s excellent advice, I would say that you should give it at least a year, if not two, in order to acquire experience, and so that the length of time worked doesn’t look negative (i.e., job hopping) on your resume. Also, it always takes time to adjust to new environments and to make new friends and to feel comfortable in new places. I’m sure having your spouse around will make things much better and the two of you can explore together. College towns, as small as they can be, typically have more diversity and more cultural offerings than most rural towns, so there may be things you haven’t discovered yet. I suspect that isolation is the real culprit here. And if your library colleagues are not all that exciting, try to seek out faculty or staff in other departments, ones your own age, who can offer suggestions of things to do, places to go, etc. I’m sure you’re not the first person to move to that town and feel the way you do. If you do decide to explore other opportunities, remember that you are interviewing the employer and prospective colleagues as much as they are interviewing you, and you should research and spend as much time in the new town as possible — to make sure that you really want to move there and live there. And one more piece of advice, don’t leave a job (especially a good job) without having a job.

Related article:

Relocating: the Beginning of a Great Adventure by Thad Dickinson
http://www.liscareer.com/dickinson_relocation.htm

Q: Can a contractor find a traditional library job?

Q: Can a contractor find a traditional library job?

by carriewajda ♥ 1 Comment

Q: [Edited] I am a 2007 MSIS graduate. A month after finishing library school I was able to start in a contract position with a large non-profit hospital. At the time I thought it was an amazing opportunity; now I’m not so sure. After marrying a member of the military I was able to continue in the contract position and transition to telecommuting. This is a part-time, non-traditional library position,  and I doubt I’ll have many further opportunities for growth or for learning new skills. I am concerned I missed out on the opportunity to start my library career off on solid footing. My job title is contractor and I don’t know how to make it more attractive a description to potential resume readers without raising questions. I’m now actively searching for a full-time position with benefits, but have had not succeeded in getting so much as an interview in two years. Could the non-traditional nature of my experience be hindering my search? I am very active in two professional library organizations, but my spouse is now planning a long-term military career, and I’m concerned that even if I get the chance to gain some experience in a traditional setting I’ll have to rebuild a professional network and job hunt every time we move. Is it time to consider leaving librarianship? Would more or different training help?

CNW: Careers are only one aspect of our lives, and balancing career and family needs is a challenge for many people. For the time being, it seems as though you have found a flexible role that can accommodate your spouse’s military career growth. There’s no reason to feel that you have gotten your career off to a bad start. It sounds like you have done very well in finding a role that makes use of your specialized training but is flexible enough to accommodate your family’s needs.

Since you have already been on the job market for two years and you’re not getting interviews for traditional library roles, it’s a possibility that your contract status is making you appear less attractive to prospective employers. However, you may also want to revisit how you are framing your skills and work history. Since employers want to hire the most qualified candidate, it would be a good idea to reach out to your professional network for help with framing your qualifications in the most attractive light. Note that I don’t advise fudging details of your employment or experience, but articulating clearly and concisely how your skills relate to the specific traditional library job you want. This means tailoring your resume and cover letter for each job application and telling the story of how your unique skill set qualifies you for the position.

Since you are still relatively early in your career, more training could benefit you in the long run but it won’t necessarily help your library career. I recommend that you look closely at your reasons for wanting a traditional library job. If you will be moving frequently, you will likely find it frustrating to uproot your career repeatedly – and in the long run this pattern could make you a less attractive candidate to traditional employers who value stability. It sounds as though you have outgrown your current gig and are ready for new challenges and professional experiences along with the benefits that come with a full-time job. Full-time, location-independent roles do exist for librarians, though you are more likely to find them in a nontraditional setting. Consider building on your nontraditional experience by looking for a full-time job that can flourish in tandem with your spouse’s career – wherever that may take you.