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: What are the pros and cons of pursuing a professional certification in an area you may not have much experience in to expand future employment opportunities?

Q: What are the pros and cons of pursuing a professional certification in an area you may not have much experience in to expand future employment opportunities?

by Susanne Markgren ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Q: I have been out of library school and working in a non-traditional role for 6 years as of today. Though I am employed (sometimes underemployed, depending on project funding), I am considering whether or not it’s time to try making a career move now that I have some experience under my belt. I have been job hunting as as I will not be able to move upward (or negotiate any sort of raise or additional responsibility) in my current position. After 6 steady months of job hunting (and a highly encouraging interview, though I was not offered the position) I’m beginning to realize the library job market in my area is just plain tough, and it seems likely to remain that way for the next few years. For family-related reasons I’m not able to easily relocate to seek employment and I’ve been wondering, what’s the best way to plan for career advancement if you aren’t able to make an immediate move to a new position? I am considering pursuing either a professional certification in an area such as records or knowledge management or possibly enrolling in some programming classes at a local community college. What are the pros and cons of pursuing a professional certification in an area you may not have much experience in to expand future possible employment opportunities? Would associate-level technology training pair well with an MLIS degree as a segue into systems librarianship?

SM: One might argue that you should always be planning for career advancement, whether or not you are currently job hunting. A career (not a job, necessarily) is something to hone, to mold, to build, to grow. It is continuously in flux and we should be improving our skill sets and pursuing new education all the time.

It can be difficult when you are feeling stuck (for lack of a better word) and are unable to move out to another job or move up to a better one. This is a common dilemma – you are not alone – and there are countless reasons why people stay in places and roles that are not ideal. But as long as you have goals (both short and long term) and continue to pursue new opportunities and explore new professional outlets, then there is hope.

A professional (or advanced) certification can certainly enhance your resume and provide you with new and potentially necessary skills for a job in a particular area. Some libraries/institutions may require a certification or specialization (or prefer one) depending on the area, for example: archives, library media specialist, digital libraries, preservation, law, or museum libraries. Be aware, however, that getting a job in that area without having work experience in that area, may be difficult even with the certification. So you should also look into volunteer work or an internship or hands-on projects at your current workplace, which can all count as experience.

I can’t say that pursuing a professional certification will definitely be worth it for you, but if you’re willing to spend some time and money as you bide your time in your current position, the best things you can do are –

  • advance your education
  • acquire experience
  • build up your resume
  • make new connections

If you are going to specialize, you should feel a strong pull towards working in that particular area, so you may want to try to get some experience first or at the very least talk to specialists and find out what they do, what they needed to do to get a job, and what they love about their job. It is good to specialize, but also good to get experience in different areas because you never know what type of position might come up, and what type of experience you might need to get the job you want.  I like to think that each job or role you have is a segue into your next one, and each skill you acquire and each connection you make can be a segue into new opportunities.

Technology training can be beneficial for any type of library role and will almost always come in handy at some point (think — photo editing, web design, graphic design, digitization, database design, statistics, metadata, and more). I have taken several technology and software specific classes in the course of my career and I have learned from each one. Getting an associate’s degree in a technology field can pair well with a tech-heavy librarian role, such as systems librarianship, and may be required for a small number of those jobs. However, if you have the experience and the skills needed, the advanced certificate or degree usually isn’t a requirement. Finally, seek out classes and events and associations that interest you and keep your job options open (especially since you are limited geographically) by considering non-traditional or alternative librarian roles which can be challenging and rewarding and can help to propel your career upward.

A few certification/specialization program within library schools:

Advanced Certificate Program – LIU Post

Advanced Certificate Programs – Pratt

Advanced Study Certificate – UW-Milwaukee

Certificate of Advanced Studies, iSchool, Syracuse University

Specializations – School of Information, University of Texas at Austin

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

A Decade Later… and a Brand New Look

A Decade Later… and a Brand New Look

by Susanne Markgren ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Dear Readers,

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website, Library Career People.

The Career Q&As have been moved to this new site, so all 10 years worth of Q&As are still searchable and browseable.

And, most importantly, we are still answering your career-related questions, so please keep them coming. The new site offers more sharing features and will make it easier to submit a question (via a form on the site).

Another reason for the new site is to highlight and promote our upcoming book: Career Q&A: A Librarian’s Real-Life Practical Guide to Managing a Successful Career (to be published this Fall, by Information Today). The book is, in essence, a byproduct of all the great questions we’ve answered over the years, as well as responses from a survey we conducted, interviews and essays from librarians working in all different types of roles in different types of libraries, and our own experiences as working librarians.

The new site will also highlight upcoming events and workshops that we are involved in, as well as our publications and presentations that are relevant to librarians and their careers, and data and responses from the librarian career survey.

The former location, http://www.lisjobs.com/careerqa_blog/, will redirect to the new site for a while, but please update your bookmarks and subscribe to the new site to stay current on new content.

And, one more thing, we have a Twitter account, where we will post links to Q&As, and other news and information we deem useful to our readers. Please follow us at: @LibCareerPeople

Thanks for all your support!

The Library Career People

Q: How will volunteer work benefit me?

Q: How will volunteer work benefit me?

by Tiffany ♥ 1 Comment

Q: I am interviewing for a volunteer position in a public library. How will this benefit me and is it easier to get a paid position if I volunteer? I do not have a master’s degree yet but I am considering it.

TA: A volunteer position can be a great way to learn about libraries, especially if you are considering pursuing the MLS.  Let’s take a look at your question and break it down:

  • How will volunteering in a public library benefit me?
  • Is it easier to get a paid position if I volunteer?
  • I’m thinking about getting my master’s degree…

First, as mentioned earlier, volunteering in a library is a great way to learn about what goes on in a library.  It’s basically a behind-the-scenes tour of library operations.  Not only are you gaining valuable insights into the inner workings of a library organization, you are also gaining experience in the work of libraries.  Additionally, if you’re around long enough, you’ll start to pick up on the vocabulary and meaning of technical terms used in the work, the workflow cycles, and the politics of the workplace.  You will also begin to establish a professional network, which, if you prove yourself as a valuable and reliable volunteer, will help you in your job search.  Which brings us to question number two…

Is it easier to get a paid position if I volunteer?  If you were to take a look back through some of our older posts, you’ll find that we often say it’s easier to find a job when you have a job.  What we mean by that is when you’re in the workforce (even as a volunteer) there are certain advantages that help with the job search.  First, all the things mentioned above as benefits to a volunteer position (knowledge of the work of libraries, common vocabulary, workflow, politics, etc.) are also benefits when you’re on the job market.  When you’re asked questions during an interview (like, Tell us about a time you had to work with a patron…), you will be able to speak from a position of experience, as opposed to theory.  Second, the professional network that you’ve established as a volunteer is also very helpful.  Librarianship is a small (and close!) profession.  Lots of people know lots of other people.  Your professional reputation—something else you’re building as a volunteer—is another tool in your toolkit.  Working hard pays off; the professional reputation you build will serve you well as apply for jobs.  And finally, by volunteering you’re gaining hands-on experience and receiving up-to-date training on information tools and the work of libraries.

And I’ll close with this, a response to the third part of your question.  If you’re thinking about going back to school, working experience in a library (paid and unpaid) will help you decide if you’re ready for the investment (of time, attention and money).  Finding out what you like about working in libraries is equally as important as finding out what you don’t like.  And those experiences will help you shape your academic experience when you do decide to return for the master’s degree.  Having some experience under your belt when you enter graduate school will benefit not only you, but your classmates will benefit as well when you’re able to put theory into practice and provide real-world examples.

Whether you’re taking librarianship for a test drive, or getting some experience under your belt before moving into something more permanent, volunteering in a library can provide excellent benefits for you, the library, and the community you serve.

Q: How does a part-time librarian find affordable health care insurance?

Q: How does a part-time librarian find affordable health care insurance?

by Susanne Markgren ♥ 1 Comment

Q: Dear Library Career People, 

I have so many questions I could ask but one dilemma is weighing on my mind (and affecting the contents of my wallet!): lacking health insurance as a part-time librarian. 

I absolutely adore my job as a YA librarian, but I am employed part-time. Though the job market for librarians has gotten a teensy bit better, competition is still fierce. I have yet to land another part-time position (which still wouldn’t give me insurance) or a coveted – and increasingly rare – full-time position. There is no option to “buy-in” to my employer’s insurance and civil service law limits my hours so I won’t qualify for that 30+ hour part-timer Obama law.

I make slightly too much income for state-sponsored programs like Medicaid but far too little to pay for private insurance out of pocket ($1,300/month?!). I know supposedly the new Affordable Care Act will change things next year, but do you know of any options that could help me? Do any professional librarian organizations offer group insurance? 

I know I can’t be the only part-time public librarian struggling with this. Please help if you can and thank you in advance. 

SM: You are definitely not the only part-time librarian to struggle with this issue, and you certainly won’t be the last. Lack of health insurance is one of the biggest drawbacks of working in a part-time position. It’s great that you love your job, but healthcare (or being able to afford health care benefits) is extremely important. Yes, things may change for the better in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act, but you can’t be certain. So, your options come down to: find a different job that offers health insurance (not that practical), find another part-time job that offers health insurance (not so easy), marry someone who has health insurance (ummm?), have someone claim you as a dependent (rather unlikely), or pay lots of money for private insurance (sigh).

It seems like you’ve already looked into any possibility of getting on your employer’s insurance, or getting a lower rate because of your employer. If you haven’t yet, I recommend that  you talk with your supervisor and your human resources department to see if there is anything that can be done or any prospect of changing your existing position into one with benefits (you never know until you ask). Finally, you may want to talk to family members, colleagues, and other part-timers, to see if they have any suggestions and to find out what kind of health insurance they have. And, I’m not sure how old you are, but if you are younger than 26, you may have the option to be added to your parents’ plan.

The good news is that some state level library associations do offer discounts to their members on health insurance plans (for example, NYLA) and some universities offer medical plan discounts to alumni (for example, California State University, Long Beach). So check our your state and local library organizations, and any alumni association that you may be a member of, to find out.

Below are some resources that may provide you with more assistance or information on the current state of part-time positions. The good thing is that you are working in a job that you love and you are getting valuable experience which will help you get that next job… which will hopefully come with benefits. Good luck to you!

On-call, Pool, and Substitute Librarians Facebook Group

Association of Part Time Librarians

The Art of Part-Time
by Sandra Collins and Allison Brungard

Part-Time Work Becomes Full-Time Wait for Better Job
by Catherine Rampell

A Permanent Alternative: Temporary, Part-Time Library Work
by Jennifer Johnston

20 Best Part-Time Jobs With Benefits – Updated for 2013
by Emily Guy Birken

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Young Person’s Guide To Health Insurance