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So You Think You Want to Be a Librarian?

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Most people’s knowledge of librarianship is a mash-up of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in Desk Set, some warm and fuzzy memories from an elementary school class visit, Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even fuzzier memories of all-nighters in their college libraries, and maybe a high-minded article or two about the Digital Public Library of America.

If this sounds familiar, don’t be embarrassed. Librarianship is a notoriously opaque profession, and most Americans have about as much understanding of what we do as they have of cloistered nuns, or actuaries.

Here’s the first shocker: most professional-level library positions require a masters in library or information science, most commonly known as “the M.L.S.” Since the M.L.S. involves a serious commitment of time and money, then you better be doubly sure that this is the right decision, at least for the next decade or two. Read more…

 

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SLJ’s 2013 Job Satisfaction Survey | What’s Not to Love? By Laura Girmscheid on May 6, 2013

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.Chart Designs by Mark Tuchman.

Igniting a love for reading is primarily what drives job satisfaction for librarians who work with teens. And satisfied they are—seven out of ten school media specialists and public librarians working directly with children and/or teens report they are either satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs. SLJ set out to learn more about the motivations and challenges in the profession in a recent national job satisfaction survey of just over 1,000 school and public librarians. Read more….

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6 Surprisingly Effective Networking Icebreakers | CareerBliss

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6 Surprisingly Effective Networking Icebreakers
By: Natasha Rhodes
Posted April 23, 2013

Networking IcebreakersThe high school prom. Do you remember yours? For every daydream you had of dancing the night away to your favorite Billy Idol song, wrapped in the arms of your crush, there was also the pre-prom nightmare of arriving late, of wearing the wrong clothes, of spending the night alone on the bench while the guy or gal of your dreams leaves hand-in-hand with somebody else.

Unless you’re a die-hard social butterfly, networking events may inspire similar mixed feelings of both fear and anticipation in you.  In your mind’s eye, you see yourself effortlessly breezing from group to group, waves of laughter following you as you regale your peers with tales of your company’s climb to fame. In reality, you find yourself leaving after several awkward hours, tail between your legs, the pack of business cards you had specially printed for the event unopened in your pocket.

What can you do to make sure that the time and money you put into attending professional networking events pays off?

No matter what your reasons for attending, you won’t achieve a thing if you don’t talk to people, and to do that, you must first break the ice. You may have the most amazing business plan in the world, but nobody will know it if you don’t take that first step and make contact with them.

We asked industry experts for their best networking icebreakers. Read more…

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10 Reasons No One Wants You in Their Meetings – On Careers usnews.com

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May 1, 2013 RSS Feed Print

Alison Green

Alison Green

If you’re like most people, you’re not too fond of all the meetings you get stuck attending at work. But have you ever considered whether your co-workers are sick of having you in their meetings, because you engage in behavior that derails or disrupts the conversation? After all, most meeting derailers don’t realize that their behavior is annoying others.

Here are the top 10 ways you might be frustrating colleagues in meetings. Read more…

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The Next Generation May Not Want Your Mentoring | Leading From the Library

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By on April 24, 2013

If you are a librarian and seek a mentor, you can get one. Our profession has no dearth of formal programs, and we even create opportunities that facilitate informal relationships. So far it has worked well, but as millennials enter the library workforce it may present a new challenge for library leaders.

For the generation of librarians that currently hold positions of library leadership, mentoring likely played an important role in their careers and in motivating them to opt for the administrative path. In leadership workshops, in the library literature, and at association meetings, we will often hear our colleagues sing the praises of a particular mentor who helped them develop professionally and played a role in influencing and supporting their career track. We tend to find our mentors in one of two ways, formal or informal. Formal mentoring opportunities are available through the American Library Association (ALA), its divisions, state library associations, regional or local member organizations, and others. For example, when I became a new library director, I joined the College Library Directors program offered through the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). In addition to an educational program, each participant is assigned a mentor. Mentoring programs can effectively serve both new-to-the-profession librarians and those adopting a new leadership challenge. No matter what level of leadership responsibility we’ve acquired in our careers, it is likely a relationship with an experienced colleague—not always a senior one—can help in the pursuit of better leadership. That’s why the popularity of mentoring programs continues. At least for most generations. For millennials, the chain may break. read more…

 

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