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Material that supports the study of how libraries and knowledge professionals are trained, how they share their skills, and how their peers view them.

Librarian as Outsider by Nora Almeida

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Academic librarians are worried about power. And powerlessness. They are particularly concerned with the way power dynamics shape their identities as educators and inform their pedagogical capacity.

Recent library scholarship has introduced a number of compelling arguments for pedagogical alternatives to what Freire calls the “banking concept of education,” which conceives of students as passive “receptacles,” teachers as “depositors,” and knowledge as capital. If James Elmborg’s seminal 2006 article Critical Information Literacy: Implications for Instructional Practice is any indication (it’s been cited more than 250 times as I write this), the banking concept of education doesn’t work for information literacy instruction. Elmborg begins his article with a problem and ends it with a challenge: “the real task for libraries in treating information literacy seriously lies not in defining it or describing it, but in developing a critical practice of librarianship — a theoretically informed praxis.” This is a daunting task, particularly considering the logistical reality of information literacy instruction, which typically happens in ‘one-shot’ library sessions. While a “problem-posing” approach is difficult to achieve in the context of the one-shot, a critical approach is not just an alternative but an imperative.

Here’s why.

Read more: http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/librarian-as-outsider/

4 Habits That Kill Career Potential

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The harder a habit is to acquire, the greater the reward that stems from acquiring that behavior. Rarely is the acquisition of desirable traits or the culmination of a successful career happenstance.

Regardless of popular consensus, most individuals are not born with immense abilities. Rather, the actions a person takes and how often they engage in those habits will either propel or completely diminish abilities.

Read more: http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/habits-kill-career-potential/?utm_source=Undercover+Recruiter+Newsletter&utm_campaign=85e99ad14d-July+9th+2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ecc4b8afd3-85e99ad14d-58822677

Act Like A Business Owner To Advance Your Career by Andy Robinson

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Whether you work for a global corporation, a small business, or for yourself, it is absolutely essential you THINK and ACT like an “owner” if you want to advance your career. You need to “own” your job, own your role as a leader or manager, own your roles and responsibilities – put yourself in the shoes of a business owner, and think and behave as any owner would do.

Related: 7 Sacrifices You Need To Make To Advance Your Career

This is not new career advice; many of us have heard this before, and many of us have probably given this advice to others. But what does it actually MEAN to think and act like a business owner?

Standing in the shoes of a business owner is a mind-set shift and in my opinion includes fully embracing the following as part of HOW you DO your job and how you THINK about your job:

1. Show Passion And Enthusiasm

Both your head and your heart need to be “in the game.” Your clients and customers need to see and “feel” your enthusiasm for what you do. Your colleagues, team mates and direct reports need to sense your passion for what you do. Passion and enthusiasm are the fuel for the energy that flows into your job. Others are drawn to you and inspired by you in direct correlation to level of sincere passion and enthusiasm you exhibit.

Read more: http://www.careerealism.com/business-owner-advance-career/

Question for Retired or Near-Retirement Professionals: What Advice Would you Give your Earlier Self? ​

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….

Actually, this is not a terribly difficult question to answer, as I believe I often speak to my earlier self each time that I speak with a mentee. I advise library students to immerse themselves in the profession from day one Learn to think like an information specialist, walk the talk. Taking courses and attending conferences is only part of the larger equation. To become a librarian or information professional means to adopt the mindset of a professional.

Study best practices, adopt them early. Learn to take initiative based on sound fact-finding, informational interviews, case studies and networking. Adopt educational technology and promote its use. Learn a bit of coding.

As a female librarian, I would say that one should expect as much from oneself as one would from a man. Learn to manage up as well as across and down. Remember that professional development and continuing education is as much your own responsibility as that of your employer, if even more. It is to invest in yourself. Hold yourself accountable for troubleshooting and fact-finding without continually asking others for assistance.

If you are an academic librarian, do not confine yourself to the world of information science. Read and participate in events and professional organizations that interface with the library and staff. Read about trends in higher education, in publishing, in technology. Learn as much as you can about your users, those stakeholders who have an impact on your service and who will benefit from honest dialog about your profession and the services librarians provide.

Becoming a professional is not limited to a 9 to 5 timeslot. In the 21st century, it is an evolving process that is often attended to best beyond the confines of one’s employment. For one who is passionate about the profession, the pursuit for excellence will provide camaraderie, intellectual stimulation and immense personal satisfaction. It will allow you to not only grow spiritually but widen your opportunities for future employment as well as bolster your self-esteem and self-image.

– Stephanie Gross, Electronic Reserves Librarian, Yeshiva University

Read more: http://metro.org/articles/a-question-for-seasoned-professionals/

So You Got a Job Interview – What’s Next? Four steps that will ensure you wow your interviewer.

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By March 30, 2015 | 9:53 a.m. EDT 

You finally got the call you’ve been waiting for: an invitation to interview for a job you’re really excited about. What do you need to do now to ensure you ace the interview?

Here are four steps that will position you as strongly as possible to wow your interviewer:

1. Research the company. It’s important to get familiar with the company you’ll be interviewing with. Understanding the context your interviewers are working in will help you have a more intelligent conversation.

This doesn’t mean simply memorizing facts about the company; there’s not a lot of utility in that. Rather, you’re looking for the answers to questions like these:

  • How does the company see itself? What would its employees say makes it different from its competition?
  • What is the company most known for?
  • Has it been in the news lately? If so, for what?
  • What are the company’s biggest current initiatives, projects, products or clients?
  • What info can you find about the company’s culture and values?
  • Roughly what size is the company?
  • Who are the company’s key players? What kind of backgrounds do they bring to their roles?

If you come across as someone with a baseline understanding of these basics about the company, your interviewers will much more easily picture you in the job. Conversely, if you don’t seem to know any of this information, they’re likely to wonder how interested you really are and whether you even really understand what they do. Research the company before interviewing. Try to find out how the company sees itself, what it’s most known for and who its key players are.

Read more:

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2015/03/30/so-you-got-a-job-interview-whats-next?src=usn_fb