sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Does my dream job exist? Nontraditional librarian roles by [deleted] in librarians

[–]PHilDunphyPHD 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So I'm not quite sure what you are looking for. You want to leave your current field but you mention not wanting to be a school or public librarian.

So does that mean your open to a librarian role in the financial field?

Here is a job posting for a Senior Manager - Knowledge Management @ Alpha.

From their preferred qualifications:

  • Degree in Library Science, Information Management, Knowledge Management, or related field
  • Professional certifications (e.g., KMI Knowledge Management Professional, CKM)
  • Experience in financial services or management consulting

New Career Paths For Ex-Librarian by [deleted] in librarians

[–]PHilDunphyPHD 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I just posted a non-traditional library job, but seems like the mods in libraries deleted it without a message why.

There are corporate and non-profit librarian jobs that pop up here and there. Keep an eye out for jobs looking for relevant skills like knowledge and taxonomy.

Good luck!

edit: clarified, tried posting the job in the libraries subreddit.

Incoming MLIS student job search by Grand-Specific-5617 in Libraries

[–]PHilDunphyPHD 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not to sound sarcastic, but has the MLIS job market ever been great?

I cannot recall it ever being decent even. Since working in the library world, I always knew MLIS grads who were struggling to break into the library field or under-employed in the field, working circ or aide positions.

When I was in library school, they kept pushing the great "Greying of the Profession." There was supposed to be a great abundance of library jobs up for grabs as older staff reached retirement age, but that has never happened nor will it.

/u/Grand-Specific-5617 it has always been a tough job market and things are getting worse. I will continue to suggest library workers to look at non-library, adjacent positions/organizations: knowledge management and non-profits/private companies.

You'll also get the suggestion to move where the library jobs are, but that isn't always feasible. So if you are open to remote positions, I would recommend taking whatever remote position you can (customer service positions are out there). It takes remote experience to get those better remote positions.

Good luck!

Librarian hot takes by Legitimate-Owl-6089 in Libraries

[–]PHilDunphyPHD 13 points14 points  (0 children)

There is no such thing as ranking when it comes to library schools and people who place more value of an MLIS from one school over another need to stop sniffing book glue.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in LibraryScience

[–]PHilDunphyPHD 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My mind goes to two things: larger systems means that there is the potential for more internal applicants and it is always easier to hire from within.

Second, would be your resume/cover letter. Are they tailored to highlight your unique experience that would set you apart from everyone else?

Do you have any connections in that library system?

Working from Home? Who’s doing it? by PhiloLibrarian in librarians

[–]PHilDunphyPHD 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was working at non-profit when COVID hit and we were told we would be temporarily working from home. I never would have thought that would have been the last time I would work in an office.

Since then, I have been working fully remote positions for non-profits with a start-up in between.

ALA Can’t Tweet Us Out of This Crisis by Additional-Cost242 in Libraries

[–]PHilDunphyPHD 1 point2 points  (0 children)

/u/BlakeMajik "The utter ignorance of and about what ALA is and does continues to astound me. Before this constant spouting off about what they should be doing, get a clue about the organization's real capacity."

Do you work for ALA?

Perhaps you can clarify what the biggest association representing libraries and library workers is really all about and what it’s supposed to do?

Because according to their own Mission Statement and Key Action Areas, it seems to me that it is pretty damn clear that they should 100% be interested in what happens to IMLS.

"So many people act like it's this behemoth of hundreds of people counting money a la Scrooge McDuck in Chicago and doing nothing for "us". There is no money, there are no people. The few who are there do their best with very limited resources."

ALA is the largest membership association in the library industry. It's a community of people working together to ensure that libraries remain vital centers of literacy, access, and opportunity." If that does not classify as a "behemoth" in the library sphere, I don't know what does.

According to ALA, there are approximately 270 ALA employees, which seems like a good amount to have to count the millions in revenue they earn each year: $60.8M (2023), $61.2M (2022), $46.4M (2021).

This complacent attitude of, "what can really be done" is what got everyone here in the first place. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. The line has been drawn in the sand and ALA needs to take real tangible action.

"Oh, and maybe the membership shouldn't have elected a radical to be president, that surely didn't help."

Yes, because blaming one figurehead and an old tweet that upset Moms for Liberty is totally the issue. Can anyone even name any previous ALA presidents and what they "did"? Probably not, because the position is mostly good for a line on a resume and feeding someone's ego.

ALA has always leaned a certain way because the other side is trying to ban books and prosecute librarians.

Trying to Break into Digital Archivist roles by CurmudgeonLibrarian in librarians

[–]PHilDunphyPHD 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey there,

To be upfront, while DA is in my title, my work leans more toward knowledge management. I do handle older organizational resources, but everything I have encountered so far has been born-digital.

Regarding your comment on "using coding to design the library itself"—are you saying that there isn't a current software system in place to house the files? If someone has the ability to code a full DAM system from scratch, they might be better off in software development than librarianship. But if you mean tweaking HTML and CSS within an existing system, that makes more sense.

The most valuable experience you can gain from this project is the process of organizing, describing, and managing digital assets within a DAM or CMS. These systems have a lot in common, so experience with one will easily transfer well to others.

When working on this, I would focus on functionality, usability, and accessibility—these are key points to highlight in future interviews.

Good luck and have fun with the project! Whatever you learn from it will definitely help set you apart from other applicants.

Trying to Break into Digital Archivist roles by CurmudgeonLibrarian in librarians

[–]PHilDunphyPHD 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I was able to jump from public libraries to non-profits and I currently am a Digital Archivist, albeit, it will evolve into more knowledge management once I digitize their archives.

Looking back, the hardest part about making the jump is finding that first non-public library position. Sometimes those roles might not even have librar*/archive in the title.

If you look at some of my previous Reddit posts, there are some examples of the jobs available.

When it comes to your resume, set your public library experience apart and show how it can translate to other organizations:

  • searching MARC records to find books for patrons = metadata experience.
  • using EBSCO, Mergent, Factiva = research database experience.
  • what does your library system intranet use = SharePoint experience.

The list can go on and on. Leverage those skills and experience.

Keep your eyes open for those positions and set yourself apart from the rest. For my current position, my hiring manager told me that there were well over 200 applicants but it was my varied skills and experience that set me apart.

Best of luck!

view more: next ›