Abington READS! Volunteer
The Abington Township Public Library is looking for a responsible and committed volunteer to help supervise our Abington READS! Program. Abington READS! is a buddy reading program that pairs young readers (grades K-2) with young adults (grades 6-12) to practice reading aloud. Young readers gain confidence in their reading abilities, and young adults inspire a new generation of readers while earning valuable serving learning hours. The ideal volunteer would be available from 6-8pm every Tuesday night for 7 weeks, beginning June 19th and ending July 31st. The volunteer is responsible for checking in young readers and young adults, supervising the program and its participants, and overseeing parent pick-up and other clean up duties. This is an excellent opportunity for Education or Library Science majors, although community members are also welcome to volunteer. If you are interested, please contact Lindsay Cummings, Young Adult Reference Librarian, atlcummings@mclinc.org or 215-885-5180 x.13. Please provide one employment reference
Lindsay Cummings
Young Adult Reference Librarian
Abington Free Library
1030 Old York Road
Abington, PA 19001
215-885-5180 x18
LCummings@mclinc.org
http://abg.mclinc.org
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Awesome Alumni: Dalia
This week's interview is with Dalia Corkrum. Dalia graduated from Drexel in 1979 with her MLIS, and is currently the Library Director at Whitman College. During her MLIS program, Dalia worked as an intern at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and was a member of Beta Phi Mu. Since graduating, Dalia has worked as a Cataloguer/Information Specialist at Air Products and Chemicals, a Retrospective Conversion Cataloguer at Aurora University, the Head of Technical Services at both St. Charles Public Library and Tacoma Public Library, and as the Library Director at Saint Martin's College.
What is your current job? Library Director at Whitman College
How did you find your job? I was nominated for the position; it was also advertised in all of the usual publications.
What does your typical day look like? Is this what you expected when you took the job? There's no such thing as "typical". I spend a tremendous amount of time building relationships, answering/writing email, budgeting, managing, etc., etc.
What do you enjoy most about your job? Working with talented people and making a difference in peoples' lives. I enjoy the variety of work that comes with my position.
What are some of the common misconceptions about your job/your area of librarianship? That everyone who works in the library is a librarian and that I have plenty of time for recreational reading.
What was the most valuable thing that you did or learned while in library school? My cataloging and management classes! Learning how to catalog has served me exceptionally well. It provided me with the skills to help patrons find information, understand database structure, evaluate and implement integrated library systems and make decisions that affect the future of information acquisition, access, and preservation.
What inspired you to choose this career? It was a practical choice. I contemplated law school but thought that librarianship would provide more flexible and varied opportunities.
What do you wish you had learned more about? Law. Everything we do now, from copyright to employment, has legal ramifications.
Any tips for current students? Don't just take the easy courses or the ones that sound really interesting. Oftentimes you'll learn things that you didn't expect and that knowledge will serve you well in the future. Become as active professionally as you possibly can at the local, regional and national levels.
**Interested in providing your own professional perspective on how to use your Drexel MLIS? Email us at drexelscala@gmail.com to participate!**
Monday, May 21, 2012
Awesome Alumni Interview: Eric
This week's alumni interview is with Eric Dillalogue. Eric graduated from Drexel in 2009 and currently works as the Assistant Director of the Florida Keys Community College Library in Key West, Florida. While at Drexel, he interned at the Biddle Law Library at the University of Pennsylvania.
What is your current job? Assistant Director of the Learning Resource Center at Florida Keys Community College (FKCC- www.fkcc.edu). FKCC serves about 1600 students across the Florida Keys, with the main campus in Key West and two satellite campuses in Marathon and Coral Shores. The location lends itself to some unique offerings with opportunities for hands-on work, such as an AS in Diving Business and Technology or an AA in Marine and Aquatic Biology.
How did you find your job? I found out we were relocating to Key West about a month beforehand, so I started researching the area at that time. I knew I wanted to work in higher education, so I made a point of exploring every aspect of FKCC (the only college in Key West). I also sent an email to the Director of the Learning Resource Center, introducing myself and asking to meet once I arrived. The library did not have a position at the time, but I was able to start working in the Financial Aid office where I learned a lot about how the College operates. I transferred to the library after about four months, starting as a Library Specialist and then was promoted to Assistant Director.
What does your typical day look like? FKCC is a small school, as is the library staff. With four full-time staff members, two 15-hour part-timers, and two work-studies, we are expected to wear many hats, often at the same time. We also have functions that may not be found in most academic libraries, like managing an art gallery with several different shows per year. Our patron base includes our students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the community who can use the facility and most of the resources freely. So most days are varied. In general, these are the types of tasks on a typical day:
What do you enjoy most about your job? What I enjoy most about my job is the opportunity to try new things on a regular basis. With a small staff and a small budget, we actively look for free or low-cost options to create or manage content. For example, after attending a free webinar on creating video tutorial,s I learned about a low-cost tool for screen casting and was able to produce library orientation videos. Since there are fewer layers of administration, we can make decisions to try new technologies or processes quickly.
What are some common misconceptions about your job/area of librarianship? The concept that our staff sits in a quiet space, reading books and shushing people. A library, academic or public, is a dynamic place and the staff are constantly busy.
What was the most valuable thing you did or learned while in library school? At work, it would be the Drexel class INFO 740: Digital Reference Services and work with the IPL. These prepared me for providing reference services remotely, a key skill at my library.
Personally, I echo the comments from Catherine Odson about INFO 608: Human- Computer Interaction. I learned so much about how design is a key element in our relationship with technology (and everything else). I also highly recommend INFO 633 Information Visualization for learning about a field that seems increasingly important.
What inspired you to choose this career? I originally worked as a manager in hotels and food service, but became burned out on the hours. After visiting a career counselor, it became clear that I had two main interests: helping people and continuous learning. Of all the career options, the library field felt the most right.
What do you wish you had learned more about? I wish I had invested more time in learning about providing instruction. Librarians possess unique and often specialized skills that other people want to learn about, so requests for workshops or instruction sessions happen frequently.
Any tips for current students? Don't overlook an opportunity that isn't exactly what you want, especially if its in the same organization. Not only is a different job a "foot in the door" it is also a great way to learn more about the organization's systems, processes, and people.
What is your current job? Assistant Director of the Learning Resource Center at Florida Keys Community College (FKCC- www.fkcc.edu). FKCC serves about 1600 students across the Florida Keys, with the main campus in Key West and two satellite campuses in Marathon and Coral Shores. The location lends itself to some unique offerings with opportunities for hands-on work, such as an AS in Diving Business and Technology or an AA in Marine and Aquatic Biology.
How did you find your job? I found out we were relocating to Key West about a month beforehand, so I started researching the area at that time. I knew I wanted to work in higher education, so I made a point of exploring every aspect of FKCC (the only college in Key West). I also sent an email to the Director of the Learning Resource Center, introducing myself and asking to meet once I arrived. The library did not have a position at the time, but I was able to start working in the Financial Aid office where I learned a lot about how the College operates. I transferred to the library after about four months, starting as a Library Specialist and then was promoted to Assistant Director.
What does your typical day look like? FKCC is a small school, as is the library staff. With four full-time staff members, two 15-hour part-timers, and two work-studies, we are expected to wear many hats, often at the same time. We also have functions that may not be found in most academic libraries, like managing an art gallery with several different shows per year. Our patron base includes our students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the community who can use the facility and most of the resources freely. So most days are varied. In general, these are the types of tasks on a typical day:
- Commenting on discussion board posts or grading work in the Introduction to Internet Research class I tech online.
- Working with faculty members to arrange for a library instruction session with their classes or conducting such a session.
- Presenting workshops of interest to a variety of patrons (e.g. downloading ebooks to an ereader)
- Processing ILL requests
- Staffing the circulation desk
- Providing reference assistance to patrons in the library, including lots of computer/technology assistance
- Providing reference assistance online via the statewide "Ask a Librarian" service
- Attending different committee meetings
What do you enjoy most about your job? What I enjoy most about my job is the opportunity to try new things on a regular basis. With a small staff and a small budget, we actively look for free or low-cost options to create or manage content. For example, after attending a free webinar on creating video tutorial,s I learned about a low-cost tool for screen casting and was able to produce library orientation videos. Since there are fewer layers of administration, we can make decisions to try new technologies or processes quickly.
What are some common misconceptions about your job/area of librarianship? The concept that our staff sits in a quiet space, reading books and shushing people. A library, academic or public, is a dynamic place and the staff are constantly busy.
What was the most valuable thing you did or learned while in library school? At work, it would be the Drexel class INFO 740: Digital Reference Services and work with the IPL. These prepared me for providing reference services remotely, a key skill at my library.
Personally, I echo the comments from Catherine Odson about INFO 608: Human- Computer Interaction. I learned so much about how design is a key element in our relationship with technology (and everything else). I also highly recommend INFO 633 Information Visualization for learning about a field that seems increasingly important.
What inspired you to choose this career? I originally worked as a manager in hotels and food service, but became burned out on the hours. After visiting a career counselor, it became clear that I had two main interests: helping people and continuous learning. Of all the career options, the library field felt the most right.
What do you wish you had learned more about? I wish I had invested more time in learning about providing instruction. Librarians possess unique and often specialized skills that other people want to learn about, so requests for workshops or instruction sessions happen frequently.
Any tips for current students? Don't overlook an opportunity that isn't exactly what you want, especially if its in the same organization. Not only is a different job a "foot in the door" it is also a great way to learn more about the organization's systems, processes, and people.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Awesome Alumni Interview: Lindsay
Lindsay Cummings graduated from the iSchool in June 2011 with a concentration in Youth Services. She was a co-chair of SCALA from 2010-2011 and created the SCALA blog. While getting her degree, she worked as an ILL assistant at the England Library, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, and as an After School Leader with the LEAP program at the Free Library of Philadelphia. You can visit her website at LibrarianLindsay.com.
What is your current job?
I'm the young adult reference librarian at the Abington Free Library in Abington, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia.
How did you find your job?
I found my job on the Drexel iSchool job board. I was also looking at jobs regularly on HigherEdJobs.com, through my local SLA chapter, and on the local country library websites. Social bookmarking sites have been a huge help in organizing my ever growing list of job websites. On Delicious.com I created a list of websites all tagged "jobs" (http://delicious.com/stacks/view/I3Kxyh) so that I could easily go down the list and check for new postings.
What does your typical day look like? Is this what you expected when you took the job?
Half of my day is usually spent staffing the reference desk, answering patrons' questions, helping patrons use the Internet, and finding them all the information they are looking for. The rest of my time is spent doing YA collection development (reading book reviews, placing orders, weeding, tracking stats), planning YA programs, and creating marketing materials (booklists, signage, etc). Overall, I'm doing what I expected in this job. Even though I am a YA librarian, I do provide services for all ages when I'm at the reference desk. I like working with the public so this naturally works well for me.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I've only been in my job for about a month now. But so far I really enjoy making decisions about what to buy for the YA collection. It's really satisfying when a book comes from the vendor and right away goes to a patron who's been waiting to read it. I periodically check out stats to see if the books are still out, how popular they are, etc.
True to librarian form, I also enjoy helping people simply find what they are looking for. It brings me so much satisfaction whether it's a student trying to find books for a report or an older patron who wants to know how to download e-books onto their e-reader. I'm so glad I work in a public library. It's exciting to work with the public because you never know what people are going to ask for.
What are some of the common misconceptions about your job/your area of librarianship?
People think that it's a boring job. It's NOT! For anyone who has worked in any field that involves customer service, you know that everyday brings new challenges and obstacles to make the customer happy. We are in the same business. That's how my 6 years of working in a restaurant have really paid off. Plus, there's always something to be done here, always questions to be answered, books to be ordered, people to teach.
What was the most valuable thing that you did or learned while in library school?
Some of the core classes taught me the biggest lessons. People never ask for what they want right out. You have to ask them more questions to get to the root of their need. Don't point to things. Get up and walk the patron to the book they want. Every moment is a teachable moment. Don't use a lot of jargon when talking to a patron. Try to explain, display, create things in user-friendly ways. Respect the right to read and the right to information.
What inspired you to choose this career?
I've always loved when people stop me on the street and ask me for directions. This is the ultimate career for people who love being asked questions and who enjoy giving the best answers possible. As someone who is naturally curious and loves asking questions herself, I'm driven to find answers and I will keep searching when most people have given up.
What do you wish you had learned more about?
I wish I had done an internship once I figured out that I wanted to be a YA librarian. Unfortunately, it didn't fit into my schedule, going to school and working part-time at an academic library. I think an internship at a public library working under a YA librarian would have given me special insight in to the everyday tasks of the YA department. It would have looked excellent on my resume too.
Any tips for current students?
My former boss gave me some great advice that I will pass on to you. Take the classes that you think you will really like. Find those professors who you admire and want to be like and develop a relationship with them. Professors Denise Agosto and Vanessa Morris were my library idols.
Also, be patient as you search for a full-time job. Voluneer or get a part-time job in a library. Find ways to sharpen your teach skills in your free time, like starting a blog on library issues that interest you. Get involved with professional associations. Network. I know test things have been said many, MANY times before, but I truly believe it's helped me land the position I have today.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Excerpts from the NMRT SASCO Update 4
Welcome to the NMRT SASCO Update
The 2011-2012 NMRT Student and Student Chapter Outreach Committee will publish a newsletter once a month. We aim to please, so if there is an area we are not covering or information you’d like us to include, please don’t hesitate to contact your SASCO liaison. SASCO Speakers’ Pool Up & Running! Let us connect you! SASCO provides LIS students with the opportunity to have active NMRT and ALA members speak (virtually or in-person) about involvement in the Association and professional development topics. This is a wonderful opportunity for ALA's best and brightest to be ambassadors to the next generation of library leaders and to keep our professional organization viable. Any questions about the SASCO Speakers' Pool should be directed to the current chair (Erin Dorney). Visit http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/libschoutr/sasco to view available speakers and sign up to be added to the pool!
News
New Members Round Table 2012/2013 committee volunteers are now being accepted NMRT Elections
The 2012 ALA Elections are rapidly approaching. The NMRT Nominating Committee would like to announce a live chat hosted in ALA Connect. The chat will be held on March 14 at 7pm EST. The chat will allow candidates to discuss their candidacy and answer questions while providing NMRT members an opportunity to hear directly about the issues that matter most to them. Learn what qualifications they bring to their position and their vision for NMRT and its future. Watch the candidates on the NMRT YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NewMembersRT
Student AL Direct Issue
Did you know that ALA puts out an exclusive supplement for ALA Student Members in addition to ALA Direct? No? Then check it out!
Professional Development/Publication Opportunities
Joint Conference for Librarians of Color (JCLC) Kansas City, Mo.—“KCMO,” “the City of Fountains,” “the Paris of the Plains”—will soon be the host to the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC). Housing and registration for the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, Sept. 19-23, 2012, will open on March 1. For complete details, visit Housing & Registration at www.jclc-conference.org
Scholarships & Funding
ALA Awards & Grants
ALA offers hundreds of grant and award opportunities throughout the year and for all types of librarians/students. Check out their list of grant opportunities often so that you don’t miss out!
Open Jobs & Internships
Data Curation at the Library of Congress Residency
Organizers plan to start taking applications this summer. Recently, the Library of Congress, Office of Strategic Initiatives, partnered with the Institute of Museum and Library Services to create a residency program focused on digital curation. Application for the six-month residency program will be open to postgraduate students later this year. For more information on this exciting collaboration, please follow click here.
Internship Programme at the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) of the United Nations
Intern on Archives and Records Management in the United Nations.The JIU, the only independent external oversight body of the United Nations system mandated to conduct evaluations, inspections and investigations system-wide, is currently seeking an intern with a background in Archives and Records Management who can intern for a minimum of four months and a maximum of six months (preferable) starting in mid-October 2012.
Job Hunting Resources
Hiring Librarians
Organized by a job-hunting librarian, this blog surveys hiring librarians to learn what will really get you hired (or, dropped out of the running quickly).
Job Hunters’ Resource Round-Up
Written by the Hiring Librarians blog (above), this is a great list of resources.
Open Cover Letters
Wondering what your cover letter should look like? Tired of looking at all those online templates? Check out Open Cover Letters, which is full of anonymous cover letters from hired librarians and archivists.
I Need a Library Job
ALA JobList
The 2011-2012 NMRT Student and Student Chapter Outreach Committee will publish a newsletter once a month. We aim to please, so if there is an area we are not covering or information you’d like us to include, please don’t hesitate to contact your SASCO liaison. SASCO Speakers’ Pool Up & Running! Let us connect you! SASCO provides LIS students with the opportunity to have active NMRT and ALA members speak (virtually or in-person) about involvement in the Association and professional development topics. This is a wonderful opportunity for ALA's best and brightest to be ambassadors to the next generation of library leaders and to keep our professional organization viable. Any questions about the SASCO Speakers' Pool should be directed to the current chair (Erin Dorney). Visit http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/libschoutr/sasco to view available speakers and sign up to be added to the pool!
News
New Members Round Table 2012/2013 committee volunteers are now being accepted NMRT Elections
The 2012 ALA Elections are rapidly approaching. The NMRT Nominating Committee would like to announce a live chat hosted in ALA Connect. The chat will be held on March 14 at 7pm EST. The chat will allow candidates to discuss their candidacy and answer questions while providing NMRT members an opportunity to hear directly about the issues that matter most to them. Learn what qualifications they bring to their position and their vision for NMRT and its future. Watch the candidates on the NMRT YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NewMembersRT
Student AL Direct Issue
Did you know that ALA puts out an exclusive supplement for ALA Student Members in addition to ALA Direct? No? Then check it out!
Professional Development/Publication Opportunities
Joint Conference for Librarians of Color (JCLC) Kansas City, Mo.—“KCMO,” “the City of Fountains,” “the Paris of the Plains”—will soon be the host to the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC). Housing and registration for the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, Sept. 19-23, 2012, will open on March 1. For complete details, visit Housing & Registration at www.jclc-conference.org
Scholarships & Funding
ALA Awards & Grants
ALA offers hundreds of grant and award opportunities throughout the year and for all types of librarians/students. Check out their list of grant opportunities often so that you don’t miss out!
Open Jobs & Internships
Data Curation at the Library of Congress Residency
Organizers plan to start taking applications this summer. Recently, the Library of Congress, Office of Strategic Initiatives, partnered with the Institute of Museum and Library Services to create a residency program focused on digital curation. Application for the six-month residency program will be open to postgraduate students later this year. For more information on this exciting collaboration, please follow click here.
Internship Programme at the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) of the United Nations
Intern on Archives and Records Management in the United Nations.The JIU, the only independent external oversight body of the United Nations system mandated to conduct evaluations, inspections and investigations system-wide, is currently seeking an intern with a background in Archives and Records Management who can intern for a minimum of four months and a maximum of six months (preferable) starting in mid-October 2012.
Job Hunting Resources
Hiring Librarians
Organized by a job-hunting librarian, this blog surveys hiring librarians to learn what will really get you hired (or, dropped out of the running quickly).
Job Hunters’ Resource Round-Up
Written by the Hiring Librarians blog (above), this is a great list of resources.
Open Cover Letters
Wondering what your cover letter should look like? Tired of looking at all those online templates? Check out Open Cover Letters, which is full of anonymous cover letters from hired librarians and archivists.
I Need a Library Job
ALA JobList
Monday, May 7, 2012
Awesome Alumni Interview: Andrea
Andrea Goldstein finished her MSLIS at Drexel in March 2011. She was co-chair and treasurer of SCALA for the 2010-2011 year. During her two years at Drexel, Andrea was an intern at the University of Pennsylvania Dental Library. She also volunteered at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society library and held two internship positions as Drexel's Hagerty Library (in engineering instruction and reference analysis). Prior to library school, Andrea was a post-baccalaureate research fellow at the National Institutes of Health, doing behavioral neuroscience research. Her undergraduate degrees are in chemistry and psychology.
What is your current job?
I'm a Liaison and Outreach Librarian at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Specifically, I'm the liaison to the School of Medicine, which, aside from your obvious med students, includes Physical Therapy, Public Health, PhD programs in the life sciences, as well as the physicians and residents at the hospital on campus.
How did you find your job?
I found this particular job on the medlib-l listserv, which is specific to medical libraries. While I was searching for jobs, though, I was on a number of mailing lists, and I kept up with a huge number of job boards and Twitter feeds, including HigherEd Jobs, LibGig, LIS Jobs, ALA JobList, and the University of Texas iSchool jobs list. It's a lot to go through, but it's worth the time and effort if you want to make sure you don't miss out on your dream job!
This was actually the second position I interviewed for at this library. I felt really good about my first interview, didn't get the job, but was encouraged by the search committee to apply again if anything opened up. When this job was posted a few months later, I jumped at the opportunity. It turns out that if they hadn't gone with an internal applicant for the first job, I would've been their first choice. So don't get discouraged from applying to your dream library if you don't get it the first time - your rejection might have nothing to do with you.
What does your typical day look like? Is this what you expected when you took the job?
I absolutely hated when librarians I talked to would tell me this, but there really is no typical day in my job. As a liaison librarian, my time is almost entirely scheduled by what faculty, students, and staff request of me. At my library, we have a separate reference department, so I don't have any desk hours. I do have research consultations with students, faculty, and staff who need more in depth and personal help with their research than a stop at the reference desk can provide. Usually this involves people who are working to publish their research and need help with their literature review, but could also include a student writing a paper for class. I spend a great deal of time on instruction. I train all of the new students, faculty, and medical residents each year, so while most academic librarians have a light summer, I'm actually busiest in June and July. I also teach more specialized research-oriented classes on demand, and I participate in our library's workshop series, teaching on topics like PubMed and Journal Impact Factor (and other metrics). I also do some pretty typical subject librarian tasks - I go through our approval plan every week to request books to purchase (although as a state school, we have no budget for purchasing right now), I keep LibGuides in my subject areas updated. One of the cooler things I get to do is go to morning report over at the hospital every few weeks. I listen to residents from Internal Medicine report on cases, go back to the library to do some research about any lingering questions the group has, and blog about what I found (and how I found it) later that day. That way the residents get to keep learning about medicine even post-med school, and hopefully they pick up a thing or two about searching along the way. I'll also (fingers crossed) soon be involved in a grant to learn more about the information needs of researchers involved in the University's new Clinical and Translational Science Institute, which will let me visit some other medical libraries, survey our faculty, staff, and grad students, and find a way to get them the training and resources they need to do better work in informatics. Aside from that, I serve on the library's Staff Education and Training committee, a committee to plan an Apps and Tablets fair for the fall, and I go to a lot of various faculty meetings as they come up.
This is all pretty much what I expected of the job when I took it, although I didn't realize how much of my work would be driven by my actions, as opposed to my going out to the School of Medicine and drumming up business for myself and for the library.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The biggest reason I left biomedical research and decided not to get my PhD was that doing the same thing at the same time every single day made me crazy. Here, everything is so dependent on what patrons need that I can never predict what I'll be working on any given week. I could have a handful of consults to prepare for and then follow up on; I could have two or three classes to teach in a day, or a day of back to back meetings. It's always changing, and it's always different, so it's very rarely boring. And because of my subject area, I occasionally get to use that chemistry degree, so it hasn't been languishing in a drawer somewhere.
What are some of the common misconceptions about your job/your area of librarianship?
I don't think there are any major misconceptions about working in public services at an academic library. I will note that medical librarianship, even in an academic setting like mine, really is pretty specialized and can be more urgent than other areas of librarianship. While it's more common to hospital librarians, it's not unheard of to have a physician come in needing to find information from the literature to help with a case they're currently working on. You're dealing with real people with real medical conditions, and it's important to keep that in mind when you're doing a search. I won't go as far to say that lives depend on the searching we do in medical libraries, but it's definitely more pressing (and a little more stressful at times) than helping freshmen write their first big research paper.
What was the most valuable thing that you did or learned while in library school?
The absolute best thing I could have done in school was work in a library. I worked at Penn for 2 years, all the way through library school, and I can't recommend their vast internship program enough. Between that job (and to some extent my other internships), I learned more about being a librarian than I got from any class. I got experience working at the reference desk, teaching workshops, making video tutorials and LibGuides, and more skills that I use on a regular basis in my current job. I was lucky enough to hold several paid internships that allowed me to spend as much time as I did in libraries, but even if you're not getting paid, it's hugely valuable to work in a library before you graduate. I know for sure that having so much experience before I graduated was a big part of what got me my job.
What inspired you to choose this career?
As I said before, I started out in biomedical research. It was incredibly tedious, but I didn't want to leave the sciences. As a medical librarian, I get the best of both worlds. I get to work on a variety of tasks, but I also get to work with people in all areas of medicine whose research is fascinating. Whenever I have a consult or go to morning report, I get to learn about areas of scientific research I didn't know about before. And with tuition remission, I get to be the perpetual student of the sciences I always wanted to be (next fall: human anatomy)!
What do you wish you had learned more about?
The University, and in turn, the library, have recently started focusing a lot more informatics. I have a little bit of bioinformatics background from my undergrad biochemistry classes, but I'm starting to wish I'd taken a course or two on the Healthcare Informatics track while I was still at Drexel. I avoided it because I couldn't quite figure out what informatics was (it turns out no one really has a good definition, even the people who teach the workshops I've been to since graduating). It's definitely a huge area though, and anyone in medical libraries is going to have to start learning more about it. I'm hopefully going to start to remedy that this summer at a week-long biomedical informatics course.
Any tips for current students?
Like I said earlier, work in a library while you're in school. I was lucky enough to come to Drexel with a pretty clear career path. I wasn't sure about tech services vs. public services, but I knew I'd end up in a medical or science library, and I was able to work in all of those areas to narrow down my interests. If you don't know what you want, in addition to getting a library job or volunteer position, make an effort to do informational interviews with librarians in as many fields as you can think of. Ask them tough questions about what they like and dislike about their jobs; where they see their fields going in the future; what skills you'd need to do what they do. If you can't work in public, academic, school, and special libraries, you can at least get a better idea of what people who work in them do.
On a related note, take advantage of student pricing for professional organizations. Hopefully as a SCALA member, you've joined ALA and any of their divisions that interest you (I'm already missing paying student dues). SLA, MLA, and other organizations all give you a similar deal. Even if you don't get involved in any committees, you'll get useful publications from the organizations you join, and you'll be able to go to their conferences for far less than other members. National conferences can be overwhelming, but they're a great opportunity to network and to learn more about your chosen field. A presentation or poster might inspire you to try something new, or give you something great to talk about when you go to your next interview. Plus, you never know who you'll meet! I was assigned a great mentor from the Delaware Valley Chapter of ACRL, and he really helped me through the job search process. I'd definitely recommend seeking out mentoring opportunities from both local and national organizations.
Feel free to get in touch with me at andrea.l.goldstein@gmail.com or follow me @oreadandletsing, where I do occasionally tweet about librarianship, despite a fair number of cooking and tv-related tweets.
What is your current job?
I'm a Liaison and Outreach Librarian at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Specifically, I'm the liaison to the School of Medicine, which, aside from your obvious med students, includes Physical Therapy, Public Health, PhD programs in the life sciences, as well as the physicians and residents at the hospital on campus.
How did you find your job?
I found this particular job on the medlib-l listserv, which is specific to medical libraries. While I was searching for jobs, though, I was on a number of mailing lists, and I kept up with a huge number of job boards and Twitter feeds, including HigherEd Jobs, LibGig, LIS Jobs, ALA JobList, and the University of Texas iSchool jobs list. It's a lot to go through, but it's worth the time and effort if you want to make sure you don't miss out on your dream job!
This was actually the second position I interviewed for at this library. I felt really good about my first interview, didn't get the job, but was encouraged by the search committee to apply again if anything opened up. When this job was posted a few months later, I jumped at the opportunity. It turns out that if they hadn't gone with an internal applicant for the first job, I would've been their first choice. So don't get discouraged from applying to your dream library if you don't get it the first time - your rejection might have nothing to do with you.
What does your typical day look like? Is this what you expected when you took the job?
I absolutely hated when librarians I talked to would tell me this, but there really is no typical day in my job. As a liaison librarian, my time is almost entirely scheduled by what faculty, students, and staff request of me. At my library, we have a separate reference department, so I don't have any desk hours. I do have research consultations with students, faculty, and staff who need more in depth and personal help with their research than a stop at the reference desk can provide. Usually this involves people who are working to publish their research and need help with their literature review, but could also include a student writing a paper for class. I spend a great deal of time on instruction. I train all of the new students, faculty, and medical residents each year, so while most academic librarians have a light summer, I'm actually busiest in June and July. I also teach more specialized research-oriented classes on demand, and I participate in our library's workshop series, teaching on topics like PubMed and Journal Impact Factor (and other metrics). I also do some pretty typical subject librarian tasks - I go through our approval plan every week to request books to purchase (although as a state school, we have no budget for purchasing right now), I keep LibGuides in my subject areas updated. One of the cooler things I get to do is go to morning report over at the hospital every few weeks. I listen to residents from Internal Medicine report on cases, go back to the library to do some research about any lingering questions the group has, and blog about what I found (and how I found it) later that day. That way the residents get to keep learning about medicine even post-med school, and hopefully they pick up a thing or two about searching along the way. I'll also (fingers crossed) soon be involved in a grant to learn more about the information needs of researchers involved in the University's new Clinical and Translational Science Institute, which will let me visit some other medical libraries, survey our faculty, staff, and grad students, and find a way to get them the training and resources they need to do better work in informatics. Aside from that, I serve on the library's Staff Education and Training committee, a committee to plan an Apps and Tablets fair for the fall, and I go to a lot of various faculty meetings as they come up.
This is all pretty much what I expected of the job when I took it, although I didn't realize how much of my work would be driven by my actions, as opposed to my going out to the School of Medicine and drumming up business for myself and for the library.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The biggest reason I left biomedical research and decided not to get my PhD was that doing the same thing at the same time every single day made me crazy. Here, everything is so dependent on what patrons need that I can never predict what I'll be working on any given week. I could have a handful of consults to prepare for and then follow up on; I could have two or three classes to teach in a day, or a day of back to back meetings. It's always changing, and it's always different, so it's very rarely boring. And because of my subject area, I occasionally get to use that chemistry degree, so it hasn't been languishing in a drawer somewhere.
What are some of the common misconceptions about your job/your area of librarianship?
I don't think there are any major misconceptions about working in public services at an academic library. I will note that medical librarianship, even in an academic setting like mine, really is pretty specialized and can be more urgent than other areas of librarianship. While it's more common to hospital librarians, it's not unheard of to have a physician come in needing to find information from the literature to help with a case they're currently working on. You're dealing with real people with real medical conditions, and it's important to keep that in mind when you're doing a search. I won't go as far to say that lives depend on the searching we do in medical libraries, but it's definitely more pressing (and a little more stressful at times) than helping freshmen write their first big research paper.
What was the most valuable thing that you did or learned while in library school?
The absolute best thing I could have done in school was work in a library. I worked at Penn for 2 years, all the way through library school, and I can't recommend their vast internship program enough. Between that job (and to some extent my other internships), I learned more about being a librarian than I got from any class. I got experience working at the reference desk, teaching workshops, making video tutorials and LibGuides, and more skills that I use on a regular basis in my current job. I was lucky enough to hold several paid internships that allowed me to spend as much time as I did in libraries, but even if you're not getting paid, it's hugely valuable to work in a library before you graduate. I know for sure that having so much experience before I graduated was a big part of what got me my job.
What inspired you to choose this career?
As I said before, I started out in biomedical research. It was incredibly tedious, but I didn't want to leave the sciences. As a medical librarian, I get the best of both worlds. I get to work on a variety of tasks, but I also get to work with people in all areas of medicine whose research is fascinating. Whenever I have a consult or go to morning report, I get to learn about areas of scientific research I didn't know about before. And with tuition remission, I get to be the perpetual student of the sciences I always wanted to be (next fall: human anatomy)!
What do you wish you had learned more about?
The University, and in turn, the library, have recently started focusing a lot more informatics. I have a little bit of bioinformatics background from my undergrad biochemistry classes, but I'm starting to wish I'd taken a course or two on the Healthcare Informatics track while I was still at Drexel. I avoided it because I couldn't quite figure out what informatics was (it turns out no one really has a good definition, even the people who teach the workshops I've been to since graduating). It's definitely a huge area though, and anyone in medical libraries is going to have to start learning more about it. I'm hopefully going to start to remedy that this summer at a week-long biomedical informatics course.
Any tips for current students?
Like I said earlier, work in a library while you're in school. I was lucky enough to come to Drexel with a pretty clear career path. I wasn't sure about tech services vs. public services, but I knew I'd end up in a medical or science library, and I was able to work in all of those areas to narrow down my interests. If you don't know what you want, in addition to getting a library job or volunteer position, make an effort to do informational interviews with librarians in as many fields as you can think of. Ask them tough questions about what they like and dislike about their jobs; where they see their fields going in the future; what skills you'd need to do what they do. If you can't work in public, academic, school, and special libraries, you can at least get a better idea of what people who work in them do.
On a related note, take advantage of student pricing for professional organizations. Hopefully as a SCALA member, you've joined ALA and any of their divisions that interest you (I'm already missing paying student dues). SLA, MLA, and other organizations all give you a similar deal. Even if you don't get involved in any committees, you'll get useful publications from the organizations you join, and you'll be able to go to their conferences for far less than other members. National conferences can be overwhelming, but they're a great opportunity to network and to learn more about your chosen field. A presentation or poster might inspire you to try something new, or give you something great to talk about when you go to your next interview. Plus, you never know who you'll meet! I was assigned a great mentor from the Delaware Valley Chapter of ACRL, and he really helped me through the job search process. I'd definitely recommend seeking out mentoring opportunities from both local and national organizations.
Feel free to get in touch with me at andrea.l.goldstein@gmail.com or follow me @oreadandletsing, where I do occasionally tweet about librarianship, despite a fair number of cooking and tv-related tweets.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Awesome Alumni Interview Series: Catherine
This week's alumni interview is with Catherine Odson. Currently, Catherine is the courseware support librarian at the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated from Drexel with an MS(LIS) in March 2011 and was president/co-chair of SCALA from June 2010 to March 2011.
While at Drexel, Catherine completed internships with the research and instructional services and courseware support departments at the University of Pennsylvania's Van Pelt Library.
Before library school, Catherine was a children's department and circulation clerk volunteer at her hometown public library. Her past jobs include newspaper reporter, substitute teacher, and youth tennis instructor.
What is your current job? I am the courseware support librarian at the University of Pennsylvania. Most of my time is spent providing end-user support and instructional design support for Blackboard and other courseware systems. I also help lead our social media efforts, provide reference services, work on our website, and occasionally help out with library instruction.
How did you find your job? I had a number of internships at the Penn Libraries during grad school, and a position opened up a few weeks before I graduated. I was extremely lucky and spared most of the job search.
What does your typical day look like? Is this what you expected when you took the job? I have two kinds of typical days. At the beginning of each semester, my days are completely packed with day-to-day-type activities, such as answering support questions and helping instructors create their course sites. The rest of the year, I’ll start my day with those same day-to-day tasks and catch up on email. After that, I’m able to tackle some projects, such as writing or updating Blackboard how-to documents, revising a workshop script, preparing for an instructional session, or planning our social media calendar. I appreciate both the breakneck pace of the busy days and the more project-driven style the rest of the year offers. This job gives me the opportunity to have both. I was already working with the courseware team as an intern, so I had very few surprises when I started full-time.
What do you enjoy most about your job? Thinking about using technology in innovative ways to improve student learning and helping faculty discover ways they can do this in their courses.
What are some of the common misconceptions about your job/your area of librarianship? There’s a misconception that libraries are in panic mode and making drastic changes to stay relevant. The reality for many libraries is evolution, not revolution. We are continuously working to better position ourselves to support teaching, learning and research on campus.
What was the most valuable thing that you did or learned while in library school? Most valuable experience: SCALA. Most valuable class: INFO 608 Human-Computer Interaction.
If you are reading this blog, you likely understand the value of being involved in professional associations. SCALA was the best fit for me; find your niche, whether that’s a student group or a local association, and start getting involved now.
INFO 608 will change how you live your life. You will find yourself analyzing doors, grocery store layouts, web services, always thinking about how a different design would make something more or less intuitive. Much of the reading applies to both digital and physical environments, and you will find a way to apply the concepts in your library or information organization.
What inspired you to choose this career? I got into libraries because I wanted to work with books. I originally wanted to be a children’s librarian. After I started my internship at Penn, I realized that an academic setting was a much better fit for me.
What do you wish you had learned more about? I wish I had taken more digital libraries and systems classes, both because they would support the work I am doing now and because they would have given me a stronger foundation in the technologies that are both the present and future of libraries. I’ve worked in both academic and public libraries, and it’s harder to get the maximum value out of classes that review a lot of what you may have learned on the job (for me, INFO 651 Academic Library Service in my last quarter really drove this point home). Challenge yourself to think about the profession more broadly, and find classes that will help as libraries continue to grow.
Any tips for current students? Grad school is what you make of it. You won’t learn everything you need to learn in class, and sometimes you have to make classes work for you and go beyond the required readings to get something out of it. It’s called the easy way out for a reason, but think bigger and get the most out of every class.
You need to be getting library (or archives or knowledge management and so on) experience while you are in school. The job market is tough, and even if you have an arsenal of valuable skills (accounting, development, communications, customer service), little substitutes for the word “library” (or archives or knowledge management and so on) on your resume. Making time for internships or part-time jobs is going to let you see how the theory you learn in class is actually applied (or ignored) in the real world. It also will help you focus your career goals.
Finally, get involved. It’s networking, it’s learning, it’s professionally developing, and it’s good for you!
While at Drexel, Catherine completed internships with the research and instructional services and courseware support departments at the University of Pennsylvania's Van Pelt Library.
Before library school, Catherine was a children's department and circulation clerk volunteer at her hometown public library. Her past jobs include newspaper reporter, substitute teacher, and youth tennis instructor.
What is your current job? I am the courseware support librarian at the University of Pennsylvania. Most of my time is spent providing end-user support and instructional design support for Blackboard and other courseware systems. I also help lead our social media efforts, provide reference services, work on our website, and occasionally help out with library instruction.
How did you find your job? I had a number of internships at the Penn Libraries during grad school, and a position opened up a few weeks before I graduated. I was extremely lucky and spared most of the job search.
What does your typical day look like? Is this what you expected when you took the job? I have two kinds of typical days. At the beginning of each semester, my days are completely packed with day-to-day-type activities, such as answering support questions and helping instructors create their course sites. The rest of the year, I’ll start my day with those same day-to-day tasks and catch up on email. After that, I’m able to tackle some projects, such as writing or updating Blackboard how-to documents, revising a workshop script, preparing for an instructional session, or planning our social media calendar. I appreciate both the breakneck pace of the busy days and the more project-driven style the rest of the year offers. This job gives me the opportunity to have both. I was already working with the courseware team as an intern, so I had very few surprises when I started full-time.
What do you enjoy most about your job? Thinking about using technology in innovative ways to improve student learning and helping faculty discover ways they can do this in their courses.
What are some of the common misconceptions about your job/your area of librarianship? There’s a misconception that libraries are in panic mode and making drastic changes to stay relevant. The reality for many libraries is evolution, not revolution. We are continuously working to better position ourselves to support teaching, learning and research on campus.
What was the most valuable thing that you did or learned while in library school? Most valuable experience: SCALA. Most valuable class: INFO 608 Human-Computer Interaction.
If you are reading this blog, you likely understand the value of being involved in professional associations. SCALA was the best fit for me; find your niche, whether that’s a student group or a local association, and start getting involved now.
INFO 608 will change how you live your life. You will find yourself analyzing doors, grocery store layouts, web services, always thinking about how a different design would make something more or less intuitive. Much of the reading applies to both digital and physical environments, and you will find a way to apply the concepts in your library or information organization.
What inspired you to choose this career? I got into libraries because I wanted to work with books. I originally wanted to be a children’s librarian. After I started my internship at Penn, I realized that an academic setting was a much better fit for me.
What do you wish you had learned more about? I wish I had taken more digital libraries and systems classes, both because they would support the work I am doing now and because they would have given me a stronger foundation in the technologies that are both the present and future of libraries. I’ve worked in both academic and public libraries, and it’s harder to get the maximum value out of classes that review a lot of what you may have learned on the job (for me, INFO 651 Academic Library Service in my last quarter really drove this point home). Challenge yourself to think about the profession more broadly, and find classes that will help as libraries continue to grow.
Any tips for current students? Grad school is what you make of it. You won’t learn everything you need to learn in class, and sometimes you have to make classes work for you and go beyond the required readings to get something out of it. It’s called the easy way out for a reason, but think bigger and get the most out of every class.
You need to be getting library (or archives or knowledge management and so on) experience while you are in school. The job market is tough, and even if you have an arsenal of valuable skills (accounting, development, communications, customer service), little substitutes for the word “library” (or archives or knowledge management and so on) on your resume. Making time for internships or part-time jobs is going to let you see how the theory you learn in class is actually applied (or ignored) in the real world. It also will help you focus your career goals.
Finally, get involved. It’s networking, it’s learning, it’s professionally developing, and it’s good for you!
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