Career Counselling Appointments at ALA Annual

This message just popped up in my LinkedIn groups and I thought it might be useful for people planning to go to Annual

Group: American Library Association Subject: Now Accepting Career Counseling Appointments ALA JobLIST Placement Center Now Accepting Career Counseling Appointments

Career Counseling
Saturday and Sunday
June 29 & 30, 2013
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location: ALA JobLIST Placement Center,
South Building of the McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago


During the upcoming ALA 2013 Annual Conference in Chicago there will be a number of activities and events scheduled to assist library workers, and specifically job seekers, in preparing for effective job searches. Included in these activities will be an opportunity to have a FREE one-on-one session with a professional career counselor.

Recharge your career by meeting with a professional career coach. She can guide you in strategizing for the next phase of your career, solving a problem in your current job situation, defining goals, and/or rejuvenating your career. Each one-on-one session is 20 minutes, and is completely confidential.

If you have never experienced career counseling, or just haven't used this type of service in a long time, this is the perfect opportunity to either introduce yourself to or reacquaint yourself with a service that can be useful throughout your career.

Take advantage of the opportunity to talk with a knowledgeable professional about your career concerns. This service is free and available whenever the Placement Center is open.

To see the full range of activities for job seekers, for more information, or to sign up for an appointment, visit the ALA JobLIST Placement Center website at: http://joblist.ala.org/modules/jobseeker/Conference_Workshops.cfm .

ALA is concerned about library workers, and we’re working to help you meet your career challenges. Hope to see you in the ALA JobLIST Placement Center.
Posted By Beatrice Calvin

Career Opportunities in Library and Information Science by Allan Taylor and James Robert Parish

Career Opportunities in Library and Information Science is part of a series of Career Opportunities in...books from Checkmark Books. Like all of the books in the series, the main portion of the book is devoted to occupational profiles which includes a list of duties, salary expectations, a position description and education requirements. The relevant associations and unions are also listed for each of the profiles, and the websites for these organizations are a good source for job postings as well as professional development opportunities. The book is divided into four sections: Librarians and information professionals, then the technicians and assistants found in each field.

Each of the profiles also include a "career ladder" which shows the entry-level positions associated with the career profile and then the career progression, such as the Public Services librarian, who may enter the profession as a library technician or a library assistant, then progress to Public Service Librarian and possibly achieve a senior level position in this area as a Chief Information Officer, a Library Department Head or Library Director.


This book would, of course, be useful to a person who is research library science as a career and who is thinking about applying to a library science program, but it would also be useful to a graduate who is deciding what types of positions to apply for, how to prepare for an interview, or for a mid-career professional who is thinking about a transition from their current sector to another position, though they may wish to stay in libraries or information management.

Symphony Librarian

Symphonies do have librarians and this article about the San Diego Symphony librarian explains how the librarian gets the music to the musicians.

Library Day in the Life Project

The Library Day in the Life Project is a great way to find out what certain types of librarians do all day in their libraries, to research career options and to prep for interviews, so you can ask more sophisticated questions about duties and expectations.

Career-savvy information professional

Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science is offering an online course for Career-savvy information professionals. This is a new course according to the website, and if you feel that you have a gap in your career management knowledge, you might want to consider taking this course from them. At least they will put career management into the context of the library profession.

I have taken one other course from them and really liked them. I can't recommend this specific course, but I was happy with their online course delivery.

I'd rather be stung by a jellyfish

Some workers are turning into entrepreneurs to keep the wolf from the door, or engaging in "forced entrepreneurship", according to this article from the New York Times. (Originally spotted on All Things Digital).

There's a summary of how to become an information entrepreneur on the companion website to the book, Rethinking Information Careers, as well as plenty of other resources, depending on the type of product or service that you will decide to sell.

This is Agent Scully, and I'm Agent Mulder

Update: According to this post on Careers that Don't Suck, the overwhelming response to the FBI hiring initiative temporarily shut down their servers. If you were interested in this opportunity, try again later on in the week.

According to this article in Reuters, the FBI plans to fill almost 3,000 positions in a wide variety of professional fields, as well as special agents. I couldn't get into the job postings (said the servers were down) to check for other positions beyond the special agents, but the FBI Careers site is up and slightly active--you can apply for positions, but you can't see all of the occupational profiles--though that may change in coming weeks.

If the front-lines of law enforcement doesn't appeal, librarians have many of the necessary skills to work in intelligence and data management careers, possibly in some of the computer careers. This employer may not be for everyone, but, in general, the government may be a good choice for the graduating class of 2009, since NACE has indicated that government hires will increase by almost 20%.

It's not as cool as when Jennifer Garner helped recruit new CIA members, but a job with a badge has its own cachet for some, as well as the public service and all that.

Day in the life of an academic librarian

Day in the life of an academic librarian. More teaching, interacting with students face to face. Maintenance, currency, collection development and customer service.

Day in the life of a public health librarian

Day in the life of a public health librarian. Techie, lots of SL. If you like technology, consider focusing your job search energy on the health care industry.

The new IT girl

When I entered library school, I knew how to use a computer; when I left library school, I loved and adored them. I immediately sprang into a second program that I could use to learn how to teach with technology, combining two loves, that I was so glad I could meet with in librarianship.

If you love the tech, there are plenty of careers for a librarian; there are also plenty of regular "books 'n' bricks" library jobs that need the ability to jiggle the cord. IT World Canada has an article on tech careers that you never dreamed of, and though "librarian" isn't a job title, many of these jobs are jobs that techy librarians can and will do, especially if they perceive themselves on a management track.