Librarians

I'm in my first position where I'm required to manage and I'm looking for some tips. I have a great, supportive boss, but I also want to step out on my own, show some initiative and work on being a great supervisor to the 7 pages I have been charged with. I believe this position is a stepping stone for management jobs I will have in the future and I want to perform excellently. Also, these pages have been without a supervisor for quite some time and need guidance. Many of them are young and this is their first job. I want to set a good tone, etc. I basically want to just be a good boss. I know what it's like to have crappy one. Anyone have any books or other resources they can recommend?

Hi all -

I'm wondering what all of your thoughts are when it comes to getting a subject PhD. I already have both an MA and an MLS, but am considering going back for my doctorate in History. I know that it isn't required for a lot of academic librarian positions, but my interests veer strongly toward rare books curatorship and cataloging, and I know that the vast majority of staff at places such as the Folger or the Newberry all have their subject PhDs in addition to an MLS. I also do really miss doing the heavy academic lifting that comes with research, and have a topic that a lot of professors have told me is very good.

The impression I've gotten from my MLS professors is that it certainly won't hurt and in some institutions it can help, but don't expect any miracles. I also think it might be a challenge to try and keep current with my library/archives credentials while I'm working on another degree - keep my association memberships current? Volunteer in the special collections department of the university I might end up in (hey, everyone likes a volunteer with an MLS, right)?

Any thoughts and advice are appreciated.

I have a nice job in a small public library right now.  Things aren't necessarily fantastic, and the pay is very low, but in general I'm satisfied with my working life right now.  The problem?  I absolutely hate the town that I'm living in--where I moved for this job--and want desperately to get out of here.  I have a particular city in mind that I would like to move to--and it's not someplace that tons of people are clamoring to move to, like San Francisco or Seattle or Boston or anything--but library jobs there seem to be kind of scarce, and although I've applied for nearly every one I've seen posted that I'm remotely qualified for, I haven't even gotten a single interview.  So today I saw a posting for a full-time librarian at a for-profit career college.  I looked it up on the Better Business Bureau website and did some other searching, and everything I've found about it online seems to indicate that it's pretty legitimate as these things go--it's accredited, it has a good BBB score, reviews from students seem to be mixed but are generally neutral to positive--so I went ahead and applied.

I'm still nervous, though.  I've heard lots horror stories from librarians working at for-profit colleges and universities.  And then I got a call from someone within a couple of hours of submitting my application online!  I haven't called them back yet, although I do intend to (this just happened within the half-hour), but I'm wondering whether people could share their experiences working for career colleges, and what kinds of things I should be looking for when or if I get an in-person interview.  I'm willing to do almost anything to be able to move to my city of choice as long as I can keep working in the library field, but I'm worried that because I'm so desperate I'll get myself into a really bad situation and regret it.  Then again, I also feel like when I'm established there with a local address and all, I'll then be in a stronger position to go for better jobs in the area.  What do you think?  Any advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

Hello!

I recently became a Reference and Instruction Librarian for a small (very small) academic library. I have under my supervision three work study students. The director allows them to do homework when library projects are low. However, they don't take advantage of that time and instead I find them socializing. They're definitely not getting paid to socialize. 

Since I've never had to supervise work study students before I was wondering if anyone had ideas for library projects. Keep in mind that this is a small library.

I thought of shelf reading, but that will literally last them a few days. Any thoughts? Much appreciated if anything comes my way!

I'm going to start by saying that I do not have my MLIS, nor am I in school to get one (yet! Dear life, please stop being ridiculous, kthx.)

I have always liked working in academia (went to school for English ed), teaching, organizing things, and information sciene-type stuff. I'm sure you can see why the idea of working in a library appeals to me.

My local university just posted a job opening for the Stack Maintenance Coordinator position. The job description itself is fairly light on what the job duties entail. As far as I can tell, it's all things I've done before, just on a larger scale (manage student stack workers, make sure standards for stacking are being followed, do some customer service, do reports on statistics. I've worked in bookstore retail management and been a Lead DBA before, so those duties are covered. The DBA job was at a NPO, so I'm familiar with that type of reporting. But, again, the scale is much different. The bookstore was about 1/4 the size of JUST the fine arts collection at the library).

Basically, what I'm wondering is not so much "am I getting in over my head" because, not to sound pompous, but I've taught myself nearly every job I had and then rocked it, but more "Is this job what I think it is?"

I don't know if I'll even get an interview because of my lack of direct library experience, and they are probably looking for someone with a few more years of "real world" job experience under their belts (I graduated college in '08, and not at the school with the job opening), but would like to apply. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So... if you do something like this, what does your day look like? Are there hidden things that I should know about? Any words of wisdom or encouragement?

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Hello Everyone!

Apologies for this being poster in a few different communities. I thought livejournal would be a good place to find a fun librarian to work with!

I write http://schoollibrarians.tumblr.com/ and work as a school librarian in a new academy in South London. http://www.evelyngraceacademy.org/ . The building is designed by Zaha Hadid and has been all over the news!
At the moment we are looking to hire a library and reprographics assistant. I work with a lot of great kids and the job is a lot of fun!

If you want more information/the job description, comment with your email and I'll send it over!
You'll get to work with this lady:
 
and you'll get to make awesome displays like this:

Comment with your email for the job description.

20 hr Children's Services Librarian - Naperville, Illinois

I wanted to post this to the group in case anyone was interested. This is for my previous position (I'm moving to the Teen Librarian position in the same building). I can't say enough good things about Naperville Public Library and the Naper Blvd branch in particular! We are the smallest of the three branches of the Naperville Library system but I think we're also the most "homey." Our storytimes are the perfect size for personal interaction and you will get the chance to watch the kids as they grow in the library! I've only been there 11 months and I already know many of them by name.

The Children's staff are wonderful, talented people and my supervisor is really one of the best bosses I've had the pleasure to work with. I'd love for her to find someone perfect for this position. As stated, it's 20 hours with a rotating weekend shift and Friday night shift. This would be perfect for new graduates from the area and those with previous experience with children aged birth- 5th grade. You would do weekly storytimes as well as special larger storytime events that are tons of fun. I'll miss my kids so much!

You can find all the information in the posting. Please don't hesitate to ask HR any questions you might have. Or if you have any department specific questions, please feel free to ask me.

Posting closes on March 15, 2011.

x-posted in a few spots! (sorry!)

 Job opportunity in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. They are looking for a director. Thought I'd throw this out here for those who may be intereated. If you have questions about the area, I'm happy to tell you more. All I know about the position is what is listed here:
http://boulderlibrary.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/boulder-extends-search-for-library-director/

(Cross posted a few places)

I'm wondering if anyone has a worksheet for students who are learning how to do research. I'm teaching a class of incoming college freshmen how to write and do research and this is all new to them. I'm also teaching ESL learners in a country where they don't really teach how to evaluate sources - especially in English. They're attending an English language university and will have to start using English language websites for most of their research in the next four years.

I had something like this in library school, but it's not something I have a copy of still...also the websites my assignment gave probably are a little over their heads.

I would like for them to learn to distinguish Uncyclopedia.com from a real encyclopedia site (no joke, one of students submitted a paper copying directly from Uncyclopedia for the historical section of his paper)