Career Advice Suggestions

Louise Gruenberg
MLIS Degree Candidate, May 2002
GSLIS
UIU-C
LEEP Program

1. I have a Master's in Adult Education, and lots of experience in instructional design and delivery teaching various subjects as a free lance consultant.  Will these be of any value in lieu of library experience?

• My teaching skills from other endeavors were taken into account when I applied for my first library job, so yours should count.
• Although you don't have academic library experience, I think that your Master's degree and your experience with instructional design and delivery would be positive factors in your resume, because they would indicate that you are interested in instruction and have some relevant experience.
• Your degree should be of great value.
• Teaching skills are valuable for BI librarians, and are sometimes hard to come by on the job. Your instructional design experience is a real plus.
• The universities do look for a second Master's degree and sometimes a foreign language.  A second degree in Adult Education should stand you in good stead.
• Instructional design, web authoring, educational consulting are good buzzwords. Play up your teaching, curriculum design and technical skills.
• You have many relevant technical skills and I would definitely mention them in a brief resume (selection committees don't like to wade through long resumes).

• If you don't meet all the requirements, contact the head of the search committee to discuss your background—they may invite you to apply anyway.
• Differentiate between required and preferred skills, and be assertive in explaining the usefulness of transferable skills.
• If the ad says preferred and you meet all of the required, by all means, apply.
• Apply anyway. Institutions paying in the high 20s, low 30s for such skills don't always get their dream list of applicant qualities.

• Your unconventional experiences have given you "seasoning" in the area of training/instruction/presentation, etc.
• Any school that doesn't recognize your entrepreneurial and management abilities is not a place you will be happy working.
• Isolated or poorly funded libraries are more likely to be open and flexible about unconventional experiences.

The consensus was  a resounding no! Everyone agreed that a Ph.D.. was not required to be employed as a librarian specializing in Bibliographic Instruction at an academic library.

• You asked about whether you would need to get a doctorate.  The answer in almost every case would be NO.  You already have a second Master's degree (even though it was really your first one :-)), and that is enough for most tenure-granting libraries.  If you ever want to be a library director or dean, some libraries require a doctorate for that position.
• I don't think you need a doctorate.  I think then you would be overqualified for some positions and you would price yourself out of the market.
• Only Deans/Directors need Ph.D.s.
• A Ph.D. is not necessary, but experience publishing articles and speaking at conferences is a plus. Your publication experience should be useful.
• A Ph.D. is not necessary, but may help with faculty relationships.
• Keep in mind that many libraries no longer have tenure track positions (if they ever did). A Ph.D. is not necessary unless you want to teach library science some day.
• A Ph.D. is not necessary unless you intend to teach in library school, but many administrators/managers work toward MBAs.

The consensus seemed to be that it would be worthwhile to gain experience at an academic library, whether through part-time work, internships, a graduate assistanceship, a practicum or some other kind of fieldwork, or even volunteering.

• I do think that having some academic library experience would be of benefit in trying to find a library job.
• Definitely try to get some experience, volunteer or not, in a college or university library.
• Part time work at a college or university library would be best, but any kind of library work is better than none. If you must take a public library position, be sure to work in Adult Services or Reference.
• Really suggest you find work in an academic library if at all possible.
• I would recommend doing a practicum/ internship working in an academic library. Probably something in public services, combining reference and instruction.
• I would also suggest getting part-time work at a college or university if possible.  We recently hired one of our part-timers full-time, so it does happen.

• Any experience that you can pick up, volunteer or otherwise, will be very valuable.
• Volunteer work will help immensely, but be sure to do it at an academic library, or it will be discounted.
• Don't expect people to be enthusiastic about you as a volunteer. Volunteers have to be trained, and then they leave, so they're more trouble than they're worth. Field work or practicums are a better idea, and will get you letters of reference from real librarians, not just professors.
• A practicum would be helpful.
• A practicum is a good idea.
• Definitely do a practicum, preferably in Academic Reference.
• Do the practicum, volunteer or better yet find a part-time paid position in academia if possible.
• Do try and find an internship or field placement or something that will let you get a little hands on experience at a reference desk, not necessarily academic although that would be nice.
• Be sure to do an internship, or even 2 internships, to get all the experience you need.
• Do an internship at an academic library.
• Do an internship or create your own; contact instruction librarians in the area and see if you can work with them on specific projects or maybe gain some library instruction experience.
• Get an internship or graduate assistanceship in BI at an academic library if at all possible.
• Become a graduate assistant if your institution has openings. (Note: Unfortunately, since I am a distance education student, this isn't possible for me.)
• Check into internships, especially post-graduate positions.
• There are also more and more places offering 1-2 year residencies in librarianship, so that might be an option.

• Network!
• Get letters of recommendation from professors.
• Subscribe to library job listservs. (Anyone want to recommend some?)
• Become active in local and national organizations.
• Join the ALA New Members Round Table.
• As for memberships, depending upon your interests, it's usually pretty cheap to join the local chapters of ACRL, ALA, MLA, etc.  If you do join, at least go to the local conferences & meetings.
• Join the ALA LIRT or ACRL sections.
• Web authoring and technology skills are very good to have.
• I think for any professional these days it's a plus to have a background in instruction and have experience in developing web tutorials and analyzing their usability.
• Produce a sample online tutorial in Boolean searching to use as a demo.
• Prepare a tutorials portfolio of instructional websites to demonstrate.
• As for tenure, if you're going that track, start a personal folder with files for papers, workshops, & posters that you give, letters of thanks, continuing education that you've taken, committees that you've served on, money that you've either brought in or saved, etc.  Granted, this will be in the future, but it's easier to put together a CV/Resume if you have all of your achievements recorded and organized, and you can use it when applying for jobs.
• Be sure to take a Research Methods class even if it's not required at your grad school, especially if you plan on going Tenure.
• Publish in library journals if you can.

• Entry-level reference and instruction positions, for starters.
• If at all possible, start in the same size/type library you'd like to be in long term.
• You may have to start at a library that does not give librarians faculty status but you will be able to work your way into such a position eventually.
• A large university with tenure track positions will probably not hire you, so go to work for a smaller university, college, or community college.
• You might have to start at a small school, like I did, and work your way up to a larger university.
• Start at a smaller college or university. Get a position in the Reference Department, preferably in any area other than general reference. There will be opportunities for teaching and developing BI projects.
• Consider a community college; they're great places; or a large public library.
• You will probably have to begin at the bottom, but your prior experience will help you move along quickly.
• You will probably have to start at the bottom, but make a point of taking a job at a library with an energetic and results-oriented head of BI.
• Since you have web authoring and interface design skills you might also qualify as a webmaster.  I haven't seen your resume, but have a feeling you could make a case for other jobs as well.  A lot depends on how you sell yourself.
• You should qualify for instruction librarians where 1-3 years of experience is required.
• Your managerial skills might make you eligible for an instruction coordinator position.
• With your background, you could consider taking a job with a vendor/library supplier such as Ovid, Ebscohost, etc.  The pay would be better, but if you love the atmosphere of academia, go for it.

• Your teaching experience is invaluable and by all means, focus on it.
• Play up your teaching and management experience.
• Play up your master's in adult education and your design experience on your applications and be certain to include your publications as well (those will help if you are applying for tenure-line positions).
• Emphasize your managerial experience and your educational consultant skills in a resume, but only mention them in your cover letter if you can make a link between what you learned in your previous career and how it directly relates to the skills needed in the job for which you are applying.

• I do think that academia is better at seeing that skills transfer, but still can pigeonhole people. e.g. social sciences, humanities, etc.
• There should be an understanding of transferable skills.
• I think that some in academia will see the value in your skills and how they relate to librarianship—at least, that's been my experience.
• Use your cover letter to clearly explain how prior skills apply.
• Describe the experiences in your resume in language that makes it clear how they are transferable to library work. Use your cover letter to discuss your skills within the context of librarianship.

Louise