Resumes are the New Hot Topic October 25, 2012

Last night our ALA student chapter had its first event, a resume review workshop.

 

 

We had 3 professionals involved in libraries come and sit down with students on a rotating basis   to review their resumes and give advice.  These lovely people:

 

Tiffany Allen: Director of Library Human Resources at UNC Library

Rich Murray: Duke librarian and author of What Do Employers Want: A Guide for Library Students

Tamika Barnes: Library Director at the EPA

were spectacular and none of the students came out crying, which is always a plus!  I was really worried in the beginning about the turnout, but we had around 10-12 students get in and the original 5-6pm time limit went to around 7pm.

Today, at my shift at Cameron Village, I ran across this book:

I am an avid user of Pinterest, but I browsed the book to see if there are some tips that I hadn’t known about and I came across a new way to use it!

You can pin your resume!

This is one of my favorites and I am completely jealous of her cool looking resume.  I’ve always been a fan of infographics ever since I saw it used at the Public Library Association in one of the sessions I went to.  They used it as a great way to show the value of the public library.

There are tips on creating your own infographics here and also here.

I haven’t gone through to try them all, but when I do, I will post an update.

From what I’ve been told, there is no way that this would be allowed in a physical format, but it’s a fun way for people to see you and your experience on paper.  Plus, it will be a blast getting to try out this new technology.

And lastly, speaking of technology, I was introduced to a new app recently and now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, I am a bit obsessed.  The app is called SuperBetter.  The person who told me about it is in med school and she said that some doctors are prescribing it for people with anxiety and other issues like that.  Here’s their graphic on how it works:

When you choose your problem, it gives you quests, powerups, bad guys, and future boosts, which you can complete whenever you want and when you do, you click the ‘I did this’ button and it logs it for you.

I think it’s a great way to get handy tips to help solve certain types of problems and for me, it’s a great way to stay mindful of the daily things I want to do to better myself.  I love it!

If anyone else has some great apps or new technology that I must know about, please let me know!  I’m starving for new toys.

Enjoy!

It’s October Already! October 1, 2012

Can you believe it??!  Today is October 1st and I’m freaking out! I’ll be graduating in May and I feel like there is so much to do.

 

This semester has been going extremely well.  My internship at Meredith College is shaping up to be a great experience.  I’ve written my proposal for a poster session at the 2013 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) conference in Indianapolis.  It’s based on the weeding project I’ve been doing as part of my internship.  Every time I go to a conference, I go to the poster sessions and I’m always left wondering how they got to do that and wanting to do it too.  So, I really hope I get chosen because it will be a great experience and it will look amazing on my resume.

 

I’m still volunteering at the reference desk at South Regional Public and still loving it!  I really do like the relaxed atmosphere and talking to everyone who comes in.  I especially love when people are super happy when I find the book they’re looking for or recommend a new one.  Right now, some of the librarians are talking about doing a conference panel of some sort at the Pop Culture conference hosted by the Pop Culture Association and the American Culture Association and they are graciously including me, which I am stoked about!  And if I get to talk about what I’m thinking I want to talk about (it’s a surprise!), then it will be the experience of a lifetime.  In another life, I was going to be a cultural anthropologist, so getting to combine that and librarianship and talk about it in front of people would be a dream.

 

I’ve been alerted to numerous library assistant jobs as of late and I’m applying to them all!  I’m really ready to make that next step up from Page to Library Assistant.  It pays more AND I’ll get to actually work the desk.  Cross your fingers!

 

My classes are going great as well.  I’m taking Introduction to Digital Libraries and Health Science Information Resources.  I was a little disappointed at first with my Intro class because I guess I didn’t really know what would be talked about in the course.  But now we are getting into the more practical part, which is what I was hoping it would be.  We will soon be scanning images to create our own mini digital collection and I’m really excited about it.  My HSIR class is interesting also.  I took it because it was the only resource class that I could fit in this semester, but also because I want to work with Spanish-speaking populations and in public libraries, they focus a lot on distributing health information.  There are tons and tons of amazing resources that we’re learning about, so its been really helpful.

 

Lastly, I am now the President of our ALA student chapter.  I was Vice President last year and it gave me a lot of experience with planning and leadership, so I know I’ll get a lot more this year.  I’ve an amazing executive board and we’re trying to do a lot to increase the status of our chapter.  I think we’ll succeed!

 

Well, now you know why I don’t post as much and why I’m so tired! And yet, I still feel as though I’m not doing enough.  Hopefully I am and when all is said and done, in May, I will have a nice job waiting for me when I graduate!

Will Books Become Obsolete? September 23, 2012

I get this question all the time!  When people find out that I’m getting my Masters in Library Science, that’s usually the first question I’m asked.  Before I didn’t really have an absolute answer and now it’s becoming a little less fuzzy and I’ve mentioned before about having an elevator speech for the “what do Librarians do?” and the “what do you study?” questions and I really need to come up with a speech for this question as well.  Or do I?  I might just prepare a summary of this article on Americanlibrariesmagazine.org to use!

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Why won’t books become obsolete?

Because a library can purchase the license for an ebook and all is fine and dandy until said publisher decides to raise their prices 104% and then your neighborhood or school library can’t afford that ebook and it no longer holds that license.  Then what?  That ebook is no longer available.  And?  You can’t read that book.  If you purchase the physical book.  It belongs to the library as long as that book shall live.

 

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Read a fantastic quote recently:

  Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.   -- Stephen Fry

Happy Sunday!!

I Feel Like a Celebrity! September 20, 2012

If you’ve been following, you know that I studied abroad in Denmark this summer and had a blast!  Well, a fellow traveler of mine posted this article on my Facebook page.  This picture is from a gathering we had with us US students and some of our Danish guest lecturers and some others from the school.  Well, here’s the article and the featured picture stars yours truly and my fellow LIS student Teresa!

 

Here’s the translation: (thanks Google!)

—————————————————————————————————————

 

Across the Atlantic to study libraries
20-06-2012
For the fifth year in a row, Dr. Ismail Abdullahi, along with students from North Carolina Central University School of Library and Information Science, visited Denmark to study libraries. The visit was again this year began with a week of lectures and discussions on the IVA. 13 students participated.

 

Ragnhild Riis (right) with two American students

 

The purpose of the study tour to Denmark is to seek out and deal with the very significant differences in education and library practice on the two continents. A lecture theme was to determine whether there is a Nordic model for libraries. For example, what characterizes this model, the role of the public library has played in the development of the Danish welfare state, and how the Danish public library manages to evolve in line with digitization and changing lifestyles, so it still appears as an attractive cultural activities for people of all ages .

 

Another lecture Asked focus on a new trend that is about the interaction between library and Urban Development, where students learned about current national and international examples of municipal authorities and other stakeholders increasingly see the library as a partner in local development projects. There was this year also devoted a morning to be introduced to the IVA experience from entrepreneurship in education. Our guests heard about how a group of graduate students had strengthened their action competence by teaching consciously organize an interaction and interplay between work theoretically and practically with the culture of self-selected projects.

 

Dr. Ismail Abdullahi and students invited to a small informal gathering where there was opportunity both to mark cooperate and consult with the student’s immediate impression. The students enjoyed being in Denmark and was thrilled with what they saw – except for pocket thieves in Copenhagen. The combination of lectures and impressions from library visits, among other things Holmbladsgade, DR, The Royal Library, Helsingør and Malmö gave radically different approach to their study and future jobs. Our guests expressed great respect for the Danish cand.scient.bibl. training, they would like to be a part of.

 

Not surprisingly, the students were speechless over the many bicycles everywhere all day!
By Ragnhild Riis

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This was so exciting to see!  Also, this same student that alerted me to this article participated in one of his own!

Testimonials from Exchange Students at IVA

 

Fantastic!

Get Your Hands Dirty August 27, 2012

It has officially been a week since I began my internship at Meredith College. On Friday, I asked my supervisor for a project that I could possibly do a poster presentation for at the ACRL conference this year and she gave me a weeding project.  They’ve been trying to weed the reference collection for a while now and it’s slow going, so essentially I will be putting together some guidelines for them and eventually maybe take pictures of the collections and shelves/space and see the possibilities in what they could do with it.  That’s the fun part!  As for the rest, I’m having a little difficulty finding concrete how-tos on weeding.  I’m looking for best practices/ storytelling/reenactments of how colleges have successfully weeded their reference collection.

 

Have any of you run across any resources or had this experience yourselves?

 

I’m really excited for the opportunity and can’t wait for it to come together.  Hopefully it becomes robust enough to submit a proposal for the poster session.  It’s amazing what opportunities come your way when you ask for them!  ;)

Library School: Year 2 August 20, 2012

It’s that time again!  My final year of library school is beginning and rather than an early case of “senioritis”, I’m feeling more anxious that this time will be gone soon.  A time where there is plenty of room for learning and testing the waters and where one doesn’t have to make a commitment yet.

When I first decided to pursue this career, I was frustrated by the lack of information on what I should do to get ahead and come out on top in the end.  That’s why I started this blog.  So here is what I’ve done this past year and how I got these opportunities.

 

Reflections:

My first year was a blast!  I got a crash course in librarianship and I fell in love with it.  I am so excited and looking forward to my new career.  My first year was completely paid for thanks to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, so I had plenty of loan money left over to participate and work on professional development.  I got the scholarship through my university, so it was much easier to procure that funding, but there are tons of options for funding all kinds of opportunities in librarianship.  Just do what we are taught to do…..search!!  That’s all I did!  I also joined listservs.  ALA and NCLA are a great start.  They send out job opportunities as well as scholarship applications that have opened up and calls for proposals for conferences.

I got my attendance to the NCLA 2011 conference paid for because I applied for a scholarship.  I also volunteered at the registration desk at the conference.  This allowed me to get to know the people behind the scenes and they introduced me to everyone they knew in the profession.  Also, I attended the ALA conference as part of my scholarship, but I won a free 3 course dinner with some amazing professionals because I applied for the drawing and entered an essay.  I entered my name through NCSLA to get a mentor and she’s awesome! She’s been a great help and has introduced me to some important people.  I entered my name again through another organization and have another mentor as well.

NCCU students at NCLA conference

I go to any networking event I can, participate in any free webinar that sounds remotely interesting (available through ALA), and hand out business cards like my life depended on it!  These not only show you what is current in librarianship, but you can also put it on your resume and it shows that you are committed to learning all you can.

 

I went to the Public Library Association conference (there was a scholarship for this one, but I didn’t get it) and with the information from this conference, NCLA and ALA, I feel like I know the current issues within librarianship.

 

(Tip: Every conference has a student scholarship available and even a scholarship for first time attendees or professionals for some)

 

I was a representative for North Carolina libraries at Library Legislative Day in Washington, D.C.  I was nominated for that one and solely because I got out there and people knew me.  I’m pretty sure my involvement with NCLA and as a volunteer and now Page at a public library factored in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Tip: VOLUNTEER!  My volunteering led to a job in a public library.  It’s a lower end job, but it gets me in there and I can see firsthand what goes on and get to know people in the profession.

 

As well as working for a public library part-time, I have been volunteering for another.  The advantage is that I am not constrained by the worry of job protection.  As a page, I am constrained by my job duties and can’t do much outside of that, so by volunteering I’ve been able to work the reference desk and I just got done planning my first library program.  I wasn’t able to attend, but I hear it was a big hit!  I designed and created a library murder mystery from scratch!  I am incredibly proud of myself and my supervisor and Head of Adult Services was so impressed that she insisted that I remember her when I need a recommendation of any kind.

 

Lastly, I studied abroad in Denmark to study public libraries there.  Met some fantastic Danes, some new future librarian friends and fell in love with Danish library architecture.  This was through my university and I had to pay for it, but it was sooo worth it!  These opportunities are unique and make you stand out.  Also, (although it hasn’t gone through yet) I got approached to present about my experiences there.  This is what you want!

 

Copenhagen Main Library

 

 Helsingor Public Library 

 

 

The Black Diamond (University Library)  

 

 

Oh no! I’m sure I’m leaving so many things out!

 

Oh! JOIN JOIN JOIN

Join your student organization!  Hold an office if you have the time.  I was Vice President of mine and I cannot tell you how valuable it is to now know how hard it is to hold a leadership position, to plan and how to mediate.  I also helped plan a colloquium event for our department and this was a great experience as well.

 

ATTEND ATTEND ATTEND

Put your face, intentions and aspirations out there!  Let people get to know you and what you’re all about.  From one of the networking things I went to, I got word of a job opportunity in Madrid, Spain!  In the end, it didn’t work out, but this professional knowing my interests led to this amazing chance to work in a library in Spain.  It works!!

 

MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION!!  If people like you, especially in this profession that is full of so many friendly and inviting people, they will remember you and think of you when opportunities come up.  They will also talk about you to other librarians and influential people.

 

This is all super hard to handle, especially with a full load of classes, but in the end it will be worth it. (at least I hope so!)

 

Future:

I got my second year of library school paid for through the Spectrum Scholarship through ALA, so I’m super stoked!  This is an amazing program that has many successful alumni and I get to go to a leadership institute next summer in Chicago during the 2013 ALA conference!  Again, I applied! There are many other scholarships I have applied for and didn’t get and although in the moment I was extremely bummed out and felt inadequate in some way, there are plenty more where that came from!

 

Right now, I’m applying for the ARL’s Career Enhancement Program, which is a paid fellowship with member universities and for a student scholarship to the ACRL conference in Indiana in April.

 

This first year was about public libraries and this year will be about boosting up my academic library experience.  I am interning at Meredith College (my alma mater) this fall semester.  I will be doing reference mostly, but also dabbling in acquisitions, ILL and some other fun things I feel like I will need to know about.

 

I am also getting ready for applying for jobs. I have compiled a list of all the jobs that I would love to have and from that, am making a list of all the skills and qualifications I would need to get that job.  This way, I know what I will need to brush up on to be competitive.  A webinar I did said that the process for working in academic libraries is long, so it’s okay to begin applying a year in advance.  I was a little stressed that I am a little behind in my academic experience to begin applying, but I’ve gotten so busy with other opportunities that I haven’t found the time to worry anymore!

I found this great list of skills that librarians should know and I’m using it as a template as well to beef up my knowledge base.

PLANNING PLANNING PLANNING   

Two years is such a short time!  It will take a lot of planning if you are serious about becoming a librarian and being extremely successful.  Know what your goals are and what you want before you even go in but also be flexible!

Goals:

1) Have a job or fellowship or another type of career opportunity lined up before I graduate

2) Begin my career and apply for the Emerging Leaders program

3) Become a Library Journal Mover & Shaker

4) Attend IFLA at least once

5) Live/work abroad for at least 2 years

6) Get published

7) Give a professional presentation

This is all I can think of at the moment, but I think that’s enough for now!

                                                                

Fall 2012, here we go!

Human Libraries July 12, 2012

I got my Public Libraries magazine in the mail and what did I find?

 

An article entitled: The Human Library: Sharing the Community with Itself

 

Here’s the abstract, so you know what human libraries are:

An overview of human libraries, programs that allow community members (“readers”) to “check out” other community members who have volunteered to be “books” for individual conversation.

 

What struck me when I initially saw it was that I already knew about them from my study abroad to Denmark.  As we were touring the Copenhagen Main Library, Christina Wandi told us about a program they had where during their Pride celebration, their books were people of all different sexual orientations and people could check them out to learn more about them.  She said they had a huge turnout, too many people in fact and that it was a huge success.  There were older and younger people alike who were interested in asking the “books” their questions.

 

I was so intrigued by the idea of a safe space where people can learn about each other.  In everyday life, one might be too shy to ask questions or have a fear of offending the other person, so I think this is a remarkable idea, especially for the topic of sexual orientation.  I could see it for other things like professionals being “checked out” by students.

 

There are so many possibilities and I can’t wait to propose this to the library where I work and the library where I volunteer!

 

Start your own human libraries!!

ALA 2012 Day 1 and 2 June 24, 2012

DAY 1

Our flight from RDU left at 6am, so that meant meeting at the airport at 4am.  After all of the transportation and hotel logistics, our group of about 17 IMLS scholars got settled into the Hyatt Regency at around 1:15pm.  We then met for lunch at Oggi’s and then got all of our registration materials from the convention center.  We then split up and some of us went to Target to get some items we were missing and then another scholar and I went to the nail salon.  I got a fantastic manicure!

 

At the 2012 PLA Conference, I met Crystal Schimpf, who is a Public Computer Center Trainer for the Colorado State Library, and she is attending ALA as well, so we met up to go to a librarian social at Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel.  I met some other lovely librarians who were very sweet and shared their wealth of knowledge with me and I talked with the Director of Library Development and Innovation at the Colorado State Library about doing a presentation on the libraries in Denmark!  Yay for networking!  I would have loved to continue, but unfortunately we were all given a curfew, so I had to retreat back to the hotel before the clock struck 11:00pm.

 

Day 2

The entire group was required to go to the Getty Museum, so we met at 9pm to take a bus there.  I got some great pictures of the garden and there was an amazing exhibit on the photography of Herb Ritts.  We were done by 3:00pm and I made it to catch the end of the Emerging Leaders poster session.  It was great to see how these amazing Librarians took an issue and created a solution.  Next, was the opening session where Rebecca MacKinnon talked about the government injustices being done using the Internet.  It was pretty disgusting to learn how governments are invading the privacies of their citizens.  Afterward, I attended a dinner sponsored by ALA’s College Libraries Section.  It was held at Mr. Stox and we had:

 

Artichoke ravioli on sundried tomato cream

Greek Salad

A veggie plate with fresh vegetables surrounding roasted garlic mashed potatoes
on a pureed basil sauce topped with onion rings

Chocolate gateau

 

It was one of the most delicious meals that I’ve ever had!  The artichoke ravioli was to die for!  I also met some very knowledgable librarians from all over the country.  I had a great time and I’m glad that I was able to attend.

 

ALA 2012 is off to a great start!!

2012 American Library Association Annual Conference June 21, 2012

Hiya!

 

I just got back from Denmark Monday night and now I’m getting on a plane again.  This time, I’m headed for the 2012 ALA annual conference in Anaheim, California.  As part of my IMLS scholarship this year, we get an all expenses paid trip there.

 

As part of the trip, we are required to attend sessions in the following 8 content areas:

Management/leadership

Technology

Reference Services

Community Engagement/services

A User Population

Research

One Major Session

 

I’ve been to a few conferences already and I like to go to the sessions that pertain to my intended future focus of Spanish-speaking populations, outreach, etc, so I’m hoping I can find sessions pertaining to that and squeeze them into these categories.  Finger crossed!

 

At the end, we have to write a 3-5 page report about what information we gained and how we will use them in our career.

 

I’ve heard the ALA annual conference is nothing like the others I’ve been to regarding the mass number of people.  I’m looking forward to finally seeing what all the hype has been about and adding some more useful and practical information to my Librarian arsenal.

 

If you’ll be there, I’ll see you in Anaheim!!

I am a Spectrum Scholar! May 31, 2012

On May 30th I missed a call from someone in Illinois.  I play back the voicemail and it’s Gwendolyn from ALA and she wants to ask me a couple of questions regarding the Spectrum Scholarship that I applied for.  I leave her a message to call me back on the morning of May 31st.

 

She calls me and…….I am a Spectrum Scholar!!!

 

There are two honors that I have been wanting since I began my journey into librarianship: to be a

 Spectrum Scholar

Library Journal Mover & Shaker

 

Well, CHECK!

 Spectrum Scholar

Library Journal Mover & Shaker

 

Here’s a description of the award:

Spectrum provides a one-time, non-renewable $5,000 scholarship award paid in two installments directly to the recipient.  Recipients must begin a program by the fall semester following the award, funds will be forfeited if enrollment is delayed.  Recipients must be enrolled at the time of the second installment, or they will forfeit this portion of the award.  Recipients are announced at the ALA Annual Conference, two $2,500 installments are awarded in September and January.

 

Additional Benefits

Spectrum Scholars receive a number of benefits in addition to their scholarship funds, these include:

• Complementary one-yr. student membership to ALA (includes one-yr. subscription to American Libraries).
• Free student admission to ALA Annual conference during the scholarship year.
• Free attendance to the Spectrum Leadership Institute: a 3 day institute that highlights cross cultural models of leadership and features national library and community leaders.
• Complementary memberships to participating ALA divisions during the scholarship year.
• Formal and informal mentoring opportunities.
• Matching scholarships from library schools and other regional library associations.
• Access to colleagues via an electronic discussion list and online community in ALA Connect.
• Posted information on job/internship/residency opportunities all over the country and in different types of libraries.
• Networking with other Spectrum Scholars and library leaders.
• Participation in a national library diversity initiative and the recognition merited by this distinction.
• Invitations to present at forums, conferences, and institutes.
• Opportunities to apply for travel grants to regional institutes and conferences.
  It truly is an honor to be a Spectrum Scholar and it makes me want to work that much harder to be the best Librarian ever!!