Graham Lavender points to a post by Mr. Library Dude concerning the realities of libraries school and the job market. Mr. Library Dude offers a few points to be considered: I don’t really care what library school course grades/GPA you have. Just get your degree and focus on getting some experience. Get a mentor! Someone who is a working librarian. Not a library school professor who hasn’t worked in libraries for 20 years. Geographic flexibility: I understand that not everyone can (or wants) to move across country for a job. Just be aware that you may be severely limiting your […]
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An “Office Hours” reader writes: Just finished reading your article Transparent Library School, where you spoke about my fears of signing up and having old information is my concern. The only local (less than 2 hrs) school closed up its local branch so I’m looking into the various online schools, and have not found a good comparison. Do you know of such a site? The information on ALA on various programs I have found to be out of date. I have an obvious bias – but has anyone encountered a good comparison site of the online LIS programs? Update: Don’t miss: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/hack-your-program/
How cool is this recent ad for the position of Program Officer, Digital Media & Learning at the MacArthur Foundation?: (bolding is mine) Knowledge, Skills, and Experience: The Program Officer role requires graduate training and experience as a researcher or designer, with a strong grasp of research and theoretical literature relating to learning, adolescent development and new media, and practical, “on-the-ground” experience with youth, in libraries and museums or schools. He or she must be familiar with significant thought leaders and national organizations in relevant fields, and to be a respectful, collaborative colleague who can build bridges and actively engage […]
I’m honored to have written a combined Office Hours column with User Experience author Aaron Schmidt in the new issue of Library Journal: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/ljinprint/currentissue/891081-403/putting_the_ux_in_education.html.csp UX thinking doesn’t have to be limited to specific courses, however. Core parts of the LIS curriculum can and should change as we review and update classes to reflect the focus on our patrons’ experiences. Reference and resource-based study can easily morph when taught through a UX lens. Take collection development, for instance—wouldn’t classes about collection development be richer and more productive when combined with thinking about building design and library programming? When LIS classes encourage […]
My “Office Hours” column is out in the new LJ and online. This time I report from The Future of the Academic Library Symposium: The age-old confusion about what a librarian does still exists. In fact, when Ridley asked the panel “What defines a professional librarian,” their comments weren’t surprising. One “had no idea” what a librarian was until it was explained to her in the car on the way to the symposium. Another stated what many students, and public library patrons, think as well: “it means everyone in the library to me….” Ridley followed with, “Do you care if […]
Hi Michael, I just read your recent LJ article, “The Transparent Library School”. It really resonated with me. I don’t know if I told you about my undergraduate experience at the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, University of Redlands or not. Your article reminded me of the student-faculty collaborative practice at Johnston. For example, I co-created several classes there, designed my own major, and was a Community Assistant (Johnston’s version of a “RA”) on the living-learning complex. One of the things we did on a weekly basis was have community meetings. We (students and faculty) talked about everything in those […]
Daniel Stuhlman, Reference Librarian at Wright College, Chicago presents part one of an interview with the newly appointed dean of the University’s School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS). Daniel notes, however, that “note this is just for your information and amusement. Any connection to a real university or dean is strictly coincidental.” The ideas ring true. http://kol-safran.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-dean-interview-part-1.html Q> You talked about teaching management skills as important for librarians. Would you elaborate? What is your philosophy of management? A> One of the most common reasons for people to be dissatisfied with their jobs is they feel they are not supported […]
Back in late 2008, I received a phone call from a friend/colleague in Germany with a tantalizing offer: would I be interested in a three-semester teaching gig? The location was the University of Applied Sciences in Leipzig (Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultur – HTWK) [http://www.fbm.htwk-leipzig.de/de/fakultaet-medien/], and the job was a paternity leave replacement for their professor of electronic publishing and multimedia in the College of Media. How could one say no? I was feeling a bit stale in my library work, and know from past experience that I enjoy teaching semester-length courses and possess some teaching skill. That I […]
At the Future of Academic Libraries Symposium, I had about 15 minutes to hear from the attendees about their own “heretical thoughts” about LIS education. Thanks to Dale Askey (@daskey) for capturing these while I lead the discussion: Being more selective about who gets in to library school. Cut down number of graduates; avoid overstocking the profession. Deans/professors at conferences/forums, at thought leading/forming events. Where are they? LIS schools need to manage expectations of profession; libraries are being unrealistic by demanding immediate gratification in the form of perfectly fit graduates Instructional design should be part of the mix Internships integral? Yes, must […]
This is intriguing – comment by “B” at http://bit.ly/gYGL6k : Some of my former co-workers (who were also hiring managers) nixed applicants that responded “Because I love books” to the question “Why do you want to work in a library?” While such a black and white approach to hiring makes me a bit squeamish, I do strongly encourage job applicants to be a bit more creative in their response. Apparently “Because I like books” is such a common response (among the entry-level crowd, at least), that giving a different (thoughtful and honest) answer is a quick way to nail the […]