Are you a new library school graduate – or mid-career and looking for a change? Are you wondering how to improve your career skills or ready to try a certificate program?  Looking to refresh your resume?  Alliance Library System and TAP Information Services invite you to join us for the first annual LIS Online Career Fair.  Join us online in OPAL on Tuesday January 12, 2010 for an exciting day of learning how to start or to rejuvenate your library career in tough times!  The day will kick off at 10 am central time/11 am Eastern/8 am Pacific and run through 4:30 pm central/5:30 pm Eastern. You will have your choice of a variety of informational and interactive programs which will assist you with your career no matter where you are.

The conference keynote speaker is Rachel Singer Gordon, webmaster of LISjobs.com, the largest library career site  and job database, and consulting editor at Information Today Inc., Books Division.  Rachel’s talk, “Career Building in a Down Economy,” will help librarians focus on what they can do to keep themselves moving forward professionally in a down economy.  While professional literature discusses what librarians can do to help their communities and patrons, it does not give much information as to what librarians can do to help themselves.  Rachel will address the ways in which the economy affects librarians professionally, how to control reactions and frustration, how to deal proactively with current events, and how to move forward effectively in tough economic times.

Other speakers include:  Christi Confetti Higgins, Sun Microsystems; Cindy Hill, Hill Information Consulting; Morgan Cadwalader, Alliance Library System; Kitty Pope, Alliance Library System; Barbara McFadden Allen, Career on Institutional Cooperation; Meredith Farkas, Norwich University; Rose Chenoweth, Alliance Library System; Jim Rettig, University of Richmond; Marianne Steadley, University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science and more!

For more information on this conference, check out http://liscareerfair.org .   Thecost of the one day online event is $29 for graduate library students;  $39 for librarians, and for a group, the price is $79.

For more information, please contact Lori Bell at ALS at lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com<mailto:lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com> or Tom Peters at TAP Information Services at tapinformation@yahoo.com<mailto:tapinformation@yahoo.com>.

by David Gorn, Posted Here 11/2/09

With the job market still in the doldrums, the tech-savvy unemployed are trying to figure out new ways to use Twitter to find jobs.

Twitter can be used to post a job, ask around about one, learn more about a potential boss or keep your network of former co-workers and friends updated on your job hunt.

Best of all, it’s free, and faster than Facebook.

Microblogging services like Twitter sound simple, but it can be really hard. If you’re a serious “Twitterer,” you have to fit incredibly complicated opinions into a compact 140 characters. That’s a real art. So why shouldn’t it be considered a job skill, as well?

Becoming An Expert On Twitter

Jen McCabe says she got her current job in San Francisco through being an avid Tweeter.

“I absolutely would not be where I am today without the following and support of the people I meet on Twitter,” said McCabe.

In fact, McCabe has been called the Queen of Twitter among her health care colleagues. She used it to become an expert in a niche field inside the health care industry and would tweet updates from conferences and comment on breaking news. Powerful people in that niche field started to notice her and follow what she had to say.

For many, Twitter is a meritocracy. You are known for what you tweet. If you come across as a smart, hard-working thoughtful person, people are going to pay attention. That’s one way to get a job.

Twitter As Networking Tool

The other way to use Twitter and other microblogging networks like Pownce and Jaiku is to simply network. These sites used to be mostly used by youngsters — but life on Twitter has changed. A significant percentage of users now are 30 and older, and they’re using Twitter to network for jobs.

That’s according to Josh Bernoff of the Forrester Group, a technology research firm. And for him, one particular feature of Twitter makes it invaluable for job hunters.

“The thing that makes a difference for people looking for jobs is the ability to retweet,” said Bernoff.

That’s when people pass along your tweet to other people in a different network. Bernoff says it’s a cyberextension of the adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s whom you know.”

“That creates a real echo effect for people who’ve got friends who have a lot of friends,” said Bernoff.

Filtering Out The Twitter Junk

Rich Trombetta has another idea. He co-founded a Web site called TweetMyJobs.com.

“We connect job seekers and job posters instantaneously via Twitter,” said Trombetta. “We take the noise out of the twittersphere.”

The idea is, there may be dozens of companies you want to follow on Twitter, but if you get every piece of info those companies tweet out, you could be swamped. So Trombetta filters out only the job-related info and sends those out as alerts. Microblogs, he says, are not just for fun anymore.

“You’re going to see that perception change as more and more businesses realize that … this could be the most powerful tool since e-mail,” said Trombetta.

So if you’re job hunting on Twitter, it’s not whom you know, or even what you know, but how you say it — 140 characters at a time….Read more here:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120015220&ft=1&f=1001

By Francine Fialkoff, Editor-in-Chief — Library Journal, 10/15/2009

Just half a year before June 2008 graduates flipped the tassels on their caps from one side to the other, the recession officially began. They walked out into a job market where, as one fall 2008 University of South Florida grad put it in a letter to LJ, “What does it take to get a public library job? I know the economy is bad and that budgets are tight. I am so afraid if I don’t get a job soon, some of the valuable knowledge I learned in school will slip away” (Feedback, p. 10).

In the same Feedback section, however, Jennifer Forgit, another 2008 grad, wrote in praise of Steven Hoover’s “Surviving Your First Job Search” (bit.ly/o0Y2l). She reported that she started her search early, and it “took 20 applications over two years” for her to get the public library job—and geographic location—she wanted, but she advised new grads not to despair. “The jobs are still out there; you just have to look a little harder to find them.”

For 2008 Indiana University, Bloomington, IS grad Kristin Centanni, on the cover of the October 15 LJ, the job search was rigorous but successful. She interviewed at about ten firms with about ten people at each. With a dual degree in IS and Public Affairs, she, too, started her search early and landed a lucrative job at a technology management consultancy in Chicago. She thinks that those who started looking later had a harder road (see “Change Agent,” p. 25).

The personal stories vary, but the numbers tell a more consistent tale. According to Stephanie Maatta’s 2009 Placements & Salaries Survey (“Jobs and Pay Take a Hit,” p. 21–29), starting salaries dipped slightly overall, dropping 1.8% (to $41,579) after 18 years of growth. While the number of grads reporting any employment was relatively level at 87.2%, part-time employment rose to 18.3% (from 16.3%) after remaining steady for two years. In public libraries, full-time jobs were even scarcer, 12.5% fewer than in 2007. Those looking for academic library posts fared better; full-time jobs increased by 13.4%, though academic institutions have begun to feel the budget heat….Read entire article here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6700346.html

From LJ

Fewer Full-Time Jobs | Pockets of Good News

“It’s a recession, baby!” was the common refrain among the LIS graduates of 2008. This was a record year for the number of graduates participating in the annual survey, with 2,089 respondents, representing approximately 31.7% of the approximate 6500 LIS graduates. They had stories to tell, providing evidence of both hard times in the job market, and some successes and satisfaction.

Even before the bloodletting of 2009, 2008 graduates were hit hard. Job searches averaged almost five months, and unemployment postgraduation rose to 5.9% in 2008, compared to 4.7% in 2007. Average starting salaries dipped slightly overall, dropping 1.8% to $41,579, after 18 years of increases, while placements in part-time and nonprofessional positions rose. Part-time placements increased from 16.3% of the placements in 2007 to 18.3% of 1,817 grads reporting jobs in 2008, after holding steady for two years. Likewise, 13.5% of the 2008 graduates either remained in or found non-professional positions compared to 11.3% in 2007.

The decreasing salaries, declining number of full-time positions overall, and the increase in part-time jobs and unemployment in 2008 appear to be the precursor to what will undoubtedly be a seriously depressed job market for graduates in 2009, with widespread hiring freezes and budget cuts across all types of libraries and information agencies.

Fewer Full-Time Jobs

While the total percentage of grads reporting they got jobs appears to have held steady between 2007 and 2008, the status of those jobs is more telling. In 2007, 87.9% of the graduates reported employment, including both full-time and part-time placements, compared to 2008, when 87.3% of graduates reported employment of any sort. The noticeable difference is in the percentage of full-time placements; 89.2% of the 2007 grads reported full-time employment while 69.8% of the grads were employed full-time in 2008.

Read entire post at: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6700592.html

by Nicole Eva

It’s been just over a year since I became a newly-minted librarian, eager to start my first ‘real’ job in my new profession. I’m taking this opportunity to reflect on the things I have learned over the past year and where I’ve learned them from, so that I may point some of you to these sources of information and help continue the time-honoured tradition of librarians helping librarians.

Colleagues
It can be very intimidating to ask your new colleagues for help; after all, you don’t want them thinking you don’t know anything, do you? I found it especially hard to ask for help as time went on, say six months to a year after I’d started. I felt like at that point, I should have already figured all this stuff out! But I don’t think anyone expects you to know everything already; and even senior colleagues ask each other things that they know their co-workers are more knowledgeable about than they are. Obviously, you will soon figure out who is most helpful and approachable, and who knows the most about certain areas….read entire post here: http://www.cla.ca/divisions/cacul/regenerations/2009/10/year-in.html

by tiffany

In case you haven’t heard (or experienced first hand) we’re in a tough economic period and that has people looking for jobs, or rethinking the one they have.  We’ve been getting a lot of emails recently asking for very specific help on finding jobs.  Unfortunately, we can’t answer each and every individual email, but we can offer some general advice and guidance.  We are also hoping that our readers will join the conversation and offer their advice.  Who knows?  Maybe you’ll meet someone, who knows someone, who knows someone with a job…

1.  The best way to get a job is to have (or have had) a job…

2.  Seek and ye shall find (but it also helps to know the best places to look)…

3.  Keep your tools sharp and ready to go…

4.  Practice, Practice, Practice…

5.  Use your (social) network…

Read the ALL the excellent details of the “…’s” here: http://www.lisjobs.com/CareerQA_blog/?p=182

Thursday, June 04, 2009 from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (MT), Glendale, AZ

SJN is hosting its first ever event in the West Valley at Glendale Community College.  This is an exciting opportunity for us to continue our partnership with Maricopa  County Community Colleges and we appreciate their support.

Join us on Thursday, June 4th for an evening workshop on internet tools for job search. This is also an opportunity for SJN members in the West Valley to network with us in a local venue!

SJN’s Get Wired to Get Hired!

Smart Ways to Use the Internet during your search

You probably know that networking in-person is the single best thing you can do to accelerate your job search. You might be finding it hard to get face-to-face meetings, and very easy to spend your whole week in front of the computer! Come to this SJN seminar to understand how to make maximum use of the powerful tools available through the internet, with the understanding that the goal is to get you hired.

Among other things, you will:

• Understand how internet tools fit into each phase of SJN’s Curriculum for the Job Search Process
• Discover free resources that help you reach hiring decision-makers
• Learn how to tap into the power of LinkedIn to further your job search

This workshop is provided through collaboration between SJN and Glendale Community College.

Intended Audience

This Intermediate-level seminar is best for those who already have a basic understanding of and familiarity with LinkedIn and other tools such as Google. If you have never used LinkedIn, start with this link: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/linkedin.htm.

Date/Time/Place

Thursday, June 4th from 5:00pm to 8:00pm

Registration and Open Networking from 5:00pm to 6:00pm.

Glendale Community College
6000 West Olive Avenue, Glendale, AZ 85302

Room: Student Union – Room 104/Conference Center

Parking Lot: S1

Overflow Parking Lot: S2

With questions, e-mail: info@scottsdalejobnet.com
SJN v-mail:  480-513-1491

Dress Code
Dress is business casual for this event.

Registration and Fees
There is no cost for this seminar, courtesy of collaboration with Glendale Community College.

Disclaimer

SJN representatives are not certified or accredited LinkedIn trainers and are not associated with LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a registered trademark of LinkedIn Corporation.

General Information: Western University of Health Sciences Harriet K. & Philip Pumerantz Library, located in Pomona, CA, seeks an innovative, energetic, and service-oriented individual to provide outstanding leadership for the library’s division of reference and outreach. Reporting to the Director of the Library, the Associate Director of Reference and Outreach has the primary duty of supervising and developing the library reference department (3 librarians) in all of its functions.  This includes:  manages the activities of reference librarians in liaison and instruction duties and with reference staff input, sets goals and objectives for the department; develops and implements outreach programs and services to students, faculty, and community; collaborates with faculty to provide curriculum embedded instruction; oversees the gathering of information and statistics for use in service improvement; and sets reference staffing policies.

The ideal candidate will be committed to planning and evaluating cutting edge information literacy programs that reflect the varied needs of health sciences students; will collaborate with all other library departments in the continuous improvement of library services; serves as a member of the library department heads group.  Participates in day, evening, and weekend reference desk service and serves as a liaison to appropriate department(s).  Recommends new technologies needed for provision of reference services.

The full position description with instructions on how to apply is listed on the Western University web site, http://www.westernu.edu/xp/edu/hr/hr-job-posting5.xml, with links to additional Web sites featuring campus and community information. Beginning salary is $51,500.  Consideration of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled; applications received by June 26, 2009 will receive first consideration

Western University of Health Sciences is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Send resume or direct inquiries to Cherie Dabbs, Human Resources, Western University of Health Sciences,  fax, 909-469-5489; email, employment@westernu.edu. An affirmative action/equal opportunity employer.

A medical library colleague got a random phone call this week from a woman who is organizing a library for small nonprofit organization that provides information for providers of victim’s assistance.

She is looking for some software to put catalog records for books in their collection, connections to existing databases, and also store internally created documents.  She has almost no money to spend.  Google tools was suggested to her.

If you would be willing to talk with/help her, this is her contact info:

• Becky Owl Morgan
• Unified Solutions Tribal Community Development Group
  2164 East Broadway Road, Suite 125
• Tempe, AZ 85282
• (480) 966-3656
  becky@unified-solutions.org

Visit this page, tell friends and colleagues about it!  Resources on Arizona tools for:

• Work
• Health
• Finance
• Housing
• Seniors

Click here:  http://www.azlibrary.gov/about/helpinfo.html##