Q: I would be very thankful if you could examine my resume.  Basically I have more experience as a cataloger, but I was cross-trained in other areas as well.  I was laid off and I am looking for a job without job.

TA: We aren’t in a position to review individual resumes, but there are services out there.  If you’re attending any professional association conferences soon, there are often free resume reviewing services available on site.  If you’re a member of a professional association, you can check with membership services to see if they offer mail-on resume reviewing services.  Your career services center from your undergraduate and graduate institutions may also offer these services (and many others) to alumni, so be sure to check there.  And finally, there are consultants who offer these services for a fee.  A quick internet search (“resume review services libraries”) will yield several responses, so you can check them out and find something that’s a good fit for you in terms of geography, services offered and associated fees.

Q: I am about to be a first-time mom. I have been looking for online library jobs, but have not had much luck. I’m not really sure where to look. I have a few years of experience under my belt (in public and academic libraries). I really love library user instruction, but I have experience with reference, instruction, cataloging, research, collection development, and much more. I might be moving to a smaller city where there are no librarian positions currently open. Do you have any suggestions for finding a job in a small market, finding an online job, or alternatives to library careers?

TA: Sounds like you have an excellent breadth of experience which will make you a really marketable candidate for in person or online jobs.  It also sounds like you’re thinking broadly about types of jobs, so that further enhances your ability to find work because you’re not limiting yourself to a narrow definition.  Check out the previous articles on finding online jobs to explore those options.  And a smaller city has benefits, with a closer community and an easier connection to other professionals.  You might want to consider volunteering at the public library or with town government to get to know others in town and as a way to make your skills known to others.

Q: I have a MLS in library science and a PhD in library and information science. Seven years ago I refused a job teaching in a library school because of the abysmal salary offered (I didn’t know enough to negotiate then). Since then I have worked as a consultant and am currently working as a school librarian and instructor at a charter school. How likely (or unlikely) is it that I would be able to get a job teaching at the university level at this stage in my career?

SM: Don’t get discouraged, and don’t dwell in the past. You have the degrees, which is half (or a good chunk of) the battle. And, in the seven years since you turned down that position, you have worked… which counts as experience in the field and is always, always important when applying for jobs (yes, even teaching positions). In fact, many librarians will tell you that their favorite library school classes were taught by adjuncts, working in the field, or professors who had spent a good part of their careers working as librarians. So, with that in mind, make your seven years of working experience “work for you.”

You should apply for teaching positions that interest you and ones that might utilize your work experience (e.g., school librarianship) and also look for adjunct positions which can help get you in the door. If you are not seeing many open positions, contact LIS departments at different library schools and ask if they are hiring or might be hiring in the future. Peruse the job ads for college professors and see what they require. You may need to brush up on your online learning management systems, and your social networking skills. See also this previous question on finding online teaching positions. If you feel a bit rusty, look into taking some online classes such as those offered by Simmons College GSLIS or ACRL. This is also a good way to network with other librarians and instructors and to learn more about online instructional tools.

When you apply for positions, be prepared to discuss classes you would like to teach, courses you would like to develop, and research projects you would like to pursue. Try to get in the mindset of a professor.

Other ideas: talk to faculty members at local library schools, or the school where you got your PhD,  to get some advice on how to get a teaching position. Make sure your curriculum vita is up-to-date and think about professionalizing your online presence: create an online portfolio and connect with other professionals on LinkedIn.

Q:  Hi. I had a few career related questions. I specialized in archival administration/special collections, and I’ve been struggling for 10 years now to find full time work. I would gladly take a job as a reference librarian or public librarian to at least get some full time experience, and maybe broaden my skill set so that at some point, I could go back into archives. But I’ve tried applying for reference/public librarian positions in the past, without luck. I’m convinced that these places are very, very picky in who they choose. They want someone with public or reference librarian experience. And while I have done reference work as part of my archival duties, I’m guessing they want “public/academic” reference experience? I don’t know, but my point is: is there a way to translate my archival skills into the public library/academic library sphere to improve my chances?

My other question is: I don’t have experience supervising anyone since my archival repository is a one person shop. Yet a lot of archival positions I see require supervisory experience. Likewise, while I’m familiar with different cataloging systems, and mark up languages, the collections in the archives are not integrated into the library’s online catalog, and even if they were, we have cataloging librarians who would handle this. Thus there’s no opportunity for me to get experience cataloging archival collections and using the different mark up languages. What can I do about these seemingly impossible to overcome catch 22′s?

TA: A couple of things to note: first, these places are not necessarily “very, very picky in who they choose”, it’s just that there are probably more qualified candidates with more directly related experience.  Which brings us to your primary question: How can I move from one specialization to another?  This can be tough.  As I’m sure you know, archival experience is very different from public libraries, or even academic libraries.  But there are commonalities among them and it’s your job as the candidate to make that case when applying for positions in libraries different from your own.  (See our previous articles on Transferable
Skills.)  You should also consider taking on volunteer opportunities or other part-time work to supplement your skills in the areas of reference and instruction; supervision, project management, and leadership; and cataloging and online catalogs.

Q: I am looking for a library job that can be done from home. I have done volunteer library work from home keying records onto computer disks and delivering them to the library. I have other library experience, and am presently working at a library.  Thank you very much.

TA: Technology has certainly expanded our options for working at home.  There are several vendors, publishers and libraries who offer different types of work for the work-at-home crowd.  Cataloguing, managing e-resources licenses, research services, online reference via chat or IM are just a few options of the work being performed remotely.  Check out this article on working at home and a few suggestions for finding these types of jobs: http://jobs.lovetoknow.com/At_Home_Library_Jobs.