Thursday, April 05, 2007
I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want
After listening to a little news story this morning about President Bush pushing controversial appointments through when Congress isn't in session, I've been thinking about entitlement, and the way it goes hand-in-hand with being proactive and taking responsibility. (My personal political biases aside, this atmosphere of "if you're not on board with everything we do, you're anti-American" and "if I can't do it one way, I'll circumvent the process" can't help but be harmful.)
Moving on, though, I see a similar sense of entitlement and attempt to blame others festering among some members of our profession. Yes, the impending shortage of librarians has been overstated. Yes, it's frustrating that desirable locations and areas around library schools are glutted with new graduates. Yes, entry-level salaries in many institutions are embarrassingly low. Yes, these are very real frustrations. Yes, institutions and professional associations should be proactive in offering internships and mentoring programs and broadening their searches and welcoming new blood and....
None of this is unique to librarianship. You'll see the same same "need experience to get experience" trap in lots of fields. You'll see the same rush to live in the same cities, driving costs up and making the job market tighter. You'll see English departments graduating BAs trying to get jobs in New York in publishing; you'll see humanities departments graduating Ph.D.s trying to get jobs, well, anywhere, or even going back for their MLIS, of all things. Complaining about being misled, or that the profession somehow fails new librarians, simply dumps all of the responsibility off of the individual and onto someone else, whether that be the ALA, or a given library school, or the media. While this may make a job seeker feel better -- "it's not my fault it's hard to find a job" -- it doesn't help anyone.
On newlib-l recently, someone posted an interesting job ad from Google. One response boiled down to "I don't have those skills, so this is irrelevant." Well, I don't know SQL either, but the ways in which opportunities for librarians are expanding is darn interesting, and I'll guarantee you SOMEONE on that list has the desired background. Instead of "this job ad isn't for me, so it isn't for anyone," it's more productive to look at multiple job ads over time. What are employers looking for? What skills can be learned through self-study, online workshops, coursework, just playing around with technology? What local libraries might be open to interns or volunteers? What skills, knowledge, or experience are applicable to the skills and qualities employers desire? What projects might help build name recognition? How to get involved professionally? Who might critique a resume and/or cover letter? Jobs don't fall in anyone's lap; no one is entitled.
In what appears to be an attempt at a pointed April Fool's joke, "unemployed librarians" posted this fake job ad to multiple lists a few days ago, and also attempted more than once to post it to LISjobs.com. While creative, this is less proactive than reactive; adding junk jobs to a database intended to help people find employment is less than helpful, and including a real person's e-mail address and phone number simply mean-spirited. Beyond the immediate implications -- we should all know by now that our online interactions affect our employment and professional prospects -- think of the time and mental energy expended in things like this. Think about what could be accomplished if that same time and energy were channeled in a different direction.
Finding a job is just the first step, and being proactive now the first step in being proactive throughout a career. If we're going to continue to remain relevant as a profession, we need first to take personal responsibility -- for remaining informed, for building something that goes beyond ourselves, for moving forward in our careers. Our institutions are nothing without their people; our profession is built from our multiple and ongoing contributions to the field. It's difficult to be proactive in moving ourselves or the profession forward if a sense of entitlement and a belief that we are subject to forces beyond our control permeates our careers.
Moving on, though, I see a similar sense of entitlement and attempt to blame others festering among some members of our profession. Yes, the impending shortage of librarians has been overstated. Yes, it's frustrating that desirable locations and areas around library schools are glutted with new graduates. Yes, entry-level salaries in many institutions are embarrassingly low. Yes, these are very real frustrations. Yes, institutions and professional associations should be proactive in offering internships and mentoring programs and broadening their searches and welcoming new blood and....
None of this is unique to librarianship. You'll see the same same "need experience to get experience" trap in lots of fields. You'll see the same rush to live in the same cities, driving costs up and making the job market tighter. You'll see English departments graduating BAs trying to get jobs in New York in publishing; you'll see humanities departments graduating Ph.D.s trying to get jobs, well, anywhere, or even going back for their MLIS, of all things. Complaining about being misled, or that the profession somehow fails new librarians, simply dumps all of the responsibility off of the individual and onto someone else, whether that be the ALA, or a given library school, or the media. While this may make a job seeker feel better -- "it's not my fault it's hard to find a job" -- it doesn't help anyone.
On newlib-l recently, someone posted an interesting job ad from Google. One response boiled down to "I don't have those skills, so this is irrelevant." Well, I don't know SQL either, but the ways in which opportunities for librarians are expanding is darn interesting, and I'll guarantee you SOMEONE on that list has the desired background. Instead of "this job ad isn't for me, so it isn't for anyone," it's more productive to look at multiple job ads over time. What are employers looking for? What skills can be learned through self-study, online workshops, coursework, just playing around with technology? What local libraries might be open to interns or volunteers? What skills, knowledge, or experience are applicable to the skills and qualities employers desire? What projects might help build name recognition? How to get involved professionally? Who might critique a resume and/or cover letter? Jobs don't fall in anyone's lap; no one is entitled.
In what appears to be an attempt at a pointed April Fool's joke, "unemployed librarians" posted this fake job ad to multiple lists a few days ago, and also attempted more than once to post it to LISjobs.com. While creative, this is less proactive than reactive; adding junk jobs to a database intended to help people find employment is less than helpful, and including a real person's e-mail address and phone number simply mean-spirited. Beyond the immediate implications -- we should all know by now that our online interactions affect our employment and professional prospects -- think of the time and mental energy expended in things like this. Think about what could be accomplished if that same time and energy were channeled in a different direction.
Finding a job is just the first step, and being proactive now the first step in being proactive throughout a career. If we're going to continue to remain relevant as a profession, we need first to take personal responsibility -- for remaining informed, for building something that goes beyond ourselves, for moving forward in our careers. Our institutions are nothing without their people; our profession is built from our multiple and ongoing contributions to the field. It's difficult to be proactive in moving ourselves or the profession forward if a sense of entitlement and a belief that we are subject to forces beyond our control permeates our careers.
Labels: careerpath, employment, entitlement, google, lisjobs, proactive
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Making Our Careers Happen
Meredith Farkas has a great post on Making things happen!, talking about Five Weeks to a Social Library and other projects.
The NEWLIB-L list also had a little flurry of discussion recently about library internships, and a couple of people mentioned their success in simply approaching libraries at which they were interested in interning. (This, of course, often works better at smaller, less bureaucratic institutions -- and when a prospective intern has a very specific picture of what they can offer an organization, what projects they could work on, and what they want to accomplish.)
This is a profession in which we do have the power to make things happen -- and in which we need to take charge of our own careers and our own development from the very beginning. Too many of us wait for our libraries to send us to conferences, to give us the skills and knowledge we need to advance, when in many cases we're lucky if our libraries are proactive enough to even give us the skills and knowledge we need for our current jobs. We can't sit back and assume that good things will happen and that our career paths will plot themselves out in a nice linear fashion for us.
G. Kim Dority writes about this in Rethinking Information Work, which is a good read for both new professionals and mid-career librarians figuring out what to do next. But, as a starting point, we need to take some of the energy we devote to promoting our institutions and devote it to promoting ourselves. Play the "where do you see yourself in five years" interview game -- but this time, answer honestly, since you're talking to yourself. Make a mental picture, whether you see yourself in management, whether you see yourself publishing a book, whether you see yourself moving to a different field.
Now, what do you need to get there? What steps can you take? What classes do you need to attend? How many article proposals do you need to send out this year? What blogs should you read? What conferences do you want to attend? Can you find grants or travel reimbursement to apply for? Do you have online/free options? Do you need to build up funds to tide you over while you strike out on your own? Figure out what you need to do, and break it into logical steps. Keep your eye out for opportunities that can help you reach your goals -- look for calls for contributors, find announcements of online courses, be alert for posts or discussions with others who have similar goals.
Being proactive is rewarding both personally and professionally, so think about how you can move forward. You don't have to create an online course, you don't have to create a blog, you don't have to find yourself an internship -- but it will pay off if you take the time to think about what step is right for you to take next.
The NEWLIB-L list also had a little flurry of discussion recently about library internships, and a couple of people mentioned their success in simply approaching libraries at which they were interested in interning. (This, of course, often works better at smaller, less bureaucratic institutions -- and when a prospective intern has a very specific picture of what they can offer an organization, what projects they could work on, and what they want to accomplish.)
This is a profession in which we do have the power to make things happen -- and in which we need to take charge of our own careers and our own development from the very beginning. Too many of us wait for our libraries to send us to conferences, to give us the skills and knowledge we need to advance, when in many cases we're lucky if our libraries are proactive enough to even give us the skills and knowledge we need for our current jobs. We can't sit back and assume that good things will happen and that our career paths will plot themselves out in a nice linear fashion for us.
G. Kim Dority writes about this in Rethinking Information Work, which is a good read for both new professionals and mid-career librarians figuring out what to do next. But, as a starting point, we need to take some of the energy we devote to promoting our institutions and devote it to promoting ourselves. Play the "where do you see yourself in five years" interview game -- but this time, answer honestly, since you're talking to yourself. Make a mental picture, whether you see yourself in management, whether you see yourself publishing a book, whether you see yourself moving to a different field.
Now, what do you need to get there? What steps can you take? What classes do you need to attend? How many article proposals do you need to send out this year? What blogs should you read? What conferences do you want to attend? Can you find grants or travel reimbursement to apply for? Do you have online/free options? Do you need to build up funds to tide you over while you strike out on your own? Figure out what you need to do, and break it into logical steps. Keep your eye out for opportunities that can help you reach your goals -- look for calls for contributors, find announcements of online courses, be alert for posts or discussions with others who have similar goals.
Being proactive is rewarding both personally and professionally, so think about how you can move forward. You don't have to create an online course, you don't have to create a blog, you don't have to find yourself an internship -- but it will pay off if you take the time to think about what step is right for you to take next.
Labels: fiveweeks, internships, proactive
