Step into the Future with New Career Choices

Dr. Sandra Hirsh, Professor and DirectorSan Jose State University School of Library and Information ScienceFebruary 4, 2011February 4, 2011

Changing Times

“I’ve come to think that managing our uncertain future is about achieving fitness: adapting to change, staying relevant.” - Stephen J. Bell

Agenda

Current job situation

New opportunities for information professionals

Strategies for pursuing new career paths

LIS Jobs: Average Growth

Librarians (“Best career 2009”), Archivists, Conservators and Curators

Job growth is project to be average through 2018: US: 8% Canada: 6%

The retirement level is expected to rise over the next decade.

So why is it difficult to find a job?

Geographic location

Economic conditions for different library settings, especially in state and local governments

Experience/Skill Levels required

New opportunities

LIS Skills are in demand…

Opportunities outside of libraries

U.S. News & World Report listed these as top 30 careers in 2009: Usability/User Experience Specialist Systems Analyst

Opportunities outside of libraries

Database development

Reference tool development

Information systems

Publishing

Internet coordination

Marketing

Web content management and design

Training of database users

- Occupational Outlook Handbook 2010-2011

Emerging Job Titles

Emerging Technologies Librarian

Web Content Manager

Information Architect

Usability Analyst

Information Specialist

Digital Collections Metadata Librarian

Virtual Services Manager

Digital Assets LibrarianEscobosa, C. (2010). Library and information careers: emerging trends and titles.

Highly requested skills

Teaching/instruction

Web design and maintenance

Knowledge of metadata standards for digital content

Knowledge of integrated library systems

Ability to create online tutorials

Escobosa, C. (2010). Library and information careers: emerging trends and titles.

Think broadly about LIS skills

“LIS skills are good currency in this world – but only for those with the flexibility and insight to exploit the opportunities.” - Stephen Abrams

Case Studies

Case Study: Head of New Center for Digital Learning and Research

Founding director of the CDLR at Occidental College in 2009, which focuses on enabling student and faculty success in the rapidly changing world of digital scholarship.

Assembled a group of technology, library science, and media experts who could help the faculty use technology in their teaching… Learn how to podcast Publish on a digital scholarship platform Master the intricacies of Moodle, an open

source learning management system.

Case Study: Learning Resource Exchange

European Schoolnet Work as a semantic interoperability expert for the European

Schoolnet to manage their Learning Resource Exchange (LRE) for schools, a portal of open educational resources. research and writing in the field of metadata standards and

semantic interoperability. develop and document the LRE metadata application profile liaison with the LRE development team to improve tools and

develop new ones manage controlled vocabularies administer different semantic interoperability tools, such as LRE

metadata application profile registry and vocabulary bank for education

Case Study: Digital ArchivistStanford University

Stanford's First Digital Archivist to develop best practices for acquiring, capturing, processing, and describing born-digital materials. making backup copies of a collection that had some born digital

files in a personal computer. lobbied to expand the scope of his job to do further processing

of the digital files, such as migrating ones in obsolete formats to long-term preservation formats and separating files with restricted information.

merging the metadata of a map collection and processing a born digital collection with 200,000 files in a full-text search format to facilitate finding the program listing and correspondence related to the computer game “Adventure.”

Case Study: Senior AnalystAdobe Systems

Senior Analyst, Information Resources/Research Portal Manager, Adobe Systems Develop and maintain company-wide research and

information portal. Drive the technology roadmap for the portal, manage

vendors and consultants, conduct user research and surveys, and maintain extensive taxonomy structure.

Regularly write for the group’s Markets and Research blog, Manage collaboration tools including blogs, wikis, eRooms,

and shared servers. Create marketing materials and provide trainings in person

and via web conference. Perform custom research and inquiry work for employees

worldwide.

My Career Path

Moving into industry – untraditional library position

Scenario Professor at University

of Arizona

Need to leave job for family move

No academic jobs available in the Bay Area

Strategies Leveraged network

Created opportunity

Took a chance

Moving into industry non-library position

Scenario Decided it was time to

diversify

Strategies Explored different

industry job titles to find best fit – chose User Experience

Attended local professional events- networked

Identified transferrable skills

Moving from industry back into academia

Scenario Ready for a job change

Planned to come back to academia, but…when?

Strategies Continue scholarly

activities

Maintain LIS professional involvement

Take on advocacy for public libraries

Maintain connection to LIS education

Strategies

How can you extend your career beyond libraries?

Bridging Terminology

Transferrable Skills

Develop/Build Key Skills

Get Experience Take a course (See LIS Career Resources) Find a mentor Perform “informational interviews” Read books, articles, blogs Read broadly for trends (in libraries, business,

general)

Networking!

Develop your personal brand

Manage your online reputation

“According to a Microsoft survey of more than 1200 hiring managers in December 2009, 79% of companies and recruiters reviewed online information about job applicants and 70% had actually rejected candidates based on what they found.” - Information Today, Nov. 2010, p.1

Takeways LIS skills are marketable and can be applied in

many settings!

Think broadly about your own skills and how you could use them in different contexts

You own your career – chart it out

Build and nurture your professional network

Keep current and fill in gaps in your skill set

Questions?

Thank you!

Sandy.hirsh@sjsu.edu

LIS Career Resources

Books

Professional organizations

Job sites

LIS Blogs

Listservs and Forums

Continuing education

Books

Doucet, E. (2010). What they don’t teach you in library school. Chicago: ALA Editions.

Haycock, K. and Sheldon, B., eds. (2008). The portable MLIS: insights from the experts. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Lawson, J., Kroll, J. and Kowatch, K. (2010). The new information professional: your guide to careers in the digital age. New York: Neal-Schuman.

Murray, R. and Shontz, P. K. (2007). A day in the life: career options in library and information science. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Professional Organizations

ALA – American Library Association (includes Canada) http://www.ala.org/

ALA Divisions Listings http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/divisions/divisions.htm

ALISE - Association of Library and Information Science Education http://www.alise.org/index.html

ASIST -American Society for Information Science and Technology http://www.asis.org/index.html

IFLAI – International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions http://www.ifla.org/

List of Professional Associations in the Information Sciences http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/resources/orgs.htm

Job Sites

American Library Association Job List http://joblist.ala.org/

Career Direction Research – http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/resources/career_development/careerdirection_research.htm

Combined LIS Job Postings List http://www.lisjobs.com/jobs/index.asp

LibJobs.com http://www.libjobs.com/

Library and Technology Association Jobs http://www.lita.org/ala/lita/litaresources/litajobsite/newthisweek/newweek.cfm

Library Journal Job Zone http://jobs.libraryjournal.com/

LISCareer.com – Career Strategies for Librarians http://liscareer.com/index.htm

LIS Blogs ACRLog - http://acrlog.org/

News and professional issues for academic librarians

Library of Congress Blog - http://www.loc.gov/blog/ Written by Matt Raymond, Jennifer Gavin, and Erin Allen

Librarian in Black-http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/ Current news and updates for “tech-savvy librarians”

LISNews - http://www.lisnews.org/ Articles, links, reviews and interviews on the latest LIS happenings

Annoyed Librarian - http://blog.libraryjournal.com/annoyedlibrarian A librarian weighs in on controversial LIS issues in a thought-provoking manner.

Blogwithoutalibrary.net - http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net A continually updated look at what libraries are doing with blogs.

The Young Librarian - http://younglibrarian.blogspot.com/atom.xml Chronicles of a recent MLIS graduate seeking employment.

LIS Blogs Infomancy - http://www.schoolof.info/infomancy/

A weblog about information, libraries, and technology by a school library system director from New York State.

Information Wants to be Free - http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/ Meredith Farkas’s blog, specializing in using social networking tools in an LIS setting

Librarian.net - http://www.librarian.net/ Links to pertinent alternative web sites of interest, presented by Jessamyn West.

The Shifted Librarian - http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/ Library weblog intent on "making librarians more portable" from Jenny Levine

Threnody for the Public Domain - http://pdthrenody.blogspot.com/ Tracking the current state of copyright and related issues.

Listservs and Forums ALA Discussion Lists http://lists.ala.org/wws

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions LIBJOBS http://infoserv.inist.fr/wwsympa.fcgi/info/libjobs

Info Career Trends - LISjobs.com's Professional Development Newsletter http://www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/

iProJobs Information School Professional Jobs List http://mailman.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/iprojobs

LIS Career Options – http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=3126663

NextGen Librarians – Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?sid=7f4beb04efc2e5aaf439abf80951b415&gid=2240728154&ref=search

Continuing Education

ALA – Education and Careers – Continuing Education http://www.ala.org/ala/education/ce/continuingeducation.htm (Includes searchable database of ALA sponsored continuing education opportunities)‐

CLA (Canadian Library Association) – Continuing Professional Development http://www.cla.ca/conference/continued.htm

ALA – State and Regional Chapters – List of Professional Associations http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/chapters/stateandregional/stateregional.htm

Infopeople – Federally funded grant project providing a wide variety of training to LIS workers http://www.infopeople.org/

IS/Continuing Education (ACRL) – A wiki listing online continuing education opportunities for academic librarians http://wikis.ala.org/acrl/index.php/IS/Continuing_Education

Simmons College GSLIS Continuing Education – On-site continuing education courses for LIS professionals http://alanis.simmons.edu/ceweb/teach.php

Trendy Topics (T2) – Online conferences on hot topics in the LIS field http://www.trendytopics.info/