Prospective students tend to evaluate MLIS programs based on brand or price or location. Another way to evaluate potential programs, however, is within the framework of how well they’ll do at helping you create job prospects. In that case, you may want to explore the programs from a slightly different angle, considering the following program characteristics:
Part of what you’re doing in grad school is positioning yourself for a versatile LIS career – and hopefully a great job – once you graduate. Having a solid portfolio or “evidence of accomplishments” you can point to, either via your resume or an online e-portfolio, will greatly increase your odds of landing a job quickly. Well, okay, more quickly….
The question is – between classes, internships, possible family commitments, and other obligations, who’s got the time?!
Online applications not working for you? LIS job postings not delivering results? To paraphrase Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz, these days job-hunting is the continuation of war by other means.
In that case, it may be time to bring out the big guns, as in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0: How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap into the Hidden Job Market Using Social Media and 999 Other Tactics Today (Jay Conrad Levinson and David E. Perry, Wiley, 2011).
Looking for a great way to connect with information professionals around the world? (Well, besides being a member of this group!) You’ll have an amazing opportunity to do just that this November by participating in the first library-focused worldwide virtual conference, to be held online, in multiple time zones over the course of two days.
Hosted by the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at San Jose State University, the conference will be free for all attendees. Conference co-chairs Steve Hargadon and Dr. Sandy Hirsch, SLIS Director, are encouraging the broadest possible range of ideas and geographic representation in the call for proposals, currently open.
Over the years, I’ve read pretty much everything I could get my hands on written by Dr. James Matarazzo about corporate libraries . Dean Emeritus and Professor of Library and Information Science at Simmons, Dr. Matarazzo has long been considered the expert on the organization, management, and valuation of corporate libraries, as well as on the future of corporate librarianship.
Which is why I was so jazzed to be able to attend the “Corporate Library in Turbulent Times” presentation given by Toby Pearlstein (formerly with Bain & Co.) and Jim Matarazzo at the 2011 SLA conference. Based on a series of articles in Searcher magazine the two have written (see below), the presentation focused on how information professionals in corporate libraries can proactively identify warning signs that their library – or their jobs – are in jeopardy, and then take steps to act from a position of strength.