Incoherent Scribblings

I have begun to think about legal librarianship again. When I started library school I intended to take some classes in legal research, but my web interests replaced them and I never got around to taking those classes.

However, working in law enforcement has once again drawn my attention in the direction of legal librarianship. After all, why not use the experience that I am gaining now as a dispatcher and channel it towards my true calling?

Combined with the knowledge of a dispatcher, a couple of online classes like Government Documents and Legal Research would greatly expand my horizons and I could look at more than a life as just another General Reference Librarian…

March has always been kind of a crazy month for me. I don’t know why, but a lot of life-changing moments have happened to me in the month of March. For example, I lost my virginity in March and I got married in March. (And no, it was not the same March! )

This year’s March Madness actually started at the end of February with communications from two places where I had applied for jobs inquiring whether or not I would still be interested in interviewing with them. As I was, I spent many hours in the first few days of March exchanging emails and telephone calls arranging interviews. Besides, what better way to pass the time during a blizzard than to spend it off the road and inside?

Anyway, in the midst of all the interview arrangements, I learned that my dad was going to have surgery on his shoulder to repair a torn rotator cuff. As I mentioned before, I have a weird and flexible schedule so I offered to accompany Dad to the doctor appointments in The City during the week leading up to his surgery. And because I am The Good Daughter, I also shuttled him between out-patient surgery and physical therapy since he was not allowed to drive for a week following his surgery.

My first job interview was on the 14th of March and was only about 30 miles away from Small Town Iowa. Unhappily it was not for a library job, but was something that I ran across in our local newspaper and was encouraged to apply for by my mom. I wasn’t that enthused about the position or the pay, but figured it would be something that I could do while I waited for my library job to come along.

The second interview was for a library job and took place this past week. I only returned from this three day interview marathon last evening, so I don’t know anything definitive yet and won’t until around April 15, (the wheels of academia turn slowly) but I think it went quite well.

Like the last time I had an on-campus interview, I was lucky enough to get in touch with some friends while I was on the road and they took me out for a night on the town after all the stress of the interview was finished.

Oh yes, I’d say that March came in like a lion for me… let’s just hope it goes out like a lamb!

I have been deliberately silent concerning my job search as a professional librarian during the past few months here on my blog.

I have talked about the state of affairs at length with my family and close friends, but I have to admit in the age of doocing that I just haven’t felt 100% comfortable discussing the situation here for fear it might affect the eventual outcome of the process. In addition to that, I guess I am also a little superstitious: I felt like if I blogged about my job hunt I might jinx it.

And though this is my personal blog and if you are reading it you are more than likely interested in my life and all it involves, I really didn’t want to bore my readers with stories of writing cover letters, scanning transcripts, filling out online applications, or waiting anxiously for the mailperson every day.

Given my particular circumstances (nearly 5 years out of my field, unemployed and living overseas) I wasn’t sure how long my job search would take, but I knew that it would be a great assessment of how durable my library education and Master’s Degree really are.

Last summer when I made the decision to come back the U.S. and reenter my profession, I had hoped to be working in an academic library by the beginning of 2007. It seemed like an attainable goal that would nicely correspond with the start of a new semester. Unfortunately, it was not to be and as of today I am still looking for an opportunity to prove that my skills as a reference librarian did not diminish while I was away.

However, I have had interviews: Phone interviews, email interviews, and on-campus interviews. Though I was not offered any of those positions, the interviews were not a waste of my time. At the end of one phone interview that was for a technical services position, I realized that I am a public services librarian at heart and I belong in a reference and instruction department. I have also learned that I no longer want web services to be a main component of my job and that just by exchanging a few emails a person can get a pretty good idea of whether or not he or she might or might not want to work with the people on the other end.

Of course, I have had rejection letters too. The ones that come from institutions that were long shots or I never heard from beyond the standard we-have-received-your-application correspondence don’t bother me too much and I just file them away. The ones that come from places I thought I had a good chance tend to hurt a little more, but when they come I just grin and bear it.

Oh, I’d say my batting average hasn’t been too bad and that I need be patient just a little longer because something tells me that it is only a matter of time…

Ever since I decided to return to the US a few weeks ago I have been scouring the library want-ads looking for a job. In that time I managed to find five prospects and so over the weekend I sat down with my long-neglected résumé and cover letter and went to work applying. Three jobs have now been applied for and I hope to apply for the other two some time this week.

While it has been a few years since I applied for my last library job in the United States, in general the process has not changed. The basics I need to send are a letter of application or cover letter, my résumé (or since I am an academic librarian it is referred to as my vitæ), three professional references, and sometimes copies of my transcripts.

However, one thing that has changed (and I think for the better) is that most places are willing to accept electronic applications now. In fact, some actually require it.

When I was applying in the past this was not case. If you emailed the search committee inquiring about the possibility of sending an electronic application it was usually only accepted in addition to the hard copy. Now, I am not opposed to applying via post, but I must admit that in my current situation it makes things much easier if I can apply online.

In addition to the basics, one particular job that I plan on applying for also wants me to include a brief statement of my service philosophy and a summary of my research interests. Ultimately my service philosophy has not changed since I graduated from library school, so I just have to dig out that document and polish it a little bit.

However, my research interests have definitely changed. When I was working a few years ago, my research interests leaned towards the integration of technology into the public services environment and, in my opinion, were broad and not very well defined.

Technology in the library still interests me, but after my experience abroad I can definitely see myself doing research in the area of library services to foreign/non-native English speaking populations. Though I had read about the differences in library services in different countries when I was a student, it is only when I experienced them first-hand that I really understood how distinctive library services at American universities really are. Not only that, but I feel that after living in a country where I was a non-native speaker I will have a unique perspective when interacting with students who speak English as a second language.

I would be lying if I said that the four-year gap on my résumé didn’t concern me a little bit though. Nevertheless, my diploma still says that I am a librarian and basic library philosophy and services have not changed during my absence so I know that I can still do the job. Luckily I am not a luddite either and so I am confident that I will quickly adapt to any technological changes that may have occurred. I just hope that the search committees for the jobs that I am interested in see it that way too…

In the 1980s some of the most significant moments of librarianship since the introduction of the Dewey Decimal System occurred: Not only did libraries around America start replacing their traditional card catalogs with computerized systems called OPACs, they also took the opportunity to input their patron data into computers and issue bar-coded library cards.

During this time my hometown library began building an extension to its existing building and though they didn’t introduce an OPAC right away, by the time the renovations were complete in the mid-80s the library had computerized its patron data.

However, even though the library had its patron data computerized, physical library cards were never issued: When you went to check out a book the librarian didn’t even ask for your name. She just typed it into the system because, as in often the case in a rural community of about 2,000 people, she already knew who you were.

I think that I last visited my hometown library about five years ago and I don’t think I have checked out any books since about 1992, but one afternoon when Mom and I went the library I came upon a couple of books that I wanted to check out. Mom would have to return them for me anyway so she was prepared to check them out, but I was curious about whether or not I still happened to have a library “card.”

As we say at home, the library assistant is an “import:” She moved to Small Town Iowa after I left home and though she knew my mom, she didn’t know me. Apparently she didn’t know that my mom was remarried and attempted to find my name under my mom’s “new” married name. I corrected her with my last name and sure enough, I still had a library card!

She remarked that it sure had been a while since I checked out a book and asked if my telephone number and address were still correct. I replied that I hadn’t lived at that address for quite some time, but essentially since it was my dad’s address it was correct.

At that point the library assistant asked me if I was away at college. I had to chuckle as I told her that not only had it been a while since I was away at college, I didn’t even live in the United States anymore! Mom would be checking the books out and I was just curious if I was still in the system.

I heard the library assistant remark that they really ought to clean up their patron data files a little more often as we left and it made me wonder if the next time I go back to my hometown library my library card will have finally expired.