Some thoughts from a #n00brarian

By Heidi (Kittleson) Schutt on April 8, 2011 • ( 4 Comments )

It’s been exactly 2 weeks since I received the “we’ve approved your request for graduation – now wait several months for a diploma” email.
That’s right! I’m a #n00brarian!
During those past couple of weeks, I’ve been reflecting on where I am, where I’m going, how I’m going to get there and how in the world I’m going to start paying back student loans. Here are some thoughts – I would love to hear what other #n00brarians are doing – or the plans of soon-to-be-n00brarians.

• Where I am: Moved back to Minnesota – living with my parents (VERY TEMPORARILY) – catching up with my little brother and other people who were put on the back-burner while I attended school – reading books for fun (see my GoodReads for details)  – riding my bike – planning (not quite planting) my garden – job hunting!
• Where I’m going: I’m going to get a job I love! I had an interview for a job I am already in love with and was invited back for a second interview! Right now, it is difficult to see beyond that job – it is absolutely a great place to start and grow. I honestly think one of the hardest parts about applying for jobs is waiting for an answer after you’ve submitted your application, resume/CV, cover letter, references, purpose statements, etc., and done an interview or two.
• How I’m going to get there: I’m going to put any and all effort into finding the right job(s) for me. What if I don’t get this dream job? What’s my next step? Well, I’ve been toying with the idea of freelancing my information professional skills (physically and virtually). I’ll return to this in a minute – but first – I mean, I look at it this way, if you’re geographically flexible, you can be more specific about the type of job you have. If you have a broad range of skills and interests that could bring you into multiple areas of IS, you can be geographically specific.  At the moment, I’m geographically specific, so I’ve got to get creative!
  Back to freelancing – I remembered reading this from Andy Woodworth’s blog in January – and I think he’s exactly right when he says libraryland doesn’t OWE new librarians anything. We’ve got to get creative and find our place. 
  • I recently talked to a friend who plans to graduate with her MLIS in June. After that, she’s going to get paid to organize (catalog, classify, etc.) an acquaintance’s library. Apparently there are thousands of items from a couple different inheritances. In any event – what an AWESOME project to take on and get paid for!
  • I also heard someone else talking about how their local vegan grocery store wants to start a library and needs someone to get it going.
  • Here’s another idea – provide yourself as a consultant – in one of my classes last year we had to be a professional consultant for someone. They had a real-life question and we did the research and communicated with them to find resources (and answers) to their questions. What’s stopping me from doing this? Nothing!
  • I think there are a plethora of these opportunities elsewhere — it’s just a matter of doing some work to find projects and marketing yourself in a way that people will find you!

Next week, Nicole has a post coming up about Non-Traditional Librarian Roles. I’m excited to read it and discuss more ideas! So, I leave you with a couple of questions. Where are you? Where are you going? How are you going to get there? As IS students, we’re all over the place, but we do have a common goal (at least I hope we do) of finding a job we love – whether it is an established or entrepreneurial position – please share your experiences!

and yes. I’m avoiding the student loan question. 🙂

Categories: Professional Life

Tagged as: freelancing, Heidi, library jobs, n00brarian