Thing 21 -- Promoting Yourself
This "Thing" presented many good tips on figuring out what one wants to do, what one wants in a job and how to promote oneself when applying for a job. I haven't had to do this very much in the past, and actually, probably won't have to again because I'm the "Library Lady" and the board and patrons have threatened to keep me until I expire. :) Anyway as good as all these suggestions are, I'm beginning to look forward more to retirement than promoting myself into even more work. I'm kind of wanting to stay home and make quilts and research family history and actually have time to read all those good books instead of just ordering them, cataloging them, checking them out to others and re-shelving them over and over (my least favorite library job.) I think this particular "Thing" would be much more beneficial for someone at the beginning of their career than for someone like me who is looking forward to the end of a career.
Thing 22 -- Volunteering to Gain Experience
I guess you could say the volunteering I did in my high school library when I was a student there gave me the library experience needed to get a job at my current library as a library assistant. From there I moved up to director....mostly because none of the other applicants had any library experience at all. However, all the experience I've gained in my years of library work is not going to get me a decent job in a bigger library because they all want a college degree if not a Masters in Library Science, neither of which I have.
My opinion is that volunteering might get you some experience to get your foot in the door, but you have to be careful not to overdo it. I know the thinking, especially in small town libraries and probably in larger one too, is that if you can get the work done for free why pay somebody to do it. It can be a fine line.
No comments:
Post a Comment