Hello from the nation’s capital!  DC/SLA is excited to be contributing all of this week’s FutureReady365 posts (thanks to our future-thinking Communications Secretary, Chris Vestal).  We are a diverse community of 800+ information professionals, with members from D.C., Maryland, Virginia, as well as 30 other U.S. states and 12 countries.  You’ll see this diversity reflected in the range of future ready ideas presented in posts throughout the week.  We hope our posts will spark some thought and conversation and, of course, your comments. Most of all, we want to help keep the spark of the FutureReady blog alive  – a spark that’s become a fire, gathering us around it to brainstorm our way into the future. — Mary Talley, DC/SLA President (2011)

by Laura Soto-Barra, Washington, DC Chapter, News Division

Three years ago, I attended a presentation at the Knight Digital Media Center; Prof. Ernest J. Wilson III, Dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California welcomed us, NPR leaders attending a seminar in his campus on planning our digital future. Dean Wilson’s main idea was to encourage us to prepare for the future by understanding the digital environment and transform ourselves to accept the disruption. It was then that I learned that that there is a capacity gap in e-leadership that needs to be closed. He said e-leaders are the innovators and early adopters that spread new technologies in their communities and organizations and that e-leaders are scarce. According to Dean Wilson, it is not easy to find the right kind of talent to provide e-leadership and he lists the competencies needed in this new environment as SAKE: Skills, Attitude, Knowledge and Experience.

Translating these competencies for the library field, I believe that there is enough talent among information professionals that makes us e-leaders in our organizations; I’m afraid that we have not been able to unleash that talent because we don’t want to fail or because we don’t have enough confidence in our skills. In this digital workplace there is space for failure. Do a search on “failure:” and you will see how much these days people are talking about it. “Fail fast,” they say and you will learn. Let’s take a look at SAKE.

For Future Ready, we need communications Skills that go beyond a reference transaction or a training session; we need to share ideas and concepts and listen and be able to change our behavior after capturing what we have heard. Librarians know how to do this but we need more flexibility in our concepts. How many times do we alter our procedures when a new librarian arrives in the team and suggests new ideas? We need political skills to navigate an organization to put words into action. This is what we have heard from Steve Abram for decades: work without a desk and walk and talk; Laurence Pruzak told us once in an SLA conference, that librarians engender trust and that we should take advantage of that talent by talking to people.

The Attitudes competence Dean Wilson describes is the description of a librarian: we are passionate, have empathy, our intellectual curiosity has no limits and we know about tenacity in face of opposition and failure; we are constantly asking for inclusion. But something difficult for us is to have high tolerance for ambiguity. Our training is based on rigid concepts and our practices demand consistent accuracy and rigor in applying rules and standards. Can we keep standards and accept ambiguity? We have to take risks and accept that all around us, the environment is inconsistent, contradictory, unstructured and unexpected.

Our professional training gives us Knowledge: we know theories and concepts and have a deep understanding of how to translate and migrate manual practices to digital workflows. We have adopted technologies for decades but now everyone searches, tags content and creates metadata. Go beyond the comfortable and understand web development. Continue traveling as a hobby and participate in multicultural networks that allow you to know people different than you. Cultivate networks outside your library world and apply the new knowledge in your library.

Finally Dean Wilson mentions Experience as a requirement to fill the capacity gap; this experience is obtained by working in different environments, organizations and settings. We should not apply ourselves the label: “academic,” “legal,” “public,” “special”; we are information professionals whose training is transferable. Experience is obtained by taking risks, by moving to work in different cities and different organizations.

If you are a library manager you have tools to prepare your staff to be Future Ready. Prepare budgets that allow travel so that your staff go to conferences and get training; sacrifice collections or furniture for your staff’s training; be creative, inclusive and transparent by designing meaningful jobs that reflect your team’s skills and give them autonomy to modify your practices. Predicate and advocate for SAKE and read John Berry’s article who recommends seeking out the new librarians. That column impressed me and I understood that the new librarians are better prepared than me to close the capacity gaps in e-leadership in the very near future.

LS-B is NPR’s Senior Librarian. She is a Chilean-Canadian-American librarian who has worked in many library settings. She has first hand experience in that information science skills are transferable and highly valuable, that libraries are libraries are libraries, and that you have to re-locate to find the best jobs. Her last two jobs have been in newspapers in Jacksonville, Florida and in Syracuse, New York; in both newsrooms –as well as at NPR–she worked with highly competent and smart librarians, obtained strong management support, job satisfaction and professional rewards.

Summary, recordings, and editing by Karen Huffman, Past Chair, SLA KM Division

Listen to what leading SLA KM members have to say in these short video recordings on the following KM topics:

KM Role Models: Introductions and Overviews of Roles (6:18 minutes)

Interviews: Patrick Lambe, Denise Chochrek, Dianna Wiggins, Ulla de Stricker, Richard Huffine, Nerida Hart, and Stephanie Jordan.

Description: Selection of ideas shared by knowledge management professionals about who they are and what they do (and love!).

KM Success Stories and Challenges (8:48 minutes)

Interviews: Ulla de Stricker, Mary Talley, Richard Huffine, Nerida Hart, Denise Chochrek, Patrick Lambe, and Dianna Wiggins.

Description: Seven leaders in KM from around the globe tell their success stories and challenges.

KM: Skills, Compentencies, and Experiences (6:14 minutes)

Interviews: Patrick Lambe, Denise Chochrek, Ulla de Stricker, Mary Talley, Richard Huffine, Nerida Hart, and Dianna Wiggins.

Description: What skills, competencies and experience do you think are important for your role as a knowledge professional? Learn what leaders in the field have to say.

URL: http://youtu.be/TlxcVR0c6Sk

by Karly Szczepkowski, Michigan Chapter, Business & Finance Division

I still remember when I attended orientation for my MLIS. I wasn’t even sure that I wanted an MLIS! I was sitting in an auditorium and the dean of the program said, “Look around you [at the other students attending orientation]. This is your competition. This is who you will be competing for in the job search.” I hadn’t thought about it that way, but he was right. I looked around the room and saw all these intelligent, hard-working people. How was I going to distinguish myself from them? We will all receive a MLIS, so how will I demonstrate to employers that I am the best candidate for the job?

I went home and thought long and hard. I thought about what I did and didn’t do when pursuing my undergraduate degree. Then I created a three-prong approach. In addition to pursuing my MLIS, I decided to:

1. Gain relevant work experience. For me, this was critical: it would provide experience so I could meet those requirements on job applications, it would provide networking opportunities, and it would expose me to the type of work I would be doing BEFORE I graduated, giving me a chance to evaluate the work and decide if it was what I was really interested in. Figuring this out before graduation was important to me; it’s much less stressful to change your mind when you are a student then when you a permanent full-time employee that may have moved across the country to work in a field you later realize you don’t like. Even if you already have work experience, I still don’t see how it hurts to continue to gain experience while you are studying. I knew a few people who quit their jobs to focus on school full-time; one even turned down a prestigious internship because, “internships are for people with no work experience. I already have experience.” Then they graduated and had no job. Worse, their skills were now 1-2 years old and they were competing against other grads with more current skills.
2. Join a professional association. It’s a great way to network. Since I was interested in nontraditional libraries, I chose to join SLA, which has a very active state chapter. At first, I was afraid to attend meetings. But everyone was so nice and welcoming! They were thrilled to have me join them, even though I was a student. And amazingly, despite living in a state with two library/information science programs, I was often times the only student to attend meetings. That got me noticed! Professional librarians – the people who could possibly have job openings in the future – knew my name, knew I was interested in special libraries, and through my work with SLA, knew what I was capable of.
3. Create my own personal brand. I know what you’re thinking: what does that mean? Isn’t that just some meaningless advertising mumbo-jumbo? Instead of answering that question, I’m going to ask one: What color is the UPS truck? It’s brown. How do you know that? Because UPS made a conscious decision to “brand” itself as brown. Just like Coke made a decision to use red in its packaging and McDonald’s made sure all its arches were golden.

In life, we have many choices on how to ship packages, what to drink and where to eat. And employers have many choices on who to hire. I’ve heard of library directors receiving 100+ resumes for just one open position. How do they choose? That could be a book all in itself, but rather than sit and think about it, I wanted to do something about it. I decided to create my own brand. I was lucky to have a rather unique name, so I decided to use it to my advantage. When people heard my name, I wanted them to associate that name with an up-and-coming information professional.

I did that by taking on a leadership position in my school’s student chapter of SLA, first as Secretary and then as President. I organized frequent tours of special libraries – sometimes one every three weeks (which is another way to network!). I spoke about SLA at student orientation, I served on a panel offering “success tips” to new students, I presented at conferences, and I posted regularly on the student listserv.

You can brand yourself, too. Think about what makes you different from the hundreds of others who are in your LIS program. What do you have to offer that they don’t? Share that with the LIS community!

Can’t think of anything? Well how about this: you have initiative. You’re reading this blog. You’re thinking about what makes you different. Some people never do that. Or some people do, but never do anything about it. Just by doing something about it, you’re demonstrating how you’re different than everyone else with an MLIS. So even if you think what you’re sharing isn’t unique, even if you think you’re not unique, the mere act of taking initiative will make you stand out and get you noticed.

Karly Szczepkowski, is a Development Research Analyst at Wayne State University. She gathers, interprets, analyzes, and disseminates information to secure support for the University. Karly is currently President of the Michigan Chapter of SLA.

by Sarah L. Warner, Sarah L. Warner Associates

To be future ready start by thinking about what you have accomplished at each of your positions. The resume’s central section is the essential section to express your responsibilities in the form of Accomplishments. More and more clients are looking for accomplishments, not simply a listing of the tasks (job description) that you were responsible during the tenure in each position. For example: Task – Involved with a variety of software projects across the department. Accomplishment – Selected to participate on a team with the rollout of LegalKey Attorney Desktop, which enabled end-users to request files. Task – Handle all research questions and daily new items for the organization. Accomplishment – Created and disseminated specialized daily news digest to targeted groups throughout the company using Microsoft SharePoint, drawing from newspapers, journals, website, newsletters, reports, wire services and blogs.

How feasible is this focus change for you?

Basic Information

All resumes should include all the following basic information: name, address, home telephone and or mobile phone (not your office phone or email), personal email, your objective along with your summary of skills. Beginning with an Objective, do make sure that it is focused on the job you are applying for. For example, if you are focusing your career shift search to academic law libraries and the job you are applying for is for a law firm library in a private law firm, be sure to update the Objective. Some recruiters recommend a Brief Statement of key experiences and strengths in lieu of Objective.

The next section to focus on is Work History –  Skills, areas of expertise, and specific accomplishments. Your resume is about you. It is about what you have learned, accomplished, and created. Then put this all in light of the client’s position that you are applying for each time you apply for a new position. If your Skill Section is so overwhelming, it is best included after the Work History, with your databases and software Microsoft Office etc. Following the Work History is Education, Training, and Certificates. Dates of completion are not required unless degrees completed within the last 5 years. The final section includes information on Awards, Professional Memberships, and Volunteer Work if relevant to the position applying. Awards related to the position you are applying for are particularly important to include.Tell the best truth about yourself on your resume; do not be misleading about your skills, job history, dates on job history, education, or compensation. The prospective employer will verify these.

The Work History is the essential section to express your responsibilities and accomplishments along with inclusive dates. Relevant work experience is critically important in the selection process. Candidates who are career changes or someone with other work experience may want to break the Work History into two sections Library Experience and Other Relevant Experience. This will assist the review in determining the exact extent of your experience. Library experience should be described in more detail. Clients want to have an understanding of your work timeline and in particular what experience you have that is of utmost relevance to their requirements. Remember it is not simply a listing of your jobs with description of your tasks. Did you save your current company X amount of dollars or did you build a successful reference service intake system that saved the reference librarian’s time and allowed time for research analysis?

The current thinking is to include positions held only for the last ten years unless an earlier position includes key germane accomplishments that are most relevant to position being applied for. When you are responding to a specific opportunity, it is strongly suggested that you highlight your experience in that area that addresses what the client’s priorities match your own achievements. For example, you are applying for a position that includes training experience using a specific software program and as part of your current or last position you had you taught and were awarded for your knowledge of the tools, be sure to move your point to a strategic point in the position’s list. If you achieved a particular skill in an early position than consider noting it for inclusion in the cover letter.

A point that is often questioned by hiring clients but also applicants is just how to address the short-term positions. In all cases, clients and recruiters expect to see the exact dates of the assignment. It is appropriate to indicate it is an “internship” or “contract.” In this challenging job market you may have gaps on your resume due to being out of work or taking temporary jobs that are not part of your career path; you can explain it as such. If you are working with a recruiter, be sure to be forthcoming with explanations about gaps. All in all keep your resume in a bullet format is preferred in one to two pages maximum unless you are applying for an academic position and a curriculum vita can be more appropriate.  Be sure to proof read multi-times. Remember one typo could send your resume to the trash.

References

One note on References is that it is not recommended to include them as part of your resume. Rather write at the bottom of your document “References available upon request.” References do not want to be caught off guard by receiving an unexpected phone call or email requesting information about you. It is preferable for you always to prep a reference about the position you have applied for and why you have applied for the position.

In the end you want to have made it clear to the reader of your resume, whether it is an in-house recruiter, hiring manager, or search committee member, that you have read and understand the skills and experience they are seeking for the successful candidate.

Cover Letter

An additional way you can convey why you are qualified to be the successful candidate for the position is with the Cover Letter. The purpose of the cover letter is to invite the reader to look directly at your resume and also next insure an invitation for an interview. If you have not done your homework on the company that you are interested already, it is a must. You may find this law firm has a specialty that is one of your particular research focuses.

The Cover Letter should be well written, well organized, and customized (Yes, customized) for the position you are seeking.  Always use the addressee’s name in the salutations. Research the right contact and get the facts straight, addressee’s title and the job title. (Sometimes searching LinkedIn is a good tool.) If you can’t successfully find the first name of the contact, it would be appropriate to put the initial and last name R. Jones. The Cover Letter is a way you can introduce yourself and convey your personality, impress a reader with your achievements, and your writing skills. If no name using Hiring Manager or Recruiter is appropriate. The cover letter is a vehicle for you to tailor a document to a specific company more than you can with a resume. The letter should not be over 3 to 4 paragraphs. There should be plenty of white space left on the page.

The opening paragraph should state your intentions, what positions you are applying for, and how you learned of the opening. If you have been fortunately to have been referred by someone, be sure to include the person’s name – maybe it is a colleague in the same company.  The following paragraphs should address the position as it pertains to your background. Call attention to those elements of your resume that you would like the employer to notice first that most clearly relate to what the client is looking for in the successful candidate. It should have supporting evidence that there is an appropriate match between you and the employer. Talk about both skills and experience. Highlight your merits. Include special contributions or achievements that are applicable. Convey enthusiasm – What can you do for them. Show them how you can be an asset.  This is NOT the time to be thinking about salary, or anything else about what they can do for you. It is what you can do for them. The final paragraph should include a gracious thank you for the employer’s time and consideration, and indicate your availability for interviews. There is information in the cover letter that is not included anyplace else. The letter can end with “Thank you for your time and consideration” or “Best regards.” It can be helpful to add your email address after your name.

Resume Portfolio

A bonus method to stand head and shoulders above the other candidates is to have a carefully crafted Resume Portfolio. If you are a recent library school graduate, this application is ideal for inclusion to set yourself aside from other graduates. By definition a Resume Portfolio is a well-prepared portfolio providing additional “evidence” to an employer of your accomplishments, skills, abilities and it documents the scope and quality of your experience and training. It is an organized collection of documentation that presents both your personal and professional achievements in a concrete way. Effective sample portfolios can range from an online version of your resume to a web site full of your created material. A portfolio can include writing samples, custom research or analysis.  What is fundamental is that what you are presenting is applicable to the position you are applying for or to client discussion.

When all is said and done the person who’s most talented, has the most relevant skill set, and has proven to be most valuable to his or her former employees achieves the new position.

Sarah L Warner and Associates LLC offers distinctive services for direct-hire and executive search in the areas of the information professional that incorporates Records Managers, Research Directors, Senior Legal Researchers, Digital Image Manager, and Account Manager.  Sarah L Warner and Associates LLC’s proven techniques of sourcing candidates allow us to represent talent not found on job boards. We introduce you to custom recruited candidates so you see exceptional candidates for direct hire.

Sarah has over ten years of experience directing recruitment services with personal care and expertise previously at Wontawk, a leader in recruitment, and over twenty years of experience in entrepreneurial, corporate, and non-profit settings, developing and providing a full spectrum of library & information services, including management, staff recruiting, and research. Sarah is a long-time active member of SLA with a Masters in Library and Information Science is from Pratt Institute.  She can be reached at sarah@sarahlwarnerandassociates.com

by Brent, Amanda, Devin

I finally made the decision to go to library school after a few years of back and forth in my own head.  I obtained my undergraduate degree in English so a few of my family members were thrilled when I told them of my acceptance into the University of Washington’s library program.

“Finally! Something that will prepare you for a job!” went the half joking jeers.

But then I gave it a few moments and really thought about how a library school prepares you for a future career. For the most part, people go to library school with the goal of eventual employment in some information related field.

Luckily, I wasn’t alone in my decision to take the plunge.

A few of my friends had made the same decision before I had. One friend had just finished school at San Jose State through the distance learning program, and another was in her first year at Pratt, residential.

I sent them each the same set of questions that I thought could benefit new and prospective students to the field.

Just what is a person getting into when they apply to library school?  I asked them the following questions about their library/information school experience:

1. What were your expectations were coming into it?
2. What type of preparation has it given you for your future job?
3. Are you enjoying your time or biding it until you’re finished?
4. What is the value of a library degree in today’s job climate?
5. How difficult is the work? Assignments and extra-curricular?
6. Online vs. residential. What are your opinions on the two forms?

Overall, They seem a bit leery towards distance learning. I’m interested to see how my first year proceeds since that’s my chosen course format. There is also a definite consensus on the importance of getting the MLIS for the current job market. I’m glad that they both are enjoying/enjoyed their time in the respective programs and that it wasn’t a trudge to the finish line!

Amanda

1)  I had very high expectations going into library school.  I knew I wanted to go to Pratt since senior year in college.  I expected it to be super techy, and more cohesive but found it to be similar to a trade degree.  It has definitely been easier than I expected and there is an emphasis on networking and schmoozing that I was not expecting.

2)  I think the best part of my program has been the emphasis on internships and fieldwork.  I will be leaving the program with a stacked resume and awesome work experience that has given me confidence in finding jobs.

3) It goes back and forth at times, I have had some classes that I have enjoyed immensely and others that I wish I never took.  I definitely feel like I am ready to be done with school and start working, though.

4) I think a library degree has a lot of clout these days and can be applied to many jobs outside of libraries.  The Internet continues to open many doors for information jobs.

5) Not that difficult.  It can be overwhelming to find the correct balance of school, work, and play but the actual work has never been particularly difficult.  I have also found that teachers are very quick to give As.

6) For me personally, I could never do an online degree.  I need to interact with my professor and classmates and be a part of discussions.  I also think giving presentations and expressing your ideas in front of a group of people is a really important skill to master which you cannot practice doing online.

Devin

1) I didn’t have a lot of expectations coming into the program. My only thoughts going into the program were that this was a way for me to break into the library and archives profession, and that it was a great way for me to get a better grasp on the information field as a whole.

2) Going into the program I had a very small idea of what a profession in Information and Library science meant. After my first semester in the program, I was able to grasp just how broad the profession really is. The classes gave me good base knowledge, great skills that I will be able to build off once I am working in the profession. I think I will learn a lot more on the job.

3) I loved my program. I had some great professors who have been in the profession for a long time. I loved what I learned, and I loved the people I met through the school. It is an amazing community of people. I learned a lot and for the most part, I enjoyed the classes I took.

4) I would say that having a degree is very important for someone just entering the field. People expect those entering the information profession to have a degree these days. In the past, that wasn’t always the case. Having the experience was good enough. The older generation didn’t need the Master’s degree. However, now you are seeing those people coming back to school to get their Master’s even though they’ve been in the profession for a while. I think that says a lot for just how important a degree is.

5) I wouldn’t say the work is difficult. It is very time consuming. You have to be willing to put in many hours of reading.

6) I highly recommend residential. It was very hard to stay involved with the program as a distance learner. I think I would have taken a lot more away from the experience if I have been a residential student. It is some much easier to stay disconnected when you aren’t interacting with peers face to face on a daily basis.

Brent Mills will be attending his first semester at the University of Washington’s MLIS program this Fall. He currently volunteers with the Talk Time program at the Multnomah County Library facilitating a non-native conversation group.