Sometimes, it’s all about the journey

Dear Colleagues:

Spring is finally upon us here in Toronto after a lingering winter and what feels like months of rain. When the trees are leafing, the robins are singing, and the tulips are tulipping, my mind naturally turns to thoughts of renewal and regeneration, and also to conferences! Spring is conference season and I have the badge-holders to prove it. By the end of May, I will have travelled from Halifax to Victoria to work the tradeshows at library conferences across Canada. I’ll have seen the sun rise on both coasts, driven through the Canadian Rockies, and enjoyed the long twilight of a spring evening on the Prairies. I’ll treasure those memories then next time I set my alarm for 3.45 AM to catch an early flight!

When you stop and think about it, there is something inspiring about people putting aside their daily lives for a few days to meet with colleagues from across the country, converging on cities which, until that moment, had often just been dots on a map, unknown and unvisited by the delegates. There’s a whole process around getting to know a new city that is just fascinating. In peeling away the layers of unfamiliarity and adjusting to the rhythms and routines of life in new, albeit temporary, surroundings, I learn new things about myself, and when I return home, I see my life and my work in Toronto with new eyes. And of course, whenever I’ve pitched my metaphorical tent in the Exhibits Hall at a conference, I’ve met interesting people from around the world. In doing so, I’ve increased my knowledge of both my chosen profession as a librarian, and also of the new path I’m forging as a vendor.

One day, I’ll write an exposé about my other life as a “booth babe”, but on June 12th, I head to Philadelphia for the 2011 SLA Conference as a delegate, a completely different experience. I’m really excited about this year’s conference and I hope to see many of you there. Thomas L. Friedman, the author of The World is Flat and Hot, Flat and Crowded will give the opening keynote address on Sunday, June 12th at 6PM and it’s sure to be thought- and (my personal favourite!) debate-provoking.

SLA’s 2011 theme is “Future-Ready” and if there was ever a time to be future-ready, that time is now. Whatever you call yourself – librarian, knowledge manager, information professional, strategic knowledge professional, information specialist, consultant – the name of the game is Change, and the pace is Fast. Like flying across the Rockies, sometimes, it can be a bumpy ride. Have courage and know that we are all on this journey together. True, the goal of every journey is to get from point A to point B. However, the space in between provides many opportunities for learning and for discoveries that enrich our lives and the lives of the people around us. The destination is important, and results are important, but so is the process. Sometimes, it’s all about the journey.

At this year’s conference, you can book an appointment with a career coach (why not?!), be a tourist for an afternoon, give back to the community by donating to the Dress for Success service project, and of course participate in a variety of sessions. Check out the convenient online Conference Preview to plan your experience. You’ll find everything from Building Targeted Social Communities (p. 21) to e-Commerce Taxonomies (p. 18), to the KM Café (p. 17), to the Realities of a Successful Job Search (p. 22). I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you to stop by the tradeshow to talk to your sales representatives and to thank the sponsors of this year’s conference. The conference will conclude with a closing keynote address by James Kane, who spoke from the heart at the 2010 Leadership Summit on the topic of loyalty.

Does this sound like a hectic schedule? Well, one of the keys to personal and professional success is knowing when to relax and recharge, and the Toronto Chapter has got you covered. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of our partner, CEDROM-SNi, we’re hosting the 2011 Canadian Reception at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown on Monday, June 13th at 5.30PM in Salon G. Tickets are $5 and are on sale via the Conference Scheduler. Please join me, President-Elect Laura Warner, Programming Director Elysia Guzik, Technology Director Kim Silk, our two FPinfomart Student to Conference winners Yannet Lathrop and Janina Mueller, representatives from CEDROM-SNi, and friends and colleagues from across Canada and around the world for a glass of wine and some hors d’oeuvres before you head out to explore the many fine restaurants in Philadelphia.

Do you have what it takes to make flexibility, resilience, and continuous learning a lifestyle? I think you do, and I want to learn from you, so pack your bags and hit the road! Let’s meet in Philadelphia at the SLA 2011 Annual Conference!

Welcome to the Spring issue of the Courier.  Thank you to everyone who contributed to this issue.

Zachary Osborne contributed an article which highlights some of the sessions he attended at the OLA SuperConference earlier this year.  He also provides insight into how important it is to learn from and share with our fellow librarians in academic, school and public libraries.  Also in this issue is a thought provoking piece by Katya Pereyaslavska.  In her article, Katya contemplates how to provide virtual reference services to the artistic community.

Congratulations to Yannet Lathrop and Janina Mueller who are the FPinfomart Student-to-Conference Award winners this year!  Their winning statements are also included in this issue.

We hope you enjoy this issue. Submissions are always welcome.  Please send comments, ideas or suggestions directly to us.

Sandra Craig

Bruce Harpham

Think about the Future That Has Already Happened

Have you noticed that all of the talk about the future is really about today?

That’s as it should be, according to Peter Drucker, the famed management consultant who coined the term “knowledge worker.” The opening keynote speaker at SLA’s 2002 Annual Conference and the author of nearly 40 books, Drucker had this to say about preparing for the future: “The purpose of the work on making the future is not to decide what should be done tomorrow, but what should be done today to have a tomorrow.” Read More

SLA Loyalty Survey Launched

The survey which will launch the beginning of the SLA 12-month Loyalty Program Pilot Project was sent to all members today.  This survey will assist James Kane in selecting a chapter(s) where he will audit and assess that Chapter’s current relationships, consult with and train Chapter leadership, and develop and implement loyalty strategies for that selected Chapter. Read More

2011 Leadership Development Institute – Sunday, 12 June

If you’re an SLA leader, I know you’ve made your plans to attend the 2011 Leadership Development Institute on Sunday, 12 June.  Are there others in your chapter or division who may have time on their schedule?  Encourage them to attend the Leadership Development Institute to get the insider’s scoop on SLA.  It might peak their interest in becoming tomorrow’s leader, a first step in succession planning. Read More 

Why SLA?

Read SLA board candidates respond to why they first joined the association on the SLA Blog.

SLA Toronto Chapter is pleased to announce that Yannet Lathrop and Janina Mueller are the winners of the 2011 FPinfomart Student-to-Conference Award. The FPinfomart Student-to-Conference Award provides each of the winning students with a $1,500 stipend for travel to and participation in the 2011 SLA Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in Philadelphia, June 12-15.

Yannet and Janina were selected by the Executive Board of SLA Toronto on the basis of their résumés and the quality of their statements on what they expect to gain from the conference experience.

Yannet graduated from the New School for Social Research in New York, with a Master of Philosophy in Political Science. This spring, she graduates with her Master of Information Studies degree from the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. In addition to her studies this year, Yannet worked as an Editorial Assistant with Professor Andrew Clement at the Faculty of Information and as a Special Librarian at Comparative Education Services at the University of Toronto.

Janine graduated from the University of Sussex with a Master of Arts in Social and Political Thought. This spring, she graduates with her Master of Information Studies degree from the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. In addition to her studies this year, Janine worked as a Reference Assistant at York University’s Scott Library and as a Practicum Assistant at the Canadian Centre for Epigraphic Documents.

Statement by Yannet Lathrop

I write to apply for the 2011 FPinfomart Student-to-Conference Award. While networking and resume building are often-cited as two of the most important benefits of conference participation for new LIS professionals, I believe the SLA Annual Conferences offer new professionals more substantive opportunities—namely, the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the state of the special librarianship, and its strengths, challenges and controversies, thereby helping new professionals integrate themselves into the field and make lasting contributions therein. In what follows, I will explain my goals and expectations for attending the 2011 Annual SLA Conference.

I am currently a second-year LIS student at the University of Toronto, focusing on the subfield of special ibrarianship. I am a member of the SLA Toronto Student chapter, and a student liaison for CASLIS-Toronto. I currently volunteer as a reference and collection development librarian at the Hart House Library, and serve as publications assistant for Professor Andrew Clement (Faculty of Information). As well, I recently concluded a position as a special librarian for Comparative Education Services (CES) of the University of Toronto.

My focus on special librarianship will allow me to receive maximum benefit from attending the SLA Annual Conference, as I will have a strong background in the subfield. I believe the conference will grant me the opportunity to witness the Special Libraries profession in action, outside the structured environments of the library and the LIS classroom. Gaining a knowledge of how special library professionals organize, conduct and govern their profession across institutional boundaries will be beneficial in establishing myself in this important subfield of librarianship.

Participation in this conference will also permit me to develop a deeper understanding of professional leadership, and its application to special librarianship. How are leaders in the subfield chosen? What are their responsibilities? How do they help develop and advance special librarianship? How do they interact with other LIS professionals? I believe that my participation in the conference will help me develop an understanding of these questions.

Prior to my LIS studies, I earned an M.Phil in Political Science and held positions as an intern for a U.S. Congressman, a project manager for the Parsons Institute for Information Mapping, and a publications intern for a trade union. I am currently finishing an internship at the Library of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

I have a strong desire to integrate my background in Political Science with my future career in special librarianship. I hope that by attending this conference, I can develop a strategy for achieving this career goal. Specifically, I hope to attend presentations related to, or by, SLA’s Government Information Division, in order to develop an understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing government librarianship, as well as the prospects within it for new professionals.

As I am devoted to special librarianship, I expect that my participation in this conference will help me develop skills and knowledge that I will build on over the course of my career, during which I hope to make a lasting contribution to the advancement of the field.

Sincerely,
Yannet Lathrop

Statement by Janina Mueller

I am writing to apply for the FPinfomart Student-to-Conference Award to attend the SLA 2011 Annual Conference in Philadelphia. This conference is an excellent opportunity for me to learn more about success stories, current developments and challenges in the working world of information professionals. By attending this conference, I hope to learn about the diverse work that SLA members from all over North America do, and I hope to share their knowledge and insights with other information professionals and students here in Toronto.

Last summer I interned at a small, specialised library at the United Nation’s headquarters in New York City. Unfortunately, this library laid off its full-time librarian a number of years ago. By working there, I came to realize the importance of advocacy work in all libraries. Librarians should strive to demonstrate the importance of their services to all members of an organization. Only if they assert their importance, align their goals with that of the organization and work closely with decision-makers can they survive even through economically difficult times.

Over the past months, I have had the chance to learn from a number of highly successful and inspiring information professionals here in Toronto. Field visits in Vicki Whitmell’s graduate course ‘Management of Corporate and other Special Information Centers’ have given me the opportunity to speak to a wide variety of information professionals, to learn concretely about how they assert themselves and how they have positioned themselves inside an organization. In Kimberley Silk’s iSchool Institute class ‘Entering the new Information Economy,’ I further had the chance to network with information professionals from around the GTA and to get inspired by their stories.

As a result of these experiences, I am thrilled to enter the information profession as a full-time worker upon completion of my studies. I am looking forward to continuing to learn from information professionals from all over the world, and to give back to this community of professionals that has inspired me and infused me with enthusiasm.

This award is an ideal way for me to achieve these goals. As such, I would feel privileged were I to get the opportunity to attend this year’s SLA conference in Philadelphia, and to celebrate special librarianship with professionals from all over North America. Attending this conference and serving on the executive board of the SLA Toronto Chapter next year would enable me to learn and to simultaneously contribute to the community of information professionals. 2011 is an exciting and challenging time to be graduating with a Master’s of Information degree, but as this year’s SLA conference program shows, our opportunities are wide-ranging and plentiful.

I thank you in advance for your consideration, and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
Janina Mueller

Please join me in welcoming the following new members who joined our Chapter from February through April 2011.

Kelly Butler, Toronto
Eric Chor, Toronto
Lisa Dauvin Leggett, Toronto
Jaclyn Derlatka, Whitby
Paul Fong, Thornhill
David Legierski, London
Chloe Lei, Toronto
Baruch Lipinsky, Toronto
Jessica Luet, Ajax
Quenby Mahood, Toronto
Danielle Manning, Toronto
Sean McCoy, Woodstock
Catharine McLandress, London
Gail Morgenstern, Toronto
Janina Mueller, Toronto
Kaitlin Perri, Moncton
Lisa Pooley, Waterloo
Lisa Portelli, Burlington
Victoria Powell-Kapos, Toronto
Patricia Presti, Rockwood
Shannon Sobota, Ajax
Solaiman Talut, Toronto
Kathryn Tippell, Toronto
Ryan Watson, Whitby

I look forward to meeting each of you at an upcoming SLA Toronto event!

In March 2011, Daniel Lee joined KPMG as a Knowledge Manager for the Global Healthcare Practice. The role is new both for Daniel and for KPMG and includes all aspects of knowledge management from content generation to people-to-people network development and will involve day-to-day liaising with the KPMG leadership, national firms and key global third parties. 

In mid-April, Emmeline Hobbs took on the new and exciting role of Director, Knowledge Services at Navigator Ltd.  Emmeline is now a solo, embedded in all aspects of knowledge and research management at Navigator. She moves on from her role as a Business Information Analyst at Deloitte where she worked for just over two years providing firm-wide research to clients across Canada. Prior to that, she worked at the Toronto Star Reference Library. For a second year running, she also continues to fulfill the role of Secretary for the SLA Toronto Chapter. Her new contact is ehobbs@navltd.com. You can also follow her on Twitter – @emmelinehobbs.  

People on the Move is  a regular column highlighting the achievements of our members and helping us all keep in touch.  Please share your career changes, retirements, life changes, volunteer work.  

Submit your news to Frances Wong at FWong@blgcanada.com.

In a world which is increasingly too busy for the ‘physical experience’ of a library or even a book, the concept of ‘virtual reference’ is far from uncommon. Children from a young age who are exposed to texting, tweeting and instant time chat, are growing up to become the true ‘digital natives’ and even the Oxford English Dictionary is embracing this new reality with its recent inclusion of acronyms like “LOL,” “OMG” and “FYI.” Sci-Fi freaks across the universe rejoice at the idea of entering into a new world of advanced technologies which feed into their fantasies of alternative realities.

Virtual reference has increasingly gained popularity and entered our lives through services like Ask Ontario (http://askon.ca/), the Library of Congress and OCLC joint venture called Question Point ((http://questionpoint.org/), and California Public Libraries’ service called AskNow (http://www.asknow.org/), among many others. Having been a devoted askOn volunteer for nearly two years, I can fully attest to the highly addictive but nevertheless super successful features of the service. Serving over twenty academic institution and dozens of public libraries, it’s become an essential feature in the provision of reference services both for students who live far from campus but need help, or libraries which are understaffed and appreciate the extra “man power” so to speak, in the person of askOn volunteers.

The major issue I have personally and professionally struggled with is the question of boundaries and innovation – tailoring, if you will – of services such as askOn to a unique artistic community. Having experienced the amazingly inspiring energy of the OCADU students firsthand (as a former reference assistant at the Dorothy H. Hoover Library) and having contemplated on how one could more creatively implement a virtual reference service in a small academic artistic community whose needs and interests are unique insofar as traditional academia goes, I have perused websites, looked at different virtual reference models and conducted an in-depth literature review.

The questions that I found myself asking were the following:

1. What do students need?

This seems like a fairly straightforward question in a more traditional library setting; however, when it comes to a wonderfully passionate artistic community willing to explore, discover and experiment, this question becomes more complex. Are students looking to just write a paper or gain an experience of learning and by that I mean seeking out more unique and creative ways to find and absorb information without destroying its essence, which could provide creativity or inspiration? I found myself saying ‘yes’ to the latter. Future great artists and designers are enrolled in their programs not to make money but to follow their passion for creating so how can a library, through the virtual reference service, supplement that need?

2. How far are librarians prepared to go to complement student needs?

Let’s face it, librarians already do a LOT and shy of putting on library performance pieces and playing violins while tackling reference queries (all solid ideas, by the way!), sometimes there is very little more that budgetary or staff restrictions can really make happen. So how can we take a basic idea of a real-time chat and morph it into a creative service which will help students explore ideas, get inspired and build a beautiful world?

While struggling with this concept my eye rested on a recent email from the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Superconference Human Library project. The Human Library Project (http://humanlibrary.org/) has been an immense success but it was OLA that really introduced the concept of implementing this idea within a single pool of professionals – librarians. What is to say that an art library could not tackle a similar venture but employing technologies which would allow students to connect to artists from around the world and not only likely secure mentors for life but brainstorm on ideas, inspire each other and exchange experience for some fresh perspective?

I bounced this idea back and forth from one professional to another to try and figure out whether this made any sense to any of my colleagues in the field of art librarianship or was instead complete lunacy. While still a rough sketch of an idea but an exciting one nonetheless, the following are a few things that would need to be considered if one were to initiate a project of this nature:

Definition: Experimental Virtual Human Library – ask an artist or a designer a question. It could be a new person every time with a small biography posted on the library site, advising students as to the schedule and the persons who will be “on duty”. 

The incentive for attracting high profile professionals and encouraging student participation: tradeoff – experience for naiveté and fresh perspective.

Staffing and hours: Artists or designers as available – that might mean only a few hours per week or even per month or more regular schedules, depending on how successful the recruitment might be.

Video chat or Skype: Is there an issue with using technology? One on one interaction might be lost unless it’s a video chat – how important is the medium of communication?

Environmental scanning: A library might consider conducting a campus-wide survey to gather data as to whether this project would be of interest and would be useful for faculty to incorporate into the curriculum.

Criteria for qualifying: Who is an ‘artist’? Do they need to come with an impressive portfolio in order to qualify for this project? Is it possible to let students decide the “credibility” of a given artist or designer or should there be a screening process?

Advertising channels: Creating a consortium of small art libraries sharing artist contacts and project feedback might allow for a more successful implementation.

Virtual reference is a vital tool for small special libraries which lack the staffing and resources to provide immaculately tailored services to students. This would be an initiative that would be able to take this concept and tweak it, creating a hybrid of virtual reference and the human library project, with a dash of apprenticeship for good measure. For many students, it would be an opportunity to gain valuable experience that they might not otherwise be able to, and that, in and of itself, is more than enough justification to pursue this initiative. While this is intended as a trial balloon for art librarianship, it is applicable to many specialized fields, be it law, business, or any other fields that have a highly individualized focus. 

References:

Lankes, R. David, Virtual reference service: from competencies to assessment (New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2008).

Radford, Marie L., and Lankes, R. David, Reference renaissance: current and future trends (New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, c2010).

Ronan, Jana Smith, Chat reference: a guide to live virtual reference services (Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2003).

Personal discussions with:

Jan Dawson, Ask Ontario

Marta Chudolinska, Learning Zone Librarian, OCADU

Kim Dority recently posted an excellent review on her Infonista blog of Ulla de Stricker and Jill Hurst-Wahl’s new book which we’d like to share with you. 

Information and Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook

Subtitled “Define and Create Your Success,” this recent and welcome addition to the collection of LIS career books is a delightfully personal compendium of advice from two of the profession’s most respected and experienced practitioners: Ulla de Stricker and Jill Hurst-Wahl. Both have worked in a wide variety of information roles throughout their careers, and bring that breadth of experience (and lessons learned) to the handbook.

In fifteen chapters, the authors provide detailed, practical career advice that comes across as a cross between coaching, mentoring, and okay, (in the nicest possible way), a bit of nagging. But it’s clear that their goal is to help readers avoid career potholes if possible. To that end, the tone and format is strongly prescriptive, letting readers know in no uncertain terms how certain situations should be handled in order to help ensure career success.

Numerous insights about the profession are interwoven throughout, for example:

When you choose a profession that isn’t instantly and universally recognized for its work and value (the way, say, veterinarians’ and engineers’ professions are), you set yourself up for a fair amount of future work some professionals don’t typically have to do – justifying your value and making the case why you should be hired or your department’s budget sustained or increased.

Chapter topics include overviews of the profession (including its challenges and opportunities), self-assessment and career fit, professional branding, job-hunting, navigating workplace politics, becoming a manager, salary issues, and mentoring, among other topics. “Career snapshots” for 15 practitioners provide real-life career stories (and advice), and the final chapter features the two authors’ individual career stories.

Reading The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Handbook is like hanging out with two really smart, experienced, and wise mentors who aren’t going to sugarcoat any of their advice – because they know you really need the real deal. The information they provide is practical, actionable, and from this professional’s experience, spot on. A recommended addition to the literature of LIS career development.

The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook: Define and Create Your Success. By Ulla de Stricker and Jill Hurst-Wahl. Chandos Information Professional Series, 2011. 283p. ISBN 978-1-84334-608-1. 

Excerpt from Kim Dority’s  blog posting on May 15, 2011.

Librarians and information professionals who work in special libraries often stick together. This makes sense, of course, as we tend to serve like-minded users, provide similar information services, and face challenges unique to special libraries. Librarians in corporate, non-profit, law and “non-traditional” information centres must rarely (if ever) consider some of the fundamental and everyday decisions of their distant relatives, the public and academic librarians. While public librarians debate the impediments of children’s literacy, or academic librarians struggle to teach undergrads how to find a peer-reviewed journal article, the special library community faces entirely different user-needs and information management concerns. Despite these inherent professional differences, I believe there is much that can be learned from one another. 

The Ontario Library Association’s annual Super Conference takes place each Winter at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This past January I attended the Super Conference with the hopes of reconnecting and networking with colleagues, liaising with vendors, and most importantly, learning from the experiences of other librarians. 

Traditionally and informally, the OLA Super Conference is more or less a platform for library technicians, academic, school, and public librarians. There seem to be few special librarians in attendance at OLA. This year I pondered if librarians from special libraries could benefit from what the Super Conference has to offer. Coincidentally, the theme of this year’s conference was “The Power of C – Collaboration!” OLA President Mary Ann Mavrinac writes, “Collaboration makes us smarter. The power of collaboration is a catalyst for community engagement, communication, cooperation, connectivity, conversations, crowdsourcing, collectivism and collegiality” and further, “helps us make better choices for communal and collateral benefit” (http://www.accessola.com/superconference2011). I felt energized by this message of teamwork and camaraderie, and think that despite differences in the users we serve, that both groups can take away valuable and transferable lessons from each other’s major conferences. 

When the Super Conference session schedule was released, I read some abstracts out of curiosity for what might be available. To my surprise, more than a handful stood out as innovative, interesting, and helpful in the context of my library’s current projects and workflow. Fully aware that I’m not the ideal audience for this conference, I registered reluctantly but excitedly. 

Below are some sessions from the 2011 Super Conference that I enjoyed: 

“Library Mashups: Exploring new ways to deliver library data” presented by Nicole Engard (Bywater Solutions): Highlighted various examples of how your library can incorporate the API (Application Programming Interface) from your current subscriptions (e.g. The New York Times) and embed that code within your library’s OPAC or website. Hypothetically then, you can present your users with seamless and immediate access to the latest content related to your organization’s focus. Additionally, introduce things like Google maps and other applications to your Library’s web page. 

“Using Open Source Software in a shared integrated library system” presented by A. Rivers-Moore (Hanover PL), S. Leighton, (Grand Valley PL), W. Allen (Grey Highlands PL), and R. Dotten (Shelburne PL): Explored the challenges and successes of implementing the open source ILS, Koha. My library uses a number of open source platforms, Koha in particular. As the only librarian (and one with amateur open source abilities) it was a terrific opportunity to speak to others in the same situation about some of the obstacles and rewards involved in introducing free and open source software. 

“Next generation workflows for next generation libraries” presented by Karen Calhoun (OCLC) and Rick Anderson (University of Utah): This session focused on changing attitudes and practices in service-delivery and collection development. Among many topics, the presenters advocated for acquisition models based on demonstrable need, the eradication of large scale interlibrary loan, document delivery and single-article purchasing in lieu of massive title or publisher-based serials subscriptions. 

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by the diversity and depth of most sessions, though disappointed by the elementary coverage of some others. I heartedly recommend browsing the list of sessions for the 2012 Super Conference. You may be surprised at what you find! As the leaders of access and information management within our organizations, we should actively keep abreast developments, technologies and projects throughout the wider profession of librarianship in order to anticipate and meet the needs of our users. There is much to be learned from our librarian relatives in the academic, school and public environments, and there is much that we can teach them as well. 

Zachary Osborne is the Research Librarian at The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, Ontario. His current research interests include the impact of grey literature, citation analysis tools and trends, data literacy and access. He can be contacted at zosborne@cigionline.org, and his blog can be read at http://zacharyosborne.wordpress.com.

Job-Seekers!  SLA Toronto is pleased to offer a new columnist to the Courier. 

Send your job hunting queries and quandaries to pattyplacement@gmail.com             

   _________________________________________________________________

Dear Patty Placement,

I’m getting mixed messages about cover letters.  What’s your take?  

Signed,

To Cover, or Not to Cover

Dear To Cover,

Like many things about job hunting what kind of cover letter to write depends a great deal on the sector you are applying to.  Historically, library hiring managers like cover letters because (when well written) they highlight your talents and experiences relative to a specific position.  They can also serve as an example of your written communication skills.  However, in some sectors they are almost completely ignored by hiring managers.  Increasingly in larger company settings your initial cover letter and résumé will be vetted by a computer, not a person, so the key ingredient to your cover letter is matching the terminology used in your writing to that of the job description and company culture.  Some companies are fine with a simple email cover note and a well tailored attached résumé.  So… the bottom line…. do your research, find out as much as you can about that company and sector and when in doubt I would ere on the side of a succinct and tailored cover letter – absolutely no more than one page, but also make sure that your résumé can stand well on it’s own.

Good luck!

Patty

                                   _________________________________________________________________

Dear Patty Placement,

I have been unemployed for over 6 months.  I have stayed engaged with volunteer work and the occasional contract.  What else can I do to keep my skills sharp and improve my chances of finding work?  I’m starting to lose hope!

Surviving on Macaroni

Dear SOM,

There are so many options available to you, I’m not really sure where to start… so I think I’ll give you my own personal opinion.  It’s not the only advice available… but you can find all the other ideas elsewhere.  

Answer these question for yourself – what am I really interested in?  How can I turn this interest into a specialization?  Take my friend Todd for example.  Todd is really interested in model trains and years ago he started writing short blog posts about model trains.  Today he makes a living writing articles for magazines, catalog descriptions for model train manufacturing companies, and sells his own newsletter on the topic.   Or Geneva…. When Geneva was unemployed she starting volunteering with senior citizens and discovered that many of them wanted to learn how to use the Internet.  She learned everything she could about seniors’ learning styles and internet use and training for seniors and started giving workshops.  Before long she was doing private consulting and now she is doing her PhD on the topic and is busy giving lectures and presentations at gerontology and learning conferences.  

Many years ago I wanted to work in the international development sector, so I gave up my boring bank job and took a part-time administrative job with a very small development agency.  They were implementing a new database system that I didn’t know anything about.  I found another similar organization that was already using that system and in my spare time I volunteered there so that I could learn about the database system and more about the sector.  Eventually that organization needed a full-time librarian…. Guess who landed the job?

Essentially, focus your volunteer efforts on an area that you are interested in and in which you can learn new skills.  Even if you don’t end up with a job… at least you’ll be enjoying your efforts and I believe that eventually your efforts will pay off!

Good luck,

Patty