~oOo~

librarianship links

What follows is a list of "avenues for further exploration" that I initially put together as a handout for a presentation on my journey to becoming a librarian-archivist that I did in March 2012 at Hope College, my alma mater. Since the handout was essentially a links list, I thought I'd make it available here at the feminist librarian for the attendees (and other interested souls) to access digitally.

The point of this list was to give undergraduates in the humanities some places online where they could get a feel for the range of careers possible in libraries and archives, and a better sense of what we librarians spend our days doing and thinking about. It's by no means an exhaustive list, and I relied heavily on my network of friends and colleagues for suggestions.

On that note, a big "thank you!" to all my library and archives peeps who sent in recommendations for what to include on this list. You made this page much more topically diverse than it would have been without you.

You can download the original handout, the PowerPoint slides and text of the talk from DropBox.

Finally, if you're reading this page and have your own suggestions for links to include, shoot me an email at feministlibrarian [at] gmail [dot] com.

the feminist librarian:

First, if you're interested in some of my own writing on the subject of librarianship, here are a few of my personal faves:
Professional Organizations & Publications:

Some good places to research the profession.
  • American Library Association (ALA). The professional association for the field and an umbrella organization for lots of divisions with particular specialties (e.g. school librarianship, academic librarianship).
  • Regional/state-level professional associations, such as the Michigan Library Association. These organizations will have more local opportunities for exploring the profession, and are likely to have local job postings, etc., to peruse.
  • LibraryJournal. This for-profit publication for the library community includes articles, reports, opinion pieces, and lots and lots reviews of forthcoming print and media resources.
  • Society of American Archivists (SAA). The professional association for folks specifically working in archives and special collections -- though often there is overlap. 
  • The SAA's professional journal, The American Archivist is available online for searching and browsing, if you want to get a feel for the professional literature. I also highly recommend Archivaria, published by the Association of Canadian Archivists; check your library for a print or electronic subscription.
Jobs & Salaries:
  • LibraryJournal's annual placement and salaries report (2011).
  • ArchivesGig. Blog hosted at LiveJournal by archivist Meredith Lowe, re-posting and link job descriptions for advertised positions in archives and records management.
  • INALJ (I Need A Library Job). Job listings, interviews with professional librarians about their work, job-hunting times, and more.
  • You Ought to be Ashamed. Group blog in which poor job advertisements in the LIS/archives field are mocked. Interesting discussions around what it means to be a professional in the field, and what employers and employees can (and should) expect from one another.
Library and Archives Blogs (Institutions):

Blogs maintained by institutions can give you a sense of the collections, programming, and research being done in a place.
Blogs by Librarians and Archivists:

Some of these blogs are wholly professional, some largely personal, and all the shades between.
  • ArchivesNext. Kate Theimer explores the future of archives in the digital age.
  • Courtney's Library Life. Academic librarian Courtney Young (Pittsburgh, Penn.).
  • Derangement & Description. An archives web comic by Rebecca Goldman is the Media and Digital Services Librarian at La Salle University’s Connelly Library.
  • Digitization 101. Jill Hurst-Wahl is a digitization consultant and professor library science. Her interests include digitization, digital libraries, copyright, web 2.0 and social media. 
  • Emerging Technologies Librarian. PF Anderson is the "emerging technologies" librarian at the University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries.
  • Hack Library School. Group blog maintained by library school students. They also provide a topically-organized list of LIS blogs to follow.
  • INFODocket. Information industry news. 
  • In the Library With a Lead Pipe. Web magazine with articles on topics relevant to the library profession.
  • Justin the Librarian. Teen librarian and gaming enthusiast.
  • Librarian by Day. Bobbi Newman is a consulting librarian on issues of librarianship in the digital age.
  • Librarian in Black. Sarah Houghton is the Acting Director for the San Rafael Public Library (California) and has been blogging for eight years.
  • Library Adventures.com. Kiyomi Deards is Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln acting as a science librarian in the areas of: Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics and Astronomy.
  • Library Scenester. Erin Dorney is the Outreach Librarian for the Millersville University Library in Pennsylvania.
  • A Library Writer's Blog. A blog aggregating call for proposals/papers (CFPs) and other professional writing/publishing opportunities.
  • LifeHacker. Technology tools, tips, news.
  • LISNews. Aggregator of news stories, blog posts, action alerts, and more related to the world of libraries and librarianship.
  • Lower East Side Librarian. Jenna Freedman writes about "zines and alternative press publications in libraries, cataloging, library activism, open source technology applications and culture, and lolcats."
  • PhiloBiblos. "Reviews of books old and new; news and commentary on book history, library culture, archives and related subjects. Written by Jeremy Dibbell, a bibliophile, haunter of used bookstores, and LibraryThing employee."
  • Sara Mooney. Sara has a background in library science and currently does information architecture for Zappos.com. She's interested in how "media, metadata, and taxonomy affect knowledge management and corporate/public/academic libraries."
  • Somebody's Autobiography. Kate is a college reference librarian (gender studies subject specialist) by day and a zine librarian by night.
  • Stephen's Lighthouse. "Tips and techniques for strategic thinking and innovation in libraries" by Stephen Abrams.
  • Tame the Web.
  • The Waki Librarian. Diana Wakimoto is the online literacy librarian and archivist at California State University, East Bay.
  • Walk the Ridgepole. Shoshana is a librarian by training, a bookseller by trade, and children's author by vocation.
  • thewikiman. Ned Potter works at the University of York (England) and is academic liaison for Music, and Theatre, Film & Television Studies.
  • What Does an Archivist Do? Online pinboard curated by Melissa Mannon. 
  • Wretched Oddments. A'Lyn is a cataloger in an academic medical library and writes about work and life at her personal blog.
Twitter Feeds:

A number of the friends I polled about library blogs told me they got most of their library-related news via Twitter. Here are the folks they follow:
  • Archives Fever. A public Twitter list curated by @stephstellar, "Redhead. Nomad. Boot stomper. Demon Deacon '06. Simmons GS '12. Librarian/archivist/info professional/research nerd."
  • @JBD1. Jeremy Dibbell, "Librarian, bibliophile, book-blogger living in Portland (Maine). I handle social media, rare books, &c. for LibraryThing.com."
  • @JQAdams_MHS. "The line-a-day diary entries of John Quincy Adams, beginning with his journey to Russia on 5 August 1809. A project of the Massachusetts Historical Society." 
  • librarians & archivists. A public Twitter list curated by @JeffatSCC, "Community college librarian, interested in this & that."
  • prostuff. A public Twitter list curated by @blefurgy, "Digital preservation, cultural impact of technology; prone to consider pop culture artifacts."
  • @tadawes. Trevor A. Dawes, "librarian and educator; 2012 candidate for ACRL Vice President-President Elect.
Pod Casts:

If audio is your thing.

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