Member Spotlight: Perris King

Name: Perris King

Degree: MIS

Anticipated graduation date: May 2013

I'm from Fresno California. I'm currently doing an internship at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, working at the Support Center, and job hunting. I enjoy cooking, knitting, reading (like most Slizzards), travelling, and watching movies in my spare time.

I started in the MLS program because I was interested in going into business research, but I eventually realized I was more interested in metadata and electronic publishing. My favorite class so far has been Human Computer Interaction. The instructor (Hamid Ekbia) is great and we got to develop an app focused on improving people's behaviors, which was an interesting challenge.

I'm really enjoying my internship at the IMA and would love to have a job like that where I get to work with large image collections and creative people. I'm also interested in electronic publishing and developing electronic books.

Resume/Portfolio site: http://www.perrisking.com/

LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/pub/perris-king/27/292/a56

Member Spotlight: Margaret Janz

Name: Margaret Janz

Degree: MLS, specialization in chemical information

Anticipated graduation date: May 2013

I'm originally from central Wisconsin and earned my bachelor's degree in Information Resources from the School of Information Science at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 2010. I work at the Life Sciences and Chemistry Libraries here at IU as a graduate assistant and at the Lilly Library as an assistant to the ALF Cataloger.

My focus at SLIS has been on science librarianship, because I'm really interested in the sciences, especially the biological ones. I also am really interested in data management and the issues surrounding open access publishing. My tendency to think outside the box made special libraries very appealing to me once I knew they existed. I really love that there are libraries everywhere and have the idealistic notion that information sharing is a key component to solving all problems.

I am really proud of a lot of the work I've done professionally and as a student at SLIS. One item of note was publishing the paper "Scholarish: Google Scholar and its value for the sciences" in the Summer 2012 issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship with by my Sci&Tech Information class. I'm also very excited about collaborating with the IU Libraries' e-science librarian on a project this semester about data management practices of zoo researchers.

I'd love to work for a library at a National Park or in a zoo library.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn. That name again is Margaret Janz.

Thanks to those who were able to make it out to our No Pressure Networking event this week. We were a small group, but it was a good time! Sorry to those who couldn't be there, hopefully we'll see you at some of the things coming up. On that note, here are some of the things we talked about on Tuesday:

There are a few events taking place in Indianapolis this semester, including the Indy Librarian Tweet-Up (Feb 23 1-4pm), IUPUI Libraries and SLIS Joint Confernce (Mar 23 9:15am-12:30pm), and the ACRL Conference (Apr 10-13). These are all pretty general interest library-related events so we're hoping to set up some ride-shares with some of the other SLIS student groups. If you're interested in attending these events, let us know!

In March we're hoping to put together a Resume Spin session. Participants in this event will find a job ad or description that appeals to them and write a cover letter/resume for the position. Then we'll get some professionals in to look at what you've got and help you spin your experience and skills when applying for jobs. More information on this will be available soon!

Another couple of things to look forward to are the forthcoming Member Spotlight and Special Library Focus features of this here blog. The Member Spotlight will showcase our amazing members, giving faces to our really nice group. The Special Library Focus feature will give our members a chance to learn more about the libraries that interest them, an opportunity to have a writing sample out in the world [wide web], and let all interested parties find out what kinds of libraries are out there.

This is shaping up to be an exciting semester for us! Check back for more updates!

And we're back!

The Special Libraries Association Student Group (SLASG) here at SLIS is back!

SLASG aims to provide SLIS students with professional development, supplemental education opportunities, and general fun times by providing relevant and unique programming. We will also be offering independent project support.

The group will be off the ground this Spring, when we'll be holding an informational meeting to give you information and find out information about you and what you're into. In the meantime, please contact us if you'd like more information or if you think you'd like to join.

We're trying a new participatory membership model instead of having traditional officer roles. If you want to know more about that talk to Margaret Janz (serving as a general coordinator) or Alex Hauser (takin' care of membership dues and such). We're really nice so feel free to drop us a line if you have questions or would like to join the group. You can even talk to us if you see us around campus!

Elections Coming Soon!

Stay tuned for details on new SLA officer elections this month!
Officer positions available are:  
     President
     Vice-President
     Secretary
     Treasurer
     Social Chair
     Webmaster

Career Con 2011 Notes

This year the SLA-SG co-sponsored the Career Con with other student groups at SLIS.  It was held this past weekend, in an effort to give students career advice.  It lasted three days with several talks each day.  I attended two of the talks.  So here are some of my notes from those talks.  Much more was said, but these were the points that stood out to me.

Effective Job Search:

-employers have different reasons for their hiring decisions and their decision not to hire you may be based more on internal reasons rather than you not being qualified

-many employers are looking for someone who is flexible and can learn new technology

-Some ideas on where to find jobs: Institution websites, group specific sites (state, regional, etc.), listservs, Association of Research Libraries, ALA Joblist, Chronicle of Higher Education, Academic Employment net to name a few.

-openings are seasonal based on the schedules of the institution (e.g. many universities operate by semester so job openings are posted in the summer that start in January and in the spring for those that start in August/September)

-"coordinator" is a code word for entry level positions, since they are looking for someone to do a lot of busy work

-be careful about applying for multiple positions at the same institution, they may still have your previous application materials and it would look weird if you were passionate about two totally different jobs

-Show initiative, don't just e-mail someone at the institution and wait, go look for the posted job openings, apply by the deadline

Resume, Cover Letters, and Resume Review

-one of our professors mentioned that she got a job at a corporate library through a temp agency, so don't rule out that possibility 

-Look outside your assumed area of interests, information related jobs can be found outside academia and public libraries, and they may not always have librarian in the title

-Look at job ads to determine what skills and education you need for your desired job

-you don't necessarily need an objective on your resume, it doesn't say much unless you are specifically asked for one

-read about trends in libraries to get an idea how to answer the question, "where would you like to be in 5 years?"

Tidbits from the ALA Conference

So, this post is long overdue, but I thought I would share a few tidbits from my time at the ALA 2011 Annual Conference in June.  You may be thinking, why are you going to the ALA conference when you're an SLA member and officer? Well:

 1. I got an excellent scholarship through the Student-to-Staff program. (When you see the announcement come through the listserv this fall, I recommend trying for it.)

 2. ALA is for all librarians, public, school, academic, and special.  Granted the summer conference is more geared for public and school librarians, but there was something for everyone. 

I flew into New Orleans the Thursday (23rd) before the conference to get oriented.  Starting Friday (24th) morning, I helped with registration and check-in for the ALCTS (Association for Library Collections and Technical Services).  This was a condition of the Student-to-Staff scholarship, I had to put in about 4 hours a day working for one of the ALA divisions.  That evening there was the opening sessions with remarks from the ALA president and the bestowing of various awards followed by a speech from Dan Savage.  Even though I didn't agree with him, I did find him an interesting speaker.  After snacking off of all the free food from the opening reception in the exhibition hall, I went to the ALCTS networking workshop where I was supposed to help out.  Since there wasn't much to do there, I stayed and participated and met lots of different librarians and learned that it might have been a good idea to bring my resume and possibly some business cards.  (Although, how can I have a business card as a student?)

Saturday (25th), I went to a talk on the Semantic Web which sounded interesting but quickly overwhelmed me with how much I didn't know.  Fortunately I knew what RDA and FRBR were from my cataloging class.  I left early to attend the job center's talk on interviewing, which was very informative. I also made it to the exhibition hall and managed to pick up a free signed copy of a book  (by Sarah Dessen)  for my sister. That afternoon I had to help at an ALTCS board meeting, which meant I made sure people signed in and passed papers around.  

Sunday (26th), I spent the morning away from the convention center and managed to get an excellent lunch of a roast beef po' boy and some delicious beignets. That afternoon I got my resume critiqued and attended part of a session on networking with social media.  They recommended being on LinkedIn, something I still have yet to do. 

 Monday (27th) I attended a very full talk on virtual reference, which would have been more meaningful if I had arrived on time and not been forced to sit in the doorway, but it was interesting to note how that was such a hot topic.  I left the virtual reference talk early to attend the ALCTS President's Program, which was entitled Economic Reflections on Libraries.  The one remark that stuck was me was that libraries are a mark of civilization.  Monday was also the best day for wandering the enormous exhibition hall and picking up free and discounted books and goodies.  Yes, the book vending machine is real, no I don't know where you would put one.  

Finally, I concluded my stay in New Orleans with a streetcar ride.  If you ever go to NOLA, I highly recommend this.  I had a great time and I strongly recommend to all library students or librarians to get the opportunity to attend at least one conference from any of the major library associations.  You really get a feel for library culture there.