Help Looking for Work?

Or rather, getting a foot into alternate doors.

Hi hi. I'm a recent library tech grad and I'm trying to wrangle a job for myself but I'm not really sure where to start. I finished my practicum at a public library and while the skills part was fine, I had some issues keeping up with the pace of daily schedule rotation. (I'm legally disabled and can't always be on the ball when it comes to physical things.) I geared my intentions towards public library work in a general fashion, but after my practicum it was suggested that I look into cataloging or work in either a health or legal library. My strong points in practicum according to my review were detail oriented work (champion shelf sorter, apparently), customer service, and technology.

I'm comfortable with any of those ideas but I really don't know where to start. I've emailed a couple groups for general information, and I've considered speaking to people I know are hiring and perhaps seeing if there are options that might fit me, if the job posting itself poses issues. Any kind of remote work would be a big plus.

I haven't spoken to any recruiters and I'm hoping to get to the provincial work resource office but any other options or thought would be welcome. The past few years I've been sick or in school. Not really sure how this job thing works now!

Additional internships never hurt and temp agencies that are library specific. At MPOW, we keep hiring our temps as full timers after they complete their degrees. Mostly, that's timing of their degree and the institution's willingness to open a position -- otherwise, we probably would have hired our current temp as a library associate/assistant already.

Ah. I seem to have a bit of a snag with things as no longer being a student has cut me from page jobs, and the regional library system where I did my practicum is the largest around here and I life smack in the middle of it, so that makes it hard to find a public place where I could work.

There are a couple jobs posted for one of the local school districts that I'm going to look into, but school (and public places as well, I have to agree) have a good portion of germs around, which is an issue with my immune system.

It's been suggested to me that I apply anyway and see if there's a place that they can fit me in if I can't follow the schedule system. I enjoyed the work that I could do, but I couldn't do everything that was needed.

I'm only looking for part time, or casual, but going by what I read on job postings, there's not a lot that seems viable.

Where would I find internships? Are they usually listed with institutions or on agency job lists? I follow the job listings I get while I still have access to my university email but that's not going to last. I'm considering renewing my membership with the regional library association, though I did very little with it while I was in school. Did catch a couple of conferences though.

Some internships you have to invent. My best advice, start calling around to libraries -- if you really are looking at special libraries -- and ask if you could shadow an employee for a couple days. Or ask if they have a project they need staff (unpaid is still great experience). The more you get out there, the more you network, the more someone might call to say "hey, there's this job you would be perfect for..." As a note, special libraries often have historical resource centers/archives and some of the work there is very low impact...and fascinating.

I'm starting to do that, or plan too. I see a couple of jobs that I would like, but the actual posting contains issues.

In a more general fashion, as I've been out of the work loop, I was also wondering if I should go with my usual list of work references or consider my previous instructors or department figures I've worked with since my schooling is more recent than my employment.

For building specialist experience you also might want to look into volunteering for local historical/genealogy societies or small museums or tribal archives and similar things - they often have archives and/or libraries that are fully volunteer-run and always have cataloging backlogs, and most of the volunteers are usually older retired people so they might have some understanding of scheduling around health/disability. They may not advertise for volunteers (around here, advertising for volunteers inundates you with people who just need "service hours" and aren't worth the trouble) but might be very happy to get someone detail-oriented with library training and a flexible schedule.

It's unlikely to transition directly into paid work but it will let you build skills and connections.

ETA: Also your regional library associating may have an email list that includes job postings, and that you don't necessarily need to be a paid member to subscribe to.

I currently volunteer with the local Friends of the Library charity group which does fundraising events and minor budget approvals. I'm also keeping up with the local youth reading challenge that involves local schools. Since I do like making up potential events and things, and am something of a crafty person, I considered potentially running a blog or resource site to host the things I come up with. Alternatively, a youtube channel for short book talks or author introductions.

I'm starting to consider potential remote options, or even self-employment but I'm not sure yet how that might apply to the library sphere.

There is a job available at my university so I'm going to try for that. The snag with my regional library is that during my practicum there, I had a hard time keeping up with the pace and I'm not sure to what extend they can tweak that, since the work day rotation is the same at each location.