“Bottom line: LIS jobs will most definitely be available, they just may look a bit different than you were expecting” (Kim Dority).
Confession: I have never worked in a library, and I may never do so. Yet, I call myself a librarian, because I focus on competitive intelligence and information management. Those are skills I developed through an LIS education and are a way to brand myself to employers and clients who have no idea they need a librarian. They simply know they are drowning in data and information and would love for someone to come along to curate that into actionable intelligence to best support their business decisions.
I learned how to write like this because of Kim Dority. Second confession: I am lucky enough to call her one of my mentors, so I’ve had the opportunity to ask “Really? ME? I can market myself like this? I can create a career out of my favorite types of information work?” And the answer is always absolutely yes. If you’ve read “Rethinking Information Work,” Kim’s first book, you know that it focuses on defining your perspective and self-understanding of the information work you want to do. “LIS Career Sourcebook” builds on that process, articulating how to make a career out of it, starting from graduate school (or not!) to leadership and management. Essentially, it helps you define a context for the work you want to and can do with your information skills.
In addition, Kim outlines steps to take yourself down the path of that work, in an non-intimidating way. The book combines questions like “What types of organizations (library, company, nonprofit, association, government agency, etc.) might you want to work for?” with practical tips like “check…Vault Reports or Wetfeet for starters…” In that sense, it’s an excellent balance of theoretical outline and practical tips for LIS career planning and job hunting. The text also covers the importance of networking, discovering and utilizing the hidden job market and conducting regular information monitoring to keep tabs on the industry and profession.
Overall, I am recommending this book to anyone in the LIS world. It is smartly organized with extensive details and resources for developing a successful career working with information.
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