Last week wasn’t great. There were a lot of tech issues that required diagnosing and fixing. Sometimes the solution was to put in a ticket with the vendor, other times I read a bunch of documentation about how google scholar indexes to solve an issue with our old repository that should just be thrown into the sun.

In the middle of all this, there’s the other work I do – managing data and metadata that’s collected about research outputs. This is complex work with multiple people and systems involved. There’s also hard deadlines and time constraints, as this work forms a core of the university’s internal and external reporting functions.

Often these parts of my role sit together uneasily. One requires time, deep thinking, and relationship management and the other quick responses and problem solving skills.

I was talking to a friend about how techie librarians need their own special sort of therapy because we have a lot going on. It requires a level of agility to switch from one task to the other quickly and you always have to be “on” because tech problems don’t happen when it’s convenient. It can be draining.

There is apparently a term for this called context switching. All jobs suffer from context switching – you’re focussed on a task and then you get a ping from a chat message and you lose focus on the task and then find hard to get back to it. Being the systems support person means context switching is an everyday occurrence that can’t be avoided but it also means you’re exhausted and feel like you never get anything done.

An added complexity for me is that I’m not an IT professional or as Lissertations wrote in this piece, “[I’m] too library for the tech staff, too techy for the library”. While coming at things from a different perspective is sometimes a big plus, it also means I don’t have the background knowledge on how a system works. This means I need ask a lot of questions, read documentation, make wrong assumptions before I understand or can fix it.

This can be quite daunting in a world of tech bros who can sometimes be, well, rude. I’m fortunate that the people I work closely with are not but in dealings with the wider IT community sometimes their responses clearly scream “female who doesn’t know what she’s doing”. In such an environment it’s hard to not feel intimidated or embarrassed.

My role wasn’t always as tech focussed as it is now. Last year someone who’s role was front and backend systems administration took a VR and as the person who knows more than others I’ve had to pick up a lot of their work. And while it’s been largely rewarding – I mean I learnt how to use an api – it’s also highlighted how little libraries understand the complexities of technology and how much of this work is under resourced and undervalued.

The recent repository replacement project I was involved with had a core team of three. There was only one person with specialised tech skills, who left before the end of the project. It was also sold to us as connect system A to system B. Never mind that crosswalking took four months with multiple rounds of testing and that the test plans were just made up as we went because only when we got into it did we actually understand all the complexities.

Compare this to another tech project I was involved with on a much smaller scale but run outside the library. This project included scrum masters, business analysts, project coordinators, specialised developers and people’s who’s job it was to create and undertake the testing. I mean it was probably way too many people but that was what was considered necessary.

In my 10 years in libraries there’s been a definite move toward vendor supplied solutions for most library systems. And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it’s given libraries the false belief that systems just run themselves. It’s hidden the complexities of technology and the work of keeping them running.

Systems work is the back of house, under the radar, it leads to good user experiences but it’s not glamorous. No funder is going to open their wallet (or not cut a budget) because I fixed a problem or because someone worked out how to use preferred names in the catalogue. User experience is all well and good but it’s not exactly making headlines (unless you are a systems person and honestly what I’d give for a good user experience in a library catalogue).

Under the circumstances, it’s no wonder libraries are addicted to the bright and shiny things that get them good publicity and make them popular with funders. But what is often forgotten is that for libraries to do the showy things they need good systems and librarians who can make that happen.

More often than not, tech focussed librarians are not invited to have input until the decision is already made. This leaves out important voices that have knowledge and experience, and who understand the long term implications of these decisions.

Libraries need to do better than this. Systems drive libraries and they need to be a focus rather than an afterthought. And systems librarians need to be at the heart of the library knowing their contribution is valued and their voices are heard.

This is the second part of a post about looking for library work. Read part 1 here.

Looking for jobs

The first and most important thing to know about searching for a job when you don’t have one in the field you want, is that it’s the perfect time to try something else. You really have nothing to lose at this point, jobs are not forever, nor do they define you, so be bold and consider taking your librarian skills into the wild.

The second thing; short term contracts and casual work can be a lifeline at these times. They can keep money coming in, while giving you the time to find something permanent or work out what next.

Top job seeking tips

• Carve out time everyday to look for and apply for jobs but don’t do it all day unless absolutely necessary. Doing things for yourself that are not related to finding a job is important to stay well during this time.
• Keep weekends for weekends
• Work out your parameters e.g. I want full time or part time, I can travel this far everyday etc. There’s no point at looking at jobs that are too far away or won’t fit into your lifestyle
• Setting up alerts for all the major job seeking sites is useful but you need to manually search them as well. Broad keywords and generalised searches outside the normal parameters will help you find jobs that would fit your skills that you may not find otherwise. Think records and information management or even administration.
• Filters matter – if you want the broadest possible search think about the filters you do and don’t want at anytime
• Register with recruitment agencies for both library/GLAM and adjacent fields. Have a look at different recruitment agencies and see what kind of work they offer and if it’s something you are interested in, register with them
• If you are an ALIA member they send out a weekly jobs newsletter. If not it’s available on the website.
• The federal government has a temporary job register in lots of different areas, you can register with them for short term contracts
• Don’t be proud, you may have worked at a higher level but consider applying for jobs at a lower level especially if you are changing sectors. At this time it’s about new experiences and having money coming in
• Give yourself plenty of time for applications – key selection criteria are the devils own invention and take time to do properly. Also proofread, like your life depends on it
• Linkedin – get one or jazz it up if you haven’t already. You can set it up so you are open to recruiters, and sometimes they do contact you about jobs

Some job sites

Here’s a bunch of sites I checked almost daily while looking for work

• Seek
• Ethical jobs – often has community development, research jobs for NGOs
• Individual council and university websites
• Federal and state government jobs sites
• Career one and Indeed
• Recruitment agency job sites

Why search broadly?

When I was unemployed, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to stay in libraries. So, broad searching with only basically parameters was about trying to find jobs that interested me in whatever field. But a phenomenon I have noticed is that sometimes library jobs are not categorised correctly so your library job search might miss these. Think about the filtering and add or remove as necessary.

A special note for women

When you read a job add that might be sideways or higher than where you are now, your first reaction is to assume you are not qualified. The single best piece of advice I ever got is, if you can do about 50-60% of the job, you should consider putting in an application. No really, you should.

So that’s it, all my knowledge about looking for work. Hope it helps you navigate the world of job searching in this industry. If you’d like me to review your CV or if you have questions please get in contact.

As many readers of my blog know, I’ve had a mixed experience with library jobs. For most of the eleven years in the industry, I worked casually and had stints of being unemployed. The most devastating was in 2017 when after working 18 months at an organisation they gave the permanent job to someone else. My contract ran out at Christmas.

In this Covid world we now live in, it’s going to be harder to get jobs in libraries, not easier. So many people already lost positions and employers can afford to be fussier than ever. Also libraries are super easy to cut budget and positions.

So, if you find yourself unemployed, yet to get your first library gig or wanting to do something else…. here’s some tips from my experience.

It’s not personal but it also is

For the organisation you worked for, it’s a business decision. But for you it’s going to feel like you have been stabbed in the heart by a blunt spoon. Having said that – you need to know that you did nothing wrong, you didn’t deserve to lose your job (not get the job) and you aren’t a bad person. Take some time to grieve and process, do nice things for yourself. 

You’re going to feel super anxious

There are multiple ways in which suddenly finding yourself unemployed sucks – the worries about money; the loss of relationships, a career and purpose. Frankly it’s terrifying especially when you have no idea what to do next or where you next job will come from. First and most importantly please seek medical help if you need it. To be able to get through this, you need to be able to think clearly in the midst of one of the shittiest times of your life, if your anxiety is preventing you from doing this then you should see a doctor. You will also need the support from family and friends – never underestimate the power of a text message saying “how are you doing today?”, these can be a lifeline. Utilise these people, for career chats, perspectives and time outside your own head. 

It’s a good opportunity to try something new

I’m not going to pretend for a moment being unemployed is anything other than crap but it’s also an opportunity to try something else. You really have nothing to lose at this point, jobs are not forever, nor do they define you, so be bold and consider taking your librarian skills out into a different sector or into the wild.

De-library-ify your skills

This is one of the hardest bits to do but it’s time to think of yourself not as a librarian or GLAM worker but as a person with skills, experience and knowledge. You need to take the library out of your CV and selection criteria responses. Yes, even if you are looking for a library role. 

There’s a couple of important reasons for this: firstly, you might or want to look at work in a different sector like information management, or outside GLAM all together. You are not going to be appealing to potential employers if you’re using lots of library jargon that they won’t understand to describe your skills.

The second, being unemployed is awful, but if you breakdown your roles into skills you will have a long list of things you know you can do and you can be way more confident in yourself  – you can’t sell yourself if you don’t know your value. Even when looking for work in the GLAM sector, reflecting in your CV that you have thought about your skills shows someone who understands libraries, is mature and likely to be an asset to the team. 

Here’s how to go about it…. 

Look at your roles in and out of libraries and break down the roles into skills. This requires analytical and reflective thinking, it’s also really useful to do some research to see how people in similar industries might describe their skills. 

I’d suggest a piece of paper or post it notes is good for this. If you have copies, it’s useful to pull out any position descriptions you have for your roles, as they often list skills required. 

Here’s an example of what I mean. Many librarians would list preparing and delivering story time on their CV. It’s perfectly fine to do this but you’re assuming that the person reading it knows what that involves – maybe they don’t. So, thinking about what knowledge and skills are being drawn on to create story time is important. 

Here’s a list of some of the skills that are involved in delivering story time – agile thinking, creating engaging content, managing interactions, public speaking and teaching literacy through stories and songs. The even broader skills here are around communication, time management and people skills e.g. clear communication and ability to engage a diverse group of people. 

Obviously the point of this isn’t to list a whole bunch of skills on your CV, it’s to be able to market the skills you have in a way that makes you appealing to employers in different library, GLAM or outside sectors. Library skills can be a bit niche, so being able to make them relevant in a broader context is really important. 

Which leads me onto…

Putting your CV together 

You have now gathered and understand your skills. Great! Hope this has makes you feel empowered.  

I still have no idea how to set out the perfect CV. There’s a million different ways and everyone will tell you something different, so, take your pick. My advice is to be concise, use bullet points if you can – a lot of dense text will be hard to read and the selection panel might miss the gems in your experience. 

In mine, I have a career summary and list my achievements under each role but that might not work for you so just find something that’s going to show off your skills and experience. I’m personally not a fan of career goals because I feel they often unfortunately highlight the lack of experience rather than what the candidate could bring to the role. 

It’s really useful once you have done your CV to see if someone who’s been involved in recruitment outside of libraries (and inside too) takes a look at it. It’s a hard time to get feedback but it’s also necessary to make sure your CV is the best it can be. Also CVs are never done, it will always be a matter of updating and refining it. 

(In part two I’ll talk about job searching strategies)