{"id":819,"date":"2010-09-27T11:12:35","date_gmt":"2010-09-27T15:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/?p=819"},"modified":"2010-09-30T14:44:59","modified_gmt":"2010-09-30T18:44:59","slug":"interview-with-brand-new-librarians-ii-%e2%80%93-kiyomi-deards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/archives\/819","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Brand-new Librarians II \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Kiyomi Deards"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the second post of the Interview with Brand-new Librarians series<\/a><\/strong>, <\/strong> I interviewed Kiyomi Deards<\/a>. Kiyomi is an ex-chemist who quit her full-time chemist work in order to attend an MLS program full-time. She loves science and research and writes at her blog, The Library Adventures of Kiyomi<\/a> and tweets as @KiyomiD<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I met Kiyomi online and then in person at this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ALA Annual Conference. At that time, she was in the middle of her post-MLS job search.\u00c2\u00a0 She got a job offer shortly after the conference and moved from California to Nebraska about two months ago to start her new first-professional librarian position. Now she is an Assistant Professor in the Reference and Instruction department of the Don L. Love Memorial Library of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Below she offers great tips and suggestions about how to find relevant work experience while attending the library school full-time <\/span><\/em><\/strong>from her own experience and talks about her adventurous transition from being an MLS student to becoming a full-time professional librarian.<\/p>\n

1. Who are you and what do you do?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My name is Kiyomi Deards and I am an Assistant Professor in the Reference and Instruction department of the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) Library.\u00c2\u00a0 I am also the subject librarian for biological sciences, biochemistry, and chemistry.<\/p>\n

2. When did you get your MLS, when did you start your first professional librarian position, how long did the job search take, and how did you prepare yourself for it?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I received my MSLIS on June 12, 2010 from Drexel University and began my first paying library position on August 2, 2010.\u00c2\u00a0 I first began submitting applications in November of 2009 for a position that began in June of 2010, the position I took at UNL was the third or fourth position I applied for out of 10 applications sent (I withdrew my name from one of these before their review date since I had already accepted the UNL position).<\/p>\n

Previously, I volunteered at the IPL2, formerly the Internet Public Library, answering e-reference questions online for a year, and volunteered 2-6 hours per week for a year at a semi-local botany research library.\u00c2\u00a0 I used this experience, and my work as a chemist as an excuse to apply for jobs needing up to 2 years of experience, or asking for work in an academic environment.\u00c2\u00a0 Research library experience can often be substituted for academic library experience and they are very similar in many ways. Local non-profit museum and botanic garden libraries often need help and are willing to take people on a more flexible schedule as long as their open hours correspond with when you can come in.\u00c2\u00a0 If you do web site work you can often work from home in your spare time once you do some initial in person consultation.\u00c2\u00a0 In my case I was able to leverage e-reference, website, cataloging, and scientist interaction experience to make myself a more attractive candidate.<\/p>\n

3.\u00c2\u00a0How did you do your job search? What were some of the things that worked and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t? What was the greatest challenge?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My job search was focused on science, technology, instruction or outreach positions.<\/p>\n

What didn’t work?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n