Quetzalli Barrientos

Library Job Hunt: Round Two

Recently, I was at an on-campus interview for a position at a large academic library. Early on in the day, I found myself being relaxed and calm. I was not sure if the environment was so welcoming, that it made me feel this way or if I had just gotten better at interviewing. I’d like to think it was both. It has been two and a half years since my last interview. The first time around, I remember being nervous and afraid I would blow the teaching demo/presentation portion. Second time around, I still had some nervousness, but a couple of things were different. I know the internet is full of “tips and tricks” for academic library interviews, so this is geared for librarians who might still be “early career” professionals and are gearing up to move on to a new job.

Two tips:

Schedule a mock/practice presentation/teaching demo. Invite five or so colleagues and remember to leave plenty of time at the end for feedback. When I was in library school, one of my supervisors came up to me and said “I scheduled a room for a mock presentation and invited a couple of librarians.” I was taken aback and was definitely nervous about presenting in front of these experienced people (a lot whom I admire). Now, as a professional, you take it upon yourself to schedule a practice presentation and welcome constructive criticism from your colleagues.
Interview preparation is about the same. Except, this second time around, I had already served on a couple of search committees. I knew what questions were to be expected and which ones I needed to work on. I will admit that my phone interview for this most recent position…was not the best. Therefore, I knew I had to redeem myself during the on-campus interview.

For the most part, the preparation aspect was the same. However, I found myself going into this interview with confidence. This time around, I had two and a half years under my belt. I was more confident in my abilities, my experience, my presentation, and myself. A couple of stark differences this second time around was the questions I had for the committee and the rest of the administration members I met with. My questions were mostly focused on their role as faculty members at that institution, their method of evaluation for librarians and how they receive promotions, and their work environment. I have certain things that I look for in a job and I am sure you do as well. During this whole process, I found myself dealing with more anxiety and frustration at my presentation, because I expected an almost-perfect product. Is this realistic? Maybe not. I was a lot harder on myself, because you cannot expect others to push you to be your best. You have to do that on your own.

In conclusion, I felt a heck of a lot more confident this time. Show off! I know it’s easier said than done, but if you don’t show off your experience, your skills, and what you bring to the table, then when can you?

Fellow librarians who have had their second or even third round of this job hunt, what tips do you have? What was different then? How do you interview now? Comment down below!

Looking out for your community: Librarians and DACA

A couple of weeks ago, rumors started to swirl that President Trump and his administration would rescind the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals Act (DACA). A couple of days later, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced, that DACA would indeed be rescinded. Many felt frightened, betrayed, sad, and angry. As I was thinking of writing this blog post, I knew that I did not want to stay neutral. I also knew that I did not want to write about why libraries and librarians should care about this, because DACA or not, these students are still part of your community. I think I’ll do a good job at keeping my emotions in check, but I do want to remind librarians that this topic is very personal to many people around the country. Myself included.

Like many people, I was heartbroken when DACA was rescinded. Not only that, I felt helpless. So like many, I asked myself, “How can I help? What can I do?”

The purpose of this blog post is to provide libraries/librarians a list of resources they can use to support their DACA students and their family members. So, let’s get started!

Access to Higher Education (for those whose DACA has expired) via National Immigration Law Center
Know your Rights: ICE visits
Resource Guide: Supporting Undocumented Youth via the U.S. Department of Education. Note: This guide is from 2015
Educator Resources for Undocumented Students (Youtube video)
Frequently Asked Questions: Rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals via Homeland Security
On a personal plug, my colleague, Heidi Johnson (University of Nevada-Las Vegas) contributed to this subject guide, “Anti-Oppression Resources for UNLV Students: Resources for Undocumented and DACAmented Students.” While this subject guide is geared towards UNLV students, it actually has links and resources that apply to undocumented and DACAmented students, nationwide.

While there are more resources and tools that I have listed here, this is just a starting point to those who might want to be more informed. One last thing–while DACA students and their safety are very important to many of us, let’s not forget the rest of the immigrant community who does not fall under DACA. They are hurting as well and they too are part of our communities.

I’d be interested to know how librarians from all over the country are handling this. If you have any suggestions or comments, let us know in the comment section below!

Professionalism in the Workplace

What does professionalism mean to you? It might be that I was not paying attention, but I remember my professors in library school only touching on professionalism a couple of times. Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines professionalism as “the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person”

This could be understood in a different manner of ways. However, I always thought that to have professionalism was to have common sense. Don’t be mean, don’t make crude jokes, and don’t do anything that you would not want someone to do to you. But we do live in a time where politicians use social media as their main way of communicating with their constituents, where we use social media as a way to network, and where we make our opinions known to hundreds and hundreds of people. While maintaining a professional social media appearance, we must also remember our everyday interactions with our colleagues. Over the past two years, I have gained more institutional knowledge and have learned when to stay out of office politics or how to navigate through them. While I am not an expert and recognize that everyone is at different institutions or work places, here are some tips on how to grow and learn from your own professionalism.

Observe and learn from the successes and mistakes of other colleagues. I personally learn best from observing others. How did they handle tough situations? What did they say? What was their body language like?
Pick your battles. This is a tough one. Sometimes you feel so frustrated at certain things, but stop and think about it. Is this worth all the effort? Is it worth your time? Will this get resolved? And realistically, what will probably happen?
What is the root of the problem? This might be a tough one, because a lot times, the root of the problem is a much bigger problem of the institution as a whole. This is not something you can take on on your own, but might be worth bringing up.
Know your strengths. How can these strengths help you contribute to problem solving or group work?
Recognize your weaknesses. What do you need to work on and how can you improve?
Who is your support system at work? Sometimes, you might get frustrated with either people or situations at work. Who has your trust and who can you turn to in these times?
What are your personal rules? While every institution has their issues, ultimately, you’re the one that has to look out for you. What are your own rules in terms of getting involved in office politics? You don’t have to write them down, but it’s a good idea to have a mental list

I have only been an academic librarian for the past 2 years. While I have learned and observed a lot, I also feel like it’s only the tip of the iceberg. For those middle-career and more seasoned librarians, what lessons have you learned? What tips do you have?

Going to ACRL Immersion 2017: Reflection and more reflection.

First, I do apologize for the late blog, but I wanted some days to collect my thoughts.

A couple of months ago, I found that I had been accepted to the Teacher Track for ACRL Immersion. This program was to take place in Burlington, Vermont. Last Sunday, I arrived and the program concluded last Friday. I have had some days to think about the last week, what I learned, what I need to do, and how I need to do it. There were so many things about Immersion that I could focus on, but instead, I will list what I learned (or didn’t).

The theme of the week was transformation and reflection. I had colleagues who had gone to Immersion many years ago and they told me that I needed to be prepared, because it would be a transformative experience. I agree, but my whole self (body and mind) was not completely transformed. Instead, I found myself thinking back and forth about an idea or concept and then being left with either a clear idea or continuing to be baffled. I would reflect about certain things during and outside of Immersion, which brings me to the next point.
I found that like Jon Snow, I know nothing.
Wait, maybe I do. A lot about what you thought about your teaching will be challenged. You will definitely doubt yourself, but that’s what the week is for. You’re there to doubt, reflect, hopefully transform your ideas, and reflect again (you’ll find that reflection is a huge thing at Immersion).
I learned that everyone has a different assessment technique and activity. I found myself pretty excited to take these ideas to American University Library. For those of you who know me, you know that I was not a huge fan of assessment…but I have clearly changed my ways.
The activities, exercises, and discussions that we did throughout the week, are meant to not only challenge the way you teach, but to look at things in a different light. For example, I know myself and a couple of other participants were definitely challenged when it came to active learning. Just because you have your students do some type of movement while in class, does not mean that it’s active learning. I know that might be a “duh” for some people, but definitely not for me. It is something I am still reflecting on.
I was comforted to know that some people at Immersion share the same insecurities I do. Whether it’s about teaching or being a librarian.
Through informal and casual conversations with other librarians at Immersion, I found us discussing some struggles we share or have. Whether it’s struggles with being a librarian, teaching, or other frustrations, it was clearly topics that we simply cannot share with our colleagues back at our own institutions.
No one leaves the program suddenly transformed into the “perfect teacher.” I do not believe that is the point of the program. What is the point, is gaining a new set of understanding, comprehension, reflection, and motivation of the topics taught at Immersion.

On a personal note, knowing I was coming to Immersion was exciting because I lived in Burlington when I was a child. It had been 20 years and Immersion gave me the opportunity to come back. I was in awe over how much the town had changed and kept asking myself, “how could my parents ever leave such a beautiful town.” They had their reasons, but it was a delight to have great Immersion faculty, great Immersion participants, and a great space to share ideas, thoughts, doubts, and breakthroughs.

I was also able to have breakfast with my first grade teacher and so that was the cherry on top of a great week. Until next time, Burlington.

Changing Roles: Mentee to Mentor

Like many of you, I just came back from ALA Annual in Chicago. I had the opportunity to attend some interesting sessions, meet new people, catch up with some old classmates, and see some librarians that I knew in library school.

In my previous ACRLog post, I talked a little about finding your own cohort. I found myself catching up with librarians that were supervisors at UIUC, as well as a classmate. We had a good mix of early career librarian and seasoned librarians.

It seems like in any setting like that, we end up talking about our jobs, the profession, the job search, and telling each other of the future plans you’d like to accomplish. One of the things that I look forward to the most during conferences is catching up with people, hearing about their future plans, and also asking for advice on something I may have.

Mentorship is something I have touched on a lot during my time with ACRLog and it has gotten me thinking of the mentorship that I have received over the past 4 years. As a student, I received advice and help from not only the librarians supervising me, but the classmates who left and went off to great jobs. I would ask them for feedback on classes I would possibly take, professors I should avoid, and how to go about the job search. Two years later, I found myself being that person to a friend of mine who began library school last year.

Now, I was the one getting asked for advice on classes, professors, the job hunt. When did the mentee become the mentor? When I began American University, I was assigned to a mentor. By sheer luck, we were a perfect fit and I will probably continue to ask for her advice for the rest of my career.

I think that we never truly leave the roles of mentee and mentor, no matter our age or amount of time we have been in the profession. My thought or question to other librarians is, how do we manage both roles?