Tag: career change

How Corporate Libraries Personally Prepared me for Academic Libraries

My previous job was at an international engineering consulting company, where I worked with a 13-person library team (except it was not called a library, it was called a “knowledge center”). A corporate library is classified under the category of special libraries as it provides information and resources for very specific client needs. I worked in the central location that the corporate library was based in – we were tucked under the stairs on the main floor like Harry Potter, and instead of books on our shelves we mostly had IEEE standards with their ridiculously long call numbers (if you know, you know). Our little team was spread across multiple countries and responsible for all of the information management and research requests of an entire company, yet most engineers I spoke with had no clue we existed…or what we did. In a way, this prepared me for working in academia, and armed me with a skillset needed to undergo such a career change.

Ability to Pitch the Value of a Library

At the corporate library, it did not seem to matter how many big projects we assisted with, how much time we saved on research, or how many databases we managed – we still had to fight to justify our very existence. Engineers who procured our help fell into two categories: eternally grateful or disdainfully dismissive of our work. Most individuals did not even understand the scope of our responsibilities, and a significant part of our role involved explaining the value of the library and promoting our services.

The ability to pitch the library and measure impact is still a vital skill in academia. I use it when reaching out to professors as part of my liaison librarian work, in the workshops I run, in meetings with students, and in general daily communication. Having the “elevator pitch” clearly highlighting the benefits of your services is helpful when communicating with busy professionals, regardless of where you work. 

Building Research Skills

Doing research and reference work was a daily part of a corporate library, and that has not really changed in academia. The databases and purpose of my research has altered but the skill itself (and ability to teach that skill!) remains. 

Independent Initiative

Project time management – the ability to multitask while on deadlines and build new initiatives – are traits that have served me well as I wear many hats in my current academic librarian role. I went from working on a tiny team with daily check-ins to working at a large university with minimal supervision. Academic librarians are expected to balance their service on committees with research, instruction, reference, and professional practice. My confidence to take initiative on self-directed projects and ability to balance ongoing tasks now was built upon my time fighting to stay afloat of tight deadlines and numerous demanding clients in corporate work. 

Practicing Empathy 

Finally, I have a stronger sense of empathy and appreciation for the stressed students who seek my research assistance on unfamiliar topics with their assignment deadlines looming. That was very much my entire experience working in the corporate environment! It did not matter that I had no background in engineering, I still had to know the ins and outs of the taxonomy and put together research packages on what the competitive companies were up to within a few days. I could relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed by how much you don’t know and the pressure of needing to figure it out anyways; because of this, I am better equipped to handle student consultations.

Why I Chose Academia Over Corporate 

There are perks of “going corporate”: higher salaries, cool niche research into specialized topics, the ability to get promoted without needing to face the daunting task of applying for tenure. But there are also downsides, at least in my experience: the constant need to justify your existence when budget cuts occur, the ungrateful clients, the monotony. 

I made the switch to academic libraries because I really struggled with finding personal satisfaction in my work at a corporate library. Assisting a large company in increasing their revenue did not provide the same sense of fulfillment as working in academia. I love my current job and the satisfaction that comes with directly helping students and researchers. While not every interaction I have is positive, and there are still some who do not view the library as a vital part of the institution, these instances are fewer compared to those encountered in the corporate environment. I would much rather be facing a lecture hall with anxious first-year students than a room full of men in suits who don’t believe I’m worth the time or paycheck. 

As I’ve said, this is all my personal experience. Academia is not for everyone, and it is not without its own critiques, but now I am much happier. My values align with the university library’s goal of lifelong learning and information literacy. Ultimately, I am grateful for my time working in corporate as it gave me vital transferable skills. Without these experiences, both positive and negative, I never would have been able to make the switch to academic libraries.

Crossing the Bridge: Library School to Library Job

Please welcome our new First Year Academic Librarian Experience blogger Nisha Mody, Health & Life Sciences Librarian at the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In the summer of 2016, I decided to start applying for librarian jobs. I wouldn’t graduate until May 2017 at the earliest, but a Health & Life Sciences Librarian position at UCLA immediately sparked my interest. Before getting my MLIS, I was a speech-language pathologist. And I love the sun. These two experiences convinced me that I was qualified for this position. I figured this would get me to start updating my resume and website (which now needs more updating). And it worked, I got the job! I was shocked and overjoyed.

Since I was applying to jobs on an earlier timeline, I also ended up starting my position before I finished my MLIS. Thankfully, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has an online learning option to complete an MLIS. So I moved out to La La Land in March 2017 to start my first real librarian job. I have been in my position for a little over 6 months now, and while it took me awhile to understand the myriad of UCLA acronyms, I am finally starting to feel that I have a decent grasp of how things work. However, this grasp has been very (or not very) informed by my experience in my MLIS classes and while working at the Communications Library. I was also able to chronicle several of my experiences and reflections while writing for Hack Library School. Similar to Abby, I took the advice to get as much library experience as possible. I tried my best given that this is my third career, I am in my mid-30s, and I honestly just wanted to get this show on the road.

Now that I have gotten that first library job, I am starting to see what I did learn in library school and working in a library – these lessons have helped me tremendously. However, I realized that there were some learning opportunities I missed. Yet one of the most enlightening aspects of my experience has nothing to do with library school. Rather, I see how the skills I obtained in my previous careers in IT consulting, IT recruiting, and speech-language pathology are transferring to library-land. I’ll outline each of these a bit right here:

What did I learn?

While working at the Communications Library, I gained knowledge about the importance of positive patron interactions (and how to communicate in not-so-positive interactions), outreach, library organization, the integrated library system, interlibrary loan, and the myriad of possibilities to be more critical in all of these areas (and more).

In library classes, I learned the value of intellectual freedom and how this related to control. I learned how various medium of books (print, electronic, and everything in between) are perceived and used. While I don’t ever see myself working in technical services, I gained knowledge about cataloging and metadata which have helped me understand how resources are categorized. My involvement in University of Illinois’ local Progressive Librarian’s Guild chapter allowed me to advocate for issues seemingly outside my immediate library space. I was also able to integrate experiences from library school to my work in a library through an independent study by starting a Human Library chapter.

All of these lessons (and probably more) were essential to how I view the library today. They have given me the framework for my work today and in the future, especially to never remain neutral as a librarian.

What did I miss?

One of the things I loved about my program was that there was a lot of freedom in the classes you could take. However, the downside of this is that I chose to take classes that looked oh so dreamy. As a result, some of the practical classes fell by the wayside. I wish I took classes around collection development and the administration and management of libraries. I never felt the urge to be a collection development librarian, but I do have to start making these decisions within my current role. I know I can learn this on the job, however, having a better foundation would have been helpful.

I am only now really seeing Ranganathan’s fifth law, “The library is a growing organism” in action. But, in my opinion, it is critical to really understand how different functions within a library relate to each other to see this organism in action. After being in less fulfilling careers, I was resolved to take the classes I was passionate about. And while I am happy I was able to do this, I forgot that I am also passionate about the library itself. This required me to have a grounded understanding in all of the different areas of librarianship whether I was to focus upon them or not.

What have I been able to transfer?

While I am thrilled to not directly be working in corporate culture (because, let’s be real, it is always integrated in our work), I did learn valuable skills regarding project management organizational structure, processes, and workflows, that I can infuse into my work today. I also dealt with various stakeholders in these positions; I see how these interpersonal skills have been beneficial when I interact with vendors now. These experiences have also given me critical thinking skills to analyze and navigate through a stakeholder’s motives and desires.

My work as a speech-language pathologist has first and foremost amplified my empathy. Invisible disabilities are real, and I have learned to never assume anything about a colleague and/or patron. While working in the schools, I learned about a lot of economic, family, and social obstacles that many of my students faced. Everyone has a story, and this has been important for me to keep in mind as a librarian. Additionally, being a speech-language pathologist requires one to create tangible goals for patients/students/clients to measure progress. This has easily translated into learning outcomes for library instruction. I realized that I have always been a teacher of sorts, and while the setting is different, the skills are transferable.

I am truly looking forward to contributing to this blog, and I hope that my skills and knowledge are ever-increasing – building upon the past and supporting a growing organism.