PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 63 No.1 Fall 1998

Career Alternatives: How to Expand Your Library Skills

By Cindy Cunningham, Amazon.com

Introduction

In the next hour and a half I would like to undertake the following with you;

to explore the skills we develop in this profession
to look at the job market and what skills are being sought
to develop skills that you want but don’t yet have
to recognize non-library or non-traditional alternatives
to brainstorm on the ideal next job

In this session we will come up with a list of skills; look at some real live position announcements, talk about developing skills; discuss private sector alternatives and do some brainstorming on our ideal jobs. I’d like to start the session by introducing myself and how I came to be giving this talk and talk a bit about the nature of work and jobs--a sort of millenium overview.

My name is Cindy Cunningham, and I graduated from the University of Washington’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science in the spring of 1987. I competed for and was awarded an internship at the Library of Congress where I worked for two years before heading back west to the University of Washington. After 6 years in a variety of positions there, I went to Kitsap Regional Library, across the water from Seattle in Bremerton, Washington where I headed up public services and the Reference Department. Since January I have been working in downtown Seattle at Amazon.com. Not only have I had lots of experience changing jobs and building up my skill base, but since coming to Amazon I have been interviewing on an almost weekly basis. I have hired quite a few librarians and have interviewed even more, and some of the impetus in suggesting this talk has been born from that experience. I believe in librarians’ skills and I want to see librarians succeed.

A History of Work

In his path-breaking book Jobshift, William Bridges, who is known for his book Transitions and his follow up book Managing Transitions, talks about the entire concept of a job and what a recent phenomenon that is. He observes that jobs are disappearing, and contrary to other 20th century recessions, the jobs that disappeared in the late ‘80s did not reappear in the early ‘90s. He cites studies that point to an increase in the loss of white collar jobs, because of mergers, automation, and informating jobs--turning jobs that once required you handle items to jobs handling data about items, which allows you to handle a lot more data much more efficiently with less of a workforce. He also cites changes like the collapse of the Soviet Union as having had a profound ripple effect in this country because of the large number of defense- related jobs that slowly ebbed away. So, jobs are disappearing for a variety of reasons, and a new way of getting the tasks done is emerging.

More and more corporations are turning to outsourcing, which means having tasks not directly related to the company’s product outsourced, like building security, food services, vehicle maintenance, and even delivery and installation services. In addition companies are hiring consultants and temporary workers to come in with the expertise they need to get a particular project accomplished.

The old model, of a job with a position description and things that one could say were part of one’s job or not, is disappearing, according to Bridges. From a corporate standpoint you can see that it’s not cost effective to have people wedded to their jobs and not to the larger task at hand. And if you think about the most entrenched people in your library, for it seems every library has at least one such employee, you recall that they stick to their jobs and grumble about changes. "We never used to have to do this," or "I won’t change paper in the copier--I’m not paid to do that; I’m a librarian." So what happens--the customer waits while the person at the appropriate level comes to change the paper. Such a model does not allow companies to respond quickly and flexibly to changes in the market and in their customer’s needs.

An interesting historical note; the word job evolved from meaning a task that was a single piece of work, to the job as a piece of business, to a unit of work. Before 1800 the word "job" invariable meant a particular task, and people had many jobs in the course of a day. The concept of a job as a role or position in an organization began with the Industrial Revolution with the need for workers to plant themselves in a factory, next to a conveyer belt and stay there all day. With the concept of a job came a steady wage, came lack of variety, came the sameness of having a specific task that was part of a cog of operations that would result in a final product.

Now, nearly 200 years later, companies are looking at the complex ways that services are provided, with each part done by a different segment and noting how cumbersome a process that can be. "Building silos" is how one recent business grad described it to me, and business school graduates are being warned against developing such a structure.

So with the idea of a job being replaced with the concept of a project or a task comes the need for workers to think of themselves in a different way, too. Rather than simply measure ourselves by the jobs we have held and the status that conveys, we should think of ourselves in terms of what we can do and what we have learned--i.e. our skills.

Changing Library Jobs

Think about the skills required of a librarian these days and some of the jobs we’re doing today would include: community networking using electronic resources; web master; community outreach to provide services to disadvantaged and win the support of interest groups; advocacy--talking to the media and defending our polices and procedures; public relations and fund-raising; leadership in the face of conservative local politics innovative cataloging fixes for unusual or unruly materials--like Internet resources technical expert that provides networked resources and 24-hr library services.

Looking at the catalog for the University of Michigan which now has a School of Information under which one can get a library degree, as well as a doctorate in information. Courses include: understanding Sgml and XM; preparing professional presentations, collaborative writing and speaking projects; trust negotiation and social dilemmas in virtual communities; and adaptive technologies and universal access. The school boasts that its graduates have job titles like: network coordinator, public library director, managing editor, cheif information architect and systems project coordinator.

Library Skills

So, let’s look at our skillls. I would like you to take a few moments and write down what you think are some skills we have as librarians. (Note: the audience, of roughly 100 people, came up with the following list--this is not everything!)

Ability to work with different age groups, flexibility, sense of humor, restaurant knowledge, ability to focus/good concentration, organization skills, ability to multi-task, good community relations skills, compassion, listening skills, critical thinking skills, decision-making skills, coalition-building skills, PR abilities, ability to analyze and summarize, storytelling skills, public speaking skills, ability to teach and mentor, curiosity, creativity, communication, and oh, yes, knowing how to find information.

My original list included: ability to assess customer feedback-survey developing; listening; negotiating; conflict management; policy developing; grant writing; focus on internal and external; customers; compassion; multi-tasking; grant research; knowledge; organization; project management; space planning; supervision; volunteer recruitment and coordination; meeting coordinator

This was a fun part of the presentation; we got very excited about everything we can do well.

Skills In Demand

Next we looked at some jobs outside of the library field, just to get some idea of how marketable these skills were. Some position announcements we looked at included: A Field Manager at Boeing that wanted to "analyze customer feedback via satisfaction surveys....plan improvements according to customers insights and opinions;" Project Manager at SCB Computer Technology which wanted "good communication skills, presentation, organization, planning, facilitation skills...;" The position of Training Instructor 3 at Etec in Hayward, CA wanted "ability to collaborate with team members to design and deliver training materials for customers in a global corporate environment." Sound familiar? Many of us do tasks like this everyday in our jobs as librarians.

Getting Skills You Don’t Have

It may be that there are some skills you know you need to do your job better or to move on to a job you would like. There are several ways to go about getting them.

a. Take course work for specific skillls, like Unix, html--check out community colleges, evening programs, even some computer stores.
b. Try tutorials, on-line classes, or good books.
c. Work assignments--keep your eyes open for an opportunity to try something different, or even suggest a special assignment when you see an opportunity--a temporary opening or a special project.
d. Association work--develop leadership, project management and speaking skills by getting involved at a local, regional, or national level. Associations always need more help--I can’t speak highly enough of the opportunities such volunteer work gives you outside of your traditional job. Such activities also have enormous networking potential which can really help in a job search. Working for an association you can do program planning, legislative activities, administration work on the executive board, or presentations, to name a few options. e. If we think of all the things we do as actual skills we could do them with deliberate care and with an attention to detail.

Let’s take meetings for instance. We have lots of them; the point is to bring the folks together in the room who need to know about something and who can make a decision. But everyone, especially the key decision-makers, appreciates a well-run meeting. So next time you identify an issue or lead a committee and have to call a meeting, approach it as if it were your only job.

Put out a detailed agenda, listing names of folks you expect to address certain issues, if possible.
Establish yourself as the convener and run that meeting.
Keep on task, and make sure everyone at the table speaks.
Assign action items to individuals with dates of completion.
Bring the meeting to closure with the follow-up expectations.
Post the minutes promptly and include in the report the expected outcome.

If you were to set such a model for meetings, you will find that people will start associating you with getting things done, being able to handle projects, with communiation skills, follow-through skills, and leadership skills.

Taking Skills on the Road

Ok, so you’ve identified your skills, your strongest and the ones you’re working on. Now maybe you’re finding your current position isn’t going to give you all the opportunities you want, and you need to find something new and challenging. Why not try the private sector? Here’s why it’s worth considering:

There isn't a black and white line between vendors and libraries--if it weren’t for the vendors’ dedication to the library market and to the library products, we wouldn’t have good online systems, reliable book ordering systems, or continuing education opportunties through conferences (If you think your registration pays for the conference--think again). Working for the "other side" of the library world can develop your skills, make you far more effective as a librarian because of your understanding of the entire process, and give you new leadership opportunities.
It's useful to learn the bottom line model, of thinking of the most cost-beneficial way to doing some services, and subjecting your operations to a cost-justification model. This doesn’t mean you would necessarily decide to remove some services just because they are not cost effective-- that’s one of the great things about libraries; their mission is broader than finding themost cost effective way to offer service. But it doesn’t hurt to know what certain services are costing and what the tradeoffs are. Working in a private sector organization will really develop that way of thinking.
You could make a difference by bringing your library perspective to your private sector job. You could educate them about that customer base and introduce some of the values of our profession. It’s possible to make a small difference and to influence how things happen.
You are increasing your marketability by showing new skills, a new knowledge base and a fearless, adventuresome attitude.
How to do it? Show no fear. You can go back; think of it as a learning experience. Don’t be afraid of losing your benefits and vacation time, and don’t show that anxiety in the first interview. Show your enthusiasm; study the market, know what they need; know what you can bring. Be prepared to point out how your skills can benefit them.

Next Steps

So we’ve talked about skills, about developing new skills, about the new job market possibilities, and about how in the changing world of jobs, developing and promoting a skills base is the best strategy for survival. So now, in conclusion, let’s talk about what would be fun to do; what would use your skills or allow you to follow your passion. Let’s make a list of all the qualities of the perfect job (the audience came up with the following list): close to home or with telecommuting possibilities; using my analytical skills; having a community outreach component; minimal meetings; shared decision-making; working around literature; fun; full of challenges; having all the right tools, clean, well-lit, and comfortable; good worker morale; interesting colleagues; having the authority to carry out responsibilities; ability to move up or forward; ability to stay where I am and still grow; well-designed workspace; stable, with an increasing fund base; ability to do one thing well; quiet, well-lit workspace with an ocean view.

Look at this list and note how many of these things are within our control. Some will require taking some fund-raising or revenue-generating initiative; some will work much more easily with good leadership within your library. But many of these things (except, perhaps, the ocean view) are things we can control and should feel we can do something about.

Conclusion

In summary, I’d like to close by reviewing what we’ve discussed today: that the world is changing from a job-based to skills-based work environment; that librarians have lots of skills-- obvious and not so obvious; that the world of information needs lots of our skills, and not just in the library sector. We need to recognize we have many skills, and we need to develop and promote our skills deliberately.

So many workshops that talk about this stuff tell you to map out a strategy and plan your career path, but does it work that way? Maybe for a small minority it does, but for most of us we find ourselves making changes without perhaps a mapped out strategy. We are either are geographically bound, so we move around in small circles and can’t really plan the next opportunity; we just have to take it when it appears. Or suddenly we may want a change and leap into something that grabs our fancy, or we just wait for something to get excited about. The best advice I have ever gotten is simply to follow your passion. It will allow you to develop your skills because of your enthusiasm in doing your task. Don’t be afraid to take a risk to do something that excites you. I’ll never forget a woman I met when I first moved to Seattle who had been a cataloger at the Library of Congress. She was working in a small, Ballard tooling company managing the office, and she was very happy.

Make lots of friends and contacts; you can learn from their experiences, and they can help you along your path.

Go to conferences, and keep your eyes open for opportunities and new ideas.

Think always about what you’re learning and why you want to learn it.

And feel like you have the power to make your own choices and make every choice you make a good one.