ReferenceWORK

2006-05-10T09:29:00.000-04:00

I have not actually sat through a whole episode of CSI (apparently a sin in the eyes of my friends), but I am completely hooked on Numb3rs. Considering careers falls under my umbrella of workforce librarian, I got interested in what computer forensics entails. While a career as a computer forensics librarian is a little way off, I looked around for some interesting resources.

Forensic Focus seems to be the most interesting one I have found so far. They have articles that you can view on a variety of topics.

For you wiki fans, there is a Forensics Wiki that you can enjoy. It does not look complete but it could be interesting.

Then there is the Computer Forensics World site too and it has a Slashdot structure, complete with forums that you could post questions too.

About.com has an article on "How to become a Cyber-Investigator" and it will give you an idea about the certifications that might be required. Warning: It does not look cheap! But if you fancy being a Cyber-Investigator then why not?

There is a ton of books on Amazon too on this topic. I noticed that my local police department has a division for Computer Forensics and Analysis. I might have to see if they could share some other resources!

2006-04-19T16:53:00.000-04:00

Second Life is getting some great coverage in the Biblioblogosphere and why not? It has been fun to "meet" other librarians in the virtual library. Actually, you are not limited to meeting librarians either because there are many subcultures represented within the online realm.

A blog has been set up at secondlifelibrary.blogspot.com and if you are in-world, please be sure to join us at 'Second Life Library 2.0'. You can click on 'Find' and do a search for that location. Also, be sure to click on the 'mature' checkbox under the search.

If you are in-world, you can find me by searching for Alessandro Brentano (perfect name for a football player). In the near future, I hope to do some presentations related to workforce librarianship in SL and it would be a good way to meet and chat!

2006-04-17T17:49:00.000-04:00

ReferenceWork is proud to present the 33rd installment of the Carnival of the InfoSciences. If you suffer from Coulrophobia - don't worry! The Carnival has been clown-free since August 2005!

That Krafty Librarian, Michelle Kraft, had a double dose of library goodness. First up, she talks about her experience when dealing with the question: "Now that you've got everything online, why do we need the library or library staff?" So what do you do when your library is a victim of it's own success?

Secondly, she questions the ethics behind registring to read free articles. So is BugMeNot bad for business?

Our next star is T. Scott , who also has a double dose for us this week. He first tackles the issue between scholarly research, Open Access and the publishers in his post titled "What does Open Access Cost?".

In the second scoop, he joins a group of three other "old guys" to talk about what they have learned in their century+ of experience.

Greg Schwartz of Open Stacks fame has been drooling about the possibilities of Second Life and libraries. He gleefully sent me over to Second Life Library 2.0 to check out what those hip kids are doing on that Internet thingy. Wicked!

Finally, if you have been dying to create a Firefox search plug-in for YOUR library's catalog and have not known how to do it, follow these simple instructions. In no time at all, you should have your very OWN search plug-in. Other libraries have it, so why not make one yourself?

Ladies and gentlemen, it has been fun but the curtains are falling on this lovely Carnival of the InfoScience #33, but if you want to get in on the next carnival, check out the submission guidelines and tune into LibraryStuff. Until next time!

2006-04-11T00:09:00.000-04:00

Time to bust out the cotton candy machine - the Carnival of the Infosciences #33 rolls its way to ReferenceWork.So if you want to be part of the act, send your e-mails to reference.work[at]gmail.com.

2006-03-29T01:12:00.000-05:00

”I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." --Thomas Jefferson

2006-03-14T22:06:00.000-05:00

Whilst non-profits and religious groups may receive government funding to help immigrants, libraries have contributed by offering free classes, citizenship materials and books in their native language. However, one must realize that "immigrants" is not a large, homogeneous group and that there are other factors to consider (the U.S. as an example):

1) The length of time the immigrants from a particular country have been around; immigrants with a more established community in the U.S. may not see the need to get outside their community. They can be hard to attract, especially if the group is insular.

Contact prominent business leaders of that community and local student organizations and share library information with them. Certain groups get their information by word of mouth from other members of their community. Get a buzz going!

2) Children of immigrants might be comfortable speaking English and have no interest in materials in the language of their parents. Also, the children may act as translators for other family members. Realize that by attracting the children, you might get the parents into the library!

3) Libraries are not equal around the world; the concept of a free library is not universal. You may have to educate groups about your services. Representing the library at cultural events and making friends with members of the group will help spread the buzz.

4) Some immigrants work two or more jobs and attending workshops would mean sacrificing family time. Weekend programs can help and computer classes in a different language help!

5) "Immigrants" does not always mean poor refugees, who do not speak English. Globalization has already meant that the movement of people between countries is a fact of life. Some immigrants may not enter the library for the same reasons natives do not come - Internet access at home, unaware of library services, Google-addicts and so forth.

Why listen to me about this topic? Because it is an issue close to heart since I am an immigrant myself :)

2006-03-09T19:12:00.000-05:00

Lately, I have had more requests from community groups to do presentations about the Library's services. It got me thinking about how we could take this a step further. Now, we have never aggressively pursued these "gigs", but it might not be a bad idea to and for multiple reasons:

1) Groups get a speaker for FREE
2) Get feedback on why people do not use the library
3) Helps you practice your presentation skills
4) Sign people up for library cards
5) Shatter stereotypes about the library (I had a group that was surprised that a guy could be a librarian)

I am sure there are other reasons as well, but these are some that come to mind personally. If you have other ideas, e-mail me!

2006-03-06T02:12:00.000-05:00

Online education is such a joy - especially when it is free! I started taking a couple of classes at the Barnes and Noble University and the online course setup made me wonder whether it would be a good idea for libraries to educate patrons via free classes online. With all the lessons posted for a 4-week period, users can read lessons at their own pace and even chat with others who are taking the class at BNU. I am not aware of any library that offers classes online for free and I wonder about the logistics of making such a class available (please forgive my ignorance).

Obviously, screencasts of classes would be beneficial to those who cannot physically attend library workshops and, considering the growth of educational video podcasts (Example: MIT), there is definitely an interest. Making screencasts available that explain the Dewey system, teaches patrons to conduct research in a library and so forth would be a start. Add some printable PDF lessons/exercises, with a forum to ask questions, and you have a "myLibrary University" environment. Meanwhile, I need to think about possible applications that would specifically benefit the job-seeking patrons (my coffee buzz is dwindling).

I have a feeling that Greg (Schwartz) is going to have oodles to share with me on this topic tomorrow (ah, that silly hippie). If your library offers something like this, please e-mail me at reference.work [at] gmail.com.

2006-03-05T10:28:00.000-05:00

Alumni associations? As a great resource for scoping out careers? I was a little perplexed at this suggestion in "How to get any job with any major" by Donald Asher. All I remember from the alumni association was that they would ask me to donate money to the university when I could only afford food off the dollar menu! They needed to fire their PR person!

If I was in charge of their PR I would tout the major benefit: Access to tons of people in different states and countries - with whom you already have something in common! Now if you share this information with your patron, advise them to not rush to their alumni association and start begging for jobs. Alumni can be a friendly face in a new city, a future employer or even a mentor. If you are planning a career switch, it might not be a bad idea to hit up the ol' association and talk to someone who is in the field you want to be in. Also, some high schools might have even have their own alumni association.

Now the only thing is coughing up the money for the dues... $40 is feast at your nearest dollar menu!

2006-02-27T00:09:00.000-05:00

I've been nibbling on Donald Asher's book, "How to get any job with any major", for a little while now and it had some amusing moments. First off, I still cannot believe that Alan Greenspan was a music major! Secondly, Asher recalls how University of Texas imposed a strict hiring freeze with no exceptions - and they then went and hired a football coach! He says that the universal truth is that "companies are always hiring"; someone quits, retires, is laid off, on maternity leave and so on. Now if it was easier to convince everyone of this universal truth...

2006-02-26T23:02:00.000-05:00

The current copy of SmartMoney has an article titled "How to make a Million" (March 2006 p. 62) that focuses on... well...making a million. I found two interesting nuggets from that article:

1) Health can create wealth because, if you improve your general health, you can save money on possible future medical expenses.
2) According to Tory Johnson (CEO of Women for Hire), "If you just do your job, you don't get a raise and you don't get a bonus; you get a paycheck". Thus going beyond the minimum at your job, you can secure the opportunities for raises and promotions that translate into more income; treat your skills porfolio like your financial portfolio and diversify (according to Gregg Cesario of IBM)!

2006-02-26T19:08:00.000-05:00

One of my latest endeavors has been to try and get an easy-to-use resume writing program for my library. I am still waiting to hear the verdict on my suggestion but, in the meantime, I managed to stumble upon some temporary help. Microsoft has free templates that can be downloaded and used (click here). I am a little tired of seeing the familiar trio of Contemporary, Elegant and Professional resume (no hard feelings). The downloadable templates are mostly for Word 97 and beyond, so that should be good. Actually, the link should take you to the Career section itself, which has other goodies.

Meanwhile, I have yet to check on it but I would hope that there is an open source resume-building alternative (Maybe I should make that my coding project). Fact of the day: The word "resume" itself gets 282 million hits in Google!!

2006-02-24T07:09:00.000-05:00

My description of an ideal community-connected librarian is one who:
1) Is aware of the different groups that make up the local community (Demographics!!)
2) Constantly develops a referral network (I love my Rolodex)
3) Actively looks to get involved with boards or committee
4) Is not afraid to travel to reach patrons (meet them at churches, synagogues, clubs, schools)
5) Is aware of local issues (The local newspaper and TV news help a lot; serves as an ice breaker too)
6) Listens attentively, empathizes and smiles
7) Is suave like James Bond :)

Now the debate is, would Sean Connery make a better librarian than Pierce Brosnan?

2006-02-22T08:04:00.000-05:00

I came across Chrystie Hill/Steve Cohen's blog titled "Library Build Communities" and I thought it was excellent considering serving the community needs is central to what ReferenceWork hopes to achieve. I'm going to pester Collection Development to score a copy for my library. Blurb from their site:

"This is a blog about community building for libraries. It’s supporting a book Steven and I plan to publish next year, but we hope will do much more than just support a book. We hope to engage all of our colleagues in a discussion on community building, and the work librarians do to support it."

2006-02-22T00:27:00.000-05:00

I have come to the conclusion that I have no ability to focus. With my interests ranging from Investing to Python to Jeet Kune Do, blogging has dropped in the charts. Ofcourse, this is not totally a bad thing because it meant spending more time figuring out what piques my interest. So far my ideal job would be a kung fu coding guru with a diversified portfolio!

It is important to acknowledge your interests and the fact that they can change over time. With that said, if you feel like you are not sure about where you want to be careerwise, look at the kind of books, newspaper articles, activities and so forth that grab your attention. Pay attention to what specifically excites you about the item. You like reading about podcasting/Web 2.0 and you love talking about it? Why not speak about those topics to different groups? Why not teach a class about it? Why not help a brother out, Schwartz? (Sorry, remember my focus problem :) )

2005-10-17T23:41:00.000-04:00

Demographics have been the new toy for me. Actually, it is more like a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle than a toy. Trying to piece together pertinent information from different sources to gain insights is an interesting exercise. While not necessarily a prerequisite skill for an MLS, understanding demographics is of an obvious benefit to a librarian looking to serve community members, who are currently underserved. I have seen some library literature that deals with demographics, but my quest to understand these numbers continues. In the mean time, I found that the Small Business Development Center National Information Clearinghouse (SBDCNET) has a nice collections of resources to get you started. If politicians and marketers reach their "customers", maybe it would not hurt to learn more about it. If you have any suggestions, e-mail me.

2005-09-21T02:44:00.000-04:00

Being a good organizer is a goal everyone should gravitate too. In the spirit of GTD and the Hipster PDA, I wanted to share a link to "PocketMod" - a Flash app that lets you create your personal, disposable organizer. Granted, it would be nice to have a Blackberry ($499), but this way is cheaper!

2005-09-08T00:05:00.000-04:00

So the latest thing to do for me has been to keep a list of prospective groups that I would like to work with in the future. In fact, I even started keeping files on prominent individuals in the company. No, I am not a stalker and the information I get is from newspaper clippings, Business Source Premier, a local business journal and Google searches. Test it out for yourself the next time you enter a meeting.

Do a quick Google search on the person you are going to meet. Find out what their title is, if they are on any boards or committees, interviews they may have given and so forth. You may even find out about a person's likes! I found out that a lady I was going to meet was a die-hard Buffy fan. So I went over to the shelves and picked up a "Watcher's guide to Buffy" before the meeting. A few minutes before we started, I presented it to her and asked her what she thought was the best season. Sure, she was surprised and we had a good chat about it before moving into our agendas. Great ice breaker!!

If you can research before going into a job interview, why not do it before meeting someone? Adopt a little aggressive mindset and conduct some research (we are librarians... We love research) You have to connect with people somehow to leave a lasting impression!

2005-09-07T10:14:00.000-04:00

Its finally good to get back to blogging after a hectic Labor Day weekend. During the week, I managed to pick up a copy of "The Illiad" by Homer. The very first line grips you:

"Rage - Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles..."

Some of you may still have memories of the summer blockbuster "Troy", where Brad Pitt played the famed warrior. Achilles' obsession for glory is complete; nothing short of excellence. When I was thinking about what to post, I started going back to my own job hunting. I said that I really wanted a job, but I would be lying if I said that I devoted the energy it deserved. Would it not be nice to have the same drive for job hunting that Achilles had for glory?

Remind your unemployed patrons that job hunting is a job in itself. There is no time limit on how long it takes you to get a job. Sometimes, it is a week; other times it is 20 weeks. It is important to treat job searching as a 9 to 5 job. You cannot spend an hour a weekend and expect a flood of jobs. If you are frustrated, change up your tactics - join/create a job seekers group, let family and friends know about your job seeking, etc. BUT, don't do it half-heartedly because you would have no one to blame but yourself.

Remember, it took the Acheans (Greeks) 10 years to conquer Troy!

2005-08-30T22:40:00.000-04:00

Not too long ago, I had a female patron break down into tears while I helped her with her job search. Whilst co-workers insisted on taking the micky out of me, I was unable to console the woman, who complained about how her career was going nowhere.

I am sure we have all been to the depths of "job search despair" at one time or the other. It only makes it worse when you hear or read in the media about "fewer jobs being created this month". It really does not paint a pretty picture at all.

The key with the "fewer jobs created" comment is to realize that it refers to THIS MONTH. As illustrated in "What color is my parachute?", the figure does not include the number of Americans that have switched jobs within the last month. Some have retired, passed away, been promoted, quit, fired and so forth - there is constant movement. One must see through the negative press and, as a workforce librarian, it is important to ensure that patrons know this fact. I guess I learnt my lesson the hard way!

2005-08-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

People come up with really creative ways to get their resume out. Recently, I came across an animated resume done in Macromedia Flash (now Adobe Flash?), where the main character walked about and spoke about his job credentials. Now, I have not invested much time in Flash and, even though the animation was interesting, I wondered if it would be considered "professional" (Perhaps if you were into graphic art, it would be a great idea).

Ofcourse, as the saying goes - "where there is a will, there is a way". At Wowresumes.com, you can create you own professional looking Flash resume (no random character mucking about) and have them burn it to mini CDs that you could give out at a job fair, interview, etc.

I would suggest trying a free "preview" on their site, where you can create your very own Flash resume and see what it is like. The next step would be to pick up a book about Flash and create your own animated resume. This way you learn Flash and have something else to add on your resume!

2005-08-21T11:03:00.000-04:00

I had the good fortune to attend a presentation by a ReferenceUSA representative the other day at my library. From the workforce librarian standpoint, the highlight from the talk for me was the statistics about U.S. Businesses.

When I was still an undergraduate in computer science, the buzz was always about working for Microsoft, IBM, NSA, Google, etc. However, when the tech bubble burst and the bigger companies began having layoffs, the "end is nigh" signs went up and the spirits of aspiring computer scientists plummeted down.

Now, according to ReferenceUSA's handout about "Total Business Counts By Employee Size", there are 202,389 companies with 100+ employees in the United States. That is equivalent to 2% of all U.S. Businesses; approximately 6000 were publicly traded companies.

That meant that CS students were applying to 2% of all companies (if we did apply to all in the first place!). Instead, 7,219,689 companies with 1-4 employees made up 63%. If you decided to include companies with 5-9 employees, you were staring at an additional 2,279,139 companies or 18%. Between those two groups, you would be applying to 81% of the companies in the U.S!

Moral of the story: Remind job seekers to look at the little guys because they hire too!

2005-08-18T23:18:00.000-04:00

I've heard that an academic library and a public library are worlds apart; "different clientele" calls for different services. I would argue that it is important for a public library to make a small attempt to coax those students from the "academic world" to use the public library. To me, they are the future workforce, so why not get to know them sooner?

Your public library might already have programs to prepare kids to go to college (If not, that might be a good program to start up). The problem that arises is how to get the word out about these programs? Do you put up flyers? Put it in the newsletter? Post it on your website? All three are good things to do, but I would suggest tapping into an already existing network that heavily interacts with the kids who they are applying to college - the career counselors.

Now, there are ways of getting in touch with career counselors. You could call individual schools and ask to speak with them. Or, you could get in touch with "Outreach Counselors" at your financial aid government agency. Outreach Counselors spend most of their time visiting schools, speaking about paying for college, talking to individual students, etc. You could have one of them come in and give a monthly or bi-monthly workshop. In addition to their benefits as a program, the Outreach counselors should also maintain a listing of the high school career counselors within the area.

By getting in touch with the career counselors, you have a means to disseminate information about your library's services to college-bound kids. This should help bolster attendance at the program and provide a means to advertise other relevant programs. This can be arduous task to get together, but completely worth it .

By the way, as far as when to contact the high school counselors, it might be a good idea to get in touch with them early in the school year (when they are less stressed!).

2005-08-15T20:57:00.000-04:00

To everyone that has come to ReferenceWork via Greg Schwartz's Open Stacks - Welcome! Thanks to Greg for posting my submission to the Carnival of the Infosciences #2.

In today's post, I want to suggest a program for your library that I feel is important to the workforce - namely, financial literacy. An odd choice, but considering your job provides you with your income, it is important for your well-being to be in control of your finances. Many people believe a better job will mean more money and a better quality of life. However, if you earn $100,000 and spend $120,000, you are still going to be in debt. Interestingly enough, more companies are beginning to check your credit score when considering your application for a position. Apparently, your financial situation is an indication of how responsible a worker you are. I am not sure if anyone has been turned down from a job because of a bad credit score.

The good news is that with topics like "credit", "bankruptcy" and "identity theft" getting so much press, many banks and credit unions are providing free workshops that are funded by the federal government to improve financial literacy. Amongst the groups I have spoken to, they have used the "Money Smart" program that is put together by the FDIC. Check with your local bank or credit union for more details.

Authors like Dave Ramsey, Robert T. Kiyosaki and so on have made their fortunes instructing others on how to become financial independent. If that is an indication that such information is deemed desirable, why not have financial workshops at your library - especially since they are free and taught by financial counselors.

Note: Talk to the counselors ahead of time to ensure that they are only giving out information about financial literacy and not taking personal information to sign up people for their own banks/credit unions services. I have not had this problem with the groups I work with, but better safe than sorry!

2005-08-13T01:05:00.000-04:00

At work, we love using the "ReferenceUSA" database for information relating to a particular business or businesses within the US. You can get contact information, estimated sales, the line of business, etc. It even has a nice feature that lets you search Google News to see if the company has been in the headlines lately. Most of the time, we use it to retrieve a specific detail (maybe a toll-free number) for a patron.

So how can one use this tool to aid their job search? Let us suppose a patron is seeking an accounting job in Austin, TX. You could begin by performing a keyword search for the "Standard Industrial Classification" (SIC) number for "accounting" using the SIC Search tool. My results were:

3578 Calculating and Accounting Machines, Except Electronic Computers
5044 Office Equipment
5311 Department Stores
5943 Stationery Stores
7291 Tax Return Preparation Services
8721 Accounting, Auditing, and Bookkeeping Services
9199 General Government, Not Elsewhere Classified

So we know "8721" is the SIC number we want. We can now hop over and perform a "Custom Search" in ReferenceUSA, which enables us to search by SIC, Yellow Page heading, NAICS, City, Metro Area, etc. I selected "Primary SIC" and "City" as my criteria for the search. In goes "8721" and "Austin, TX" - out comes 584 results. From a job seekers perspective, that means 584 possible employers. The search could be refined and limited to specific zip codes, number of employees, sales volume, foreign parent, public companies, etc.

Hopefully this gets you thinking about how to use your databases in more creative ways.

2005-08-12T01:44:00.000-04:00

ReferenceWork has undergone a facelift and I am rather pleased at the new look. I now hope to get to work on my submission for the "Carnival of the Information Sciences #2" at "Open Stacks". #1 was a success so I hope I can contribute something useful. Thanks.

2005-08-08T20:42:00.000-04:00

Outreach is demanding! Especially when your outreach activity involves individuals who have been unemployed for a while. I find it extremely difficult to motivate them at times - depending on the group that I am speaking to. It helps to keep the session interactive and keep asking the group questions to force them to answer. Asking a random person "what do YOU think about _____?" is one possible way of opening up the group.

Not being an expert, I am interested in hearing about how you get your groups to join in on conversations. Please post comments!

2005-08-04T10:49:00.000-04:00

Having graduated from library school not too long ago, I often have to remind myself that not just college grads are seeking employment. One group that have their own set of job woes are those over 50. Luckily, there are employers that do not look down upon applicants that are 50+. AARP puts out a yearly list of the "Best Employers for Workers over 50". The only problem I have with the list is that some states do not seem to have a "Best Employer" (e.g. Kentucky). In that scenario, it might just be a good idea to contact your local AARP at 1-888-OUR-AARP (1-888-687-2277) or online here.

2005-08-01T23:06:00.000-04:00

During one-on-one sessions with high school kids, career changers, or patrons who want to know more about a specific career, I turn to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Using their "Search OOH", I was curious to see what information they had about "Librarians". Put together by the US Dept. of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics, I can now walk patrons through the nature of the work, working conditions, training required, job outlook and (very important!) related occupations. A great place to get started before leaping into any occupation.

2005-08-01T09:44:00.000-04:00

I am not a master networker, but I am well-aware of the need to strive to become one. The underrated skill of networking is crucial for job seekers. Frankly, it is a pretty crucial skill for those workforce librarians that are looking to connect with groups within the community. Networking will open you up to the world of unadvertised jobs and other rewarding activities. Unfortunately, where does one even begin to acquire such a skills? Ebay, perhaps?

While Ebay had no listings, I found solace in Harvey Mackay's book, "Dig your well before you're Thirsty". It is not a new book and you should be able to find a copy on your library shelves. Highly recommended! I tried out some of the concepts that I learnt from this book to work and was able to get free financial workshops at my library. Rather than listening to a review from just me, click on the image to hop over to Amazon.com and look at the reviews. Let me know what you think!

2005-07-27T23:39:00.000-04:00

So I've heard enough about blogging from Greg Schwartz ("Open Stacks" fame) to finally get in on it myself. Why now? Mostly to find if other "workforce librarians" exist out there.

Despite my eyebrow-raising occupation title, I really am a reference librarian with a focus on seeking out and developing career resources to help patrons of the library. Teaching patrons to find jobs online, providing resume assistance, developing links with other organizations around the community and finding out better resources are all part of my ever-evolving (mutating) job description.

This blog is an attempt to share resources and programming ideas with other people who might consider themselves "workforce librarians".