Jump Start Your Career in Library and Information Science

Citation

Duckett, B. (2002), "Jump Start Your Career in Library and Information Science", Library Review, Vol. 51 No. 7, pp. 382-383. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2002.51.7.382.4

“Be open to opportunity”; “Learn to say no”; “Define your own success”. These are three wise phrases that conclude this most enjoyable book. “If only …”, I muse, thinking back! I must say at the outset, though, that despite the excellent advice and content of this book, one thing troubled me. Do we become librarians, information officers, archivists, or whatever, because we see a career? Or is it because we like or want the job? Should we focus on the task or job in hand and do the best we can, or should we be manipulating our environment and our aims to our own future advantage? I must not overdo the issue, maybe it is a generation or a British thing anyway, but I would have welcomed a touch more passion and idealism to provide some counterweight to the self‐conscious, pragmatic, and calculating fare presented. Caveat made, this book would be an excellent guide and handbook to anyone starting, or wanting to develop, their career.

Assess your goals, assess your skills, and assess the job market, are three headings that start the book. As a guide to these assessments the two following sections consider “A day in the life” in which 11 librarians with different jobs consider their key duties and key skills, and “How did I get here?” in which several librarians look back on their career paths. This chapter – Career planning – concludes with a summary and reading suggestions. Chapter 2, Job searching, covers topics such as finding jobs, résumé writing (=CVs), references, covering letters, interviews and job offers. As before, the eminently practical advice is laced with various personal anecdotes, useful Web sites and further reading. Chapter 3, Experience and education, covers such points as internships, volunteer experience, involvement in professional activities, aspects of being “On the job” (the organizational culture, dress and attitude, work ethics, time and stress management), continuing education, and marketing yourself. Chapter 4, Networking, is followed by a chapter on Interpersonal skills. This covers communication, interaction, difficult supervisors and co‐workers, attitude adjustment, social skills and personality types (the latter is a shade over done). There is much sober sense here, and featured are topics not often given coverage, but that are all too real.

“Mentoring” follows: seek out mentors, be proactive, surround yourself with positive and dynamic people, mentor others. This is all good advice – non illegitimi carborundum – and all that! This leads on to a chapter on Leadership skills (“First rule of leadership: everything is your fault” is the humorous quote that opens the chapter). I particularly liked the discussion contrasting leaders versus managers. Leaders have integrity, trust and charisma (pity the poor manager!). The development of leadership skills is considered at length – and much needed if I dare say so. There follows a final chapter (barring a brief conclusion) giving advice on Writing and publishing. Interesting (and unique?) is the book’s appendix, which is the text of the author’s proposal to the publisher for this selfsame book! This, presumably, is to illustrate points made in the chapter. I was a little surprised to find the book ending on this topic, for useful and full of sound advice though it is, writing and publishing are not, surely, the climax of a librarian’s career? I would have welcomed some other positive outcomes and role models here: a doyen of the conference circuit, perhaps; a sought‐after authority on a burning issue; a library revolutionary; or even a quietly successful and respected head of department eying his retirement slippers!

Jump Start Your Career – awful title – is stuffed full of lists, bullet points, personal asides, guest contributions, advice and pointers. It reads easily. It is practical. It does not “talk down” and I’m sure it will be appreciated by its target audience of recent entrants to the world of libraries. But it is not just for the career junky or frustrated square peg in round hole. It is a book for every employee. Like most of my fellow professional and non‐professional colleagues (possibly all), my career was not planned: things happened, choices were made, and here I am! But we can all learn much from Priscilla Shontz and her colleagues about surviving in our chosen careers and improving our lot. Be open to opportunity; learn to say No; and define your own success.

This is a thoroughly absorbing and useful book.