Telling You About Myself without Telling You About Myself

Maintaining privacy on the internet has been an important consideration for me, for a long time. It was a consideration that I thought about and discussed with others, as early as 1994 when I was working part-time as a Reference Librarian at a public library in northern NJ. It was in a county in NJ that had, via a grant from Bellcore, had gotten access to the nascent internet. That was in the days of Gopher, Lynx, and WAIS.

So, anyway, please be warned that I'm going to be cagey about myself, and btw for the same reasons you will not find me on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Yet- some intro stuff I want you to understand about me: I got my library degree from Simmons College in Boston. I completed my degree in the late 1980s; and actually, a recession started just a couple of years after I graduated.. that's a relevant fact for this blog.

And, my degree.. this has been something significant for me: it's an M. Sci.

Last I knew, Simmons had awarded me an M. Sci. LIS. However, when I filled out my online resume in Spring 2011, in my company's intranet site for "surplussed" employees, LIS did not come up as an option, for a degree awarded by Simmons. Instead, the option given was Information Science. (Interesting, the "L" - for "Library" - dissappeared.)

OK - fine with me. I'll adapt to the times. From then on, I have stated my degree as M. Sci. IS. And, it's a useful conversation starter. The topic is - what is Information Science, anyway? Having enjoyed my heavy-tech LIS curriculum at Simmons, I could go on about that, in great detail. It will be in a different post. This one is an intro about me.

As I mentioned, I was "surplussed."

However, I am now working for the same company.

To improve indexing, I'll tell you about that in a subsequent post.

"Once a Librarian, always a Librarian"

Yesterday, on Weekend Edition Saturday, Scott Simon interviewed Augusta Scattergood, who has just published her first novel, for young adults.

Early in the interview, Scott turned the subject to a little biographical information about the author, including the fact that she was a librarian, previously (a school librarian, to be specific.)

"Once a Librarian, always a Librarian," Ms. Scattergood said, quite emphatically, in reply.

I was thinking, "ah yes, I know that state (of identity), exactly."

And so, I would like to begin this blog, for muses and anecdotes and also job postings, all intended to help librarians looking for non-traditional career opportunities. Given the recession, plus the major changes currently affecting (think: hammering) the information industry, those of us with library-related degrees and/or those who worked in a library for many years, without actually completing an MLS or similar degree, need guidance and suggestions regarding how else they can apply their training and experience.

Once a Librarian - Always a Librarian...

Actually, I'm being *your* reference librarian right now.. I'm anticipating that you have a need for information, and I'm putting together a source (this blog) that will help you get the answer.

The question is: in the current age if the information industry, where else can you devote your unique combination of skills?

This blog is intended to compile a list of examples, of jobs/new careers people have obtained, after having spent some period of their life in library-land (although as you know, one never really leaves library-land.)

So, let's begin.. I'll begin with myself.