(I can't type that sentence without hearing David Byrne in my head.)

Steven Chabot on Subject/Object asks how men in particular got into the library field.

In my case, it was more or less an accident, though in retrospect it seems inevitable that I ended up here.  I remember when I started college at GSU, one of the first places on campus I started exploring was the library (the same library where I now work, incidentally).  The OPAC was relatively new, I think: it was a series of terminals around the building with green monochrome text.  I taught myself how to place holds by reading the help screens, and got scolded by the circulation staff for not going through them and filling out the paper form.

During and after college, I ended up in computer support jobs for several years.  My turning point was getting a tech support job at the GSU Law Library in about 1992, my first library job.  (This was a turning point in more ways than one, since I met my wife while working there.)  The short version is that this led in a roundabout way to my first reference job, which was half reference work and half front-line tech support at the main GSU library.  From there I moved to my reference and instruction job at Emory University's library, where I was really able to discover my path in library instruction and instructional technology.  I stayed at Emory for seven years.  My great co-workers at GSU and Emory over the years inspired me to get my MLIS, just in time to land my current gig.

In Steven's post he seems to be looking for answers to questions about gender in librarianship, and I'm not sure I've provided any useful data points.  But I've seen this question about career paths come up once or twice before in the biblioblogobiosphere and have never gotten around to posting about it.

Link: Subject/Object » [Please reply and spread widely] Question for Men (and Women too) in the Library Field: How did you get here?.

Before I unsubscribe from all these feeds, and in support of my RSS presentation this weekend, I'm sharing all the librarian job feeds that I've been reading for the last year or so during my search.  In no particular order:

Combined LIS Job Postings from Library Job Postings on the Internet and LISjobs.com.

LibGig's job feed: searchable/customizable feed. I set it to search for Atlanta jobs, and only ever saw one posting here.  Maybe it just hasn't had time to catch on yet.

ALA JobList: also has a customizable feed -- enter your search and subscribe to new postings for your area/field as they appear.

As it turned out, I found the posting my new job not via RSS, but just by looking at the GSU website at the right time.  The posting did hit both the LISjobs feed and the ALA feed about a day later, though!

This morning I officially accepted an offer from the GSU Library to become their new Instruction Librarian for User Education Technologies.  I am absolutely thrilled about the opportunity.  I worked at GSU for a long time in various capacities previously to coming to Emory, and I got my undergrad degree there.  In a way it feels like going home after a long absence.

If I could have written the job description myself it would be damn close to my new job.  I'm really impressed with what I've seen of their new library, and I already know I'll have some fantastic new colleagues.  I can't wait.

I was skimming through the excellent 100+ Job Resources for Librarians post that I've seen linked from a couple of library blogs this week.  Most of the job listing sites (like ALA Joblist) are ones that I've seen before and have in my RSS aggregator already.

(By the way, my own tip: ALA Joblist allows you to set up a custom RSS feed with just the search parameters you want -- city, academic/public, salary range, etc.  It's very handy.)

There's a link on this list that I had apparently bookmarked some time back but had forgotten about: "HOWTO:Apply for a library job" on LISWiki.  This article is a must-read summary for new LIS graduates or for anyone looking for a librarian position.  It's got particularly good questions to ask during the interview cycle (from phone interview to offer) and several links that I'm still picking through.

No, no major news on the post-MLIS career opportunities front at this point. But I'm very pleased about two developments: I have accepted my first ALA co-chair position: the LIRT Teaching, Learning and Technology committee likes me, it really likes me.

Also, I've been invited to give a presentation on instructional podcasting at the GALILEO/GOLD conference in August with my friend/colleague/co-podcaster Rachel.  Details will follow in case any interested Georgians are reading this.

Thanks to The MLxperience for spotting this new blog:

Library Professional Development

They post conferences, CFPs, workshops, webinars and so on.

(Also, much credit to MLxperience for the tagline "libtechedtrainfotainment".)

From a US News and World Report feature on Best Careers:

"Forget about that image of librarian as a mousy bookworm. Librarians these days must be high-tech information sleuths, helping researchers plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records. It's an underrated career. Most librarians love helping patrons dig up information and, in the process, learning new things. Librarians may also go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They even get to put on performances, like children's puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders. On top of it all, librarians' work hours are reasonable."

Woo hoo!  We rock.