My Experience as a Corporate Librarian Intern in Silicon Valley

By Kimberly Koshiyama

When I first saw QuickSLIS mailer’s advertisement calling for a student in Library and Information Science at San Jose State University to work as an Intern at one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, I immediately thought, is this possible?  Can the artsy/literature-focused library world be inter-meshed with the fast-paced, often cutthroat corporate, technology industry?  As I have found out, it indeed can, and my internship there was one of the best yet challenging experiences of my life.

The closest environment that I had ever worked at previously was a start-up technology company, which was still quite dissimilar from my current position.  We frequently showed up to work wearing jeans and tee-shirts, multi-tasking by playing music and chatting intermittently on top of working.  Immediately when I walked in to my interview at my internship, I was blown away by the shiny chrome buildings, the twenty-three plus various campuses, glass doors, and being surrounded by professionals adorned in business suits, heels, or finely pressed clothes.  I was then brought into an interview with three variant individuals (after many attempts at an electronic "summoning" system), one of whom I talked to via phone rather than in-person.  Most of the communication is done either by Web-conferencing or phone which the SLIS program has sufficiently prepped me for!  I lived within an APR (Audio Privacy closed off glass paneled room with electrical outlets, Kleenex, Whiteboards, camping equipment…kidding about the last one but you get the picture) as most individuals do within the company. 

Job Resources for Students

By Sam Leif

If there is one thing on the mind of most students it is getting a job after graduation. There are a number of useful tools to help you find open positions and learn useful tips for everything from your resume to the interview.

ALA JobLIST

The American Library Association and the Association of College and Research Libraries teamed up to create a useful list of job openings. They allow searching by keyword, city, state, job/library type and more. They also provide a useful feature of identifying which institutions will be at the upcoming conferences so you can network in person if you are also attending.
Don’t Miss: The Facebook group, on which they are constantly sharing links to blogs and career resources that offer guidance and help for every topic that can be connected with employment.

SLIS Career Development

The SLIS website actually has a very developed career development section. In fact, we even have our own career counselor Jill Klees. The website has a thorough PDF file of emerging trends and skills employers are expecting and many resources on how to network. They have tips for writing your resume, cover letter or curriculum vitae. They have run a series of workshops that are available for viewing on topics from prison librarianship to life after MLIS.
Don’t Miss: Perfect Interview. This awesome software has a bank of interview questions for you to ponder, and an option to see what employers might want to hear as a response. This tool is easy to use and very useful.

SJSU SLIS ALASC’s Tour of the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum

By Alison Leonard

In April, John Jackson, ALA Student Chapter Program Coordinator, organized a tour for San Jose State University’s School of Library and Information Science American Library Association Student Chapter (SJSU SLIS ALASC) of the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda, California.

The Nixon Library contains over 50 million documents relating to Nixon's time in office, consisting of more than 500,000 photographs, 700 hours of film, over 4,000 hours of "off air" video recordings, and 4,469 audio recordings, including the infamous "Nixon White House tapes." Additional information on the collection is available on the Library's website.

The tour was led by Dr. Gregory Cumming, Supervisory Archivist for the Nixon Library. Greg has formerly worked in the archives at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation.  The Nixon Library requires that all archivists be experts in certain periods of time in history. Greg’s expertise is in post-World War II American history.  The Library encourages their archivists to develop one-on-one relationships with researchers in order to assist them. Therefore, Greg has formed many professional relationships.

Thinking Outside the Box: An Interview with Government Librarian Wendy Reynolds

By Stacey Nordlund

Earlier this year, I attended a conference at which SLIS director Sandy Hirsh spoke to the importance of thinking broadly about the skills we develop throughout the MLIS program.  Many SLIS graduates are taking advantage of opportunities outside of the library realm because our skills are transferable to so many types of environments. Hirsh’s presentation included a pertinent quote from well-known librarian Stephen Abram: “LIS skills are good currency in this world – but only for those with the flexibility and insight to exploit the opportunities.”

With this in mind, I have been conducting informational interviews with librarians working outside of the traditional public, academic, and school library spheres. One librarian I recently chatted with, Wendy Reynolds, is a government librarian in Toronto, Ontario. She kindly took the time to answer a few questions – on a weekend, no less! – about her work and her thoughts on librarianship in general. Wendy is the Manager of Library Client Services at the Ontario Legislative Library, an organization which serves as a resource for the elected Members of Provincial Parliament who serve in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.