The Corporate Librarian

I got contacted on Skype by a student from Mexico who had some questions about corporate librarianship, and that led me to wonder what it’s like in other countries.

I’ve gotten pingbacks and comments from Canada, France, Hungary, India, Vietnam and doubtless other countries I’m forgetting.

How did the non-US readers among you get into corporate librarianship as a career? Did you take business-focused classes in college? As part of library school education?

(Now I’m wondering if it would be interesting to create a corporate librarian equivalent of Libworld)

There’s an ongoing thread on BUSLIB about the top programs for business librarianship, and some comments by Amelia Kassel struck me:

Typically, however, there is little awareness of business librarianship per se and only a relatively small number of students, comparatively speaking, are interested in special, law, medical, or government librarianship. Fewer still seem to be aware of or interested in corporate libraries and enterpreneurial business career opportunities or other alternative careers until they take my courses.

and

I don’t know whether other library schools offer business librarianship tracks per se and will be interested in hearing from others but of the handful of programs I’m aware of, there tends to be only one or two courses specifically about business librarianship or business research; nor at this time does there seem to be enough student demand to warrant additional courses, the probable reason you’re not going to see a ‘top program’ in business librarianship ranked. At this time, the world of business librarianship education seems to fall primarily into the purview of continuing education seems to fall primarily into the purview of continuing education offered by ALA and SLA, and as Jan suggests, learning on the job.

There’s much more to Amelia’s comments, so please don’t take this as a substitute for reading the whole thread.

I’d planned on becoming a corporate librarian (or freelance researcher) when I was in library school, and poking around the memorial site for Sue Rugge the ‘information broker’ concept originated in the early seventies. So you’d think this would be taught fairly widely in library school programs. I don’t recall where I got the idea in my head, though, and a lot of my corporate-specific learning came on the job.

My alma mater’s  site does include Corporate in the Pathways to Success section and it does have a course on Information Entrepreneurship and one on Business Administration.

Your thoughts?

I sent a bunch of advice, links to past posts, ruminations and PDF files to the prospective student (and thanks to Lisa for commenting!)

Two issues raised by his latest email I wanted to toss out there:

• How did library school prepare you for a corporate librarian position?
• Have you had issues in the workplace with non-librarian supervisors who did not understand your work?

Yes, of course you can answer the second question anonymously.

A student considering the corporate librarian profession asked a bunch of questions. I gave quick answers to a few, with promises for a more detailed response tonight.

I thought he might benefit from experience from a broader range of people, though, solos as well as members of teams, people working for large and small companies, and so on. So please, feel free to post your response to his questions in comments to the post (or if WordPress chokes, just use the form to mail your response to me and I’ll add them as attributed posts to the blog. He’s looking to decide by the 18th.

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Job Opportunity Questions

Do you know how easy it is for corporate librarians to get a job compared to other librarians? What qualifications are important or necessary for gaining a position? What are some good ways to “get your foot in the door”?

Occupation Questions

Are there different specialties amongst corporate librarianship? If so, could you briefly go over them?

Day-to-day Questions

Could you go over a typical day at the office (if there is such a thing)? What’s the most interesting/worthwhile aspect(s) of corporate librarianship? Conversely, what’s the most annoying/tedious aspect(s) of the job?

Co-workers Questions
Do you work with other people? If so, are they mostly customers or other researchers? How often and to what degree with each?

Employer Questions

Do most corporate librarians work for small companies or big ones? Is your manager (if you have one) also a corporate librarian?

Because I was worried I was misrepresenting her, I reached out to Susan Klopper about her comments at the SLA SAAAC panel. She graciously agreed to take the time to elaborate and to allow me to post her further comments.

I stand by my comment at the student career panel at SLA that corporate libraries don’t exist anymore, but let me add some clarification to my viewpoint. First, it is just my opinion, but one that comes from 18+ years working in a corporate library and personally experiencing the dramatic shift in that market space. That said, of course, many do still exist and will continue in the future to be supported by their organizations. But that number, relative to the market, is small and getting smaller every day. With the commoditization of information that has taken place over the past 8-10 years, I don’t see companies ever being willing (and one could well argue the errors in their thinking) to invest in corporate libraries as they once existed. But if you read the rest of my thought about this in the blog, my stating that corporate libraries are dead was not intended as a final statement, but rather as a challenge to the future librarians sitting in the room to think about what lessons might be learned about their demise and how they might position their skills, competencies and passion for working in a corporate environment in ways that will more successfully speak to the interests, strategies, focus of corporate organizations. When an upcoming librarian asks me about working in a corporate library, I ask them to describe to me how they envision that experience ,what they are doing each day, who they are working with. If that vision is defined by a library in any capacity, I can not in all truth endorse the career path. However, if that vision is focused on bringing the skill sets, knowledge, networking strengths we own into the organization and deploying and embedding them as needed within the organizational structure – then I say YES, that is how we demonstrate our value in terms that the organization can measure. And who knows, perhaps if we work our way through organizations on their terms, holding ourselves up to the business models they value, we may make some progress towards elevating librarians and libraries as a core organizational function.
Just my 2 cents – susan klopper

May 16th I got an email from an acquaintance about a potential job. May 19th we talked on the phone, and a few days after that I sent on a resume, writing sample and references. June 2nd I flew up to meet with him and another person. June 9th I got emailed a more formalized job description, and June 12th I asked for a contract.

Which I received on Friday and mailed signed copies of yesterday.

Three month job, hopefully leading to something permanent. I’ll check exactly what I can and can’t say about it, but it involves both knowledge management and research.

For those of you still looking, College@Home offers over 100 job resources for prospective librarians. Granted, a number of them are oriented towards academic or public library jobs, but even so the list should be useful.

Hopefully I should have some good job news of my own to announce on the blog soon.

For those of you who are new to the blog, hi! I’ve been unemployed since early May, and when I don’t have anything else to post I give tips on job hunting.

So, what have I done since I’ve moved to the Bay Area in September?

• Obviously, I’ve already let friends, former colleagues and family know I’m looking back in May.
• I signed up with several library placement agencies in the area. I’ll note that you shouldn’t expect to just sign up and have a job fall in your lap from an agency – you should meet with people from the agency if possible, at a minimum get them to give an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Regularly check their job listings and apply to jobs which look interesting.
• I searched SLA’s job listing. Again, check this on a regular basis, as with other sites you visit.
• I searched Craigslist and Indeed.com. Helpful hint – both of these services allow you to create custom searches and subscribe to those searches as RSS feeds. I have no sense how useful Craigslist is outside the Bay Area/Peninsula.
• I hit the BayNet Libraries Employment Links and Listings.
• I hit the SF/SLA Jobline.
• I hit CalJOBS, which I should really check out more often.
• I hit the websites of companies in the area I was interested in, in case they had postings on their websites.
• A friend on an IRC channel I hang out at actually added “someone get this guy a job already” to my description which appears when I connect to the channel. Which hasn’t gotten me any nibbles yet, but amuses me.
• I went to a Meetup of San Francisco Librarians. The organizer had warned me in advance that the past few months had only seen 4 attendees or so, and it turned out she and I were the only ones there. Still, she gave me some useful additional links and mailing lists to check out.
• I hit the California Library Association Job Mart.

I have gotten nothing useful from Careerbuilder.com or Monster.com. I’ve applied to various jobs, some of which got me interviews, others which got me a ‘no thank you’ or no response at all. Others I’m still waiting to hear back on. For interviews, if you’re rejected, I recommend asking what you could have done better. They may not want to answer due to HR or litigation concerns, but it’s worth a shot.

Do do do tailor your resumes and cover letters to the specific position you’re applying for. It will show you have genuine interest in the position, and will make it more likely you get to the next round.

The advice I’ve gotten is expect your job search to take six months or so. It may take less time – if so, great. But be prepared to be in it for the long haul.

What am I trying now?

I’ve gotten some business cards made up through VistaPrint (you can also design your own, or go to an office supply place like Staples). For now, they give my name, a short tagline and my contact info. I may add the URL of this website if I get back to posting on a regular basis in a future run. VistaPrint gives you some decent free designs (250 business cards) and you can pay more to get faster shipping, access to more designs, business card magnets, etc..

I’ve purchased an Associate Membership with the Association of Independent Information Professionals, while I consider whether or not I’ll just start my own business. It’s $200, but I get a listing in the membership directory, a mentor, and access to the mailing list. If you’re considering starting your own business, start it while you still have a money cushion.

I’m attending a combined meeting of the San Francisco and San Andreas Region SLA Chapters, both because the topic is interesting and because it gives me a chance to network. I’ve searched SLA’s Online Membership Directory and noted contact info for people at companies I might be interested in applying to. I wouldn’t call them up and beg for a job – more a matter of “I’m new in the area, looking for employment, would love to have lunch with you and talk about what it is you do.” This is assuming I don’t get a chance to talk to them at the Chapter meeting.