Making the Most of Your Library Career

An MLIS can provide the skill set needed to get a library job, but building a library career means knowing how to maximize your potential every step of the way. Benefiting those fresh out of library school as well as experienced professionals, career librarians from every corner of the profession offer a personal, down-to-earth view of "what it's really like out there." Filled with valuable insights into how to better launch and manage a library career, this book addresses important topics like

• How to work and adapt at a new organization
• What management expects and how to view everyday activities from that point of view
• How to make suggestions for change
• Advice on navigating the cyclical nature of a librarian's work year
• The rewards and challenges of professional organizations
• Why a library degree is valuable outside a traditional library setting

Those new to the field will find the contributors' seasoned advice both inspiring and practical, while veterans of the profession will find guidance on retuning their careers in librarianship's changing environment.

Lois Stickell is the History and Government Documents Librarian at J. Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. She received her MLS from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. She has written about a slave revolt in South Carolina, and she and Bridgette Sanders received a grant to research student activism in the 1960s. She contributed a chapter about grants to The Frugal Librarian: Thriving in Tough Economic Times, edited by Carol Smallwood.

Bridgette Sanders is the Social Sciences Librarian at J. Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. She received her MLS from Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. Her areas of interest are Africana Studies and Diversity. She and Lois Stickell have presented at several conferences, including the Southern Historical Association's annual conference and ASALH (Association for the Study of African American Life and History).