Adventures in Job Hunting

I have been looking for a full-time library or information professional job since September. I had heard (correctly) that academic libraries take a ridiculously long time to process applications and make decisions, so I figured that by getting started 4 months before graduation would be plenty of time to get a job before I had to move out of my apartment at the end of January. Obviously, that was not the case as it is now March and I'm writing a blog about being an unemployed librarian. I've learned a few things over the past months about job searching and thought I would take the opportunity to share this with you.

1. Apply early. Many jobs claim to be "open until filled" and usually that means you can submit your application at your leisure. In today's economy, however, this is no longer the case. I have received two letters during my search that says I was too late; they've received too many applications to get to mine. So open until filled isn't actually the case. My advice: as soon as you find the posting, apply for the job. Hopefully your application will get in the stack that actually gets reviewed and not thrown in the trash.
   
2. Don't apply for a job you don't want. I learned this one the hard way. Back in January I finally got an my first face-to-face interview at a small town public library. I was prepared to move to a small town and prepared to take on a job that might be over my head. Or so I thought. The more time I spent at the interview, the more I realized that I'm not cut out for public librarianship. I thought that I could take a public library job until I found an academic one, but soon after leaving the interview, I realized that I would be doing both the library and myself a disservice if I took a job I didn't want. I would be unhappy thus my work, and consequently, my patrons, would suffer. I was offered the job soon after the interview and turned it down. My dad keeps asking me if I regret it two unemployed months later and my answer is still no. But lesson learned: don't apply for a job just to apply. Only apply for the jobs you are prepared to do and jobs in places you are willing to live.
   
3. That said, don't be too picky. I know that I want to eventually end up in a larger research institution. However, that isn't stopping me from applying to small colleges, community and junior colleges, and special research libraries. I need to get some experience before I can apply to large universities. These smaller institutions will provide me with the experience I need.
   
4. Patience. Having patience is good advice in life and great advice in job searching. It is not a virtue I'm known for, but I'm definitely working to improve myself in that respect. I know that if I keep applying, continue to follow up, and remain patient, I will eventually get a job I want.
   

What have you learned from job hunting? Feel free to share!

Menu Plan Monday

I was a huge slacker on Thursday and didn't plan the menu for this week. That means that I sent my poor mother to the grocery store without a complete list. I finally sat down tonight and laid out this week's menu and made a second grocery list. I'm about 99% sure we won't come in under $100 this week, but sometimes life happens that way. All I (and anyone) can do is hope for a better week in the future.

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Grilled Chicken, Risotto with Peas (recipe coming soon!), Wheat Dinner Rolls

Monday: Gnocchi Florentine, Rolls

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Chicken Kiev and/or Chicken Cordon Bleu (part of a Christmas gift), White Cheddar Mac and Cheese

Thursday: Crockpot Pot Roast, Rice, Green Beans

Friday: Lemony Shrimp Scampi Pasta

For more than 400 meal plans, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Simple Sunday

I had a choice today. I could either go shopping for some desperately needed work clothes, or I could keep my Sunday simple by not driving and accomplishing some tasks around the house. I opted for the latter. Yesterday was a simple day as well (I only left the house to pick up take-out for dinner), but I decided that I would devote Tuesday (when I don't have to work at my part-time job) to running errands, so I could stay at home and save money.

Today is devoted to cleaning my room, which is an unqualified disaster, doing some laundry, making bread, and applying for jobs. Dinner tonight is grilled chicken, risotto with peas, and wheat dinner rolls.

How are you spending your simple Sunday?

Being Well Read on a Budget

Being a librarian, it's no secret that I love to read. I adore books, of all kinds, but especially romance and historical fiction. Alas, these are not always the most popular in the eyes of the general public. I'm usually at a loss when people ask, as they often do of librarians, for book recommendations. I can go on and on about my love of Nora Roberts or Diana Gabaldon, but these aren't books that are going to appeal to everyone. This summer I set out to remedy that. I created a nice long list of books, mostly of the general fiction persuasion, that were designed to improve my ability to give good book recommendations. I read a good number of the books on my list over the summer, but once school picked back up again, I reverted back to my easy reading schedule of romance novels mixed in with the occasional fantasy.

It's not always easy to read so many books on a budget. Books can be very expensive, and sometimes the wait list at the library is months long. I've learned, however, that in order to finish my list, I've got to learn patience. That and find other things to read in the meantime. I started using paperbackswap.com a few years ago when I was frustrated at finding the same books at my local used bookstore. If you are unfamiliar with the website, it operates like a book-trading system. Membership is free; once you sign up you can begin posting books you wish to trade. Every time someone requests a book from you and you mail it to them, you earn a "credit". Credits are then used to order books for yourself. All you pay for is the shipping costs of sending your books to people who request them from you. Through this website, I've able to clean out a good number of books that I had lying around my house and have been able to get lots of books I've wanted to read.

Using PaperBackSwap and the library have been my two ways of working towards my goal of being more well-rounded in my reading choices. The library is an obvious choice since it's free, but PaperBackSwap is also a good choice because it gives me an opportunity to declutter my numerous bookshelves. I occasionally visit used bookstores and trade in some of books for credit there, but to date, I have more credit that I'll ever use, so, for now, I'm sticking to these two sources.

Do you like to read? How do you read on a budget?

A selection of recently acquired books from the library and paperbackswap.com.

*I have not been paid or compensated by PaperBackSwap to endorse them. I am doing so because I truly love their website.

Food Waste Friday

As far as I can tell, we have zero food waste this week! Whoohoo!! I've been a little more mindful of our leftovers, so there is nothing in the fridge in danger of going bad immediately. I can't claim that next week will be the same; leftovers from Wednesday and Thursday's dinners need to be eaten! But for now, yay me!

For more on Food Waste Friday, check out The Frugal Girl.

Recipe: Wheat Sandwich Bread

Like many people, I'm concerned about the amount of preservatives in packaged food. I try to eat and cook with mainly whole foods, but it's not always easy. In order to avoid preservatives I often choose to make the food rather than buy it. The main things I choose to make instead of buy are bread products. Have you looked at the ingredients for a loaf of sandwich bread lately? I shudder at the thought of all those preservatives going into my body. Luckily, bread is easy to make (thanks to my stand mixer!), and is usually cheaper than buying it pre-made at the store. The bread I make most often is this sandwich bread. It took me a while to find the right recipe, but this has been the favorite of my family so far.

Wheat Sandwich Bread – Adapted from The Frugal Girl

Makes 2 8x4 loaves

2½ - 3 cups whole wheat flour

2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 package (2¼ teaspoons) yeast (I use rapid rise)

2¼ cups milk

1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1½ cups of wheat flour, 1 cup white flour, and yeast. Heat milk, butter (or vegetable oil), sugar and salt in a microwave-safe bowl or large measuring cup until it reaches 115-120°. Add warm liquids to flours and yeast and beat on low speed until combined. Beat a high speed for three minutes.

Add enough of the remaining flours (more white flour may be needed, depending on the weather that day) to make a soft, kneadable dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Put dough back in bowl, cover with a damp tea towel, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide into two pieces. Roll each piece out to a 6"x18" rectangle. Roll up, jelly roll-style, starting from the short end, and place, seam side down, in a greased 8x4 loaf pan. Repeat with other dough piece. Cover with damp tea towel and allow to rise 45 minutes to 1 hour or until doubled.

Bake 25-30 minutes in a pre-heated 350° oven. Allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing. 

 

I also made French Bread on Tuesday.  If you are interested in this recipe, check out The Frugal Girl's recipe.

“Economic Triage”

If you followed me over from Chronicles of a Library School Student, you'll probably remember that I am not a fan of the Annoyed Librarian. Yes, she is one of the most-read and popular librarian bloggers (there are tons of us out there!), but a good bit of the time, I seriously disagree with what she has to say. Not that I don't love sarcasm in a blog, but her style of writing is not to my taste. Yet I continue to read the blog… Despite my feelings about the AL, most of her posts are really relevant and always have lots of good links and information about what's going on in the library world. In fact, a lot of my blog posts on my old blog were inspired by something I read on the Annoyed Librarian.

Today I came across an article she had linked in a post about the usefulness of a librarian. I feel strongly about this, but we'll save that for another day! This particular article that was cited was about budget cuts in the city of Phoenix. The president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, Mark Spencer, said that the city is in "economic triage". The PLEA suggests cutting programs and services that are not crucial to the city, instead of doing budget cuts all around. Items on the list to cut are libraries, transportation, and services to seniors. Services not to cut funding to are the police, the fire department, and other public safety organizations.

Now I fully understand that the city is in financial trouble; most cities are. And I understand that budgets are going to be cut across the board. Libraries tend to be undervalued (again, another post for another time!) and are usually, along with the arts, the first services that feel the budget crunch. What really made me mad in this article was that Mr. Spencer compared libraries to cosmetic surgery. Basically he said that libraries are just there for fluff, or in this analogy, to make you look good. That is so not true. In this time of economic turmoil, most public libraries are seeing jumps in patronage. Many people are realizing that the public library offers more than just pleasure-reading books and now come for the free internet, job hunting resources, magazines, and DVDs. Librarians are doing everything they can to serve these new patrons to the best of their ability, despite dwindling budgets. Maybe library services, especially books and DVDs, are "wants" and not "needs" in terms of budgets for a city, but keeping services that provide free help to the community is crucial in attracting new business and supporting the overall moral of a city. I hope that Mr. Spencer takes the time to speak to the local librarians and discovers that, while libraries aren't providing life saving services, they are incredibly important to an already suffering community.

What do you think? Should libraries be closed in a case of "economic triage"?