An aspiring serialist... (Jennifer Friedman) Marcia Tuttle 07 Jul 1995 16:05 UTC
The moderators expect that this posting will generate a lively discussion and we encourage you to respond to Jennifer via SERIALST. As the current moderator, I will be happy to digest messages if several replies are received and can conveniently be batched together (as we usually do when several replies are sent regarding a hot topic or query where there is lots of interest). As a rule, however, we are not in the habit of summarizing responses or surveys for individual posters. -ed. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 20:07:00 CDT From: Bonjour a Tous <JFRIEDMN@MACC.WISC.EDU> Subject: An aspiring serialist... Hello, SERIALST members! This is going to seem like an odd request. But...like they say, the wisest are those who know when to ask for help. I am an aspiring serialist, just out of library school. I will be starting to interview for serials jobs in the next two weeks and I have discovered that I don't know what to say when people ask me why I'd like to work with serials. In the past I've just laughed and said, "Oh, you know, they're the gift that keeps on giving", but that won't do in interviews, I'm afraid. I'm not as clueless as the above remark makes me sound. I worked with a collection of little magazines (or "little buggers", as my former boss used to call them) for two years, and discovered how frustrating and wonderful periodical literature can be, and how publishers sometimes don't seem to care about librarians' tribulations. Right now I'm establishing a periodicals database for the library in a small corporation, and discovering how a lapse in bibliographic control can echo through a collection for years. I have some experience in the acquisitions, public service, cataloging, and preservation aspects of serials. I know the challenge and I want to meet it. In short, I know I love 'em. But how do I get that love across to prospective employers? From the few interviews I've had, it seems to always be the very first question: "So, why do you want to be a serials librarian?" The last interview I had, I bumbled out something about how I love the challenge, but that sounds so generic... Okay. Here's what I would like from some of you (not all, or you'll flood the list!): [Go ahead! -ed.] 1. When you were looking for your present job (or your first serials job), were you looking particularly for serials work, or did you end up applying for/taking the job because of other, outside reasons: geographical, just needed a library job, it was in your promotion chain, pay level, etc.? 2. If you were looking seriously for serials jobs, why did you believe this was a good idea for you? How did you express this to prospective employers? 3. In retrospect, were your reasons for wanting to go into serials work realistic? Think about some of the things you told fellow students, professors, prospective employers, etc. about why you were interested in serials; do these things make you laugh now? (Obviously, here I'm concerned about *not* spouting naive cliches to a prospective employer, who will know better.) If the list moderator would summarize the answering messages for everyone, I'm sure that would be more interesting for everyone than your flooding my mailbox with personal replies (and easier on my infinitesimally small e-mail quota). Finally, I apologize for asking you to engage in navel-examining at a time when you'd probably rather be out water-skiing. Thanks in advance. Jennifer Friedman Wisconsin Peer Review Organization Librarian 2909 Landmark Place Madison, WI 53713 (608) 274-1940 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Jennifer Friedman School of Library and Information Studies 415 W. Gilman #508 Helen C. White Hall, UW-Madison campus Madison, WI 53703 Internet: jfriedmn@macc.wisc.edu (608) 251-8917 Bitnet: jfriedmn@wiscmacc \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\