Description Table of Contents Details Authors Reviews

Description

This book examines the difficulties confronting information professionals who, due to financial downturns, technological change, or personal crises, are forced to re-evaluate their career options. It is divided between a case study (based on the author’s own experiences) of career dislocation and eventual career renewal, and several sections that offer pragmatic advice on how to recover from job loss, conduct a skills assessment and develop a practical job search strategy. The author, with honesty, confronts the serious and sometimes troubling psychological and professional consequences of layoffs and job burnout. This book presents an overall positive outlook on personal growth and the opportunities our new information environment holds.

Key Features

  • Provides the tools and resources that will help the reader decide on the best approach to re-start their career
  • Presents first-hand experience about the anxiety, hard work, and excitement that go into career renewal
  • Shines a light on the understanding of the various challenges that come with working in multiple library environments

Readership

Information professionals who are anticipating career change or who have experienced a career downturn

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgements
  • About the author
  • Chapter 1: Introduction to the parameters of career renewal
    • Abstract:
  • Chapter 2: Career recovery: a case study of my personal job search
    • Abstract:
    • Off to California
    • First you fail and then, guess what, you fail again
    • Why not try something new? Re-envisioning the problem
    • New approach, but the road is still bumpy and long
    • Your social network is not always a source of support
    • At last, I found a job
    • Dos and don’ts: some lessons to be learned from my experience
    • Observations to be drawn from my case: or some of the deadly sins of modern- day employment and job searching
  • Chapter 3: No job, no way: librarians are often unprepared for voluntary and involuntary career changes
    • Abstract:
    • The dodo effect: too much specialization and too much complacency
    • It comes like a thief in the night and sometimes it doesn’t
    • The job market: there is a big world outside these hallowed halls
    • We have it within our power: self-assessment and reframing
  • Chapter 4: First you grieve: job loss, job stagnation, and job burnout in an age of transition
    • Abstract:
    • We are handling it, but are we really?
    • You got a right to sing the blues!
    • You are more than just a job title
    • Rethinking your skill set and reframing your career goals
  • Chapter 5: Re-envisioning your career: a new look at yourself and your skills
    • Abstract:
    • Who are you and what do you want to do with your career?
    • The really big change
    • Skills analysis: don’t sell yourself short
    • The generalist, the hybrid, and the specialist: know yourself and consider how others may know you
    • You are a person not just a category
    • Outside work is not ou

Details

No. of pages:
168
Language:
English
Copyright:
© 2011
Published:
Imprint:
Chandos Publishing
eBook ISBN:
9781780632728
Print ISBN:
9781843346326

About the author

Oliver Cutshaw

Oliver Cutshaw has over 30 years experience as both a para-professional technician and professional librarian; having worked at world-renowned universities, including Harvard University, and small graduate schools he brings a broad and established perspective to the question of career change. The author holds both MA and MLIS degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park. He served as a middle manager and preservation librarian for over a decade at Harvard University and is now the Librarian for Southern California at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, California.

Affiliations and Expertise

Chicago School of Professional Psychology, USA

Reviews

"Every librarian should read this optimistic, practical, honest and insightful, easy-to-read, and highly relevant guide." --Australian Library Journal
Back to top