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Employment During Library School

Working Your Way Through?

Student library jobs are invaluable, especially if you have limited or no library experience.

If you are a local student, here are some places you might start looking:

• The University Library system: the Main and Science libraries hire students for jobs on the reference desk, and in departments like Special Collections or the Digitization Initiative. Individual librarians may also hire student assistants. Either way, the training and networking opportunities make the low pay worthwhile! Join our listservs -- Tucson and sometimes Phoenix area job openings are posted there.
  
• The Tucson-Pima Public Library hires Pages, Clerks and Library Assistants and pays them rather good wages. The TPPL Friends Group also gives several employees scholarships every year. Clerk positions and Library Assistanceships are civil service jobs, so you must take a test to get on the eligibilty list.
• Be a GAT. See the Program Manager in the SIRLS office, or go to <http://www.sir.arizona.edu/admissions/financial.html> for more information.

Internships
While internships don't pay wages (you earn credit), they are another excellent way to get practical library experience. Some recent student internships have included digitization projects, thesaurus creation, and the curation of an exhibit for UA Special Collections.
| SIRLS Internship requirements | List of internship possibilities

Preparing for the Professional Job

As you prepare your resume, look through the JOBOPS archive, accessible from our website, http://listserv.arizona.edu/lsv/www/jobops.html, for an idea of actual job requirements. JOBOPS is a student-run Listserv that anyone can join (see the section on Listservs above). Subscribers receive up to 30 library and information related job announcements daily, all posted by the LSO’s JOBOPS Coordinator and other helpful subscribers to the list!

Getting Help with Your Resume by Lisa Waite Bunker (SIRLS class of 2001), is an index to Websites with general and library/info sciences-related resume help.

Writing your Resume to the Job Announcement by Bob Diaz and Lisa Waite Bunker, is based on notes taken at an LSO-sponsored seminar on resumes and cover letters by UA Librarian Bob Diaz.

Additionally, SIRLS receives information from time to time about paid internships, many of which would make an excellent first professional job experience. Information on paid internships is also posted on the Listservs.