Are librarians useful in social media?

I had a job interview recently with a really exciting small niche social networking site. One of my interviewers mentioned an interest in my library experience, but said he wasn’t sure how it would apply to the position. This was really thought provoking for me—lots of people understand that librarians have valuable skill sets, but they’re not sure exactly how they’re valuable, or how these skills apply outside of a library setting.

My initial reaction to his question was a no-brainer—of course library experience has everything to do with me being the ideal person for the job. After spending some more time thinking about how my library experience makes me a better candidate for the position, I keep coming back to this: Librarians, by definition, exist to support communities of users.

How do librarians do this? How does this apply in a virtual community? I feel like I could write an entire book about this, but I’ll keep it brief: Librarians bring communities of users together.

Working in an important center of community space, a public librarian is a natural grassroots community developer. Working day-in and day-out, face-to-face with their user base, public librarians engage with users in order to serve them in a variety of ways:

• Identifying the needs and interests of users, and developing/organizing information resources, collections of materials, and events/activities to meet those needs.
• Researching, selecting, collecting resources
• Promoting usability and access
• Outreach & advocacy
• Bringing users and resources together
• Promoting intellectual freedom
• Fostering a spirit of community across a diverse spectrum of users

My favorite example of a librarian serving a vital role in supporting an online community is Jessamyn West, who’s been serving as one of the moderators of MetaFilter since January of 2005. Here’s an article in Library Journal in which she discusses the importance of librarians in the MeFi community, with a really awesome example question from someone trying to track down the apartment in Vienna where his grandfather lived before fleeing from the Nazis during World War II.

A good reference librarian is, by nature, a rabidly compassionate, empathetic, helpful person.  Not only is he or she an information ninja, but an information ninja that feels called to use their information-fu for the good of the community.  This is just as true in virtual communities as it is in the context of traditional library services.

I hope that answers your question, Casey. :)

I had a job interview today, which got me thinking about All Things Work.  Here are a few odds and ends left over from my thought processes and interview prep:

Things I am most proud of in my career:

• Running computer workshops for totally green beginners—I’m responsible for dozens of senior citizens learning how to use a mouse, get around Windows, and eventually be able to download photos of their grandkids via email.  ♥ 
  I especially love helping users on the other end of the digital divide.
• I am really proud of having advocated for (& subsequently creating) a new collection at the Shrewsbury Public Library for comics/graphic novels. It came out of discussions about how to better serve younger adults—people in their 20s-30s.  The new collection got great circulation statistics & lots of positive feedback from library users.
• I’ve also felt a deep sense of accomplishment selling my handspun yarn.  The idea that I was able to create beautiful objects that spoke to other people, so much so that they were willing, nay, excited to part with their hard-earned dollars to buy them (and then spend dozens of hours knitting with them!) just makes me more happy than I know how to talk about.  Being able to share the work of your hands is such a privilege.

I’m also proud of the countless interactions I’ve had with customers, library patrons, and clients in which I’ve been able to transform an unhappy/irate person into a relieved/happy person.  I’m one of those strange people that actually enjoys challenging customer service interactions.

On a semi-related note, my good friend (and fellow freelancer) Kelly Griffith of Closed Circle Photo had a conversation tonight about freelancing issues:

amelia: working for yourself is definitely not for everyone.

kelly: it’s not for most people
I think people glamorize it
but showing up, doing as you’re told, and going home with money is so much easier

amelia: it is
the hardest thing, imo, about working for yourself
is having to do literally everything
**everything**

kelly: yessssss

amelia: billing, prospecting, planning, the actual work you do

kelly: I don’t think Anastasia [kelly’s fiancée] even gets that and she lives with me
like why aren’t you so much freer to do the laundry in the winter?
because in the winter I have to make albums and catch up with vendors and work on my taxes and do marketing crap

amelia: i would love to have a partner or two, to spread the administrativa around
but like, it’s a huge leap of trust and i wouldn’t even consider it unless i met someone amazing enough to get work-married.

kelly: I want to contract an editor for when I get backlogged…but I don’t want to spend the money this year and I’m afraid to hire someone crappy
yeah, the trust thing
I’ve also considered contracting an associate photographer, but it would really have to be the right person.

amelia: yeah. relationships are key. and even if you find someone you really like and trust, good working relationships take a long time to develop.

kelly: for me, sending a photog into someone’s wedding unsupervised under my banner…
makes me vomit in the night

amelia: i understand completely.

kelly: but the eventual idea is to raise my prices to a point where I’m shooting more like 15-20 a year rather than 40
and then having a lower price point associate
that I can still make money off of

amelia: i think ideally i would like to be a part of a small group of 3-5 people, but it’s so hard to build something like that.

—

I know this is a horrible brain-dump of a post, but I’ve got a better one cooking: one of the interviewers I spoke with today mentioned an interest in my library experience, but shared that he wasn’t sure how this would be an asset to the position.  This was really thought-provoking for me—lots of people understand that librarians have valuable skill sets, but they’re not sure exactly how they’re valuable, or how these skills apply outside of a library setting.   So, I’m working on a Tumblr post about all the ways librarians support communities of users.  (Facilitating community development, stewardship of community resources, promoting usability, helping individual users, etc. )

Stay tuned!