Naomi House | Movers & Shakers 2013 — Community Builders

Career Conjurer

Vitals

CURRENT POSITION
INALJ Editor, Publisher, and Founder; Reference and Acquisitions Librarian, CSTI/Census Bureau Library, Suitland, MD
INALJ (I Need A Library Job), Hyattsville, MD

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DEGREE
MLIS, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 2011

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KUDOS
From the site’s late 2010 launch to December 31, 2012, 720-plus visitors have found information jobs via INALJ.com

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FUN FACTS
An avid lover of photography and travel, House “dreams of life on the road, just a laptop instead of an office”

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FOLLOW
@needalibraryjob; inalj.com; www.facebook.com/ineedalibraryjob

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Photo by Sana Khan

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“I tend to look at my career path less as a ladder and more like a corkscrew,” says Naomi House, reference and acquisitions librarian and creator of INALJ.com, the I Need a Library Job aggregator site for information professionals. “I did not find this career—it found me.” From circulation services coordinator at Ithaca College to circulation supervisor at Georgetown Law Library to (now) staff supervisor at a federal government library, “I have been lucky to walk into work environments where I could make my mark,” she says. “What I have taken away is that it is better to suggest and participate than to keep to myself.”

House’s drive to innovate and collaborate led to the launch in 2010 of INALJ, a one-stop shop of all available information jobs nationally and internationally, both inside libraries and out. It draws from popular postings like the American Library Association JobList but also references many lesser-known resources worldwide, gathered by dozens of enthusiastic volunteer editors and contributors, including specialists in the international job market, competitive intelligence field, and prospect research (fundraising).

INALJ has grown from a daily digest of more than 150 pages of active job listings to an integrated jobs community offering state and province pages and jobs for librarians, library staffers, and information professionals. Viewed approximately 100,000 times per month, INALJ.com also includes success stories to inspire job hunters, links to blogs and other advice articles from the field, and tips from contributors cross-promoted from INALJ’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages.

“Naomi House recognized a need in the library community and filled it,” says Crystal King, substitute librarian at Burlington Public Library, WA, and a member and frequent contributor to the site. “She strives to build a global library community for job seekers. She is a true leader and mentor.”

Brittany Turner, another INALJ member, agrees. When Turner found herself between projects for 14 months, despite an MPA (Master’s in Public Administration) and MLIS, she turned to INALJ—and secured several interviews within a month, as well as the offer for her current job as records manager/special projects librarian with the Shreve Memorial Library, Shreveport, LA.

“Naomi’s ability to work tirelessly for strangers is beyond admirable,” says Turner, “as is her [ability] to inspire that dedication in others.” Turner praises House’s “initiative” in “advancing the profession by connecting qualified job seekers with their ideal jobs.”

House is quick to point out that INALJ also takes a team of friends, family, and all those dedicated volunteers to keep the site up-to-date and useful. To her credit, she’s “passionate not only about librarians finding jobs but also about breaking the stereotypes and helping companies see our value, too,” she says.