As an online student, what is your routine? Log on to the course site, complete your readings, post to the discussion board, respond to a classmate's post, turn in your assignments, and repeat the process. Well, okay, that's not all there is because some classes do also include lectures and other resources to "spice it up." Now, if you want to go through your program and just take your classes and nothing else, that's fine. You'll still end up with your degree. But the market right now for librarians is not the best (just check the ALA LinkedIn group for all the stories of librarians who are still unemployed or who had to submit dozens of resumes before getting one interview). As a student, you'll want to make yourself stand out, and just doing the minimum and skating through your classes won't help you do that. So what are some of your options?
Internships or special studies opportunities can be one way to boost your resume. These "classes" do give you units towards your degree, but they offer real-world experience that you can't always get in the traditional classes that discuss library theory. Now I'll be the first to admit that many of the projects and assignments I did were mock-ups of possible real-world scenarios. One that immediately comes to mind is the collection policy manual I worked on with a group over the course of the semester. The end result was a working collection policy manual that could have been used in an actual library (and in fact, we did base some of the statistics and budget on an actual library). But an internship gives that extra edge of having done something for an actual library or other organization. And special studies (which can include projects or research or even being a Peer Mentor like I am now) can give you other valuable experiences. My internship allowed me to help develop a real library's website, create tutorials for staff that will actually be used, and learn from people that are working in our profession. My experience as a Peer Mentor is providing me with leadership and management experience. That can all be put on my resume as examples of my work and how successful it was in a real setting, rather than assignments turned in for class.
Publication opportunities are also available for us, even while in school. The Student Research Journal is a scholarly peer-reviewed journal published by our program. Graduate students from our school and from other graduate programs can submit papers for review and publication. You will write at least several research papers during the course of your program. You could use this publication opportunity to have one of your papers published. If you don't feel the peer-reviewed track is for you, there is a more informal publication opportunity in the SLIS Descriptor. This online publication allows students to submit their own articles on topics that are of interest to them. I submitted an article on my experience with designing a website for another organization and had it published in a past issue. Having your work published is another great way to boost your resume. Having and maintaining a blog is not quite as impressive because you can post whatever you want. Getting your work accepted and published by another party shows that there is value in what you've written.
A third way to stand out is by getting involved in student organizations. There are many leadership opportunities to be found in our student organizations for those that want to run for them (many of the offices are filled by individuals getting voted in). Check out our ALASC, ASIS&T, and SLISConnect groups. Having a position of responsibility is another great point on your resume and shows definite leadership potential in a work setting. This was one opportunity I couldn't really take advantage of due to time constraints, although I did get involved in one of our department's governance committees (which was awesome because I got to help the department prepare for our program's re-accreditation that will be happening next year).
I'm not trying to suggest that every student needs to do all of this. But I think that each student should try to plan at least one of these opportunities into his or her program. It will create a richer student and program experience than just taking regular classes. You'll be glad if you do!
This is fantastic!
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