Job Hunter’s Web Guide: Careers in Law Librarianship

I’m happy to be able to share today’s site with you. It is an excellent example of the services our professional associations can provide for job hunters and prospective librarians. Today we are featuring Careers in Law Librarianship, a site run by the American Association of Law Librarians (AALL). Wendy E. Moore, who is the Chair of the AALL Recruitment to Law Librarianship Committee as well as the Acquisitions Librarian, University of Georgia Law Library, was gracious enough to answer my questions. I hope you will enjoy!

What is it? Please give us your elevator speech!

Careers in Law Librarianship is a portal to link people interested in law librarianship with information about educational requirements, career possibilities, types of law libraries, and sources of financial assistance.

When was it started? Why was it started?

It started about five years ago or so. It was created to have a single source to share with people interested in law librarianship which would be easy to find using a search engine.

Who runs it?

The site is run by the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), an organization with over 5,000 members, which was founded in 1906 to promote and enhance the value of law libraries to the legal and public communities, to foster the profession of law librarianship, and to provide leadership in the field of legal information.

Are you a “career expert”? What are your qualifications?

I am not a “career expert,” although I have been a librarian for almost 20 years. I am currently the Chair of the AALL Recruitment to Law Librarianship Committee.

Who is your target audience?

Anyone interested in learning more about careers in law librarianship. Many of our users either already have a JD degree or an MLS degree and our seeking information about what additional educational requirements they may need and for how to network with law librarians in their region.

What’s the best way to use your site? Should users consult it daily? Or as needed? Should they already know what they need help with, or can they just noodle around?

Our site is a great place to get started to understand some of the unique aspects to careers in law librarianship. It directs users to additional information at the AALL website including lists of dual JD/MLS programs, job positings, and scholarship opportunities from various AALL regional Chapters, Special Interest Sections, and Caucuses.

Does your site provide:

√ Answers to reader questions
√ Links

Should readers also look for you on social media? Or is your content available in other formats?

Our site is not active on social media, but the American Association of Law Libraries AALL is active on the following:
√ Twitter: @aallnet
√ LinkedIn
√ Facebook
√ Newsletter
√ Magazine or other periodical: AALL Spectrum
√ Blog
√ Flickr

Do you charge for anything on your site?

No, our site is free to all.

Can you share any stories about job hunters that found positions after using your site?

Since the site is an information portal, we don’t really track or follow-up on specific job positions people who use our site eventually find. We have through the site been able to match up people interested in learning more about law librarianship with law librarians in their local area, so I consider that a successful outcome of the site.

Anything else you’d like to share with my readers about your site in particular, or about library hiring/job hunting in general?

Law Librarianship is a very specialized form of librarianship. The more flexible you are concerning your geographic location, the easier time you will have in securing a position. Also carefully read the educational and experience requirements in job ads and make certain you meet (or will meet before the start date) those requirements before applying for a position as the requirements are usually not flexible.