Meet…
17 September 2008
SLIS Grad Secures Job at Academic Library
Jeff Karlsen, who graduated from SLIS in December 2007, is using the skills he learned in the program at his new job at Sacramento City College. His time is split among reference desk work, collection development, and teaching library orientation classes. According to Karlsen, the technology skills learned in LIBR 240 (Information Technology Tools and Applications) were key in helping him secure his new position. "Developing electronic tutorials, being able to customize web 2.0 tools, getting blogs and wikis up in a way that doesn’t cost, and just having the basic building blocks of web development helps immensely," he said.
One of the tasks that Karlsen has been charged with is developing a plan to ensure that Sacramento City College's outreach centers, which were established to serve people who cannot commute to the main campus, have equitable library services. Karlsen will be evaluating what these students need and determining the most effective way of delivering these services to them. There is little room for a physical collection at these locations, so he will investigate alternate methods such as electronic services and a combination of in-person and video/online instruction.
Another class that Karlsen describes as "really valuable" was LIBR 210 (Reference and Information Services). Everything he learned, he said, has helped him do the work of reference, such as the reference interview. He also points out that the skills he picked up in this class helped immensely in job interviews when presented with hypothetical reference situations.
Karlsen encourages current students to take advantage of internship opportunities. He originally worked as an intern at Sacramento City College, which helped him confirm that he enjoyed the community college environment. Immediately after graduating, he was hired on a part-time basis as an adjunct, and when a tenure-track job was announced, Karlsen already had "the inside track."
Having taught classes in Russian language, freshman composition and film while enrolled in an earlier graduate program, Karlsen is comfortable in a classroom setting teaching information literacy skills. However, he admits he is still figuring out how to best engage students given the limited time available and the wealth of information to be covered.
Karlsen emphasizes that the library serves a vital role in the community college environment. Many students are from low-income backgrounds and simply cannot afford textbooks, so the library provides a crucial service by making them available on reserve. "It’s one of the ways the library contributes to student retention."
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