‘The New Information Professional’

The New Information Professional examines education and career paths in what authors Judy Lawson, Joanna Kroll and Kelly Kowatch identify as “some of the most cutting edge career and educational opportunities available.”

The information career tracks profiled in their book include Archives/Preservation of Information, Records Management, Library and Information Services, Human-Computer Interaction, Social Computing, Information Policy and Information Analysis and Retrieval.

I have experience in more than one of these information tracks.

During my tenure at the Lake County Record-Bee, I was engaged in social computing. I administered corporate Twitter and Facebook accounts to promote content and engage with readership.

I continue in this capacity with my library advocacy initiative, Yarn Bombing @ Your Library. In addition to creating and installing my own tags, I curate images on Facebook of other artists’ work.

I blog about issues of information policy and human-computer interaction, including accessibility of web design.

And, of course, I treasure my experience as a library volunteer: locating holds, shelving and supervising other volunteers during the Middletown library’s move to a new and larger facility and purchasing books, generating policy and promoting enjoyment of a small church lending library.

I am grateful for more recent volunteer experience in the Government Publications Department at Southern Oregon University’s Hannon Library. This and my work as an independent contractor for the Ashland-based Folium Partners represent some of my earliest connections in a new community.

So while I fight to rally support for financing Jackson County libraries, while I continue submitting applications to work at area libraries, I would welcome work — and have already worked — in these alternate areas.