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From the Dark Side

July 21, 2008 Today’s librarian has been a treat to interview. She’s seen many different sides of librarianship—from vendor and journal sales to academic, public, and special libraries… She now provides information service-related consultations and projects for LibraryJournal, among other businesses that cater to libraries and librarians. With an MLS from the University of Chicago, a background in cataloging for retrospective conversions, and NOTIS record entry… I originally asked her for more information about the shadowy world of vendors and library journals. After reading what she has to say, I’m shocked at my ignorance. I had no idea that so much was possible outside the world of library science that I was introduced to in school!

Today, I’m excited to share with you the irrepressible Dodie Ownes. She is the current Editor of SLJTeen, and a self-made Information Services Consultant working out of Golden, Colorado. Her interview has given me a window into the complex and interwoven world of “the dark side” (actually a blinding kaleidoscope!) of library services, and the extensive skill sets that feed it.

    --How did your career unfold, and what drew you to this field or this position?

(Drawn from her article, “If You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!” Colorado Libraries; 2008, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p14-17, 4p; with permission from the author. You really ought to read the original article.)

There were no library bells going off when I thought about a post-undergraduate career. I took what I could find, with my first real job being a marketing coordinator for a small stoneware company based in Chicago. …When a floral magazine tried to interest me in advertising with them, I saw a slim thread of connection to the publishing business and ended up taking a job at Florists’ Review, selling classified and space advertising… I found myself on the phone with a woman at Ball Seed, a leading horticultural company, trying to get a photo of next season’s hottest geranium. As she flipped through her photo files, I asked her what her job was, and when she told me she was the company librarian, my interest was piqued. You mean not all librarians worked behind desks handing out reference books and interlibrary loan slips? She invited me for a visit, and I was hooked. I had decided I would become a special librarian.

…I naively applied and was accepted to the Graduate Library School at University of Chicago. It seemed that all my classmates had known since birth that they wanted to be librarians, loved books, and would be happy if they could spend the rest of their lives handing out reference books and interlibrary loan slips … this was not a good omen for me. Jobs on campus were tight, and much to my dismay, the only positions open in Regenstein Library were for cataloging positions – cataloging? Me? Under the careful tutelage of the Tech Services department, I came to love the problem-solving nature of cataloging, and as part of the retrospective conversion project I was assigned to, it was necessary to use one of the first online MARC cataloging systems, MUMS, from the Library of Congress, and University of Chicago’s own proprietary public access catalog. And because many of the records to be converted were in Cyrillic, I had to learn how to transliterate Russian. Technology and foreign language experience – two very unexpected destinations from that fork in the road!

The special librarian market bubble busted right as I graduated in 1981, and wouldn’t you know, retrospective cataloging skills were in demand and “recon” projects had lots of funding. …Now I was working on yet another automated library catalog – the Northwestern Online Total Integrated System (NOTIS) – which was just entering the commercial systems marketplace. After a year of creating thousands of catalog and authority records on the NOTIS system, I was an expert. And as NOTIS systems started popping up in ARL libraries across North America, the newly-founded company found it needed an army of trainers – particularly for its cataloging and authority control modules. Trainers had to be willing to travel up to 60% of the time – and that sounded great to me. Wow, the road taken at this fork was win-win, with a bonus of frequent flier miles!

…Then it came along – the job posting for a systems librarian at the University of Colorado Denver campus, at the Auraria Library. They desperately wanted help managing their CARL ILS system, and technology in the library definitely needed upgrading. And I would have the opportunity to be on the library floor, working with students. …On the library side, I had grown tired of needing 10 signatures to get a mouse pad, timing my employee’s smoke breaks, and fighting administrative battles over snow trees and vendor selection – so back into the library vendor world for me. Yes, you are allowed to backtrack to that fork in the road!

.... I became good friends with my contact at Library Journal, and when he had the opportunity to work for another publication, he asked if I would be interested in his job. It sounded okay to me – travel about 30% of the time, and work from home. Great pay, good expense account. But was that really doing justice to my master’s degree in library science? …

My interview with the advertising director from Library Journal took place at Gate 14 in the newly-opened Denver International Airport. He was skeptical – could a librarian sell advertising? He took the chance, and I followed his path at the fork – it led to seven fabulous years working with the brightest editors, librarians and salespeople in the business, and allowed me to cultivate a wonderful network of customers and prospects across my 15-state territory. The job’s flexible nature gave me enough time to volunteer with the Colorado Association of Libraries and my son’s school library, which allowed me to keep myself grounded in practical library applications and the needs of library vendors. …My advertisers trusted me, and they demonstrated that by listening to my recommendations.

…With my family’s blessing, I left advertising sales once again, and reinvented myself as an information services consultant. Sound vague? It is meant to be. Does it cause confusion? Sometimes. What does it allow me to do? Just about anything I want!

    --What sort of jobs and services are included in the term "library vendor?"

Most of these would be in the commercial sector - working for publishers, ILS vendors, distributors (B&T, Blackwell, or Ingram, for example), places like OCLC, SOLINET, etc ... and include everything from sales and customer service to training and application design. While many of the jobs are "customer-facing", which is why vendors like librarians talking to librarians, there are a lot behind the scenes stuff going on too - creation of documentation, trade show coordination, content selection and integration, etc ..

    --Why are vendors, sales positions, and freelance work considered the "Dark Side" of librarianship?

While this is partly a joke, there is a true side to it! "Real" librarians often feel that librarians that work for vendors have "sold out" for higher salaries, travel opportunities, etc... and are turning a blind eye to problems and complaints that customers have with the product or service. But actually, having librarians on the "inside" of the companies is a big advantage to the practicing librarians, since the insiders can contribute to the development of better applications and services. Vendors do pay better than libraries, but there is greater risk involved in working for a vendor - these companies lay-off, get bought, get sold, merge, etc... with greater regularity than changes happen in libraries. Sales positions are seen as particularly "dirty" - but someone has to do it!

Dodie’s interview will be continued on Friday—Dodie’s Interview; part 2.

Posted by Staci B Elliott on July 21, 2008 | Comments (2)