Huntington Library Employment Opportunities

The Huntington Library in San Marino has two opportunities available. This is an extract from the employment section of the web site:

Dibner Reader Services Assistant
Job Number: 066-08
Department: Reader Services
Classification: Regular, Full-Time, Hourly, 37.5 hours per week

Working under minimal supervision, supports the Huntington’s history of science programs by assisting in Reference collection maintenance, providing services to readers, and performing special projects. Has frequent contact with readers, staff, and volunteers. Works on a flexible and rotating schedule. Reports to Head of Reader Services.

Archival Assistant
Job No.: 060-08
Grant position--15 months; 18.75 hours/week

I could find no information about this position but it may be that it was relayed to Mrs. Kim as an additional opportunity for students.

If you would like to apply for one of these positions you have a number of options. You can download complete the employment application.

Follow the instructions on the application page to submit your interest in employment.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
jobs@huntington.org

County of Los Angeles Public Library Job Link

Well if first you don't succeed, try, try again. There is an alternative viable link for the Library Assistant 1 position with the County of Los Angeles Library.

According to the library web page:

The County of Los Angeles Public Library is one of the nation's five largest metropolitan public library systems with 88 libraries that service communities and institutions covering almost 3,100 square miles. Its extensive collection takes many forms, providing diverse resources, current materials and the latest in technology to satisfy the public's "need to know".

The Library provides staff the opportunity to work with rich collections in a variety of formats. Many types of career opportunities are also provided, creating possibilities to explore a variety of specialties and the challenges of differing communities. The Library has an ongoing need for Audio-Visual, Children's, Government Services, Reference Services and Technical Services Librarians.

You can file for the position online or via traditional mail. For more information you can visit the County library employment page. The application deadline is April 21, 2008.

PCC Shatford Library is Recruiting a LT II Position

Yes, now is the time to take what you have learned in class and join the front line, maybe the front desk as a full time Library Technician II. You know the environment, certainly know the stacks and know where the book binding tape is located in the staff room.

Job Duties:

• Under general supervision of the Access Services Librarian, this Technician serves as a lead person serving Library patrons at heavily used Circulation Desk, trains and supervises student assistants, and serves as a collegial member of the Library staff.
• Tasks performed at the Circulation Desk such as trains and supervises student assistants in circulation functions.
  
• Assists in hiring and scheduling student assistants; prepares time reports.
• Utilizes the Library’s Ex Libris Voyager system, charges, discharges and renews library materials, collects fines and payments for library materials, registers borrowers, accesses online bibliographic records, verifies data for accuracy and completeness. Reports unusual occurrences in the Library’s systems to Access Services Librarian.
• Conducts Library morning opening routines.
  

You can view the full list of job duties and requirements to fully understand what the job entails.

Salary Range and Work Schedule:

$2887.01 - $3684.65 (Starting salary 2887.01)
Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. This is a 12 month position with the college.

The application deadline is April 17, 2009. For more information you can visit
http://www.pasadena.edu/Files/Events/8815_File.htm

Health Information Island - A Trip Via Second Life

This is a silent video on how health information is being displayed in Second Life.



I don't have much to say about this. I get a little misty when I see vapors of the future start to emerge.

L.A. County Library Assistant 1 Employment Opportunity

Ken Lin a librarian and former PCC LT student passed along this job lead from the L.A. County Human Resource department. The County of Los Angeles is seeking a Library Assistant 1 to service patrons at a L.A. County library and at the Department of Health Services.

Sample List of Duties:

Performs general and varied paraprofessional library tasks to assist professional librarians within well-defined standards, in functional areas such as circulation, acquisition, cataloguing and classification, physical upkeep of library and inventory materials.

Registers borrowers and enforces the rules; issues and receives library materials; assists in maintaining library records and preparing reports regarding circulation, registration, book stock, and collection of fines.

Specific Requirements:

Completion of two years in an accredited college, including six units of technical library course work. One year of clerical or technical experience in an organized library will be accepted for each year of college.

A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternate method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.

Salary Information:

For Exam # Y-8326-C at the Department of Health Services the salary range is $2,642.91 - $3,273.27 Monthly with benefits.

For Exam # Q-8326-F at a branch of the County Public Library the salary range is $2,829.00 - $3,599.18 Monthly with benefits.

I've had some access problems with the County HR web site. It seems that there is more than one HR page one web page has the application while the other has the job information.

For a printed description of the two library Assistant positions that are available you can download the .pdf Open Examination List. To download a standard L.A. County job application form visit http://dhr.lacounty.info/Applying_for_a_Job.asp

You can also call for current open competitive job information in Los Angeles County Departments call the toll-free 24-hour Job Information Hotline at (800) 970-LIST (5478).

The Los Angeles County Employment Information Services Office (EISO) is located at 3333 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90010.

Scholarship - Jack Hom Scholarship for Library Studies

If you are library tech student or a librarian student who would be interested in working with the Chinese community you have until March 28, 2008 to apply for the Jack Hom Scholarship for Library Studies.

The Jack Hom Scholarship Endowment will award one annual scholarship of $2,000 to an AA or MA student in the field of Library Studies with a demonstrated interest and involvement in serving the Chinese or Chinese-American Library community.

To be eligible, you must:

• Be presently enrolled as an AA, Library Technician or MA, Library Sciences student.
  
• Have a minimum 3.5 GPA in your Library Studies classes.
• Submit a completed application package, including

1. Application Form
2. Personal statement of 500 to 600 words.
3. Copies of all college transcripts to date (in a sealed envelope with the school stamp across the seal).

Deadline: Complete application package must be received at the Chinatown Library postmarked no later than Friday, March 28, 2008.

Application package should be mailed to:

Jack Hom Scholarship for Library Studies
Friends of the Chinatown Library
Chinatown Branch Library
639 N. Hill Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Twitter in Plain English by Common Craft

What is Twitter? Twitter is a free web based application that let you sent messages of 140 characters to cell phones, instant messaging program, Twitter pages or any other capable receiver.

Caption version can be viewed at DotSub

To be honest, I don't Twitter. Not yet. I have enough to do in my day. Some folks seem to think I run off at the mouth a bit too much anyway. That doesn't mean I dislike Twitter, it has multiple purposes but I'm just not there yet.

Library Uses of Twitter

Twitter can be used as a means to alert patrons - Jeff at Gather No Dust has a post on how his library uses Twitter with Google Calendar and RSS fees to notify patrons of events and new books.

Twitter can also be used to staying in contact with special populations such as youth, poets or mystery writers by alerting them to events happening at the library. Here is an example of how the Cleveland Public Library uses Twitter.

To learn more about Twitter for library use visit iLibraian there is a guide page on how to get started with Twitter, some of the uses and tools to up your Twitter level. Librarian David Lee King has a post on Twitter Explained for Libraries. You can always go to the source the Twitter FAQ for more information about the service.

Library Support Survey - Participation Request

A while back I wrote about a proposed library support certification program that is being developed.

For those of you that are working as library support staff, pages, techs, or assistants this is an opportunity to participate in the Library Support Staff Competencies Survey that is trying to quantify the tasks and duties that library staff personnel are involved with on a daily basis.

The survey will take about 40 minutes to complete, however you can select the parts of the survey that you have specific knowledge, skills or direct experience.

Hammer Video Library and Viewing Room

There are so many library resources in the Los Angeles area it is easy to lose track of them. The Hammer Video Library and Viewing Room focuses on video art and artists.

Resistance of Memory - Captioned.
An Example of Video Art by By Shamus A

These are the pioneers that created film and video art installations long before the Internet and personal and participatory media. The library contains video collections of various video artists such as Chris Burden, Martha Rosler and Vito Acconci. There is also a wide range of books on film, graphic media and design.

The Hammer Museum is located at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles on the corner of Wilshire and Westwood. Metro Rapid 720 literally drops you at the front door of the Museum. And if you are art staved but cash crunched the Museum is free every Thursday to all visitors.
You can visit the library as part of the admission to the Hammer Museum.

A Now For Somthing Completly Different - Don and the Dewey Decimals

Never let it be said that library folks don't know how to shake their groove thing.



This is just a subtle way of reminding you to take a break and smell the Jacaranda trees. Either that or keep your book cart lubed.

Buying Of The President - Financial Information

More Americans are involved in the current election process. I wish it was more intellect than emotion but you gotta start somewhere.

I'm not being cynical. I understand that there is a great need for healing, for a change in national direction and communication across party lines. I don't want a president. I want the best person for the job to step in and honor the full complexity of the job as president.

I keep here a song lyric in my head. "First, I look at the purse." In this case who is funding and supporting the presidential candidates. There are many places to get that information. One of the sites to check out is The Buying of the President. At the site you can learn:

• Who are the current candidates for president. It is not just Hillary, Barack and John,
• Who are some of the big rollers who have contributed,
• What do you get for (big) money contributions such as access, cabinet posts and other perks,
  
• Interviews with other investigative journalist who are covering financial facts and fallacies of the campaign,
  
• and my personal favorite, The Auction Block blog where you can see the movement between lobbyist, fundraising and other money movements of the candidates.

You can also visit the archive for a historical view of past campaign spending and influence buying by outside interest. In the multimedia section there are only two videos but there are audio and transcripts that go into more detail about how the campaigns create their image and how that image is sold.

Is The Site Perfect? No.

There needs to be more visual explanations or graphics on where the money flows into and out of the various political entities. I'd want a glossary of definitions as to what is a lobbyist, a PAC, and the various groups that raise money for candidates that are not of the official party machine but are direct pipelines.

It cost next to nothing to put up photos, audio and video; there should be much more of it and captioned with transcripts. If they are indeed networking with college and university students this is a no-brainer. Journalism and Political Science students are waiting for the call. They can help provide documentation and resources.

Perhaps that will occur when the conventions are over.

Who Is Responsible for this Site?

This is a creation of the Center for Public Integrity. Here is how they define themselves:

The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern. The Center is non-partisan and non-advocacy. We are committed to transparent and comprehensive reporting both in the United States and around the world.

In the coming weeks I'll post other sites that have campaign financial information resources.

Contagion - Historical Views of Diseases

I was visiting the Educational Technology blog and I was lead to a section of Harvard University's Library's Open Collections program.

Contagion is a look at historical events caused by disease or epidemic conditions. It is also an opportunity to view life and how a society dealt with death, pre-conceived notions of illness and treatment.

I viewed the section about Yellow Fever in Philadelphia. I was able to read digital books written in 1774 as the authors try to convey their thoughts about the "Malignant Fever" that spread through the city.

Not only can you read text but there is a timeline, and for later outbreaks photos and slide shows.

Harvard University Library has other collections that are available for browsing online. The Digital Collections archive has a variety of collections such as Botanical and Cultural Images of Eastern Asia, Daguerreotypes at Harvard (a early form of photography) a Latin America Pamphlet collection and more.