There are no secret recipes for a successful career. Librarians more than ever have an opportunity to chart their own future. It is essential for library school students and information professionals at the beginning of their careers to understand that their professional and career development is in their hands–no one is going to come along and open the doors for them.
I moved from shelving at a Canadian university library to associate director of information services at a major American multimedia publisher in six years. So far, I’ve learned that creating and recognizing opportunities, networking, working hard and having no ego, and just a touch of luck are part of any successful career.
Creating Opportunities
When I entered McGill University in 1995, I had some idea where I wanted my career to go, but I had no set plans. I understood that I needed to start with a broad base of experience, so I quit freelance translation–which was paying the bills (including a mortgage!)–and focused on getting a job in the university’s library system and connecting with academic librarians and library school faculty. While I had worked as a professional translator in a large financial institution, I knew that I had to start at the bottom in this new profession, so I accepted a minimum-wage shelving job in the government documents library. I worked hard and got my hands very dirty on dusty old volumes. Within a few months, I understood the various classification systems and was asked to work on a project selecting 18th- and 19th-century materials for rebinding.
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