Thursday, October 20, 2005

Job search tips for law librarians

What makes a candidate attractive? If I am hiring a public services librarian, I expect to hire a candidate with a J.D. and an M.L.S. Beyond that, excellent computer skills are a necessity, as are intangibles such as collegiality, being a team player, and so on. An ideal candidate would have some teaching experience because all public services librarians today function either formally or informally as teachers; experience with creating lesson plans would be a tremendous help when preparing to teach online legal research. Having worked as a tutor or a legal writing mentor is also valuable for a future law librarian. Other things I look for are law review experience and publications. Librarians who have worked on a law review tend to relate well to students who are going through that experience (they also tend to be on good terms with the Bluebook!) Librarians who have published tend to have more credibility with faculty, and therefore help to build the library's reputation.

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