News & Noteworthy

Jump-starting a career as a digital librarian

The skills of digital librarianship are more crucial than ever, and these same skills are in high demand outside the field, from tech startups undertaking digitization projects to digital humanities centers bringing together professors, computer scientists and information technologists.  “Jump-Start Your Career As a Digital Librarian: A LITA Guide,” published by ALA Neal-Schuman, helps readers map out a career in this fast-growing field.

Editor Jane Monson gathers a full range of perspectives in this clear, concise overview of the core concepts and competencies of digital librarianship.  Twenty-one experienced practitioners from a variety of settings offer realistic views of today’s job market, typical project dynamics and employer expectations. New graduates just starting out as well as seasoned professionals transitioning from other areas will benefit from this book’s valuable coverage of topics such as:

  • Activities and roles of the digital librarian, including management of digital projects and collaboration;
  • Developing and using transferable skills;
  • Becoming familiar with metadata;
  • How digital librarians are re-shaping scholarly publishing;
  • The concept and framework of digital preservation best practices;
  • Technical competencies such as XML and content management systems.

Monson received her MLS from the University of Iowa and is digital initiatives librarian at the University of Northern Colorado. She was previously digital projects librarian at Truman State University in Missouri. She has been published in Computers in Libraries magazine, is a book reviewer for the Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship and serves on the Library and Information Technology Association’s (LITA)Publications Committee.

LITA, a division of ALA, educates, serves and reaches out to its members, other ALA members and divisions, and the entire library and information community through its publications, programs and other activities designed to promote, develop, and aid in the implementation of library and information technology. LITA also hosts its own Job Site focused on library technology jobs across the country. Updates are posted every Wednesday.

ALA Store purchases fund advocacy, awareness and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide. Founded in 1976 by Patricia Glass Schuman and John Vincent Neal, ALA Neal-Schuman, now an imprint of ALAPublishing, publishes professional books for librarians, archivists, and knowledge managers. Contact us at (800) 545-2433 ext. 5418 or editionsmarketing@ala.org.