jacqueline barlow shoves her way out of a steady job and makes her way around the world.
Jacqueline completed her MLIS degree in June of 2008, at McGill University, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Student work at McGill led to a pretty nice summer job post-graduation, where she wrote pretty much all the text (including metadata) on this website. Then she threw it all away for love (awww!) and moved to Spain.
After an extended, six-month “vacation” wherein she learned a third language, learned English all over again, and got married, she is preparing to shove her way into some kind of library work in Spain, which is a scarier proposition than you could ever imagine, institutionalized siestas notwithstanding.
Despite putting on a brave face, she is terrified that she will never work in her field again. You can see her blog here and her website with CV and links and other stuff here.
You can offer words of encouragement in the comments for this post.
Category: S&M Winners, 2009 11 comments »
March 28th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Attn: Spanish Libraries
From: Library Society of the World
Re: Jacqueline Barlow
Hire her and your organization will gain a great worker who loves helping people.
You can thank us later.
March 28th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I am honoured and blessed!
March 28th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Jacqueline!!!
I randomly found this page – and you on it!
Words of encouragement:
Let’s see, you speak three languages, have proved yourself to adapt to a variety of challenging situations, you are intelligent, sophisticated, worldly, trustworthy, punctual, and thoughtful. What more can I say? Did I mention punctual?
Of course you will work in your field again – I have spoken to many librarians who took a year or so off before getting a library job.
Learning Spanish is incredibly valuable in our field. My library system has been trying for months to find someone to help manage a branch who speaks Spanish – and there were very few librarians with that skill who applied. Think of this time as developing your skills. You will prevail, I have no doubt.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Invent a job you’ll love doing, then get someone to hire you to do it… Much better than competing with native Spanish speakers for limited opportunities. Think of it as looking for funding, instead of looking for work! :-))))
April 5th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Just happened upon Shovers & Makers and read your story. I’ve been trying to learn spanish for years and love that you just jumped in head first (of course LOVE makes us do these crazy things).
I was recently reminded of a Woody Allen quote: “90% of life is showing up” Keep doing what you are doing and attend those meetings! Networking is another piece of the puzzle that you need to do. Every library job I ever got was from networking and meeting people. It will all eventually fall into place even though it doesn’t seem like it sometimes!
Buena suerte,
Maryanne the Librarian
April 7th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Thanks, everybody, for your words of encouragement. They really help.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Fortune favors the brave, right?
I have no doubt you’ll find success.
I can offer up some volunteer work if you want some practical experience doing virtual reference (in English or Spanish).
June 10th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Wow! I have always believed in the power of positive thinking. You are living it. What an example. It reminds me of a story: Dad to son- “Do you know why an Indian Rain Dance always works?”. Son- “No, why?”. Dad- “Because they don’t stop dancing until it starts raining.”
July 1st, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Just wanted to say great job with the blog, today is my first visit here and I’ve enjoyed reading your posts so far :)
Juan
August 1st, 2009 at 8:06 am
Очень восхитила ваша передовица, в ней сбережено весьма невпроворот затронуто из нашей человечьей повседневной жизни и это даже отлично! Есть над чем покумекать
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:18 am
участник rss