Renew Yourself

Book excerpt: Unplanned careers affect everything and everyone. They can lead to frustration, negativity, and apathy at a time when we need to be focused, energized and motivated. Though your library career might have started "accidentally," you can overcome organizational restructuring, changing job titles, and shifting responsibilities by cultivating a mindful existence in the library workplace. Building on the simple and fun approach that have made her previous books bestsellers, Hakala-Ausperk offers up a DIY-style program for revisiting personal values, understanding your options, identifying skill gaps, and creating plans for growth. Whether you're a library veteran who's feeling burned out, a new LIS grad just starting out, or somewhere in mid-career, this book will introduce methods to help you examine your individual interests, desires, and goals; show you how to understand your workplace's priorities and culture, and offer tips for identifying where there's either a match or a gap; demonstrate how you can improve your current position; prepare you to move forward through the creation of a personalized strategic professional plan that addresses professional development, gaining additional experience, and other options for growth; include tips for effective self-marketing, networking through colleagues and friends, and acing an interview; present ways to stay happy and engaged in a new role or position; and offer guidance for sharing your skills and experience through mentorship, and retiring with grace. Ideal for both self-paced study and team-based staff development, this six-step plan will help readers renew themselves, their careers, and their organizations.