Librarian..(aka Chief Information Officer)

Here is a story out of the Wall Street Journal about the opportunities available for librarians. It\’s nice to know that we are wanted.

\”Senior-level corporate librarians, now often known as chief information officers (CIO) and directors of information research, are in high demand in nearly every industry research specialty, executive recruiters say.\”

Here is a story out of the Wall Street Journal about the opportunities available for librarians. It\’s nice to know that we are wanted.

\”Senior-level corporate librarians, now often known as chief information officers (CIO) and directors of information research, are in high demand in nearly every industry research specialty, executive recruiters say.\”



\”The clamor for candidates is especially urgent not just in traditional arenas, such as law and financial services, but also in fields such as executive recruiting and consulting. The profession owes this boost largely to the growth of the Internet, which has caused an information explosion that must be managed.\”

\”There’s a huge demand for librarians with strong research skills, a solid management background, Internet experience, an understanding of their employer’s industry and indexing and analyzing capabilities,\” says Carol Berger, president and CEO of C. Berger, a search firm in Wheaton, Ill.\”

\”As the Internet expands every day, corporate librarians must be able to sort through the jumble, \”picking out the most valuable information and discarding the stuff that can’t be used,\” says Ms. Berger. And as technology continues to evolve, it’s increasingly difficult for companies and organizations to find professionals with the qualifications and experience to run their libraries efficiently. The combination of responsibilities \”calls for an experienced, highly qualified librarian,\” she says.\”

Candidate Profiles\”

\”Top candidates for CIO or directors of information services roles today are expected to have a master’s degree in library science (MLS) and 10 to 20 years of experience in their specialized knowledge area. \”The best candidates have worked at several different library settings within the same field,\” says Linda McKell, president of Advanced Information Management, a search firm in Hollister, Calif. \”This variety of experiences gives them a better understanding of the entire field, not just one sector of one field.\”

\”Consider the career path of Lucy Lettis, who in June was named director of the business information network at Arthur Andersen LLP, a global consulting firm based in New York. She started her career as a general librarian, then moved on to become manager of library services at a Fortune 500 company, conducting technological, scientific, engineering, legal and marketing research. She then became a librarian for the corporate information center at American International Group (AIG), an international insurance and financial services firm in New York. At AIG, she focused on financial research and analysis.\”