Ask Me Anything: LIS Careers Panel 2026
Careers advice is always better shared than kept to yourself, so here's a handful of resources I mentioned on the day at DBS's "Ask Me Anything" LIS Careers Panel, held Friday 14 August 2026 and organised and hosted by Amy Hayes and Marina Nunes.
I took part in the panel alongside a brilliant group of library and information science professionals: David Rinehart, Maria Rogers, Jean McMahon, and Andrea Dillon. So many great questions came up that I wanted to pull together a round-up of resources and tips I mentioned on the day. Hopefully it is a useful starting point if you're job hunting, upskilling, or just thinking about where your career could go next. Consider this a taster: a fuller blog post with more general career development advice is on its way soon!
Salary Negotiation
If you've never negotiated a salary before, it can feel daunting to know what to say. The salary negotiation episode of the Ask A Manager podcast is a brilliant breakdown of what the conversation can actually sound like in practice, well worth a listen before your next offer lands in your inbox.
Save Job Ads
Get into the habit of saving the PDF of job descriptions and advertisements you're applying to, or would like to apply to in future. Postings often disappear from websites once recruitment closes, but having the original ad to hand can be genuinely useful later on, whether you're prepping for an interview or mapping out your longer-term career plan.
Special Collections
Curious about Special Collections but don't have direct experience to point to? There are some excellent free resources you can use to upskill:
Reading Early Modern Handwriting: Bess of Hardwick's letters
English Handwriting Online 1500–1700, a free online paleography course
DCRM(B): Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books), the standard for rare books cataloguing
Finding Job Listings
There's no single centralised location for library job postings in Ireland: each library, university, county council, and so on tends to post on its own platform. A few places worth checking regularly:
#LISJobsIE on LinkedIn and Bluesky
publicjobs.ie for public sector and civil service library positions
For non-traditional library roles, search sites like Indeed using librarian-related keywords. Naomi House has compiled an excellent list of keywords on INALJ
Trade Unions
Collective bargaining and trade unions are one of the most important aspects of the modern workforce. Join your trade union and get involved, the future of fair work and representation lies with all of us, individually and as a community.