Career Toolkit: Librarians’ In-Demand Skills Valued in Publisher and Business Settings Expand Career Paths across the Information Industry

Emerging job types point to key skills for thriving career paths across the information professions. Library degrees' broad knowledge equips professionals not only for career paths in libraries but also for the business side with content providers and other information-related industries. While publishers and vendors value deep library expertise and its positive impact, librarians' career planning does not widely consider working with publishers or vendors. This session will draw from research on skills and career development and publisher perspectives on library backgrounds’ transferability to content provider settings, then invites session participants to interactive learning, discussion, and exchange.

Part 1 – Panel-Style: Research Findings and Current Perspectives:

A librarian and publisher representative will share research and current perspectives on librarian skills’ transferability between library work and the publishing and business side of the information industry. Together with research on growing career directions in libraries, broadly transferrable skills, and reframing perspectives on skills’ applicability across a wider career arc, we share publisher observations on librarian skills that deepen understanding of library needs and inform services.

Part 2 – Interactives: Discussion, Live Poll, and Optional Pre-Session Survey:

Here, we engage the audience through a transferrable skills exercise, discussion, and a brief live poll with responses showing in real time on the presenters’ screen. For additional pathways for weighing in, we give participants our optional pre-session survey when the conference program goes live. Pre-session survey responses, live-poll responses, observations from the skills exercise, and discussion highlights will be shared in the post-conference slides and proceedings.

Come join this lively session and come away with new career perspectives, philosophical and practical takeaways for your own careers, skill-development ideas to take back to your organizations, and deepened understanding of skill applications across our industry!