Month: November 2008

no job shortage for young people

Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist blog gives good news for young people: there is no job shortage for you. Her good news for young employees:

  1. Jobs for low-level candidates are increasing.
  2. There are plenty of entry-level jobs to be had.
  3. College grads are doing fine in today’s market.

She has lots of lovely numbers and reference sources to back this up, so check out her article.

Her good news for the rest of us:

The not-feeling-so-great thing is that, in the case of everyone but the young, the economy is only good for star performers. But really (and here is the part of the post you should skip if you want Thanksgiving bliss) I have been ranting and screaming for years that the best way to have a good life is to be a star performer at work because that gives you the most flexibility to get what you want out of life. Don’t be a star performer for money. Be a star performer so that in an economy like this, you don’t have to worry about a paycheck.

If you’re a star performer, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Clayton Library to have digitized collection

Houston Public Library joins FamilySearch in digitization effort

Thousands of publications that capture the diverse histories of Gulf Coast states will be accessible for free online. FamilySearch and the Houston Public Library announced a joint project today to digitally preserve and publish the library’s vast collection of county and local histories, registers of individuals, directories of Texas Rangers, church histories, and biographical dictionaries. The digital records will be available for free online at FamilySearch.org and HoustonLibrary.org.

[snip]

Mexican government knew remittances would slow

Mexican government looking beyond remittances
— Houston Chronicle2

As the United States economic crisis worsens, the money that Mexicans living here send home to their families has declined — reaching record lows over the summer.

But the Mexican government has long known that the day would come when the historic migration North would slow, and the remittance revenue stream — Mexico’s second largest source of foreign income behind oil exports — would eventually dry up.

Mexico prepared for the scenario with initiatives to solidify ties to its citizens abroad, especially with the U.S.-born children of Mexican immigrants whose allegiance to their homeland weakens with each new generation.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

tips on getting traffic for your website

From Marketing Library Services, “How to Drive Traffic to your Website“:

  • Make a Good Website With Content That Attracts People
  • Join the Community Conversations — this includes:
  • List Your Site Where People Are Searching — this includes
  • Help Everyone Find Your Services

    • The piece is written by Aaron Schmidt and Sarah Houghton-Jan.

    Aaron Schmidt is the director at the North Plains (Ore.) Public Library and author of the blog walkingpaper.org. He holds an M.L.I.S. from Dominican University in River Forest, Ill. Schmidt speaks at library conferences and staff days, and he consults with libraries on website usability. His email address is librarian@gmail.com.
    Sarah Houghton-Jan is the digital futures manager for the San Jose ( Calif.) Public Library and author of the blog LibrarianInBlack.net. She holds an M.L.I.S. from the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign and an M.A. in Irish literature from Washington State University. Houghton-Jan is active in ALA’s Library and Information Technology Association, has been published widely, and speaks worldwide on the intersection of libraries and technology. Her email address is librarianinblack@gmail.com.