Grateful thanks to all who replied to this request with
such constructive and encouraging advice. Summary of key
points of general interest follows. Best wishes to all
those at the various stages of exchange planning!
Claire Deeming.
Web sites to try (with a bias towards USA/Canada):
1) If looking for an email list to advertise on see list of
librarians' mailing lists at Topica:
http://www.topica.com/dir/?cid=3468
2) Try this one to get lists of libraries in the place you
want to go:
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb/
3) International Relations Office of the American Library
Assoc (ALA) may be of use:
http://www.ala.org/work/international/ircirrt.html
4) Library Association info:
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/job_seeking/overseas.html
5) American Library Association:
http://www.ala.org/education/
6) Canadian Library Association:
http://www.cla.ca/careers/Careers.htm
General tips and advice:
1) At at early stage, establish that your job is comparable
to that of a potential exchangee; swopping CV and full job
details useful here.
2) LIBEX helpful in terms of advice but several people said
that some of the details they hold of people looking for
exchanges are rather out of date
3) Several people suggested locating an exchangee by
advertising on mailing lists in the country of interest or
contacting libraries of interest directly (see web sites
above).
4) Ensure that you have the full support of your boss.
Good liaison between the 2 institutions is vital, perhaps
including drawing up some sort of agreement between the 2.
5) Make sure you are adequately covered for health
insurance, which may mean shopping around to find a
reasonably-priced deal.
6) Be sure to determine what type of visa you need and how
long before departure you need to apply for it.
7) It can take 6-12 months to arrange. Some people who
replied had found arranging housing difficult where they
were not home-owners - those who swopped house and car
reported that this worked well.
8) Be clear about the type of job, location and duration of
exchange you want, then you can quickly tell whether a
potential exchange is going to be suitable.
9) People reported on different lengths of exchange - from
4 weeks to 6-12 months. Short exchanges could be less
complex to organise.
Finally, all those who reported back on exchanges were
extremely positive and found the experience rewarding both
personally and professionally - no negative reports
received!
On Fri, 29 Jun 2001 11:41:39 +0100 Claire Deeming
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear lis-linkers,
>
> I am contemplating doing an overseas job exchange
> (Canada/USA) and would like to hear from anyone who has
> done something similar. Tips, advice and an idea of how
> long it takes to arrange would be much appreciated. Apart
> from LIBEX, are there any email lists that are recommended
> for contacting potential exchangees in academic libraries
> in Canada/USA?
>
> Please reply to me personally - I will summarise replies
> for the list.
-------------------------------------------------
Claire Deeming
Information Librarian, Library & Learning Centre,
University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY.
Tel: 01225 826826 x5257/4824
Email: [log in to unmask]
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