Saturday, November 29, 2008

Librarians for the Intelligence Service

I meant to write a post a few days ago about an information session I attended about the new facility that the Archives of Ontario is moving to at York University. I will write a few notes and then move onto the main theme of this entry. The new building looks quite inviting and I like the prospect of having areas and facilities to deliver programs to the public. I do very much hope the proposal to provide free (?) wireless Internet access to the research areas comes through - that is a fundamental requirement for an archives and one that is fairly cheap to provide. The move and re-opening at the next institution is scheduled for April 2009 and looks set to happen.

Now onto the main reason I'm posting today. For my 100th post (wow, I can't believe I'm there already), I'd like to look at two recent career options I have learned about. Researching job opportunities is something I generally do and find fulfilling. In this case, I was much interested by two particular opportunities. At CSIS (Canadian Security and Intelligence Service), there is a posting for a Librarian to work in the Intelligence Assessment Branch (salary range: $67,660 to $82,340 per year Canadian) and at the GCHQ (British: Government Communications Head Quarters), there is a posting for an Intelligence Specialist (£24,456 - £27,546). Both of these positions strike me as quite interesting, I must say.

Of the two, I have a better chance of obtaining the British position since it appears to be open to new graduates to a greater degree than the Canadian position. I presume that I would be barred from blogging about librarian work in the intelligence field, but I think other people out there should know that there are opportunities in this field.

1 comment:

David Kemper said...

Over the years, I have seen several librarian and information professional type openings at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and I have applied on a couple of occasions with not even a response.

I know of someone, however, a friend of friend, who is working at CSIS as a librarian (or at least was when I was told about her story). Not many details but she seemed to enjoy it.

Overall, though, government positions are difficult to come by (that's been my experience) unless of course who have a contact or are already working within the Canadian government.

Regarding the British Intelligence position, I suspect one would have to be a British citizen in order to apply. I am not sure. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), for example, had posted a few librarian positions in the aftermath of 9/11 and the Agency clearly sought US citizens (born in the USA) only.

Good luck if you intend to apply. Perhaps things have changed since I last applied to the Government of Canada.