the rest of my #libday4
amy posted this January 31st, 2010 | filed under: conference-y, library skül, lsw, meme, moi, ranting | Tags: libday4, sla2010, slaleads | no comments »
cc licensed flickr photo shared by jambina
[well, at least i posted something this week!]
tuesday
since i try not to schedule meetings on mondays, my tuesdays tend to have at least two of them. i think i run fairly productive meetings. i always have an agenda, take minutes, and rarely go over time by more than a few minutes. i’m also a big believer in only having meetings when there’s something to discuss – i’m not a fan of the standing meeting. but then, i don’t run every meeting at mpow.
these meetings had to do with sorting through work needing to be finished by the digitization team. my ABSOFRICKINLUTELY amazing programmer has created a database that queries both our catalogue and Sherpa/Romeo while tracking the process of depositing items into our IR. it is a thing of beauty and when we’re done testing it i’ll tell you more about it.
i also met with my direct supervisor to update her on the the past month and to sort out priorities for now until may 31 (end of fiscal year, chez moi). we’re going to focus on our new “on demand” service – printing on demand and digitizing on demand. (will post more about those when they go live.)
over lunch i rewatched larry lessig‘s talk about copyright in higher education – cuz sometimes librarians need to be reminded that they ARE fighting the good fight. also, i’m a huge fangirl of his, so watching a talk is never “work”. while watching larry, i took my first stab at a packing list for my trip, based loosely off of jessamyn’s (i know i talked about her in the last post. deal.)
other stuff done during the day:
- realizing that we need to get better support from a hardware vendor, and trying to figure out the best way to get what we need. they are a new company, and have great customer service, but they’re still growing so only just now figuring out all the demands of their users.
- answered a survey sent out by a library considering using one of our products, to help them make the decision.
- came to terms with the fact that my office is a berloody mess and i really need to do something about it before i lose my mind. note: this will probably be repeated in #libday5.
- thought about downloading some reading material for my travels tomorrow, but then realized that because i use zotero, i had all the PDFs/screenshots with me already. in my world, zotero = productivity.
- once home, worked for another few hours finishing up emails and letting folks now that i wouldn’t be back in the office until next monday.
finally fell asleep around 2am. i was restless thinking about going to the SLA Leadership Summit and seeing some great friends (who i only see at conferences due to geographical shenanigans, but who i talk to daily.) also, St Louis has ribs and blues bars. sweet.
wednesday to sunday
i’m at the SLA Leadership Summit in St Louis, MO.
i decided to come because i’m the Communications & Social Media Chair for both the IT and Academic divisions. being on the advisory boards means getting to help plan future directions for the divisions, which is interesting because i get some insight into the organization.
the leadership summit is very different from the annual conference. there are only about 250 people who attend leadership. they are all on chapter or division boards and are really the folks responsible for implementing and “living” SLA. thanks to the tiny size, it’s dead easy to meet folks.
leadership is also different because the summit is about developing the leadership capabilities of the attendees. we skillshare on topics like recruitment & retention. board meetings look at programming for the annual conference. the invited keynote is always someone that has an interesting take on organizations and how best they can serve their members. essentially, it’s about developing SLA leaders (both those who are appointed to boards, and those who self-identify as leaders) to ensure the association can respond to its membership.
this was my first leadership summit and on the whole i found it a good experience. it was great to hear what other folks have planned for the annual conference in New Orleans. it was interesting to hear about, and then really think about, the concept of loyalty when it comes to large organizations, and even further, what this means in academic libraryland.
and of course, SLA events are made for networking. some people i know i will only see at SLA events, and i’m always eager to catch up with them. the LSW had a sizable cohort at leadership, so much so that there was talk of having an LSW caucus – if only to have some beer money for the meetups at annual!
i’ve been a part of a number of library organizations since first starting library school – SLA, CLA, ALA, QLA, LSW – and to be honest, SLA has helped me the most in terms of growing into a professional. [i don't want to sound like a shill, because this is all very sincere.]
for any LIS students reading this, think about the associations to which you belong (and if you don’t belong to any, you are missing out on a crazy opportunity to network and gain insight – especially since students dues are usually insanely cheap) and be sure the association is working for you. can you find mentors? are there free resources available to you? are there scholarships available to cover your expenses to the annual conference? library schools can only do so much – becoming an information professional is all about being resourceful, both in terms of finding answers to questions, and seeking out opportunities for yourself.
to students who complain that their school “does nothing” for them, i say two things:
- that sucks. a lot of us have been there. it’s frustrating.
- do something about it. host a conference (those who are “big names” in library-land love talking to students and will come to your school in the middle of the winter when it’s crazycold out and speak because they love LIS students). join the local chapter of whatever association seems to be the best fit. hop online and join in the discussion about libraryland (and no, I DO NOT MEAN NEWLIB-L.) reach out to info pros in your area that have jobs you want, and take them for a coffee to pick their brains. whatever you do, do not expect someone to do this for you. it’s your career – own it.
