CPD23 Thing 7

Networking and Professional Organizations

I hate networking. I am an introvert. I am cataloger (at heart). I am terrible at small talk and schmoozing at parties. I am dreading next week when I have 3 full days of training followed by a wedding on Friday night. Don't expect much of me on Saturday.

I do, however, quite like Professional Organizations and am pretty involved with them on a state and national level. Even if the meetings and conferences take a lot out of me.

At the state level I am involved with the Nebraska Library Association and more particularly, the Technical Services Round Table of NLA. I am currently Past Chair of TSRT which means I served as Chair last year and the Vice-Chair/Chair elect the year before. After two years of duties I am enjoying this year where all I had to do was find candidates to run for office (although that was a bit of a task). Previously, I edited the newsletter, when we had one, and then became the Communications Director for a while (but didn't do much).

This has been a lovely little niche for me in NLA. I have made excellent contacts with catalogers across Nebraska. At the state level it often matters less whether we are in academic, public or special libraries but we can have a common dialogue about cataloging issues. This has been particularly true with all RDA.

Although it is not a professional organization, participating in the 2nd Nebraska Library Leadership Institute way back in 2005, was a great way as a new professional to get to know library staff across Nebraska. When I served on the NLA board as TSRT chair last year it was a lot easier for me as I knew people from my NLLI experience. I have kept in contact with many of my NLLI cohorts and enjoy seeing who else has gone through this wonderful program. Thanks to our Regional Library Systems for having this every two years.

I am also active in ALA in ALCTS. This came about by accident. A few years ago I was able to attend one of the Library of Congress's Working Group on Bibliographic Control sessions that was held in Chicago (only a hour away by plane so I could fly in and out the same day). I was angered by the lack of input from and consideration give to public libraries. So I posted on the AUTOCAT listserv. To my surprise the ALCTS president elect, Pamela Bluh, contacted me and asked if I would be willing to serve on the ALCTS Membership Committee, specifically to see what ways ALCTS could be doing more with public librarians in technical services. I served a two-year term.

Now I am on the ALCTS Planning Committee (as a virtual member) which means I am working on long-term planning for ALCTS. As a virtual member I have not attended ALA Annual or Mid-Winter since being on this committee but I make sure to keep on email, ALA Connect and try to attend the virtual meetings when at all possible. I know that public libraries are not well represented in this part of ALA so I try to do what I can. I have not made many personal contacts at this level but that is okay.

All in all I have found the professional organizations have helped me to network in a less painful fashion. I have made valuable contacts that have helped me in my job. I know people I can call to ask for help with a variety of issues. And there are people who contact me for help with a variety of issues. This is particularly important in Technical Services where so often you are the only one in your institution who understands or cares about certain things so it is good to have others who speak a common language.