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Feel free to write to this Wiki, or to ask for information you'd find particularly useful. Erica 09:41, 6 Mar 2006 (Pacific Standard Time)

Being a new librarian is a lot like being new to rodeo clowning - dress creatively and duck behind the barrel when needed (cj)

Contents

Cool Things New Librarians Are Doing

This could be it's own Wiki, since we're a pretty active bunch, but it's nice to be reminded of how much we're doing. I'm going to start the ball rolling, but I won't get everything, and this is a Wiki, so please add to it!

April 19, 2007

  • Sarah French is presenting the learning break "Got ADD? Reframing the challenging library user" at the Pullman Campus

March 2, 2007

  • Erica Nicol served as a panelist for a coffee hour at the International Center and spoke about International Women's Day in the US.

February 16, 2007

February???

February 8, 2007

December 29, 2006

  • Gabriella Reznowski put together this awesome exhibit on Endangered Languages


Ideas for Meetings, Discussions?

Erica would like to suggest an Annual Review After Party for next year, preferably in a secret location.

Tenure & Promotion, Third Year Review

From the WSU Tenure and Promotion Workshop, Fall 2006:

There's not a lot in the faculty handbook about this (at least that I've been able to find, so chime in if you know something or if you'd like to. Questions, advice, and comments all sought.

Here is what is in the Faculty handbook: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/faculty/faculty-handbook/Tenure-Pretenure.html

Things They Didn't Teach us in Library School (including Writing Tips)

Librarians have been figuring out how to do these things for years, which is fairly miraculous when you think about it. We will figure out how to do them, too, but wouldn't it have been nice if someone had taught us this stuff? This is mostly for fun, but might also help us get an idea of topics of interest for future discussions and meetings. Add your own! Erica

  • How and Where to publish

Advice for Librarians Who Want to Write - A write up from one of the CHE's blogs about a session at Midwinter 2008. The comments are also of interest.

  • How to write a book review
  • Rules of Order

Joining Library Committees - ALA, SLA, and Others

Here are notes from the meeting on 3/30/06 meeting. I've structured them a bit since this was a nicely informal meeting with free-flowing conversation. Thanks to Steve Borrelli, Cindy Kaag, Beth Lindsay, Sarah McCord, Alex Merrill, Lorena O'English and Mark O'English for coming! And thanks to Vicki Croft for thinking of us!

Preparing for conferences

  • Cindy suggested getting hold of a program for a previous or upcoming ALA conference and looking through it to see what sessions interest you. You can then see which groups sponsor those sessions and look into joining those groups.
  • Cindy also mentioned that it is good to map out which sessions you want to attend (or have to attend), keeping in mind the geographical locations of those sessions when you do so.
  • Reserve you accommodations early and try to find a place near the conference center and in a relatively safe neighborhood (listservs can help with this, especially when members of the listserv live in the city hosting the conference).
  • Listservs are also good tools for learning about receptions (free food), sessions of interest, and people of interest. They may also alert you to publication opportunities. Get on a few listservs (if you're not on already).
  • Try to plot out which conferences you want to attend and make a budget for them at the beginning of the year.
  • Cindy noted that during the first few years of being a librarian, conference attendance can take up about 15% of you pay.
  • You can apply for conference funding. Check out the Potential Sources of Funding for WSU Librarians page. (Thanks, Lorena!)

Advice on applying to committees

  • It was generally agreed upon that the ALA web site is frustrating to navigate when looking for information on committees, task forces, groups, and sections.
  • Marilyn pointed out, and people heartily agreed, that different ALA sections are very different in terms of how easy it is to join them. Some are very welcoming, friendly, and helpful, while some are not.
  • Beth pointed out that there is a lot of duplication in ALA, which can work to your favor. If you are interested in something and run into a difficult group to join, chances are there is another ALA group working with the same topic.
  • While you will see application deadlines listed on the web sites for different ALA sections and committees, don't let missing one of those deadlines keep you from applying. Very often committees don't fill up, or someone will leave a committee, or they will extend the deadlines.
  • Some committees are harder to join than others:
Book Awards committees
Committees with really good perks (they fly you places, etc)
  • Some committees are likely to be easier to join:
Program committees
Membership Committees
Nominating committees (though it was suggested that it would be good to wait until you know more people throughout ALA before you join a nominating committee).
  • RUSA groups tend to be quite welcoming in general.
  • Sarah suggested looking up the accrediting bodies of your subject specialty fields to see if they have conferences and places for librarians in their organizations, committees, and conferences.
  • Beth noted that regional conferences are very often easier to break into and are good sources for networking.
  • SLA works very differently from ALA, with more of a focus on chapter activities. Check out the Pacific Northwest chapter: http://www.sla.org/content/community/units/chapters/chapter.cfm
The News Librarians of SLA were noted by Lorena as being a very welcoming and helpful bunch.

Advice on attending conferences

  • It is okay at ALA to leave a session before it is over.
  • You can usually get at least 3 free meals out of an ALA conference if you attend receptions.
  • Sarah suggested making a list of about ten people you would like to meet and talk with during a conference. Learn something about their interests, research, and activities so that when you spot them you can refer to their work when you introduce yourself.
  • Conferences are also good places to network with vendors. Talking with vendors can establish relationships that might be helpful when negotiating for resources, can influence their product design, and can lead to publishing opportunities (pre-pub reviews, sometimes paid!).
  • Bring business cards, lots of business cards. If you don't have business cards, get them made up now, before the ALA rush.
  • Cindy suggested writing short notes on cards when you give them to people - "fascinated by X" or "very interested in joining X committee."
  • Jot notes on business cards you receive from others so you remember who you talked to about what and what to follow up on.
  • When you return from a conference take time to go through your notes and materials and note down tasks or following-up activities (like typing up minutes).
  • Vicki sent us the suggestion that if we feel the need we can always organize your own conference.


Advice and tips from fellow librarians

Annual Review
Hi you all;

Yesterday I finally put back together my Annual Review folders that I had cannibalized for my tenure dossier last fall. In the process, I thought of a few things that might be of use to you all as you start your tenure path. You may already be doing these, or you may find them completely useless, but I'm still in the last throes of my Tenure Glow, so here goes! Let me tell you that if I had followed this advice my 3rd year and tenure dossier process would have been much easier!

1. Never put any original document (i.e. letterhead with a real signature or your only original of something) in your public dossier - always make a copy. 2. Consider making a complete copy of your dossier for your own private files (this is in addition to keeping the folder to throw things in over the course of the year that you will use to construct the AR). This will make your 3rd year and tenure process easier, and adds an element of security and organization. 3. If you do take something out of your AR, be sure to mark it with a sticky or a scratch paper placeholder in a different color with a brief description of the document you took out and the date. 4. If I recall correctly (and I may be wrong) you can put stuff in your AR folder after your supervisor has completed your AR and before the tenured librarians look at your files. Bonny usually sends out a email. This is good for stuff that you did after the end of the previous year that you want people to be aware of when they look at your open file for progress-to-tenure purposes. Just be sure to take it out later and put it into your current year's AR.

Finally, as long as I'm offering unasked for advice, one more thing to think about. I thought about this when I put together my dossier, and had forgotten it until yesterday. Everyone who works in academia is horribly busy, so if someone takes the time to send a "thank you" or "attaboy", that's extremely considerate and meaningful. But when you send our your attaboys, consider this: if you provide more context and explain why what the person did was so good/helped you/etc., that provides more meaning and significance (i.e. contrast "Thanks for sending this out!" to "I wanted to thank you for sending out this article citation and link. I had a class this week that covered this topic, and I had not seen this article before. It really helped me come up with some good examples in class, and made a difference in my teaching.") When other people are constructing *their* ARs, they will call blessings down on your head!

OK, I'm done - no more pontificating!

Lorena


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