When I ask fellow SLA members if they are going to the conference, there is one response that has never resonated with me: “No, I can’t go because my employer won’t pay for it.” Now, I do understand that some people truly have financial restrictions that simply will not allow for the expense of paying …
Continue reading ‘Professional Development That’s Up To You, Not Your Employer’ »
I participated in a panel at the SLA 2017 Annual Conference entitled Beyond the Day Job: Developing Leadership Skills Through Voluntary Service. My recap (below) was originally posted on the SLA LMD blog: It was my honor and pleasure to join four of my colleagues as one of the presenters on this panel. The session …
Continue reading ‘Volunteering – Getting as Good as You Give’ »
As I think I’ve mentioned previously, finding a nice place to have a cider while travelling, or better yet a local cider to enjoy, has become an essential part of my travel planning in recent times. From a stop at the local bottle shop before departing Inverness in Scotland, to planning several evening stops while …
Continue reading ‘Special Librarians Deserve Special Cider’ »
The following is lightly adapted from a listserv post from earlier today. Over the past couple of days, I have started to see more discussions focusing on the “why this name” issue I have so wanted to get to. I greatly appreciate the people who are starting to engage in a detailed discussion of the research. …
Continue reading ‘SLA Name Debate: Focusing on What It Means to “Test Best”’ »
Since writing a long post a week and a half ago detailing my concerns with the proposed SLA name change, I have been struck by three things and thought a follow-up post was in order. First, a few of the messages sent to listservs by association leaders have emphasized that the research results were posted …
My professional organization, the Special Libraries Association, is currently considering a name change. Members will vote in November on whether or not to change to the proposed name: Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals (ASKP). I have been participating in the Twitter debate about this change for several days, but feel it is time for a …
Continue reading ‘My Lengthy Thoughts on the SLA Proposed Name Change’ »
Although the Public Policy Update was on the schedule well in advance, the addition of a representative from Google to speak about Google Book Search and the related settlement was a last minute development. Dan Clancy, Engineering Director for Google Book Search, began with a brief presentation on the Google Book Search project and quickly …
Here’s my basic re-cap of the Opening Session Keynote Address by Colin Powell. Powell started by saying the librarians at the national Defense University warned him that librarians were angry about something he’d said early on as Secretary of State. I thought maybe he was going to address the OTHER thing we were upset about …
Continue reading ‘And now put your hands together for. . .’ »
Tuesday night was the IT division dance party, co-sponsored with the Leadership and Management Division and the Physics – Astronomy – Mathematics Division. I only just realized what I was missing in 2006 when I discovered the party near the end of the night in Baltimore. This is the dance party of the conference, especially …
Hmmmm. This is the given description of this program: “As organizations expand globally, the challenge for researchers is to ensure the information they are gathering is internationally based and current. This session will provide an overview of best practices for developing a strategy for globalization and an effective program of research to help organizations ensure …