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The Library & Information Science Professional's Career Development Center |
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Involvement
in Professional or Community Associations |
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"Getting involved with one of the professional organizations is probably the most significant contribution you can make to your own career," wrote Sheila Pantry and Peter Griffiths in their book, Your Successful LIS Career: Planning Your Career, CVs, Interviews and Self-Promotion. How do you get
involved in a professional organization? Join an
organization so that you'll receive their publications. Reading
professional literature will help you learn the terminology and key
players in the field, and keep up with current trends. Scope out the
various organizations by talking with friends and colleagues and reading
the association's publications. Which ones will help you learn skills
and meet people in the type of work you want to do? Which organization
is the right "fit" for you? Table 4.1 [not included here]
lists a few guides to
various library organizations. Nesbeitt and Gordon’s book, The
Information Professional’s Guide to Career Development Online,
includes a detailed list of many professional associations. Once you are a
member of an organization, volunteer for involvement in committees. If
you are wondering how to start becoming involved in professional
organizations, you might consider the American Library Association New
Members Round Table. ALA NMRT guarantees a committee appointment to all
volunteers in order to provide leadership development opportunities and
a welcoming introduction to association involvement. Several state
library associations also have an NMRT. Often, it's easier to get
involved in a regional, state or more specialized group initially, as
those groups are smaller than national associations. Many people try
several organizations to find the one that best fits their interests and
needs. Also, your interests will change over time, so it may be quite
helpful to make contacts in various organizations so that you meet a
wide variety of people. It may take longer to break in to large
organizations, but keep applying. Attend committee or business meetings,
programs and social activities to become better known, and you will be
remembered when officers make committee appointments. Jim Walther
(Reference Librarian, Brian Cave LLP) said, " If you want to be
known at the local level, get involved in local level groups or be
instrumental in city groups, which may not be library focused. Sometimes
local chapters may be named the same as the national organizations, but
sometimes there are local groups that are unofficial. First, get
involved in your local or state organizations and then look to one or
two national organizations. Some informal organizations don't even have
a name - for example, in Washington, DC there is an informal group
called the Franklin Square group, which is comprised of law librarians
in a specific section of the city. These groups are often topical groups
or social groups that attract others based on where you live or work.
Depending on the city, these groups have an informal, social, topical
focus, and allow you to share information with others. Local chapters or
informal groups can give you excellent leadership and organizational
opportunities for involvement." When you're put on
a committee, find out what is expected of you and do it. People who
"come through" are noticed, remembered, and recommended to
others. People who don't respond to e-mail or don't do what they're
asked are also remembered. Take your committee responsibilities
seriously; if you can't commit the time, explain your situation to the
committee chair or your supervisor, and if necessary, resign from the
committee. You don't want to be "dead weight" on the
committee. However, do remember that everyone is as busy as you are, and
others do understand that you are volunteering your time to help on this
committee. Talk with your committee chair or supervising officer if you
have concerns about the time you can devote to the committee - sometimes
their expectations are much lower than yours! Find the level of activity
and the balance of commitment that works best for you. Use committee
involvement - professional, community, workplace, institutional, and so
on - to help you gain skills you wouldn't gain on the job. For instance,
if you would like some budgeting experience, try to get on a committee
that manages a budget for a program or project. If you're good with
money, volunteer to be the treasurer of a local or professional group.
If you enjoy writing or want to gain writing or publishing experience,
look for committees that publish newsletters or other publications.
Consider submitting an article to your group's newsletter. If you want
to gain supervisory experience, volunteer to chair a committee or run
for an office. Diversify your skills by participating in activities you
can't perform on your daily job. Fran Wilkinson
commented, "Perhaps the best thing I ever did professionally was
get involved with NASIG. I learned conference planning skills, expanded
my organizational skills (which helps me every day), developed ideas for
research and publication. Most importantly, I developed professional
colleagues and friends who have inspired me, given me advice and new
ideas for all aspects of my work, written letters of support for my
tenure and promotion, let me bounce ideas off of them, and sought my
advice, which forced me to think in new and different ways." Ask questions.
Learn. Correspond with the chair or supervisor and other committee
members. Contribute ideas. Do what you're asked to do. That's how your
name gets remembered. Julie Ann McDaniel (Librarian, Community Hospital of Springfield) wrote, "I think one of the best pieces of advice I ever got came from Rosemary DuMont, then Dean of the School of Library Science at Kent State University. She said that to get started in professional associations you should volunteer on the committees/interest groups/sections that no one else wants to be on. She suggested some social issues groups or groups associated with small user populations -- prison libraries; disabled services; home bound services; etc.; or new groups that are just trying to get organized in a larger group. She pointed out that in most organizations it is much easier to "move up" within these smaller sections. It was easier (and faster) to get to a leadership position where you could move into a section of the organization that more closely met your interests. She also indicated that if you worked in a large organization, you were more likely to be able to get time off to attend meetings of the smaller group. If you tried to get active in a larger group, you might find that many of your co-workers wanted time off to attend the same meetings. By being active in a smaller group, you were less likely to have competition to be away from work to attend meetings. "It was advice that worked
for me. I volunteered in the Ohio Library Association Disabled Services
Interest Group, a group of about six active people. Within two years, I
was Chair of the Interest Group. (On my job, I had no connection with or
responsibility for anything related to patrons with disabilities). I was
able to write an article for Ohio Libraries about library services for
the disabled. I ran for the next higher level of office in OLA and was
defeated. At about the same time, I was active in the just forming
Bibliographic Instruction Interest Group of the Academic Library
Association of Ohio. Again, this was a group of about 10 active people.
I was coordinator of BI at Kent State at the time, so it meshed well
with my job. Because of my work in OLA and my job responsibilities, I
was invited to two OLA conferences to talk about BI. I was nominated for
treasurer of ALAO and won and then nominated for president and won. I
attribute all of this to the suggestion to start small where no one else
wanted to be. Had I started in the reference section of OLA, where I
wanted to be (and my job responsibilities made sense for me to be), I
would have been an ‘extra’ for a long time and would not have been
able to move up in two organizations. "I have found professional
association work to be very rewarding personally,” continued McDaniel,
“and beneficial to my patrons. My patrons are impressed when I can
say, ‘I think XYZ library can help us with that. Let me call their
librarian and see.’ It is even better when I can send my patron to XYZ
library and tell them to ask for ‘June Smith.’ I wouldn't know about
the strengths of XYZ library or June Smith, the librarian, without my
exposure to them through professional organizations." Don't discount experience or contacts gained at community or social activities or organizations. Sometimes these people can steer you toward job opportunities or can help you gain skills you want. Not only can you gain diverse experience, you may also gain friends who provide support, balance and a different perspective than you may receive at your workplace. Priscilla K. Shontz is a web designer and freelance writer and has worked in university, community college, medical and public libraries. She is author of Jump Start Your Career in Library & Information Science and is a past president of the ALA New Members Round Table. Article submitted Mar 2002 Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in LIScareer articles are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the LIScareer editors.
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Page last updated
12/27/2005
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