Greetings from your NMRT president, Kate Kosturski! I am thrilled to finally take the reins of leadership and build on the great work Kirby started last year. (I’m also equally thrilled she is still around to help me figure out logistics when I need them!)
First, a little bit about me: I’ve been at JSTOR in New York City since 2011, and just started this month as the new Outreach Coordinator for the Southern United States, after several years working in our European market. It’s wonderful to now work a bit closer to home, and perhaps I may see some of you on my library visits soon – do say hello if I am on your campus! I received my MLS from Pratt Institute, and my BA in Government/Public Administration from York College of Pennsylvania. In addition to NMRT, I am also involved with RUSA, LearnRT, and LITA – I’ll be presenting a poster at LITA Form in Fort Worth, Texas this fall, so I hope to see some NMRT members there! I live in Norwalk, Connecticut, about one hour outside of New York City. Outside of librarianship, I enjoy photography, technology, a good book, art (I am a former volunteer at the Museum of Modern Art in New York), and am a knitter (and current Webmaster of my local knitting guild, the Big Apple Knitters Guild). Sports-wise, I am a big baseball fan (let’s go Mets!) and tennis fan (as I write this, Andy Murray is giving me a metaphorical anxiety attack in the US Open quarterfinals).
My presidential theme is Building Bridges in ALA. Our motto in the New Members Round Table is “Your Path to ALA.” While we are the largest roundtable in the Association, we are but one small part of it. As their entry to the rest of ALA, we need to make sure we are not only making our new members comfortable with the Association as a whole, but familiar with all the other parts of it to help our members flourish and contribute so they can find their next place in ALA and their careers.
You may also be wondering, “how do you define ‘new member’?” Our roundtable is for those with less than 10 years of membership in ALA, so even if you are a seasoned librarian, if you’ve only just joined ALA this year, we consider you a new member and welcome you with open arms!
At any time during my presidential year, please do not hesitate to be in touch with me via email at kate @ katekosturski.info with questions or concerns. If you live in, or are visiting, the New York City metropolitan area, I’m also happy to meet with you in person!