ALA elections are here and this year NMRT is electing a Vice-President/President-Elect, Treasurer, Secretary, Outreach Director, Member Services Director, and Networking Director. Below, our candidates answer a few questions about their plans for the position.
Candidate: Dani Cook
Question 1: Why are you interested in this position?
I am interested in running for Networking Director of NMRT as the position focuses on building community for new librarians and library professionals. Over the past seven years that I have been involved in ALA (and NMRT specifically), the most valuable aspect of my involvement has been building relationships with other new librarians and connecting with more experienced library colleagues. I am excited to help facilitate those opportunities for connection and community for other new professionals, and to investigate what a more expansive view of “networking” outside of in-person conferences might look like.
Question 2: What skills and experiences do you bring to the position?
I bring significant management and leadership experience, including with geographically distributed teams, to the role of Networking Director. I have twice chaired the NMRT President’s Program Committee, am serving as the LITA Communications and Marketing Committee chair this year, and have participated in both national and local committees in a variety of roles, including as a student at UNC Chapel Hill. I have also volunteered on some of the committees that this position supervises, including the Annual Conference Local Information Committee.
I’m a solid communicator and have significant event-planning and project-management experience. I planned the largest book sale that my library school had ever put on, organized a variety of events at local public libraries, and coordinated the planning of the NMRT pre-conference in 2014.
Question 3: As Networking Director,, you will oversee NMRT committees associated with conference attendance. In what ways would you like to see NMRT reach out to those members not able to attend MW or Annual conferences?
I’d like to see NMRT committees work on creating toolkits that local or student chapters could use to hold networking events. For example, the Association Options Committee puts together materials every year to introduce new members to the variety of opportunities in ALA, and I’d love to see that shared more broadly with new members. Similarly, the Orientations Committee could help to put together a toolkit for local groups to build on to hold introductions to ALA. I could also see these committees working with the Outreach Director to connect members who are not able to attend conferences with local speakers or ALA NMRT members to run their own, more local networking events. I’d also be interested in exploring what an online speed networking event might look like. It seems crucial to me that the networking opportunities of NMRT be made available to our members who may not be able to attend conferences–geographical or funding limitations should not prevent us from helping to create more local or online communities.
Question 4: What do you hope to learn if elected?
If elected, I hope to learn more about the kinds of community that NMRT members want and need. How can we create inclusive and welcoming spaces, both at conferences and more broadly? What are some of the barriers to participation in NMRT and ALA more broadly? The Networking Chair will need to think broadly about how new librarians and library professionals can engage with each other, even if they can’t all be in the same physical location.
Question 5: If elected, what time management skills will you employ to ensure that your NMRT duties remain a priority?
I have always been good about setting and completing priorities, but I’ve recently adding bullet journaling to my repertoire of time management strategies. I would incorporate my NMRT duties into my current day-to-day, and plan out as much of the year as possible when elected. Outlook Calendar reminders to send e-mails and prepare for events can be set far in advance, and I’d anticipate setting those plans as soon as reasonable.