NMRT Liaison Coordination & Support Recruitment

Are you looking for a way to be more involved in the library profession? Being an ALA-NMRT Liaison is a great opportunity! If you are an NMRT member and a member of another library section, roundtable, division, or organization, then you are eligible to serve as a liaison. NMRT liaisons play a key role in increasing awareness of information and ideas of mutual interest to NMRT and liaison unit members with a minimal time commitment.

We are beginning recruitment for 2016-2017, so if you see your organization on the list below, please consider volunteering! You must be a member in good standing of both ALA-NMRT and the unit you serve. Your assignment will be for one year. Conference attendance is not required. If you are interested, please fill out the volunteer form by October 3, 2016.

You may contact me (Chapel-Cowden@utc.edu)  off list to ask any questions, but we’ll only be taking volunteers for liaisons from those that fill out the form above.

Alaska Library Association

American Association of Law Librarians (AALL)

American Association of School Librarians  (AASL)

American Indian Library Association (AILA)

American Library Association (ALA) CPE

American Library Association (ALA) Legislative Assembly***must attend Annual

American Library Association (ALA) Membership Meetings

American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA)

Arizona Library Association

Arkansas Library Association

Asian Pacific American Library Association (APALA)

Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Section (AAMES)

ACRL Anthropology and Sociology Section

ACRL African American Studies Librarians (AFAS)

ACRL College Libraries Section (CLS)

ACRL Community and Junior Colleges Section (CJC)

ACRL Distance Learning Section (DLS)

ACRL Education & Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS)

ACRL Instruction Section (IS)

ACRL Law and Political Science Section (LPSS)

ACRL Literatures in English (LES)

ACRL Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS)

ACRL Slavic & European Section

ACRL University Libraries Section (ULS)

ACRL Western European Studies Section (WESS)

ACRL Women and Gender Studies Section (WGSS)

Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA)

Association for Information Science and Technology

Association Library & Information Science Education (ALISE)

Association Library Service to Children (ALSC)

Association Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends & Foundations (ALTAFF)

Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services

Association of Research Libraries

Association of Rural and Small Libraries

Association Specialized & Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA)

Beta Phi Mu

Black Caucus American Library Association (BCALA)

California Library Association

Canadian Library Association

Catholic Library Association

Colorado Association of Libraries

Connecticut Library Association

Delaware Library Association

District of Columbia Library Association

Federal & Armed Forces Libraries Round Table

Federal Library & Information Center (FLICC) “NewFeds” Group

Florida Library Association

Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF)

Georgia Library Association

Government Documents Round Table (GODORT)

Guam Library Association

Hawaii Library Association

Idaho Library Association

Illinois Library Association

Indiana Library Federation

Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT)

International Relations Round Table (IRRT)

Iowa Library Association

Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC)

Kansas Library Association

Kentucky Library Association

Learning Round Table (LRT)

Library History Round Table (LHRT)

Library Information & Technology Association (LITA)

Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT)

Library Research Round Table (LRRT)

Library Support Staff Interest Round Table (LSSIRT)

Louisiana Library Association

Maine Library Association

Map and Geospatial Information Round Table (MAGIRT)

Maryland Library Association

Massachusetts Library Association

Medical Library Association

Michigan Library Association

Minnesota Library Association

Mississippi Library Association

Montana Library Association

Mountain Plains Library Association

Music Library Association

Nassau County Library Association

National Storytelling Network

Nebraska Library Association

Nevada Library Association

New England Library Association

New Hampshire Library Association

New Jersey Library Association

New Mexico Library Association

New York Library Association

North Carolina Library Association

North Dakota Library Association

OCLC

Ohio Library Council

Oklahoma Library Association

Office for Information Technology Policy Advisory Committee (OITP)

Oregon Library Association

Pacific Northwest Library Association

Pennsylvania Library Association

Public Library Association (PLA)

Reference User Services Association (RUSA)

REFORMA

Rhode Island Library Association

Retired Members Round Table

Social Responsibilities Round Table (SSRT)

South Carolina Library Association

South Dakota Library Association

Southeastern Library Association (SELA)

Special Libraries Association (SLA)

Staff Organizations Round Table (SORT)

Sustainability Round Table (SustainRT)

Theatre Library Association

Vermont Library Association

Video Round Table

Virgin Islands Library Association

Virginia Library Association

Washington Library Association

Wisconsin Library Association

Wyoming Library Association

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Applications for the 2016-17 NMRT Career Mentoring Program are Open

The New Members Round Table Mentoring Committee is seeking applicants for its 2016 – 2017 Career Mentoring Program.

The Career Mentoring Program will pair up early career librarians with “seasoned vets” who are available to answer questions and provide guidance about many aspects of the profession. The program will last from October 2016 to July 2017 and is entirely virtual.

Applicants should apply to be a mentee if they have been employed in a professional position for 6 months – 5 years and are seeking career guidance and advice from someone more experienced. Program mentors are those who have been a professional librarian for five years or more. ALA membership is required for mentors only, and NMRT membership is strongly encouraged.

As a ground rule, applicants should be able to communicate with their match at least twice per month via phone or e-mail. No conference attendance is required.

Applications are due September 30th with the goal of notifying the matching pairs by the week of October 17th.

For more information and to apply, visit:

http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/mentoringcommittee

Any additional questions or concerns may be directed to the NMRT Mentoring Committee by emailing NMRT_Mentoring@Yahoo.com.

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Reminder: NMRT Nominating Committee Election Form is due Friday, September 23

NMRT offers training, opportunities, and a wide variety of programs on the national, state and local levels to assist, encourage, and educate those new to the association and the profession. Now is the opportunity for you or a librarian you know to take a leadership role in that mission!

The NMRT Board needs nominations for the three open positions, Leadership Development Director, Secretary, and Vice-President/President-Elect, on its 2017 election slate. The terms-of-office, attendance obligations, and responsibilities vary between the positions. Read more about the officer positions that will be available for 2017 here: Leadership Development Director-  http://connect.ala.org/node/251012, Secretary- http://connect.ala.org/node/251010, and Vice-President/President-Elect- http://connect.ala.org/node/251007.

Anyone interested in either nominating someone or nominating themselves should have the Google form completed by Friday, September 23, 2016. That form can be found here: https://docs.google.com/a/email.campbell.edu/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYKvlbWKe7m4zzQpX36llhUl9y-Gj7RMW-kwMbt3xnBij5LA/viewform Questions about the nomination and election process? Contact Sarah Wade (nominating committee chair) at NMRTNominations@gmail.com.

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NMRT Midwinter Hotel Block

Want to get the most of your Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta? Reserve a room in the NMRT Midwinter Hotel block.  Space is limited, so book today!  The block is at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis located on 265 Peachtree Center Avenue.

The Atlanta Marriott Marquis features include:

ALA Rates for the Atlanta Marriott Marquis:

  • Single: $172
  • Double: $172
  • Triple: $182
  • Quad:  $192

You must register for the Midwinter Meeting before you can book a room at the ALA-rate.

  • If you previously registered for the 2017 Midwinter Meeting, you can book a room in the NMRT block by calling 800-584-9047.  Don’t forget to mention that you are looking for a room in the “NMRT block”.
  • If you are registering for the Midwinter Meeting online through ALA, make sure to mention that you are a member of NMRT.

Need a roommate to keep costs down or just want a conference buddy?  Consider posting or responding to room share requests made on NMRT-L, other listservs, and the NMRT Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/ALAs-New-Member-Roundtable-NMRT/169514309779205).
Disclaimer: NMRT is not providing a roommate matching service this year.

Information about the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting, including travel and hotel information is available at: http://2017.alamidwinter.org/.

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Greetings from your NMRT president, Kate Kosturski!

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!

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NMRT Nominating Committee Election Form is Open

NMRT offers training, opportunities, and a wide variety of programs on the national, state and local levels to assist, encourage, and educate those new to the association and the profession. Now is the opportunity for you or a librarian you know to take a leadership role in that mission!

The NMRT Board needs nominations for the three open positions, Leadership Development Director, Secretary, and Vice-President/President-Elect, on its 2017 election slate. The terms-of-office, attendance obligations, and responsibilities vary between the positions. Read more about the officer positions that will be available for 2017 here: Leadership Development Director-  http://connect.ala.org/node/251012, Secretary- http://connect.ala.org/node/251010, and Vice-President/President-Elect- http://connect.ala.org/node/251007.

Anyone interested in either nominating someone or nominating themselves should have the Google form completed by Friday, September 23, 2016. That form can be found here: https://docs.google.com/a/email.campbell.edu/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYKvlbWKe7m4zzQpX36llhUl9y-Gj7RMW-kwMbt3xnBij5LA/viewform Questions about the nomination and election process? Contact Sarah Wade (nominating committee chair) at NMRTNominations@gmail.com.

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Endnotes: The Journal of the New Members Round Table June 2016 Issue

The NMRT Endnotes Committee is pleased to announce the publication of the June 2016 issue of Endnotes: The Journal of the New Members Round Table. The new issue is freely available on the NMRT website:
http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/schres

Endnotes: The Journal of the New Members Round Table is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal that addresses issues faced by new librarians. Endnotes accepts research and practitioner-based articles, and its aim is to work with new authors to produce quality scholarly articles. Each issue also includes reviews of books published in the previous year.

I’d like to thank all of the Endnotes contributors, as well as the committee members whose hard work made this issue possible.

 
Zara T. Wilkinson
Endnotes Chair, 2015-2016

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Online Discussion Forum Committee – May 2016 Discussion

By Maggie Cusick
New Members Round Table – Online Discussion Forum Committee

Some entering library school know exactly what type of work they would like to do and can tailor their coursework program to best prepare them for success in a given setting.  Some come in with only an idea of what they think they would like to do and learn more about the field and their interests during library school.  In either case, once we are out in the working world, we may find that there are skills or a knowledge base that we wished we had been exposed to at an earlier point. Due to the reality of the job market, our own changing and evolving interests, and a broadening understanding of the possibilities and opportunities offered by library work, we find we want and need to keep learning and growing. For example, one may be interested in public service in an academic environment, but did not have an opportunity to gain much or any instruction experience up to this point.  Or, one is a cataloger but wants to learn about government documents or rare book cataloging.

Once one is out of library school, it can seem challenging to find time and resources for continuing education, especially for gaining special skills. The topic of the month for the New Members Round Table Online Discussion Forum Committee for May 2016 was just that: tips and recommendations for gaining additional or specialized skills after library school.  What do you do when you feel you either “missed something” in library school or did not have an opportunity to gain these skills but still want them?  What is the most effective way to gain them? Internships? Classes and workshops?  Finding ways to work with colleagues at your current place of work to gain insight and skills? Volunteering?

We had a lively discussion that touched on engagement with professional organizations, workshops, webinars, volunteering, internships, part-time employment, and continuing education courses offered through a variety of institutions both onsite and online

Professional Organizations:  One contributor noted that she works an overnight shift and therefore is not able to help her colleagues with their work such as instruction sessions.  One strategy that she has used is to become involved in professional organizations such as NMRT and LLAMA through ALA.  For example, she has signed up to be a mentee through LLAMA and has joined the editorial board of the Journal of New Librarianship. ALA has a variety of mentor/mentee programs, including ones for conferences. I had the pleasure of having mentors for my first trip to ALA Annual as well as my first trip to RBMS.  Having this individual to whom I could turn with questions and concerns about the conference made it a less intimidating experience.  ALA and its divisions connect us in the profession on a large scale so that we can share resources, ideas, and experiences.

Continuing Education Courses, Workshops and Webinars:  There are many sources for continuing education classes, workshops, and webinars – both offered online and onsite.  Onsite examples provided by participants included:  courses offered through their Alma Mater (also available online), courses through institutes like Rare Book School, and workshops offered onsite at conferences. Examples of sources for online professional development courses included Library Juice Academy, TechSoup, and ALA divisions such as LITA and RUSA.

A discussion participant made the excellent point that it is important to learn about the course structure to determine whether there will be hands-on exercises, discussion, or lectures.  If experiential learning is your goal, you will want to make sure the class will be able to provide that for you.  It is one thing to read about a topic, it is another to be able to demo or practice a skill.

Volunteering, Internships, and Part-Time Employment: The need to do experiential and hands-on learning in some cases, leads me to the last category of professional development opportunities discussed: volunteering, internships, and part-time employment when possible.  Spending time with other professionals doing the kind of work you are interested in pursing is valuable. You can learn whether you would like to be in a particular setting.  You can determine at this stage what gaps you may have that you did not know about, or what skills you already have that could be strengthened.

One of our discussion participants described her experience interning in a special collections library. While she ultimately determined this was not that path she wanted to take, she gained some other skills working with databases that have served her well since.  I too, did some interning after library school. I did an internship where I did copy cataloging.  It was a collection I was interested in, but I found that technical services was not my path.

This same discussion participant also noted the value of looking into community college libraries or local universities for experience in an academic context.  She specifically suggested part-time adjust positions.  She had had experience doing this.  In this context, she was able to apply and expand upon her time teaching computer classes at a public library to her work in this two-year college instruction setting.

In summarizing all of these ideas from NMRT members, it looks overwhelming.  A strategy for me that has worked has been to look at it from this question of “what piece of information or skill am I missing?” and look for opportunities that could help fill that specific gap.  Also, it can be fruitful to think outside of the options noted.  For example, taking a language class could be beneficial or a bookbinding class at an art studio – it all depends on what gap you are trying to fill. Of course, one class, workshop, or webinar will not be able to fully flesh out our knowledge or skill base.  We build on skills and experiences over time as the needs of the field evolve.

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NMRT Election Results

The complete NMRT Executive Board for 2016-2017, officially taking office at the end of the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando,FL is:

President: Kate Kosturski

Past-President: Kirby McCurtis

Vice President/President-Elect: Mandi Goodsett

Secretary: Nicole Lamoreaux

Treasurer: Lesley Looper

Members Services Director: Julia Frankosky

Outreach Director: Ariana Santiago

Networking Director: T.J. Szafranski

Leadership Development Director: Nicole Spoor 

Councilor: J.P. Porcaro

You can read about the responsibilities, duties, and privileges of serving on the NMRT Executive Board in the NMRT Handbook.

Outgoing board members who will complete their terms of service during the 2016 ALA Annual Conference include:

  • Megan Hodge, PAST PRESIDENT
  • Karen Doster-Greenleaf, SECRETARY
  • Easter, DiGangi, TREASURER
  • Tinamarie Vella, NETWORKING DIRECTOR
  • Kelly Trowbridge, OUTREACH DIRECTOR

For all board members, both incoming and outgoing, we thank you for your service and contributions to NMRT and the American Library Association. Your commitment to the profession and to NMRT’s mission to support new and emerging information professionals is to be commended. We look forward to continuing to work with all of the outgoing board members as they take on new and exciting roles within other divisions, sections, and round tables within the American Library Association.

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NMRT Conference Orientations

NMRT will be hosting two orientation opportunities for conference attendees.
Annual Conference Orientation

Date: Friday, June 24

Time: 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Location: HYATT Regency Orlando, Room Regency Ballroom T

NMRT 101

Date: Saturday, June 25

Time: 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Location: Rosen Centre, Room Salon 05/06

To Learn More

NMRT1012016-eHandout.docx

AnnualConferenceOrientation2016-eHandout

 

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