Professional Partnering followup

This post is going up a bit late because I spent most of reading week in New York City (visiting, among other attractions, the gorgeous New York Public Library) and then had to scramble to catch up on assignments. At any rate, I’m pleased to announce that the Professional Partnering kick-off was a great success! Everyone I spoke to was having a terrific time and the food was delicious.

My partner is Jared Wiercinski, Digital Services / Outreach Librarian and Music & Contemporary Dance Librarian at Concordia University. Although I have no academic interest in music or dance (I do, of course, enjoy both in my spare time), his work with library technology is right up my alley. He’s offered to show me around the Concordia campuses and let me see what exactly he does, so stay tuned when that happens, a couple of weeks from now. Did I mention that he’s also a really nice guy? For more about Jared, check out his research guides for music and dance.

Helping students connect with the professional community

Tonight the Canadian Library Association McGill Student Chapter will hold the kick-off event for its brand new Professional Partnering Program. Here’s how the program works: at the end of the summer, students interested in the program filled out applications including such information as the types of library that interest them most, and these students were matched up with local professional librarians who volunteered to be part of the program. Tonight, the students will meet their partners for the first time at a casual event, complete with food and suggested icebreaker activities.

As External Liaison Officer of the CLASC, I will be helping out with the event, but I’m even more excited to meet my partner, an academic librarian here in Montreal. I just hope I don’t overwhelm him with all my questions!

What will happen after tonight? As explained on the CLASC’s Professional Partnering page:

Partners are encouraged to determine what types of activities work best for them. Suggestions include:

* a tour of the workplace
* job shadowing
* regular e-mail correspondence
* informal chats on the phone or over coffee
* c.v. and job-seeking advice
* career planning sessions
* introductions to professionals at conferences, lectures, or meetings

New library community site: LibGig

Today I came across a new site that has the potential to become an important resource for library-folk:

Sections include job postings, info about ALA-accredited schools, and social networking tools for information professionals. From the site:

LibGig is a new professional networking website dedicated to bringing together everyone who accesses, organizes, creates, manages, produces or distributes information for a living.

Our goal is to establish a common, human link within the enormous and multi-faceted information industry through dialogue, interaction and sharing of interesting stories, as well as dynamic and exclusive content that encourages feedback and debate.

Wow!

Wow, the responses I’ve received so far have been great – thanks everyone! I really feel like I’m joining a community. Amy is compiling a list of blogs written by students in our program, which I think is a great idea. I’ll post the list on here when it’s complete.

Today’s anti-apathy tip: take any opportunity to meet professionals in the field. Web 2.You was one example of this, but it’s even better if you can attend a session where a dialogue between professionals and students is encouraged. My school’s Special Libraries Association Student Group is holding a networking event on Thursday, and I hope all my classmates attend. It will be a chance to ask questions to the people who do the jobs we’re hoping to do one day, and the networking possibilities could even lead to future careers! So come out, and make your name known. Still not convinced? Fine, I’ll resort to using the magic words for grad students: free food.

What if your school hasn’t organized such an event? Then tell them to hop to it! Email the leaders of your school’s student groups and express your interest. Do it right now – you’re already online, and presumably you’re looking for more ways to put off doing your assignments. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll likely have more success if you offer to help organize the event. But think about it: not only will it make you potentially more employable after graduation, it’ll be interesting. If you don’t want to talk about the AACR2, I’m sure the professionals will be more than happy to pretend it doesn’t even exist. See? Fun.