Professional Development

Today started with a COSWL meeting, and finished with the Amtrak ride home. I’ve posted my COSWL notes over on the COSWL Cause blog.

Some general reflections from this conference:

• It is NOT worth it to stay in the dorms.
• It is less stressful to focus on meetings (rather than programs) if you have a lot of commitments.
• I rarely see anyone from WFU at these things! Thank goodness I could follow the blog posts, it was nice to “feel” like I was catching up with everyone.
• A lot of people aren’t familiar with women and gender issues in librarianship. If you have questions let me know–I’d love to chat! If you have any that are particularly pressing to you, let me know–I’d love to pass concerns on to the rest of the committee.
• It’s really nice once you’ve been involved in your committee for a little while. This was the first ALA conference where I really felt like I knew what I was doing and felt like I had a real purpose in being there. I also got really got re-energized around some of the social issues/freedom of information issues in a way that I haven’t at ALA before.

Despite the terrible logistics, the meetings were really good & I felt like I came away from doing something really useful. Nice conference, but also nice to be home!

Today was COSWL’s first meeting… I posted notes on the COSWL blog. One thing I’m thrilled we’re discussing is women, technology, and librarianship. I think there’s fruitful area for research and action in that realm. We have a lot of big plans for the coming year. Here’s hoping that our committee members get involved in a big way!

Okay, is it saying something when a shy person says the best part of her day was spent in the exhibit hall?

Today I had my first interest group meeting as a co-chair. We had had some drama setting up the meeting of the Distance Learning Interest Group, thought we had fixed the issue, then today found there was no room for us. Our attendance really suffered, but it was still a productive meeting. We have big plans, so let’s hope we’re listed in the program and have a room next conference! I blogged the session for LITA, so you can read about it there.

After that, I grabbed my vegan friendly lunch of french fries & headed for the exhibit hall. I typically feel pretty uncomfortable there, but I am helping staff the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship booth there.

Lots of people came by with questions or seemed interested, so I think my time was well spent. It was also relaxing: in between visitors there was time to check email, post a few pictures, and spend a few hours without my bag on my shoulder. I’ll be there a bunch over the coming days, so if ZSR folks are around, feel free to stop by. Really, there’s about a 50% chance I’ll be there! It’s booth 745.

Now I’m off to the WSS general membership meeting. This is where you find out the scoop on what’s going on in the area of Women and Gender Studies librarianship. I’ve been having really good talks with the WGS department at WFU, so it’ll be useful to see if folks at other places are doing some of the things we’re thinking about. I don’t have anything scheduled after that, so I’m planning on a walk past some famous monuments, a bite to eat, and the crazy commute home.

COSWL met at 8:00 this morning. (I’m like Mary, I like the West coast time!)  It was a really good and productive meeting.  In general, we’re focusing on our blog as a marketing and communication tool to reach out to a larger audience.  At annual, we’re going to participate in the vendor area to talk to people about what we’re doing.

We’ve also set up a Flickr account, will set up a del.icio.us account, and will probably have a wiki by annual.  We’re thinking that it might be a really good annual program in 2008 to do something about women and social technology.  It’s an exciting and fun time to be involved with COSWL.  If you’re interested in women’s issues in librarianship, read the blog and leave us some comments!!

Whew! After running errands, making sure files are in order, and finishing all the necessary tasks to leave town, I’m sitting in the airport waiting to fly to O’Hare. (I’m really glad the layover happens to be there… they have great vegan pretzels!)

I’m headed off to ALA in a few capacities. My main committee involvement is with COSWL, the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship. We’re working on a lot of initiatives right now. My major involvement is in helping kick off the use of social software; we’re starting with Flickr and with a blog. Are you surprised? I’m also involved with the ACRL’s Women’s Studies Section’s Instruction Committee. Otherwise known as the IS committee of the WSS of ACRL (acronyms really do run rampant in ALA!) I’m doing a bit of blogging for LITA and will participate in LITA’s Distance Learning Interest Group (as long as I get out of another committee meeting in time). Finally, I’m going to be participating in a few focus groups, hopefully learning about some products that might be useful to us when they release.

So it will be busy, fun, and coffee-filled. I’ll try to blog the most interesting things here. I’ll also blog the women’s issues angle of what I attend over on the COSWL Cause.

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