It’s Your SLA

Jill Hurst-Wahl

Member, SLA Board of Directors

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What 3-5 areas or topics related to your work (or professional experience) could you teach others about?

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My Goal…

To make SLA more compelling to you.

If it is more compelling to you, then it will be more compelling to those that you touch!

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Who is SLA?

• ~9000 members from every continent• Library and information professionals• Students• Information consultants• Business partners

• 56 regional chapters• 26 divisions

• Organized by subject interests & fields

• 10 caucuses (more informal)

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My Story

• 1988 – Became a corporate librarian

• 1992 – Attended my 1st Annual Conference, San Francisco

• Have attended every Annual Conference

• Attended Leadership Summits in Reno, Louisville, D.C., and Atlanta

• Some years, I paid my own way entirely

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Roger Summit (middle)Founder of Dialog SLA 2006Baltimore

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Informal meetupSLA 2007Denver

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SLA IT Division Board MeetingSLA 2008Seattle

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Rt. Gen. Colin Powell and Neil deGrasse TysonSLA 2009Washington, DC

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Elaine DeanSLA 2010New Orleans

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Doug GlanvilleSLA 2011Philadelphia

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Guy KawasakiSLA 2012Chicago

The Impact (1)

• Bigger network = more global resources

• New learning opportunities

• Knowledge I could put to work immediately

• Led to new volunteer and work opportunities

• Helped to build my leadership, project management, time management skills

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The Impact (2)

• Became a more well-known professional

• Positive impact on:• Publishing opportunities• Consulting work• Volunteer opportunities• Professional opportunities

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Downside?

• I haven’t found one yet!

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SLA 2012Chicago

What Does SLA Offer to You?

• Professional Development

• Webinars from HQ, divisions & other chapters

• Sessions and CEs at the Annual Conference

• Leadership training at Leadership Summit & through SLA activities• What the Kentucky Chapter says…

• Publications & online resources

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What Does SLA Offer to You?

• Professional Development

• Employers want to know you are investing in yourself

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What Does SLA Offer to You?

• Advocacy

• Public Policy Advisory Council • Public Policy Platform

• Association advocates on our behalf

• Informs us when we need to raise our voices

• Provides relevant info through conference sessions, articles/blog posts, etc.

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What Does SLA Offer to You?

• Networking

• In all things, it is both what you know and who you know.

• Online and in person

• At events

• Through volunteer opportunities

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About Volunteering

• SLA survey (527 responses)

• Volunteering paid off in:

• Job / advancement (35%)

• Building connections, networking (30%)

• Career development, prof growth (30%)

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21SLA 2010

New Orleans

What 3-5 areas or topics related to your work (or professional experience) could you teach others about?

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What 3-5 areas or topics related to your work (or professional experience) could you teach others about?

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• Write a blog post• Write for Information

Outlook• Give a f2f presentation• Give a webinar• Lead a discussion • Mentor a colleague• Talk to students• Get better known

QUESTIONS?

All photos used are from Jill Hurst-Wahl and carry a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).