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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

New York Library Club Holiday Dinner

This francophile librarian had a wonderful time last night at the New York Library Club's holiday dinner. It was held in a little gem of an east side French restaurant called Les Sans Culottes.

The menu was superb and the company convivial.

The panier de crudites was a healthy and attractive appetizer, supplemented by the savory saucissons. I chose saumon a l'aneth for my entree, and a delectable creme caramel for dessert. The website for Les Sans Culottes is: http://lessanscullottesny.com

If you are not yet a member of the New York Library Club, I encourage you to join. The Club's website is: http://www.nylibraryclub.org

Friday, December 3, 2010

The SLA New York chapter - recent and upcoming events

On November 18, the New York chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) presented a very educational and inspiring "Information and Intelligence" forum at Baruch College, CUNY. Speakers ranged from Columbia University Business Professor Rita Gunther McGrath speaking on the nature and potential of "Discovery-driven Growth" to the sports psychologist Tara Jones whose presentation on how to "Thrive on Pressure in the New Normal" drew upon (among others) the example of British champion runner Roger Bannister as a model of how to not only fulfill but exceed one's own expectations for personal growth and success by developing an "unshakeable self-belief" and eliminating "stinking thinking" that destroy's one's own ability to achieve their self-proclaimed goals.


There were also interesting presentations from representatives of Dow Jones, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Leadership Directories, Boardroom Insiders and Lexis-Nexis on a wide variety of themes but all quite relevant to the larger theme of how information professionals can keep themselves relevant - both to their indivdual employers/companies and the needs of information seekers more generally. The need to not only constantly update one's own skills (in areas like social media) was consistently emphasized, along with the larger need to better "market" our profession as a whole.


As the incoming chair of Professional Development for SLA's New York chapter, I especially welcome and encourage all NY Librarians Meetup members - especially currently enrolled LIS students - to attend our upcoming forums and events -our next is on January 6 with Author and Bank of America/ Merrill Lynch senior executive Joe Quinlan. We would also welcome you all to our regularly scheduled "happy hours" which provide an excellent opportunity for ongoing networking. Finally, we would also love for you to JOIN SLA!. As one of the most active organizations in the New York area, and in SLA as a whole, the New York Chapter is a particularly useful venue to develop your professional interests and skills (including both the local forums and the online courses offered through "Click University)as well as the contacts, associations and friendships that will allow you to grow and expand as an information professional prepared for the unique challenges of this current time. Please check out our websites: http://www.sla.org/... (national) and http://www.sla.org/ch... (local) and sign-up for our chapter listserv. We look forward to seeing you!

Steve Essig

Meet the New York Librarians Book Club!

The NY Librarians book group met at Pauline's place on 11/30 to discuss Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. The discussion was led by Larissa, and opening comments were provided by Stephanie.

Larissa initiated the discussion by distributing some wonderful turn of the century images of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Sauk Centre was Sinclair Lewis' hometown and purportedly the inspiration for Gopher Prairie, the primary setting of the novel. Stephanie then delivered a brief biography of Sinclair Lewis, and discussed his writing in the context of his contemporaries, Theodore Dreiser, Willa Cather, and Ernest Hemingway. We discussed his Nobel Prize, and his nomination, award, and refusal of the Pulitzer Prize.

The discussion progressed and touched on a number of varied topics explored in the text of Main Street such as: librarians, the settlement of the American Midwest, the nature of small-town living, ennui, community development initiatives, judging and criticizing vs. organizing public service programs, architecture, internal and external motivation for behaviors, the reasons a character may choose to return to a place they fled, and finally socially and intellectually uplifting experiences vs. light entertainment.

We also spent a pleasant amount of time talking about our own jobs, interests, and aspirations. In addition to hosting, Pauline distributed free copies of the novel The Eleanor Roosevelt Girls by Bonnie Bluh. The next book to be discussed was not selected, but it was determined that www.GoodReads.com was a useful tool for sharing information about potential reading material.

Generally, it was a lovely evening. Please consider joining us next time.

Jane