SLA NY’s International Special Librarians Day Event

By: Alexandra Janvey


The Global Outreach Committee of SLA NY held a special event on April 19 at Baruch College in recognition of International Special Librarians Day. The speakers, Diane Tukman and Mary Jane Fales were from the nonprofit Bridges to Community (http://www.bridgestocommunity.org/) and spoke about the different projects the group gets involved with. The Westchester based community development organization works with local communities in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic under the program areas of housing, health, education, and economic development. They bring volunteers to build water systems, homes, schools, and more recently libraries. Over 800 volunteers a year go to Nicaragua and they are a diverse group of individuals that range from students to business leaders. The speakers explained some of the reasons that Bridges to Community choose to focus their efforts in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Why Nicaragua?

• Lowest education rate in the Western Hemisphere.
• Suffer from housing deficit of over 500,000 homes.
• 47.9% of Nicaraguans live below the poverty line.
• Only 79% of Nicaraguans have access to sources of potable water.
• Nicaragua is one of the safest countries in the Western Hemisphere with friendly and welcoming citizens. Safety has to be a consideration since hundreds of volunteers are sent to work on projects in these countries. 

Why the Dominican Republic?

• The western highlands along the border with Haiti contain some of the most impoverished communities in the Western Hemisphere.
•  Limited economic and educational opportunities.
• Access to clean water is a major concern.
• The people are gregarious, inviting, and eager to tackle difficult jobs.
• Bridges to Community was able to partner with another organization already established in the Dominican Republic. 

The projects that Bridges to Community works on are community generated. The community tells the organization what they need, not the other way around. This year they built their first library for the rural community of Los Lopez in Masaya, Nicaragua. The community’s old school was destroyed in the 2000 earthquake and its replacement was too small, forcing 119 children to squeeze into 4 tiny classrooms. Other children had to cross a busy highway to attend another school. In addition to new classrooms, the community expressed a wish for a library that would provide access to books as well as a quiet, safe place to study. The also wanted the library to have electricity so the adults could come at night to read and study. Several generous and devoted donors made this community’s dream a possibility. The library building was the size of a house and capable of fitting about 20 people. The building also contained a kitchen where healthy lunches could be made for the kids. The kids and community were so excited about the new library that they all came dressed in their uniforms during school vacation to welcome the volunteers from Bridges to Community. The entire community was present at the ground breaking and lined the roads to applaud the volunteers. Getting donated books for the library through customs was a problem so the best option was to buy the books in the country. The teacher who is in charge of running the education program also takes charge of the library and there are still things that need to be figured out. For example, right now no one can take books home with them because a lending library would be problematic in a poor community.

Funding has already been secured for the organization’s second library project that will begin this summer in July. The library will be for the community of Rosa Grande in Siuna, Nicaragua. The rural area is home to mostly farmers and many people walk hours just to obtain water. Few communities in Nicaragua have libraries and so those that do are proud of them. Everyone who attended also received a copy of The Librarian’s Cookbook.

SLA-LIS Career Fair January 12, 2009

I attended the SLA-LIS Career Fair on January 12, 2009. Some of it was helpful but most of it reiterated what I already knew from prior workshops, especially the section on writing an impressive resume. The biggest problem was the poor technology interface as Ellen described in her post. Even though I was disappointed by some of the programs, it was a good networking opportunity.

The section on life after librarianship by Barbara McFadden Allen was the most helpful to me. Her advice on career transition and taking responsibility for your own career path was excellent. Employers are looking for certain attributes and skills : flexibility, intelligence, analytical thinking, resourcefulness, problem solving, leadership, teamwork, project management and clear communication. I found her advice better for updating my resume than information imparted in the resume writing workshop. She also spoke about career options. You can pursue "librarianish careers" with vendors or professional associations. There is also consulting. You can also expand on the portions of your position that interest you the most, e.g. IT, nonprofit management, teaching and communications. If you are expanding on your previous positions, you have to build a new network by going to meetings and trade shows about your new interest. Volunteer in an organization that pursues your chosen career path. Contribute articles to publications outside the library community. Self-assessment is vital. Ms. Allen recommended a website: www.grad.illinois.edu/careerservices/exploration. Remember, if you are starting a new path, you will be a beginner. Transition is difficult, so look for a mentor.

Elisa Topper listed the most important mistakes by jobseekers. Much of her advice can be found in other sources but it was useful to see the information as a list. If you are interested, I can send you the detailed list. Just email me personally at carenrabinowitz@hotmail.com.

recap of LIS Online Career Fair 1/12/10

LIS Online Career Fair 1/12/10 (attendance hosted by SLA-NY at Baruch’s Newman Library)

My recap:

SLA-NY Chapter generously provided group attendance (free of charge for SLA-NY members), space and food and drink for this all-day event, at Baruch. The rooms provided were comfortable and the refreshments much appreciated – thank you SLA-NY!

I attended these presentations: the Keynote address, Putting Yourself Out There (Networking), Interviewing, Continuing Professional Development, and Common Mistakes Job Hunters make. I felt this Career Fair was a disappointment overall. Most of the information was good and accurate, but I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know. It wasn’t advertised as such, but I felt it was really for students and newbies/recent grads. Many of the people in F2F attendance were not new to the field but mid-career professionals; they already know what Twitter and LinkedIn are.

The length of the presentations was O.K.; under an hour each with ten minutes in between presentations. Lunch was a half hour and there was another half hour break later in the afternoon; I would have preferred a full hour for lunch. The sound quality was very poor during the Keynote; audio was lost completely for stretches of time and towards the end of the Keynote the audio was so choppy we could not understand what was being said. Audio was iffy all day, and there was also a great variation of volume for different speakers throughout the day. At least one presenter didn’t seem to understand that she’d have to speak right into the microphone in order to be heard and understood, even after being told that attendees couldn’t hear her. This was very frustrating. We in person at Baruch didn’t have trouble with the slides for each presentation, but people attending from elsewhere posted that they were having ongoing problems seeing the slides.

People were participating (via a chat box) from all over the U.S. and some of their comments and questions were…interesting. One person asked, “what is LinkedIn?” and someone else asked, “what does the ‘G’ in ‘GSLIS’ stand for?” During the presentation on Continuing Professional Development people were asking, what does “CPD” mean?! (It was the title of the presentation!) Other people asked questions like, “should I wear a suit or sweater to an interview?” and “are there libraries that have hiring freezes?” I have to wonder how these folks found themselves at this career fair and why they were attending.

Some of the advice given was, in my opinion, not sound. For example, one attendee asked via chat box (repeatedly) if he/she should mention divorce in a job interview as a reason for not completing a degree, and others asked about telling an interviewer about considerations necessary for the applicant for religious or medical reasons. The advice given was ‘yes’ to mention the divorce, religion and medical needs and I disagree strongly with that – it is not a good idea to mention any of those things in a first interview. The religious and medical needs can be addressed once a job offer has been made; the divorce should not be brought up at all. In a different workshop, people who have been laid off were advised to ‘take some time off’ from job hunting, to heal’ – unless we are talking about a very brief period of time (days at the most), that advice can really hurt a job hunter, and may serve to prolong unemployment further, unnecessarily.

Near 4:00 (about two hours before the event finished) I saw one woman putting on her coat. I asked if she was leaving. She said yes, that the career fair ‘wasn’t what she thought it was going to be’ and that the content was “thin”. I can’t put it any better than that.

Note to some of those who attended in person at Baruch: this was, among other things, an opportunity to network F2F with other professionals in the field. Like it or not, you are making an impression on the other attendees. It is probably not a good idea to

-arrive late

-dress very casually (a suit is not required; at least’ business casual’ is appropriate)

-engage in constant complaining, venting, and expressing frustration or desperation about job hunt or job prospects (including trying to scam a free resume review); this behavior can derail a job search and diminish the willingness of potential contacts to help you. Save the venting for when you are with your friends and family.

-bring a small child who whimpers and/or cries throughout workshops

-fall asleep

Those are my thoughts on this Career Fair. I would love to hear what others’ experiences were. Thanks for reading.

Ellen Mehling (Ellen M.) is a librarian/instructor/writer living and working in NYC and (among other things) regularly teaches job hunting workshops for information professionals. She is also one of the Assistant Organizers of the NY Librarians MeetUp Group.