Professional Participation John Webb November 10, 2007

Professional Participation--Irony When I was a library school student, I lobbied my classmates to AVOID joining ALA. I thought that it was a bureaucratic irrelevancy in the library world. I began my first job after getting my MLS in September 1970. I joined ALA in 1973. However, I started attending ALA meetings beginning with Midwinter 1971.

Professional Participation—Getting Started ALA isn’t the only choice. Special Libraries Association-SLA American Society for Information Science & Technology-ASIS&T Medical Library Association-MLA Music Library Association-MLA American Association of Law Libraries State or Regional Library Associations Others—ALA Affiliates--ALA | Affiliates Most have student member rates.

ALA Complex Organization Many ways to participate One can attend meetings just to attend programs and exhibits. One can attend an ALA Annual Meeting or Midwinter Meeting registering only to access the exhibits. Important: your conference badge is your “ticket” to events. ALA association dues include a subscription to American Libraries. However, much of the work of ALA happens in its Divisions and Round Tables.

The Library Profession There is a reason ALA is such a complex organization. The library profession, unlike many others which advance almost solely through research, “advances” through the work of committees that develop standards, best practices, methods of assessment, and even rules such as those for cataloging. Much of this work happens in ALA’s Divisions and most meetings at ALA are those of the Divisions.

ALA www.ala.org Committees Chapters Affiliates Divisions (many have the term “Association” as part of their names) Round Tables The Event Planner is online-ALA | event planner

ALA Divisions ALA Handbook of Organization shows their structures as do their Web sites. All have committees and Interest or Discussion Groups. Participating in the last two are good ways to begin professional participation. That’s more or less how I began. Round Tables are also good ways to participate. Divisions and Round Tables have dues that are over and above ALA’s dues. Dues include a subscription to a Division’s journal. Many members consider this the chief benefit.

ALA Awards ALA | Awards

Alternative Sources of Funding for Professional Participation Grants Committee Work Officer or Delegate Consulting Other

Grants Washington State Library Travel Grant (other states have them also) Provost Research Grant Library Travel Grant Grant that requires attendance at meetings & pays expenses Grant that requires dissemination of results via conference presentation & pays for travel

Committee Work Conference Committee that may pay registration or other expenses Non ALA committees that meet at ALA or other professional meetings--National Committee on Educational Statistics or OCLC Committees, e.g.

Officer or Delegate Professional society office that may defray some travel expenses Delegate to an organization or in an organization that pays travel expenses—OCLC Members Council, e.g. Liaison from one organization to another that may pay or defray travel expenses

Consulting Most lucrative BUT ethical, legal, and financial implications Consulting that pays for professional conference trip Consulting that pays for trips to things other than meetings—visiting other libraries or vendors can be very rewarding professionally Most consulting results in reports that add to one’s resume

More Grants: Research, Travel, Special Projects… Grant-seeker handbooks The "how to" grants manual : successful grantseeking techniques for obtaining public and private grants Getting your grant : a how-to-do-it manual for librarians The Research Funding Guidebook: Getting It, Managing It & Renewing It