I have been a member of the Irish Library Association since college. The groups within this association have provided me with amazing conferences, excellent networking tools, and brilliant advice.
For me, the above three reasons are why I join year after year. They are crucial to me as a new library and information professional.
The benefits from this membership are as follows:
Conferences:
There are so many, some are small, some big. The smaller ones are super fun I like the most, especially at the beginning of term as each year you get to meet all the new library students.
The high standard of presentations allows you as a professional to engage with all current topics, to have access to up to date information on all library sectors and to be able to engage with the professionals face to face.
There is always a networking event on after so you can have a drink, loosen up and get chatting. The best chats are had over #librarypints!
Networking tools:
This is not all about the pub, networking tools have to be practiced. So by going to conferences I watched how everyone interacts. Who stays on their own, how groups of people know each other, the people that are the social butterflies.
The most interesting part of this is not the type of person but the reason the person is there. A student will act very differently from someone who is there as a personal professional, another will behave differently if they have been requested to attend by their boss, regardless of being a librarian or not. And each set of networking tool you have, will be used if you want to talk to ALL of these people. Make a toolbox, and practice your craft.
Brillant Advice:
For me, this comes in a Q&A session, many people will ask a question like, how do we reach out to others when we have no time? How do you include social media into you working hours? What tactic do you use when asking your boss for time off to attend conferences?
As a new professional listen to the advice, all of it. Don't dismiss it just because you are not in that person's shoes, one day you might be.
Ask for direction in the advice they suggest, so for instance the social media and working hours. If they answer that it is difficult and they do take it outside of work, ask does that bother you? How do your colleagues feel about you doing it outside of work, is there a hostility, or do they applaud you? Understand the context, this can be done after the Q&A on a one to one basis, or if you want to send an email but always follow it through.
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