General Meeting, February 28, 2008

5:30 pm, L030

Attendance:

President: Stacey Costabile
Vice President: Virginia Vought
Activities Chair: Sarah Morrison
Secretary: Rebekah Kati (not present)
Treasurer: Janet Anderson (not present)
Webmaster: Eyad Makki (not present)
Advisors: Mary Popp and Tom Nisonger

12 members and 2 speakers in attendance.

Officer Reports:

President:

·March Meeting will be Tuesday, March 25, 5 pm, in L030

oCarrie Donovan will speak on Library Instruction.

·PLG Pages to Prisoners tonight, 7 to 10 pm @ Boxcar Books

·SLA is still looking for volunteers for their resume Round Robin

Vice President:

·The website is up—www.iuala.org

oLinks to (and from) the Facebook page.(Join the Facebook page!)

oHas an events calendar and news items

·ALA SKILLs Act (Feb 12) was a huge success!

o14 Slissards made 40 valentines

·Newsletters are in your mailboxes

oWill be up online soon.

·Membership forms are here if you need to sign up

Social Chair:

·Buttons: we will be making more

oAny suggestions?

·Social committee:

oon it?See Sarah!

oWant to be on it?See Sarah!

Speakers—Lisa Gardinier and Jennifer Laherty—ALA Annual and MidWinter Conferences

Jennifer Laherty—East Tower Reference

·Attended Philadelphia MidWinter

·Currently involved in many ALA divisions: they have good information

·Volunteered for RUSA (Reference & User Services Assocation), ALA, Midwinter

oMidwinter is a great place to get involved and get recognized by the committees

oAppointments to committees are made between the conferences and appointments start after the annual meeting

·Feels impossible to plan for the meetings

oSo many presentations going on at the same time

oHeld all over the city

·Expensive: registration, airfare, hotels

oShare rooms to save!

oYour institution may not be as helpful financially as you might hope.

oAsk about professional development support during the final round of the interview process

oALA is only one group of conferences—another might be better for your job (SLA, SAA)

oNew hires sometimes get more funding for professional development during the first 1-2 years.

Lisa Gardinier—last year’s Student-to-Staff Intern

·Attended 07 Annual in DC (Intern) and 08 Midwinter, Philadelphia (no official capacity)

·Big: DC Annual had over 28,000 attendees

oA lot of international attendees

oChaotic and difficult, but worth it (she went back to Midwinter)

·Student-to-Staff program: a great opportunity

oWorking about 4 hours a day, with lots of time to go to the rest of the conference

oIn exchange: free hotel, stipend, free registration

oDownside: didn’t receive any training, just thrown in

·Planning—

oYour planning of event attendance will fall apart, but try anyway

oReview your “plan” the night before, and look at alternatives

oSuccessful/fun attendance is 20% planning, 80% flexibility

·Midwinter is the place to be seen

·Placement Center

oMost of the public libraries of major cities have interview booths

oGreat for interview dry runs, get some interview experience

oExcellent resume review resources

Mary Popp

·Many of the committees have internship positions

onot just for students

oa good way to start getting involved, learn the ropes, meet people

otake an internship if offered: most interns can get appointed to full committee member after

·Roundtables are smaller, not so many internships

Tom Nisonger

·Highly Recommends the exhibits at the meetings

oVendors of books, automated systems, other technology

oThe book vendors often sell books cheap or give them away on the last day!

Jen--

·There are a lot of parties and receptions in the evenings; definitely attend

·The big vendors throw great parties.

-- 6:15, adjourn.