I met many more people in the online community than I did at #scio11,  the fact that there is a constant community presence online means that you are never without your science family.  If you’re interested in joining in the current hashtags in use are #scio12 and #scio13 (the tag for next year’s conference).  In many ways we are kinda like the science version of the Island of Misfit Toys, if you read the #IAmScience stories (started by Kevin Zelnio) curated on the I Am Science Tumbler (both on twitter and long form on blogs) you’ll see that over 140+ stories have been shared and very few if any of us fill the science stereotypes.  I suspect in part that people who are drawn to Science Online are the misfits, the risk takers, the innovators, the people who never stopped asking why.  If we were square pegs in square holes we’d never be interested in attending a conference built by a community, ran by a community, and based on discussion instead of presentation.   If you have a chance to attend next year I highly encourage you to try and grab a spot, but even if you can’t you can join the online family of science communicators that is Science Online.

To give you a taste of how diverse the participants on this conference are in every way please check out this fun and quirky music video put together by the smart, talented, and oh so witty @DrBondar

Notice the large number of people in the video, I know about half of them, what other conference video can you say that about?

People don’t usually understand why a science librarian would go to such a conference, here’s why I attend:

It’s the only conference I attend where I get to meet top people in every discipline I work with.  This is incredibly valuable to me, it gives me friends who I can trade advice with, insight into how researchers and students view specific resources, and increases my knowledge of their subject areas so that I can better serve the faculty and students at my school.

There is a huge science librarian contingent. Being part of the Science Online Science Librarians subfamily is a fantastic experience, these are the peers who do what I do, who solve the same problems, deal with the same challenges and many of them are not only subject specialists but also library directors and managers.  We always try and have a group lunch one of the days so that everyone knows what each other look like and then we seek each other out as time permits.  We dish the dirt on our pet projects, we ask for advice, we encourage, and we plot world domination through information dissemination

There is a huge Open Access Open Data contingent, I get to find out what just came out, and what’s in the works from the people who are working on these great projects.  I learn so much in just a few days about which projects are hot, what people think is really great that I’ve never heard of.  There’s so much great stuff out there that you can’t find it all on your own.

Networking.  Everyone who attends is amazing and with this group you never know when a request will come for career advise, peer-review, a speaking engagement, an invited paper or article, or for collaboration.  You may even get to help advise or become part of a new science non-profit or educational group.  But beyond the career benefits it’s simply wonderful to make friends with a group just as obsessed about science and diverse in their interests as you are.

I’ll write more another day on some of the things I learned at Science Online, but for today I’ll leave you with a question.  Who are your communities?  Where do you go for unconditional professional support, guidance, and friendship?

I’m very fortunate to have additional support communities through ALA, ACRL, and ARL.  That might seem like overkill but if we were honest we’d admit, people are rarely truly successful without support.

My Typical Academic Desktop

As some of you may know I am currently on the American Library Association’s New Member Round Table’s Mentoring Committee.  Every year this committee tries to expand and improve mentoring services for new librarians.

Maybe you’re looking for some good advice, or perhaps you want to give back because of the people who supported you as a new librarian. Please at take a look at the call’s for participation below and consider being a mentor or a mentee.

Call for Mentors

Dear Colleagues,

Have you been a librarian for 5 years or more?

Do you like to help others and want to give back to your profession?

The New Members Round Table (NMRT) Career Mentoring Program offers you the chance to meet a new librarian and guide them as they learn the ins and outs of librarianship!

The Career Mentoring Program focuses on long term mentoring. We will pair up “newbie librarians” with “seasoned vets” as part of a year-long mentoring program that will last from  February 2012 to July 2012. Conference attendance is not required. Membership in ALA is required, and NMRT membership is encouraged.

Applications are due January 27, 2012 with the goal of notifying the matching pairs by the middle of February.

For more information and to apply, visit:

http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/mentoringcommittee

Application: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/careerMentorApp

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions after visiting the site.

Sincerely,

The New Member Round Table Mentoring Committee

Call for Mentees

Dear Colleagues,

Have you been a librarian for 5 years or less?

Do you sometimes feel that you have professional questions to ask and no one to direct them to?

Through the New Members Round Table’s Mentoring Committee, help has arrived! Here’s your chance to meet an experienced librarian who can offer you valuable professional guidance.

The NMRT Mentoring Committee will pair up “newbie librarians” with “seasoned vets” as part of our Career Mentoring program. The program will last from February 2012 to July 2012. Conference attendance is not required. Membership in ALA is required, and NMRT membership is encouraged.

Applications are due January 27,2012 with the goal of notifying the matching pairs by the middle middle of February.

For further information and to apply, visit: 

http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/mentoringcommittee

Application: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/careerMentorApp

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions after visiting the site.

Sincerely,

The New Member Round Table Mentoring Committee

Jo Alcock (judge)w/Battle Decks judges/participants CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 The Shifted Librarian (link below)

To learn more about Jo please read her short interview.

ALA conferences are truly like no other library conference (not any I’ve experienced anyway!). I’m a UK resident and our ‘large’ library conferences have maybe 300 delegates – that’s not even 2% of the typical numbers attending ALA Annual so there’s quite a difference in size!

I was really fortunate to have been able to secure funding from the John Campbell Trust and support from my employer to attend my first ALA Annual conference last year, and absolutely loved every minute of it. I thought I’d write some tips for first-time attendees (this is from an international perspective but many will be applicable to anyone).

1. Find out more about the host city to make the most of your visit – I found some great restaurants to try and also managed to fit in visits to local attractions before and after the conference.
2. Use the online conference schedule before you leave – I didn’t get chance to spend time scheduling whilst I was there so was really grateful that I’d picked a few sessions that I definitely wanted to attend (and some extras that I’d quite like to attend) before I left.
3. Consider travel time between sessions – I hadn’t really realised just how far apart the sessions were and missed most of a session I really wanted to attend because I messed up my scheduling and travel plans. Some hotels are over the other side of the city, and even those in the main conference venue might be a good 10-15 minute walk (the convention centre at New Orleans is over a mile long!). Use the conference shuttle bus to get between venues (this is a great way to meet new people too), but make sure you know the shuttle timetable so you know where to be and when to leave to get to your session on time.
4. Vote with your feet – don’t be afraid to switch sessions if something isn’t what you had hoped, or leave early if there’s another session you want to attend. It’s always polite to sit near the back if you think you might leave early, but there’s so much going on that people really do understand and won’t take it personally.
5. Don’t try to do the whole exhibition in one go – it’s a large exhibition so I found it best to split it up and view certain sections at a time between sessions.
6. Don’t be afraid to schedule in down-time – you really will need it!
7. Take advantage of the free food/drink – I didn’t manage to maximise this and it was definitely a mistake. Vendors often have sponsored breakfasts or drinks receptions (sometimes with buffets), this can really save some money!
8. Carry snack food with you – it can be difficult to schedule in eating, especially if you have to find somewhere to get food and queue up too. Sometimes you will want to hook up with friends to eat, but other days you just might not have time, so carry some cereal bars or crisps (potato chips) to keep you going. A water bottle comes in handy too – I was constantly refilling mine throughout the day.
9. Be comfortable – you’ll be walking lots during the conference, and you’ll be in a variety of different environments and temperatures. Wear layers, and comfortable shoes; I wore Fitflops in New Orleans and they were perfect during the day (though probably wouldn’t be suitable for the more formal dinners if you choose to attend those).
10. Be flexible with your plans – both for the sessions and in your freetime. There will be loads of great opportunities so grab them whilst you can. Chat to everyone you meet; librarians are such friendly people – and the ribbons on people’s badges (which show which groups people are members of) can be a useful way of knowing a little about them or a potential conversation starter. Most of all – ENJOY IT!

The best piece of advice I can give anyone considering attending an ALA conference is to #makeithappen! Grab any opportunity you can to get yourself there, it really is worth the investment. I loved it so much that I’m going back again next year – I was encouraged by many people I met at ALA Annual to apply for ALA Emerging Leaders and I was delighted to be offered a place on the 2012 class (now I just need to source funding). I hope to see some of you at ALA Midwinter in Dallas and ALA Annual in Anaheim!

Image Credit:

2011 Battledecks contestants, judges, emcee, Vanna, and timekeeper

CC BY-NC-SA 2.0  via The Shifted Librarian