{"id":19637,"date":"2013-04-22T15:45:20","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T19:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=19637"},"modified":"2013-05-27T13:16:08","modified_gmt":"2013-05-27T17:16:08","slug":"19637","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=19637","title":{"rendered":"Opt In"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Africa Hands, Head Editor, INALJ Kentucky<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Opt In<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"bio<\/a>Guess what friends? It may not seem like it, but you are in charge of your career, personal development, and advancement. The career website Careerealism<\/a> has a tagline, Because Every Job is Temporary<\/i>. Sure it\u2019s somewhat disconcerting, but these days it\u2019s true. You can\u2019t rely on your supervisor to inform you of professional development opportunities, webinars, conferences, local meetings. It\u2019s your job to find these opportunities and participate. You can\u2019t rely on your employer to be in business tomorrow. Heck, even federal and state-level employees can\u2019t be certain that they\u2019ll be able to work five days a week. Furlough Fridays<\/a> anyone?<\/p>\n

This may sound disturbing, but really it is an opportunity to Opt In. We are in charge of staying informed of and involved in the library and information services field. And whether we do it on our own time or company time, we must opt in. We must opt in to attending free and low-cost webinars during our lunch breaks or in the evenings. We must opt in to submitting a proposal to present at the worldwide virtual international library conference \u2013 Library 2.013. We must opt in to actively participating and networking with colleagues in groups on LinkedIn and on professional listservs. We must opt in to participating in chats on Twitter using our personal Twitter accounts for what we may think is \u201cwork related\u201d.<\/p>\n