{"id":5996,"date":"2013-01-23T08:30:52","date_gmt":"2013-01-23T13:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=5996"},"modified":"2019-01-14T10:48:03","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T16:48:03","slug":"tom-nielsen-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=5996","title":{"rendered":"Tom Nielsen of SLA Solo Division …In Six"},"content":{"rendered":"

This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee\/interviewees’ positions<\/span><\/h2>\n

All Jobs<\/span><\/b> for INALJ can be found here: https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=1441<\/a> Updated daily
\nNaomi House\u2019s interview with Tom.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"tomn\"<\/a>Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 How did you come to work for\u00a0SLA<\/a>?\u00a0 (technically, I’m a volunteer with SLA).
\nTom:<\/b>\u00a0 When I started working at Hazen and Sawyer, a New York City environmental engineering firm, I realized that I would need to find a resource for tapping into the expertise of other librarians since I was relatively new to the profession and the only librarian in this company of about 500.\u00a0 I was also working with a rudimentary library (one computer with a green screen and a home grown system of organizing the book collection). So I needed advice.\u00a0 I tapped into the SLA Solo Librarians Division<\/a> email list and got a lot of great ideas. As a result of that positive experience I feel a great deal of empathy for other solos and started volunteering for this division in the last several years.\u00a0 I’ve been Membership Chair and have now taken on the responsibility of Division Chair in 2013.<\/p>\n

Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 How can librarians volunteer with SLA?
\nTom:<\/b>\u00a0 It’s quite easy really.\u00a0 If you’re interested in volunteering for an SLA Division or Chapter<\/a>, you can contact the Chair or President (of the Division or Chapter) and let them know how you’d like to help.\u00a0 I’m sure they would be thrilled to have you.\u00a0 I would be thrilled to have new volunteers for the Solo Division!<\/p>\n

Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 Can you speak a little about your experiences with libraries? \u00a0Any favorite libraries or experiences with them?
\nTom:<\/b>\u00a0 My mother was a voracious reader and when I was a kid we would go to the book mobile to check out books until a branch library was built near us.\u00a0 When I was about 9 I was fascinated by birds and checked out many books about them.\u00a0 The librarian noticed this and invited my mother and me to follow her through the back office and out the back door where she showed us that a robin had built a nest in the eaves above the door.\u00a0 I think the attention of the librarian meant more to me than seeing the bird nest.\u00a0 Consequently, I’ve always seen libraries as a welcoming and safe space.<\/p>\n

Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 Favorite book(s)?
\nTom:<\/b>\u00a0 I’m not very good at keeping track of the books I read, but within the last few months I’ve read some good books:\u00a0 Economix<\/span><\/a> by Michael Goodwin, Dance of Stones, A Shamanic Road Trip<\/span><\/a> by Kenn Day, and Doing Time In the Garden<\/span><\/a> by James Jiler<\/p>\n

Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 Are there any blogs or websites we should be following?
\nTom:<\/b>\u00a0 Well, of course, I think people should be following the relaunched Flying Solo Blog<\/a> to read about our members as well as guest bloggers like you, Naomi<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Naomi:<\/b>\u00a0 Any job hunting advice?
\nTom:<\/b>\u00a0 I got my current position through networking and visibility within the community, so I would emphasize the importance of volunteering, especially anything that give the impression that you are a leader in the community.\u00a0 That doesn’t mean that you have to commit to a large role, leadership is also taking on small roles at the local level.<\/p>\n

Tom Nielsen is Member Services Manager at the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO<\/a>) where he develops benefit programs for all members, and plans professional development workshops, meetings, and special events.\u00a0 Prior to METRO, Tom worked as a solo librarian at Hazen and Sawyer, PC, an environmental engineering firm.\u00a0 While there, Tom transformed the almost forgotten library into an up-to-date information center implementing a web-accessible library catalog, intranet website and records management database in service to over 500 engineers in 13 offices along the East Coast.\u00a0 Tom is the Chair-Elect of the SLA Solo Librarians Division and a weekend farmer.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee\/interviewees’ positions All Jobs for INALJ can be found here: https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=1441 Updated daily Naomi House\u2019s interview with Tom. Naomi:\u00a0 How did you come to work for\u00a0SLA?\u00a0 (technically, I’m a volunteer with SLA). Tom:\u00a0 When I started working…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[376,11],"tags":[5,3456,3458,3454,3460,3453,216,3459,3457,1405,3455,882,59,3461,3440],"class_list":["post-5996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-great-organizations","category-in-six","tag-bio","tag-dance-of-stones-a-shamanic-road-trip","tag-doing-time-in-the-garden","tag-economix","tag-flying-solo-blog","tag-hazen-and-sawyer","tag-interviews","tag-james-jiler","tag-kenn-day","tag-metropolitan-new-york-library-council","tag-michael-goodwin","tag-new-york","tag-sla","tag-sla-solo-librarians-division","tag-tom-nielsen"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-1yI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}