{"id":85650,"date":"2014-12-11T07:30:08","date_gmt":"2014-12-11T13:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=85650"},"modified":"2014-12-10T23:29:49","modified_gmt":"2014-12-11T05:29:49","slug":"associating-with-state-and-regional-associations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=85650","title":{"rendered":"Associating with State and Regional Associations"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Cassidy Charles, Senior Assistant, INALJ NYC<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Associating with State and Regional Associations<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"CassidyCharles\"<\/a>Last Spring, Mary-Michelle Moore wrote a series about Professional Organizations<\/a>. She\u00a0highlighted the different division in ALA, diverse professional LIS associations, and additional\u00a0professional LIS associations. When looking down the long list of professional organizations to\u00a0connect with you may want to consider reaching out to a state chapter of ALA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each state in the United States of America is represented with a chapter and in turn each state\u00a0is represented in the Council of the American Library Association. Each chapter is itself an\u00a0independent organization and thus seeks to serve its own population of librarians and\u00a0information professionals with different activities, sections, and divisions.<\/p>\n

In the USA there are also regional associations<\/a> to consider involvement with that have similar\u00a0benefits to state associations, including networking, professional learning, and community-\u00a0building opportunities.<\/p>\n

Beyond the USA there are regional professional organizations and networks available, like the\u00a0regional networks<\/a> affiliated with the Charted Institute of Library and Information Professionals\u00a0(CILIP<\/a>) in the United Kingdom or the local branches<\/a> of the Australian Library and Information\u00a0Network (ALIA).<\/p>\n

What your state association can do for you<\/strong><\/p>\n

State and regional associations are an integral part of the conversation between the national\u00a0organization and its membership. Geographic-based LIS organizations are interesting as they\u00a0bring together LIS professionals from the different corners o f the field but have the commonality\u00a0of being based in the same locations. With that in common, professionals can find colleagues\u00a0with common professional interests who might not share exactly the same job.<\/p>\n

Chapters facilitate this engagement in the form of holding annual conferences, continuing\u00a0education workshops, advocacy days, and other activities throughout the year.<\/p>\n

Continuing Education and Networking<\/strong><\/p>\n

Continuing Education is an integral part of career development for the LIS professional.\u00a0Learning is constant. As a job seeker any relevant continuing education and learning\u00a0opportunities to your career pursuits add more to your portfolio and provide you with knowledge\u00a0or skills.<\/p>\n

Continuing education can come in forms beyond conferences and workshops, like webinars,\u00a0blogs, and virtual meetings. The Colorado Library Association<\/a> regularly updates their blog with\u00a0association news and resources of interest to LIS professionals that they can then turn around\u00a0to their users.<\/p>\n

Like ALA\u2019s annual conference and midwinter meeting, chapters will often hold their own annual\u00a0conference or business meeting for its membership at some point during the year, but with a\u00a0local and specific content and less travel time. These events will often be a wealth of continuing\u00a0education and learning opportunities, in addition to time for networking with local professionals.<\/p>\n

Job Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Often state associations will offer a job posting board online. Using a RSS feed reader, like\u00a0Feedly or Digg, to follow some of these association job boards will provide immediate access to\u00a0the most recent postings. They may also provide information about professional credentialing\u00a0for in their state or salary guidelines. The Southeastern Library Association<\/a> even offers a\u00a0mentoring program for new LIS professionals.<\/p>\n

Community<\/strong><\/p>\n

Associations are organizations made up of people who have a common interest. Together\u00a0professionals continue to develop and support their field. A sense of community grows from this\u00a0and takes shape in events. Some chapters also provide members with opportunities to take part\u00a0in fun and recreational activities. The Member Services Committee of the New Jersey Library\u00a0Association<\/a> is both the recruiting and social arm of the chapter. Through the year they host\u00a0activities for their members like apple picking, after-work happy hours, and field trips to enhance\u00a0and promote association membership.<\/p>\n

It takes people to run chapters and networks, as well as the committees, subcommittees, and\u00a0divisions of them, and volunteering to be one of those people has it benefits. Volunteering\u00a0indicates engagement with the professional community and puts your name out into your local\u00a0LIS community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Cassidy Charles, Senior Assistant, INALJ NYC Associating with State and Regional Associations Last Spring, Mary-Michelle Moore wrote a series about Professional Organizations. She\u00a0highlighted the different division in ALA, diverse professional LIS associations, and additional\u00a0professional LIS associations. When looking down the long list of professional organizations to\u00a0connect with you may want to consider reaching out…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":81334,"comment_status":"open","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":[145],"tags":[69,3592,6573,3655,4567,5090,6715,6714],"class_list":["post-85650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-cassidy-charles","tag-inalj-nyc","tag-professional-organizations","tag-professional-resources","tag-state-chapters","tag-state-organizations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/CassidyCharles.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-mhs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85650","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}