{"id":88651,"date":"2015-02-23T11:30:47","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T17:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=88651"},"modified":"2015-02-12T21:42:13","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T03:42:13","slug":"what-to-do-when-you-are-alaleftbehind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=88651","title":{"rendered":"What to do when you are #ALAleftbehind"},"content":{"rendered":"

What to do when you are #ALAleftbehind<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

by Leigh Milligan<\/a>, Senior Editor
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\"leigh.milligan\"<\/a>Unfortunately, I rarely get to go to ALA conferences, unless it\u2019s local in or near Philadelphia. I currently don\u2019t work in a library so my employer will not pay for it and I have yet to receive funding from different conference sponsorship programs. \u00a0I can\u2019t afford to go on my own. \u00a0Between travel, hotel and conference admission, I cannot afford it. \u00a0My May 2015 wedding is near and I just bought a house that needs a lot of tender loving care, so that is where most of my money is going right now.<\/p>\n

Do you think I just sit home and cry about it? Of course not. I try to come up with many ways to stay involved with the ALA conferences while I am not there. \u00a0Here\u2019s a few ways I stay in the know.<\/p>\n

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  1. Hashtags<\/b> I love #hashtags. For ALA Mid-Winter this year the hashtag was #ALAMW15 and I was able to see all the going-ons at the conference including sessions, presentations, meetings, social gatherings etc.<\/li>\n
  2. Living through other librarians. <\/b>Because I\u2019m a crazy networker, I have many librarian friends on social networks like FB and Twitter. Throughout the conference I got to see all the photos they posted and all the different places they checked in to. I am also a member of the FB group ALA Think Tank where I was able to converse about and see all the going ons at ALA. \u00a0Because of this I didn\u2019t feel too bad about missing Jason Segal and his Man or a Muppet song because all the librarians shared pictures and quotes from the session, I felt like I was there. Plus this is also a great way to start a networking conversation with librarians; it can be a great ice-breaker!<\/li>\n
  3. Some of the sessions\/panels are live tweeted.<\/b> \u00a0This is very helpful as I do wish I was able to attend some of the meetings or at least get a sense what it was about. I am active in New Members Round Table (NMRT) and this is the meeting I am usually looking forward to. Well I was in luck! LLAMA and NMRT had a panel that was live-tweeted and I got some very useful information from the tweets about new librarians and how to get involved in ALA.<\/li>\n
  4. Make a Plan!<\/b> \u00a0While I was not able to attend Mid-Winter and probably not ALA Annual, it does not mean I won\u2019t be able to get to a conference in the future. Right now I am planning on Special Library Association (SLA) Conference in 2016. It\u2019s local, in Philadelphia, so I won\u2019t worry about travel and I am on the planning committee for the conference. I am also looking to present and\/or do a poster session at a conference in the future. I am working on building up my leadership skills. \u00a0I am also job hunting, hoping to find a library that will fund me to go someday. \u00a0Applying to the ALA Emerging Leaders program is also an option if you are looking a funding. It\u2019s very competitive but now is the time to start working on your resume and gathering your skills for you application!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Additionally, for Mid-Winter, Mary Mackay of ALA put this little list of coverage options together. So yes social media is definitely an option. Hope to see this for every conference, at least ALA!<\/p>\n