Recently, I had the pleasure of attending my first library conference–NCLA–conveniently located in my own backyard of downtown W-S! I attended on Thursday, October 19th, when the New Members Round Table had organized programming especially geared towards current MLIS students and recent graduates. Session focuses included the job search process and how to excel in a new position once you’ve secured a job. A few points I found most relevant included:
When You’re the New Kid: Managing Career Transitions with Intention (featuring Kate Silton)
- Give yourself permission (even if it’s not expressly stated by your manager) to take several months to understand the culture of an institution before attempting to change it. It’s tempting to come into a new position with blazing energy, enthusiastic to make an impact, but this is difficult and possibly unwise to do until you know more about the institution. I think this is especially relevant to academic libraries, which are within schools with such rich institutional culture.
- And closely related to knowing an institution: the recommendation was made to “inject yourself into the culture” of a school. It’s important to get outside of the library to really engage with students to better understand and then serve their needs.
How to be Successful in Your First Library Job (featuring Denice Lewis)
- Denice described her initial time at Wake as including a lot of experimentation, trying things, and digging around in our databases and resources as a way to orient and familiarize herself. She also recommended leaning on vendor-supplied training for resources. This all seemed highly relevant to anyone working in a student support role: it’s impossible to anticipate the questions you’ll receive, but if you’ve spent time in our available resources you’ll be much better prepared to point people in the right direction.
It was also great to view the poster sessions and hear the keynote presentation. As someone fairly new to North Carolina (and even newer to working within libraries in North Carolina!) one of my biggest takeaways from the conference was an increased awareness of how many libraries serve our area and the state of North Carolina, and the vibrant community of the people who work in these organizations!
10 Comments on ‘Maia at NCLA’
Thank you for sharing Maia, NC is lucky to have you!
This is great Maia! These sessions covered an important -and oftentimes challenging- topic and I’m glad you got to attend them. I’m sure our colleagues’ presentations were amazing!!
Glad you had an enlightening experience at your first NCLA Maia! Thanks for sharing!
Maia, thanks for this post and this wonderful perspective!
Great recap—Denice Lewis’s emphasis on familiarizing oneself with resources as a cornerstone for success in new library positions really strikes a chord.
Awwww! Thank you for the shout out Maia! Definitely let me know if I can help in anyway to help you find your feet and your path.
NCLA seems like a great way to get to know the variety of resources and libraries across the state – thanks for sharing, Maia!
Glad you were able to make it to NCLA!
Excellent takeaways, Maia! I’m glad you attended and enjoyed the conference!
I’m so glad you had a good (and convenient) first conference experience! NCLA was where I learned a lot about professional opportunities when I was a new librarian.