I'd like to commend whoever is responsible for
the recent effort to bring us information about our affiliated
organizations. We've had reports recently from ARLIS liaisons to
several relevant organizations and I'd like to thank them for the effort
involved. I hope we continue to get these notices regularly--or
at least once a year. Because few of us can afford to attend more than one
professional conference each year, I think we sometimes become insular in our
outlook and don't realize that other organizations have similar problems and
deal with similar issues. (Or may be dealing with issues that we haven't
yet thought about but should.) Even if we can't attend their meetings,
hearing about them is interesting.
When another conference is being held in our city
or closeby I think it is very energizing to attend--even when our institution
can't pay for it. Investing in ourselves as professionals by attending
other relevant organizations' meetings to hear their points of view, to observe
the different ways they may deal with organizational issues, and to network with
colleagues who may not always be librarians but may be involved with museums or
archives or computers or art in different ways is good for us personally and
professionally. It's always good for nonlibrary staff to see us at
'their" meetings and view us as colleagues.
Joan