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We are excited to announce the formation of a new ARLIS/NA Special Interest Group: Art Librarian Parents and Caregivers (ALPCa)!

This SIG arose from a group of new and established librarian parents grappling with how to balance the often competing priorities of career and family. While there are many professional resources and groups for art librarians, none address the added dimension of parenthood or caregiving, a period during which additional support is critical for successfully managing both roles. A significant percentage of the Society will deal with the challenges of negotiating one’s role in the profession while simultaneously raising and caring for a family, encountering issues and making decisions that will subsequently impact their career. This group seeks to support this demographic by providing a forum for discussing federal and state family leave laws, flex-time, professional development, tenure or similar requirements, work-life balance, the negotiation of equal pay, better benefits, and improved childcare options. Advocacy and support for ARLIS/NA members and for parents and caregivers more generally will also be a focus.

If you’re a parent, caregiver, or expecting and would like to join ALPCa, please subscribe to our list: send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following command in the body of the message (the subject of the message is ignored). You will receive an email confirming your subscription.

subscribe alpc_sig

 

You can email Anna Simon directly if you have questions or an interest in working on an advocacy project (conference child care, our soon-to-debut blog, compiling institutional family leave policies, etc.)—or if you just want to share your story about being a parent or caregiver.

A special thanks to the Executive Board for assisting in the creation of this valuable SIG!