January Message from the President
Dear DC Community Members,
I hope you had a reflective Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend and stayed safe in the winter storm. Your DC Community of SLA Board met for the year's first board meeting last week, and I am pleased to announce that Layla Heimlich and Logan Tapscott were re-elected as Secretary and Programming Chair, respectively. Patty McGowan was elected as our new Communications Chair. Congratulations to the new and returning board members! I am proud to serve as the new President of the DC SLA Board with these fantastic DC Community members.
The election ballot also included a question about whether community members support the board exploring merger options with other communities, as we could not fill the President-Elect position. While the vote was not unanimous, most of those who responded to the survey voted to support the board exploring merger options. It has been a struggle for all of us over the past few years, and even before the pandemic, it wasn't easy to fill all of the necessary board positions. Last year, Past-President Richard Huffine sent out several messages to members, urging them to get involved in keeping the DC Community Board sustainable. The board also fully understands that the President-Elect position is a long obligation; someone elected to the three-year position commits to being President-Elect, President, and Past-President. That being said, the board intends to explore multiple different options for the board's structure over the next few months that meet the new Community Guidelines adopted by SLA last year, including merger possibilities. My goal for this year is for the DC Community of SLA to be guided by a board that is structured to be sustainable and vibrant for many years to come. Of course, no changes to the board or the community will be made without a vote of the membership, so I ask for your support and ideas. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out to me directly at sarahkbraun@gmail.com.
Regardless of how our community may change this year, the board will continue to work with you to create engaging and insightful events throughout the year. Join us on February 3rd for a virtual panel event on Hybrid Work In Specialized Libraries to learn how different libraries are meeting the challenges of our hybrid work environment. It promises to be an informative event featuring speakers from healthcare, academic, and government libraries. If you have ideas for events we should hold this year, please email Programming Chair Logan Tapscott at dcslanewprograms@gmail.com or attend our monthly programming committee meeting; the next one is on February 9th.
We also want to make sure we meet you where you are to keep you updated on community news and events. We're active on many social channels, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and of course, SLA Connect, but we want to know the best ways to reach you. Please fill out this short survey so we can make sure we're communicating with you in the most effective way possible. If you want to be involved with our communications committee or want your achievements spotlighted in our monthly newsletter, reach out to Patty McGowan at dcslacommunications@gmail.com.
The DC Community of SLA has been my professional home for several years now, and it is the members of this community who make it so welcoming and engaging. Volunteering in this community has been, and continues to be, incredibly rewarding for me. I look forward to working with members to meet the challenges and opportunities that I'm sure 2022 will bring.
Sincerely,
Sarah Braun
2022 President of DC SLA
|
|
Upcoming DC SLA Events
We've got some exciting virtual events coming up in February!
February Board Meeting
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
RSVP Here
We will have our next board meeting on February 2 at 6 PM. This meeting will be virtual only and not in person. We will be discussing updates in SLA, hearing from committees, and discussing future activities.
We look forward to connecting with you.
Rescheduled Roundtable Event: Hybrid Work in Specialized Libraries
Thursday, February 3, 2022
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST
RSVP Here
DC SLA rescheduled the Hybrid Work in Specialized Libraries: a Roundtable to Thursday, February 3 at 1 PM. We believe that we resolved the technical difficulties that occurred in November. However, for added security measures, we plan to lock the meeting at 2:15 PM.
In the new pandemic world, librarians and information professionals debate how to open the physical building and meet patrons' information needs while keeping themselves and patrons safe. One idea is to work with a hybrid model. This roundtable will bring librarians and information professionals from academia, government, and non-profit organizations about their working experiences in a hybrid model, including revealing the benefits and challenges of working in this model.
Please come and provide your viewpoints on working in this world.
This event will be recorded and available on SLA's Learning Hub.
Programming Committee Meeting
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
RSVP Here
The Programming Committee will have its monthly meeting on February 9, 2022. Please share your ideas with us and help us plan some great events.
Until further notice, we will be working to organize virtual events such as
- InfoBites
- Webinars /Lectures
- Family Friendly Networking Events
- Professional & Career Development Events
- and more
If you are interested in helping plan any of these events but cannot make it to the meeting, please reach out to us at dcslanewprograms@gmail.com. We are always looking for more volunteers, including micro-volunteers.
|
|
Upcoming Events In The DC Area
UMD iSchool Event: Search Mastery Speaker Series: What it means to do research on the internet... and why so many are doing it wrong
Thursday, January 20, 2022
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST
Register Here
Speaker: Dan Russell, Senior Research Scientist, Google
Abstract: The internet is full of claims and counterclaims about everything—vaccines, uncivil society, 5G, politics, whether birds are real, and even whether or not Betty White flipped the bird in a famous photo. Usually these claims are backed up with the argument “but I DID my research on the internet!” And, as you might expect, the quality of most of that “research” isn’t great. The root of the problem is that the loudest voices and most prolific “researchers” really have no idea what good research would be—they often don’t have any good models to follow, and in a Dunning-Krugeresque world, they don’t even know that they don’t know. In this talk we’ll discuss what we’ve seen in poor research practices, and what we can do to help teach the world at large about how to actually do decent online research.
CUA: 14th Annual Symposium Bridging the Spectrum
Friday, February 18, 2022
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST
Register Here
Bridging the Spectrum: A Symposium on Scholarship and Practice in Library and Information Science offers a knowledge-sharing forum and meeting place for practitioners, students, and faculty in Library and Information Sciences and Services. Presentations are selected to showcase innovative practices, projects, and research activities in a variety of library, archives, or information services activities. Because students, faculty, and practitioners all share their work, the Symposium encompasses many different aspects and points of view on library and information professional work. The program's goal is to foster unexpected connections across the spectrum of the information professions.
|
|
Check out all of our events here! If you have any questions about the newsletter, would like to be featured in a member spotlight, or have an event from another local SLA community or library association to promote, email dcslacommunications@gmail.com if you'd like to plan an event or have questions about events, email dcslanewprograms@gmail.com.
|
|
|