Good morning all-
I hope you have enjoyed these first few temperate days of summer!
As we reach the midway point of the year, I wanted to take a look back and a look forward as a community, and invite all of you to reach out to me and the board as we take stock of what has remained an unusual sort of year in the life of SLA and SLA New Jersey. We all know that our world and our organization are at several inflection points at once,
but our connections remain our strength, which keep us coming together whatever the Special Libraries Association ends up being called or looking like.
The Year So Far:
* As you might recall, 2022 started out with the stress and danger of the Omicron variant surge; with that in mind, the Board made a decision to stick to virtual events for the late winter and this spring, reevaluating as we reached the summer.
*The NJ SLA board has treated this year as a year of reassessment. What does being a geographically- based community of librarians mean? Especially in this time of rapid technical transition, as well as personal growth and change for many of our members? In that spirit, in late March, the Board conducted a Virtual Open House, over the course of two days. We had a lot of great conversations, and a lot of good things to think about!
*The SLA 2022 Board has been holding listening sessions and open board meeting of the course of the year, which NJ Board members have attended as time permits; I highly recommend going to the Learning Management System and watch the recordings if you can!
*Inspired by the transitions we see in our own lives and in the lives of our colleagues, Julie Peters and the NJ Programming Committee organized panel on May 25th:
The Information Professional's Job Market: Challenges, Trends and Opportunities. There was excellent attendance, and a very lively set of presentations and Q&A
. If you didn't get a chance to come, reach out to Julie or me for the recording.
Soon:*It's Dine Around Season! A big thank you to Janet Weiss for bringing her organizing talents to bear in getting us all out to enjoy restaurants again. The first dinearound of the year will be NEXT TUESDAY! at B2 Bistro in North Brunswick, starting at 6PM. Please contact Janet or Angela Pagliaro if you'd like to come.
*A July dinearound will be in the Princeton area- keep an eye out for the date! (And if you have local get together suggestions, please feel free to contact Julie, Angela or me.
*Annual Conference will be here before you know it! This year's conference will (finally!) be in Charlotte, July 31-August 2. The NJ Board has gotten together with our fellow Communities to organize a East Coast Communities Reception, which will be held August 1st, 6:30-8PM. If you're coming in person, check the schedule for the location!
Fall 2022:
*The Programming is hard at work (Covid willing and the creek don't rise) planning out the traditional Fall Technology event, which we hope to hold at Rutgers.
*And of course there is the NJ SLA Holiday Party and Gloria Dinerman White Elephant Event! Which, ideally, we may be able to hold in person for the first time since 2019.
Ongoing:
*The board would really love to get a mentoring group/page going within New Jersey- if you are interested in being a mentor or a mentee, contact me at
emoore@ias.edu *Likewise, we also need help in the areas of Awards and Employment, as we rethink how those areas operate. Please reach out!
With Love,
Emma Moore
NJ SLA Community President, 2022
------------------------------
Emma Moore
Librarian, Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton NJ
(609) 734-8181
------------------------------