President's Message - July 2020
Hello New Jersey Community,
To begin, I am hoping that you and your loved ones are safe, healthy, and abiding by mandates and recommendations that we know slow the spread of COVID-19. While it’s incredibly unfortunate that we haven’t seen each other face to face, I know that if we all do our part we’ll be able to with each other and those we love soon enough.
With that said, the high levels of uncertainties have significantly impacted how we move forward with planning the rest of 2020’s events. Our community’s leadership has made the difficult decision to cancel the New Jersey SLA 85th Anniversary Celebration. However, the programming committee has already convened to identify ways to celebrate and honor our community's milestone virtually. Other traditional in-person events will likely take place virtually, too. Please reach out to me if you would like to be involved.
In addition to our community’s event, SLA HQ has also announced that the annual conference, which was first postponed to October, will now be entirely virtual. I encourage you to read SLA’s official statement on the Coronavirus.
The more we as a community and as New Jerseyans keep doing our part, the closer we are to being able to celebrate being together again. If there are any resources you need, I encourage you to review the New Jersey COVID-19 site. You can also find someone to talk to by dialing 1-866-202-HELP (4357) for free, confidential support.
Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home when you can,
Angela Pagliaro
Staying safe, staying healthy, and staying home
Hello New Jersey,
First and foremost, I am hoping that you and your loved ones are healthy, safe, and trying to find silver linings in this uncertain time. NJ.gov has resources available for learning more about COVID-19, keeping healthy, monitoring symptoms, and other information for public health and safety.
The spread of the virus has put a lot of our lives, careers, and even our own optimism on hold, but I do want to share some positivity and updates for our community members.
The New Jersey Program Planning Committee had their first virtual round table! The event was held on April 3 during lunch, and had ten attendees sharing our “new normal” experiences (and grievances) with work and life. The committee would like to continue these programs and will announce the upcoming virtual round tables. Look out for more events similar to this one and find out how you can get involved or lead one of the discussions.
As our state is instructed to continue practicing physical distancing for the foreseeable future, many of our planned events will be pushed back into the fall. This includes the 85th anniversary celebration that was originally planned for later this April. The event will be held in late September this year at the same location, the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick, NJ. More details will follow as our state continues to slow the spread of the virus.
At the association level, the annual conference (typically held in June) is now rescheduled for October 15-19, 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
I know we’re all eager to leave our house, hug loved ones, run a quick errand, make plans (then cancel plans!), and just have our lives back but it’s going to take time. Being in the field that we’re in, I know we’ll be vigilant about following the best practices for keeping our community safe and healthy, while sticking to the facts and the new reality the virus has forced on us. We’ll get through it, and we’ll do so by supporting each other (and for now, keeping our physical distance).
If there are any resources you need, I encourage you to review the New Jersey COVID-19 site. You can also find someone to talk to by dialing 1-866-202-HELP (4357) for free, confidential support. Of course, if you’re interested in getting involved in our SLA community, please feel free to reach out to me directly.
I like to take time to thank our program committee chair, Linda Salvesen on her flexibility and quick actions to create virtual programs this spring. I would also like to thank Julie Peters for her swift efforts to reschedule the 85th anniversary event.
Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay home, good things will come.
Thank you,
Angela Pagliaro
Kicking off the new year!
Hello New Jersey,
Happy 2020! I’m Angela Pagliaro, your community president for this year, and I am looking forward to leading and growing our community for the next 12 months. I’d love to get to know as many members as possible during this time, whether it’s working with you virtually or seeing you at one of our events.
You may have noticed that I referred to our unit as a ‘community’ and not a ‘chapter’. This is just one of the sweeping changes that the international association is making to the SLA brand and structure. This set of changes is intended to appropriately scale our association, while reducing the administrative burden of unit leaders. By moving away from these administrative responsibilities, our community can spend more time focusing on networking events, professional programs, and finding ways to support the professional development of our community members. So, in that spirit, please be sure to save the date for our New Jersey 85th Anniversary Celebration, the evening of Tuesday April 28th at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick!
One of the biggest changes that we will experience is a centralized, association-wide budget, no longer divided by unit. This change is concurrent with a reduction in required board positions- specifically, that of treasurer. However, communities still have the freedom to operate with additional board positions as they see fit; and therefore New Jersey will still operate with our treasurer (Anya Bartelmann).
The volunteers that will make up this year’s New Jersey leadership are:
- Vice President/President- Elect: Linda Salvesen
- Treasurer: Anya Bartelmann
- Secretary: Emma C. Moore
- Past President: Janet Cooper Weiss
Kathy Taggart will continue to serve as our Director of Communications, and Jeanne Mauriello will continue to serve as our Webmaster. Committee work will also continue; Nick Consales will lead our membership committee, Tami Marshall is our employment chair, and Louise Deis remains our archivist; if you are interested in helping out or learning more, please get in touch.
While more detailed changes will continue to unfold, my goal as New Jersey president is to continue finding new ways to serve our members. Programming, professional development, and networking opportunities will remain important priorities. If you are interested in getting involved in our community, please let me know and I can connect you!
New Jersey is a small state, but we boast a healthy membership, and it is our members and volunteers that have made, and will continue to make, our community strong.
Thank you all and hope to see you soon!
-Angela