All of a sudden, I have gotten very busy. I seem to be out and about a lot more than I was even a month ago. I am not sure how I feel about it even though I received my second vaccination nearly a month ago. Like many others, I felt awful for about 36 hours – body aches and extreme tiredness – after the second vaccine then the next day I felt fantastic. I felt even better than I had before the second dose. I am happy, but it is strange.
I am just back from visiting my son after not seeing him for 18 months. He is feeling much better after two non-COVID illnesses in a row. He is getting back on track with work and received his second vaccine while I was visiting. It was interesting and strange to stay in hotels and eat in restaurants, see people wearing and not wearing masks. It raises a lot of questions in my mind about the future.
Here it is June already and I have not taken the time to write anything to you for quite a while. That doesn’t mean we haven’t been working behind the scenes to shore up the community. As of June 7, we have 188 community members. We had 162 in January. This makes me very happy and shows progress. I have spoken with more members and would love to hear from you. I’d like to get to know as many members as possible and find it difficult without in-person meetings.
We are carefully and tentatively planning for an in-person holiday party. Carefully and tentatively means we will have a party regardless on Zoom, but we don’t know at this point in time and space whether it will be possible to have an in-person element. Stay tuned for more details closer to the date. Save your pennies as we will charge a modest fee and look for a very early commitment requirement due to the rigors of cancelling and pivoting. As you can imagine, this is exciting and terrifying. We will revert to Zoom with benefits, if the need arises. Your Programs team is working hard. Some of you said that you would be available to work on one meeting. If you want to help with the holiday party or any other event, reach out to Rennie, Programs Director or Marlene, our resident Fellow consulting with Programs until we get an Assistant Programs Director.
Our membership team of Mark Mackler and Cyndi Berglez are hard at work contacting people new to the community. I know how many members we have because they nudged me to update their list of new members so they could continue their work. They have received some nice responses.
The Western States Chapters Reception is being planned for the Annual Conference. Details are still in progress. I am helping move the data that was kept in Word to a wiki so it will be easier to access. SLA-SF is not in charge of the main planning, but we are asking for someone to devote their time to the team so we will be ready, in a few years, to host again.
Our condolences go out to Bob Nelson who lost his partner and SLA member Randall Marcinko recently. Mark Mackler was kind enough to send me the obituary and pointed out the SLA link. Our condolences also go to Past Presidents Chris Orr and Sandy Malloy who both lost their husbands recently.
Several members are running for the international board in leadership positions. I am being intentionally circumspect and not mentioning their names as there are very specific rules around how they can campaign. Please look out for the official information and get to know the candidates from your communities.
We decided to open up the Board meetings to members. Members will definitely be able to listen in and we are working out other details now. We haven’t quite gotten everything organized on Connect, but if you would like to attend the Board meeting on June 10, please contact me and I will send you the link.
Several people have shared interesting articles with me. First, Michael Sholinbeck, one of our recent past presidents shared an article about Zoom and how it affects us. While this may not solve video chat problems, it helps us to understand them. Monice Kaczorowski sent me the articles on flowcharts and why external data should be part of any data strategy. Monice is an excellent metadata wrangler. If you need to improve your catalog or portal metadata, I would highly recommend her.
My favorite non-work article is the one about emojis. I have been adding emojis (for better or for worse) to my emails. It amazes me how this technology works.
We want YOU to volunteer. We want you to contribute and we want to hear your opinions about the community. We are still in need of:
- Asst. Programs
- Nominations Chair
- Sponsorship Chair
- Western States Community Reception Chair
Volunteering helps you meet other community members. Getting to know other community members assists your career in a variety of ways. If you need help with a project, another member may have experience in that type of project. Members can refer you to others who are experts in the information you need.
We can accommodate almost any amount of time or any type of interest you are willing to give. We have a great team and any of them will be pleased to talk to you. Please get in touch with a Board member with questions or to volunteer. The people you meet while volunteering will enrich your professional life. One of our former Board members got a job because of a connection one of our current Board members exercised on his/her behalf. While we can’t guarantee a job for every volunteer, we can guarantee that volunteering can bring benefits you didn’t imagine.
Regards,
Jaye Lapachet