ORGANIZATION Blog: November 2010
On November 10, Kim Parrot, the NCLA Administrative Assistant for the past six years, submitted her letter of resignation. She will be leaving to take a position in community service, an area that has long been a passion of hers.
Kim will be leaving with our gratitude. Since coming to us in 2004, Kim has grown in her position and has helped the association grow as well. With her help, for example, we have begun using membership management software to better serve the NCLA membership and to make the internal operations of the association more efficient.
Kim has served under four NCLA presidents — Bracy, Burgin, Barton, and Rice — and has been an invaluable assistant to all of them as they sought to achieve their goals for the association. She has helped numerous section and roundtable chairs to plan and carry out workshops and other events. She has provided support for the biennial conferences in 2005, 2007, and 2009 and has helped start the planning for the 2011 conference in Hickory.
Kim will be missed by all of us who have worked with her. We wish her the best of luck in her new position. And we hope that we meet again on this road of life.
Thanks, Kim, and best of luck.
Robert
Dr. Robert Burgin
Web Administrator and former President
North Carolina Library Association
Many of the changes that we have recently made to the NCLA Website have been attempts to create a greater degree of community and interaction among NCLA members. The forums represent one of these attempts.
As you can see, there are a number of forums, covering a wide range of issues of interest to the members of the association, everything from job postings to forums for the issues of importance to NCLA members — like intellectual freedom and public policy -- to forums for the various sections and roundtables of the association.
So how do you participate in these forums? Basically, you can either post new topics or you can respond to existing topics.
- To post new topics to a forum, simply go to the forum that is most appropriate to your topic and click on the "Post new Forum topic" link. Give your topic a subject in the text box labeled "Subject" and enter the body of your post in the text box labeled "Body." Then select either "Preview" (if you want to check it out before posting it for the world to see) or "Save" (if you think that your post is ready for prime time).
- To respond to existing topics, you can either add a new comment by clicking on the link to "Add new comment" or reply to an existing comment by clicking on the "Reply" link. In either event, you will then be presented with a couple of text boxes to fill in, one for your "Subject" and one for the "Comment" itself. You then click on the "Preview" button to check what you've written, after which you can edit and preview again or click on the "Save" button to share your comment with the world.
Yes, it's that simple.
So please use these forums to discuss your ideas with the other members of NCLA, to ask questions, to post jobs, etc.
Robert
Dr. Robert Burgin
Web Administrator
North Carolina Library Association
Over on the Leadership Unconference Forum, Jennifer Meyer raises a very good question: "What advice could/would you give to someone looking to be in a leadership role in their future career?"
Not surprisingly, one bit of advice that I would give -- based on 35 years of experience with the state's libraries -- is to get involved in the North Carolina Library Association.
In particular, I would recommend:
- Joining NCLA, if you aren't already a member. You can't get involved if you don't belong.
- Completing the NCLA Volunteer Form and becoming involved in the work of one of the sections, roundtables, or committees. My own involvement in NCLA began as the Vice-Chair of the Young Adult Services Committee of the Public Library Section, way back in 1975.
- Attending the NCLA Conference. The Conference is an excellent place to meet people and to keep up with the latest developments in the profession.
- Attending the NCLA Leadership Unconference in Greensboro on November 18. Not only is the unconference about leadership, but as a participant, you have input into the particular aspects of leadership that the event will focus on.
- Attending the NCLA Leadership Institute in 2012. Over the years, the Institute has been a training ground for leaders in the profession in North Carolina as well as leaders in the Association.
- Posting to the listserv and to the forums on the Website.
- Learning as much about the Association as you can. A good place to start is with the Association's Handbook.
One of the greatest benefits to any professional association is the opportunity for networking, and NCLA is no exception. By getting involved in the Association and getting to know more of your fellow professionals, you will be growing yourself as a leader.
Robert
Dr. Robert Burgin
Web Administrator
North Carolina Library Association
November is a busy month for the North Carolina Library Association, as you will know if you've taken a look at the home page. Among the events that NCLA is sponsoring are the following:
- November 1 is National Family Literacy Day, and the NCLA Literacy Roundtable has put together a toolkit to help libraries celebrate this important occasion. The toolkit includes sample family literacy activities, easy things that libraries can do to celebrate Family Literacy Day, ideas for working with other partners and coalitions, and planning guidelines.
- November 5 is the deadline for completing the NCLA Conference survey so that the Conference Planning Team can make the 2011 Conference in Hickory more responsive to your needs. Just go here to complete the survey.
- November 12 is the Archivists' Toolkit Workshop at Wake Forest University, being sponsored by the NCLA Round Table on Special Collections. This workshop will cover the basics of using the Archivists' Toolkit, including how to install the product, how to get support, how to import records from other databases, and how to export both EAD and MARC. Further information is available here.
- November 12 is also the SimplyMap Training Retreat, co-sponsored by NCLA's Government Resources Section and BLINC (Business Librarians in North Carolina). SimplyMap is the web-based mapping tool available through NC Live, and the retreat will take place at UNC Greensboro's Jackson Library. For more information, go here.
- November 18 is the first unconference to be held by NCLA, the Leadership Unconference at the Greensboro Public Library. As I noted in an earlier blog post, the unconference will be participant-driven conference on the topic of leadership. Details can be found here.
So, we have a busy month here in North Carolina, thanks to the efforts of the many folks involved in the North Carolina Library Association. Please plan to take advantage of these opportunities.
Robert
Dr. Robert Burgin
Web Administrator
North Carolina Library Association
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