Sometimes I feel a little disconnected from other librarians
because I’m a solo-librarian at a law firm.
Sure, I can connect through ALA or AALL or PLLIP…I mean, there are ways. And I am members of these. But online connections lack a little
familiarity I miss from my time interning at an academic library. Now, I am trying to work out ways to connect
regardless of my electronic v. physical limitations. Here are some of the ways I am
considering/have already begun:
1) Volunteering for committees in various
organizations. They like the time you
offer, you get the benefit of meeting and talking with like-minded strangers.
2) Attending committees, meetings, and webinars. So far, I have only attended webinars due to
time constraints, but I am trying to plan to go to the annual AALL meeting in
Dallas this year. It’s an awesome
networking experience, and judging by the information from last year it was a
lot of fun. As for webinars – it’s a
wonderful way to stay current in your field and the speakers tend to be very
informational and organized. Even if you
don’t get to meet anyone personally, it’s nice to enjoy a quick learning
session with peers.
3) Spending time in local libraries/museums/similar
institutes. Like I said, I’m a
solo-librarian. It gets lonely and the
only people here who have somewhat-similar backgrounds are members of the IT
team. Still, I can’t talk to them about
the best ways to catalog or physically organize the library. (Although, I did get a wonderful amount of
help setting up the online library catalog and intranet.) So I’ve been attending events at the local museums
and libraries. The librarians and I may
not cross paths in our given fields every day, but it is nice to know them.
