NEA Roundtable for Early Professionals and Students would like to collaborate!

[Mary Richardson]

Hello,

My name is Mary Richardson, and I am the secretary for the NEA REPS.  We would like to collaborate with other early professionals and students within MARAC on a session of PechaKucha and/or Lightning Talk style presentations.  Our idea is to put together a session that would be geared toward the interests of early professionals and students such as fighting imposter syndrome, job searching, how someone constructed (fill in the blank) project, skills you wish you would have learned in school and have found necessary after you entered the job market, marketing yourself/self-branding as an archivist/early professional in the digital age. We're still in brainstorming mode so we're open to any and all ideas!  Please feel free to add your comments to this thread!

Best,

Mary Richardson

[sbecer...@gmail.com]

Hi, Mary!

I'd be interested. I'd have to think on this more, but perhaps something along the lines of developing your network/seeking mentors as an early professional. I'm very open to other options, though.

Best,

Sofía Becerra, project archivist at Berklee College of Music (early professional)

[j.caitl...@gmail.com]

I'm definitely interested in participating, and I'd love to talk about combatting impostor syndrome, aka recent grads in their first professional archivist position experiencing extreme doubt of their own knowledge and skills. Alternatively, I'd be interested in talking about the enormous benefits of early professional involvement/service/leadership. If either of these interests the REPS Steering Committee, let me know! I'm leaning toward the first, but would speak on either. Thanks for starting this conversation, Mary!

[reb...@gmail.com]

Hi REPS! I'm not a new archivist anymore, but I'd be happy to serve in a moderator/discussion leader role, if needed.

--Rebecca

[a.s.zin...@gmail.com]

Hi everyone,

I would prefer not to be involved in a panel that is related to job hunting, branding, networking, etc. for a variety of reasons. However, some conversations that I've had in other professional organizations, with fellow students and, just recently, on Twitter, have led me to think that a panel on publishing might be a good contribution.

I was recently invited to participate in a Lightning Round on this topic being proposed for the 2015 annual meeting of the Art Libraries Society of North America, and I think something similar could be productive for MARAC/NEA as well. The audiences are not likely to overlap much, so I don't think we would run the risk of stepping on the toes of that proposal.

I've observed that many new students and early professionals have a lot of anxiety around publishing and don't necessarily have a strong grasp of the various venues and processes involved. LIS publishing is also an area that could benefit from an influx of talent, dedication, and engagement. Individual topics could cover everything from book reviewing to professional blogging to the peer review process to budgeting time for writing.

If anyone else likes this idea, I would be happy to participate/moderate/help identify speakers.

Best,

Anna-Sophia Zingarelli-Sweet
MLIS Student, University of Pittsburgh

[j.caitl...@gmail.com]

Hi Anna-Sophia,

I would love to see both sessions proposed here — Mary's and yours — come to fruition at Spring 2015. You might be interested in touching base with the Research and Publishing Group (RPG), a working group that was developed last winter by members of NEA's Roundtable for Early Professionals and Students (REPS). Your idea sounds like something that would greatly interest that group. I've copied Chris Markman on this message — he's the organizing force behind RPG. Hope you'll be able to connect!

Best,
Caitlin

[genna.d...@gmail.com]

Hi all,

This is a nascent and vague idea, but I would be interested in opening up a conversation about how the archives profession can better support job creation and skill-building among students and new professionals. We have all seen plenty of cringe-worthy job descriptions -- maybe we can be more proactive about building a more supportive profession.

Instead of frozen budgets and the economic downturn being the end of the conversation, I think we need to ask ourselves, in a professional setting, a constellation of questions that touch on advocacy, archival education, and job preparation. How do archivists promote their skill sets to new markets and emphasize the importance of managing organizational history? How do we show the world that we are highly-trained and the work we do is necessary -- and that we might need more professionals in our departments? Would the world at large think more highly of our work if our academic training was more selective or rigorous (how do we get the MLS/MS/MSLIS as respected as the MBA)? How do we make unpaid internship requirements more meaningful to students?

This turned out to be a super-long "idea," but I've been thinking a lot lately about how we can better support each other and increase not only the chances of an individual finding paid work through professional development, but the number of positions actually available to archivists. This also might be too big or potentially too controversial to take up in this format.

Best,
Genna Duplisea
Archivist & Special Collections Librarian, Salve Regina University

[a.s.zin...@gmail.com]

Thanks so much, Caitlin. I will definitely send Chris a message in the next day or so.

[caseye...@gmail.com]

Hi Rebecca!

Thanks for being interested in serving as a moderator for the session. Could you please send me your email address? In the discussion thread, your email is truncated and I cannot see the full address.

Thanks so much,
Casey
REPS Co-Chair

caseye...@gmail.com

[caseye...@gmail.com]

Hi Genna,

Thanks for your interest in participating in the session! Can you send me your email address? In the discussion thread, your address is truncated and I cannot see the full address.

Thanks!
Casey
REPS Co-Chair

caseye...@gmail.com

[caseye...@gmail.com]

Hi Anna-Sophia,

We're hoping to have presentations on a variety of topics for the Early Professionals and Students presentation proposal and think that yours would be a good fit. Would you be willing to join a phone call with us and others interested in presenting in the session? We'll identify all of the presenter topics and you can decide whether or not you want your presentation included in the session. We really think your publishing topic is unique and is very relevant to early professionals and students.

Best,
Casey Davis
REPS Co-Chair
caseye...@gmail.com

[hka...@gmail.com]

Hi everyone,

I'm a MARAC member from the Pennsylvania caucus and would love to contribute a lightning talk to this session. In the four years since I graduated from library school, I've worked in a number of positions and projects (some short-term, grant funded) around the Philadelphia archival community. I'm now working in my first permanent, full-time position as the Archivist for Photographic and Moving Image Collections at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. The preliminary idea for my talk would be a two-year plan for new professionals, inspired by the observation from one my mentors that it takes you about two years to get good at your job/career. Along these lines, I would highlight experiences that helped me develop professionally over those first two years, such as getting involved in professional organizations and working on cross-departmental projects. Please let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Hillary S. Kativa

[aprila...@gmail.com]

I like your first topic! I am a recent graduate (May 2014) and am feeling this with each and every application I submit. I would love to be a part of this event, if I am in a position to attend the conference. I am currently job seeking and have no idea where I will be in the country next March. I would be happy to help work on this topic if it happens!

[jane.m...@gmail.com]

Hello,

If others feel it would be worthwhile, I'd like to see something about the "soft skills". We didn't really focus on navigating the organizational hierarchy and overcoming interpersonal obstacles while I was in school, but as I begin year three at my first professional job, I'm finding those skills ever more important. I'm not sure how a presentation on this topic would work, though, since every workplace presents a different landscape of personalities, barriers, and opportunities. If anyone else is interested and wants to brainstorm ideas, give me a shout at jane.m...@gmail.com.

-Jane M. LaBarbara

[caseye...@gmail.com]

Hello everyone,

Thanks to all for your interest in the Early Professionals and Students session proposal topic. We have had a great response from members of NEA and MARAC and have reached our maximum number of speakers.

Fingers crossed the session is accepted and I look forward to meeting you all at the conference next March!

Best,
Casey
REPS Co-Chair