SLO 5 - Professional Development

While I was an MLIS student at UNCG, I joined three different professional organizations: ALA, NCLA, and SNCA to help me in my quest for professional development. I joined NCLA through ALA, and use the NCLA listserve for job postings and for keeping abreast of conferences and other professional development opportunities. I have an ALA JobList account, which I use to search for professional jobs. I joined SNCA because I hope to pursue a career in archive and special collections, and SNCA has a lot of professional development and career opportunities on their website. I use the emails received from the various list-serves to stay aware of on-going trends, as well as to know what is happening in the LIS field. I also use the various list-serves to keep my eyes open for jobs. I hope to be more active in these associations in the future, as they are helpful to me and I would like to be a more active member.

ALA website

joblist.ala.org

While a student in the LIS program, I also presented two posters at the Graduate Research Expos. In 2015, I presented a poster on Libraries and Autism, and how people with autism are underserved populations at many libraries. In 2017, I will be presenting on a personal collection of photographs, and how I made them into a collection.

2015 Graduate Research and Creativity Expo presentation
Libraries and Autism Spectrum Disorders

2017 Graduate Research and Creativity Expo Presentation
Creation of a Special Collection of Historical Photographs 

During the first presentation, I was at my poster the entire time, and answered a lot of questions about Autism Spectrum Disorders, and how libraries can better serve this underserved population. During this upcoming presentation, I was present the entire time, so I was able explain the photographs, why they are important, and what I did for my independent study.