The CLA's Speed Networking Event


Lisa Chen is a second term MLIS student. She has served as the SLA's first-term representative and secretary but likes to be involved in other student group events when possible. Her interests are in special and academic libraries. She also enjoys playing pokemon, reading, writing and watching anime in her free time. You can read about her journey and thoughts on librarianship here.
Note: This has been cross-posted on Lisa Chen's blog.
On July 24th, I attended the CLA student group’s Speed Networking event at the Central Library. It was a small affair with big benefits. I was acquainted with various professionals who had great advice for the participants. It was also an opportunity to enhance my social skills and get used to developing connections as a growing professional.
The first person I met was Mary Kosta, an archivist at the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. She is a recent graduate from Western’s MLIS program and it was interesting to hear her journey through the field, as she was a mature student. Kosta explained to us the principles of archiving while also giving advice about joining associations, signing up for listservs and partaking in the Young Canada Works program.
Second was Tom Adam, the Project Manager and Special Advisor to the Provost at Western Libraries. Adam is highly involved with copyright and educating faculty and students about respecting and acknowledging authors’ rights. He was passionate about the library as the centre to interpret copyright. For networking, he recommended attending conferences, as word about you spreads amongst professionals.
Sandra McKeown was third. She is a Clinical Librarian at the London Health Sciences Centre. McKeown went the extra mile and provided us with a comprehensive handout (see below) about a librarian’s duties at the hospital. She recommended connecting with Canadian Health Libraries Association and the Medical Library Association‘s listservs while also taking advantage of continuing education courses.
The fourth and final person I spoke to was Linda Ludke, a Selection Librarian at London Public Library. Ludke embodied enthusiasm as she talked about her involvement with collection development. She also published and read book reviews to help make her decisions. She explained in great depth the relationship librarians have with publishers and budgeting for books. Ludke reminded us to not overlook the potential of volunteering, as you can meet future employers and coworkers that way.
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The speed networking event was a great opportunity to try new things. I handed out my first  business cards and spoke to professionals I had never met before; this is what it’s like to connect with professionals in the library field at the micro level. I learned that it is easy to start a conversation. All of the professionals were eager to share their knowledge and experiences with students. If the CLA does it again, I would recommend you attend as it is an inexpensive yet golden opportunity to try new things.
For future participants, I recommend that you dress professionally, bring your business cards and prepare some general questions. Also bring a pen and paper to take notes.

What Is A Library?

Sarah Morrison is the treasurer for the UWO CLA during the Summer 2014 term. She enjoys technology, non-fiction, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Lego, and Scaredy Squirrel. You can read more about her thoughts on libraries as her blog: http://sarahamorrison.net

Thanks to my Grandpa for spurring my thoughts on this topic. I was talking with him about all sorts of good stuff, like how database vendors work, the changes in reference services, and Millennials, and this came up.
I was describing how I wrote my papers for this first MLIS term, and I realized that I didn’t use any books from the library for any of them. I used 90% journal articles available online, a few journal articles that I had to photocopy from Weldon, and the odd GRC resource.