ALCTS LLAMA LITA Alignment Discussion

  • 1.  Great Possibilities

    Posted Jun 14, 2018 08:54 AM
    I admit I had never even thought about this but it holds out exciting possibilities.  For years at Princeton Univ. Library we have been talking and working at trying to get people out of their "silos" and working across the old walls.  By email and at every ALA conference I have attended we have been talking about how our work is changing and the old divisions make less sense. 

    Also, since I worked for several years in a small one librarian library I remember seeing and helping all across the library needs.  This change could make selling a new division easier to this entire are of the library world.

    Art Miller
    Chair, ALA Membership Committee

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    Arthur Miller
    Retired
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  • 2.  RE: Great Possibilities

    Posted Jun 15, 2018 01:43 PM
    Thanks for your support!

    As a library technologist, I really like this take on it. Not all of my professional community is in ALA - some of it is on the technology side and may or may not be based in libraries - but I've always found one of the major values of my ALA involvement is the chance to get outside my silo, learn what issues are animating other parts of the profession, and see how my work can connect to and support theirs. A combined division would need to balance that with everyone's need to connect with people who *do* do what they do, but it provides such great opportunities to see the whole scope of the profession and to get support across your career lifecycle even if you shift among silos (or break them :).

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    Andromeda Yelton
    Senior Software Engineer, MIT Libraries
    President, LITA, 2017-2018
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  • 3.  RE: Great Possibilities

    Posted Jun 19, 2018 08:25 AM
    You do point out one of the things that has to be kept in mind if this reorganization goes forward.

    It has to be clear that people should able to still get together with people who do the same things they do but also be able to get together with people who do other things so we can learn from each other.

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    Arthur Miller
    Retired
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