Tuesday, May 13, 2014

ACRL NEC 2014

On Friday I attended ACRL NEC's annual conference at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. I always enjoy this conference because it's a one-day conference and seems to have a lot of bang for its buck. The theme of this year's conference was "We're All in This Together: Strengthening Librarians Through Professional Development" which was very helpful to me personally as I continue to look for full-time employment. The keynote speakers were Susanne Markgren and Tiffany Eatman Allen who spoke about Taking Control of Your Future: Eleven Steps to Develop your Career. They emphasized the importance of professional development in helping you to advance your career. Here's their presentation.
Here are some of the eleven steps:
  1. Identify strengths.
  2. Map out a plan. 
  3. Accountability measures: must be self-motivated and self-directed. 
  4. Network.
  5. Learn. 
  6. Seek - opportunities for growth and learning, partnership, funding.
  7. Collaborate.
  8. Write/present (very scary for me but I know I have to do it!)
  9. Create, Fail, Redefine,
  10. Share!!!!!!!! (so, here I am sharing!)
If you want to learn more about what Susanne and Tiffany have to say, visit their website.