Section: My ALCTS Experience

My Emerging Leader Experience: Abigail Sparling

ALA Annual Conference, Columns, Conference News, My ALCTS Experience

2018–2019 has been the year of raising my hand and finding my professional home in ALCTS. My first ALA Annual Conference was in 2018, where I attended an amazing session put on by the ALCTS Electronic Resources Interest Group. Motivated by the speakers, I stayed for the business meeting after the session and found myself volunteering to co-chair the interest group. It wasn’t long after that I learned about the ALA Emerging Leaders Program. The program seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn more about the structure and governance of ALA and my potential place within it. I was delighted and honored to be named the 2019 ALCTS Emerging Leader.

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My ALCTS Experience: Shelby Strommer

ALA Annual Conference, Columns, Conference News, My ALCTS Experience

In June 2019 I had the opportunity to attend the ALA Annual Conference as a recipient of the Jan Merrill-Oldham Development Grant. In recognition of Jan Merrill-Oldham’s commitment to preservation education and mentorship, the grant provides early-career preservation practitioners an opportunity to further their professional development by attending the Annual Conference. I was honored to receive this award and thrilled to have the opportunity to find ideas and inspiration to help me serve as an effective steward of our library collections and an effective mentor to my student employees.

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My Emerging Leader Experience: Netanel Ganin

Columns, My ALCTS Experience

Last year I had the privilege of joining the 2018 class of ALA Emerging Leaders and was doubly honored to be sponsored by ALCTS. Although I’d previously served on committees and task forces within ALCTS, I didn’t have a strong sense of the larger picture of ALA’s structure and governance, and where I might fit into it. All that changed during the program. Through presentations, speakers, and the ongoing conversations facilitated by the leaders of the program, I gained a keener understanding of some of how ALA functions, both internally, as well as for librarianship, libraries and librarians.

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My ALCTS Experience: Elyssa Gould

Columns, My ALCTS Experience

I began my library career in cataloging and metadata but eventually morphed into an electronic resources librarian about three years ago. I love electronic resources work—it’s mentally engaging, always involves solving a puzzle, puts me in contact with many parts of the library, and makes great use of my ability to read bibliographic records. Today I am electronic resources librarian at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where I lead a team of five that handles database trials, activates new electronic resources, and troubleshoots electronic resource access problems.

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