Professional Associations

Good Evening,

Professional associations are important to be a part of because it’s a great way to network and connect with other people in the field. It can help lead me to jobs in the fields that I would like to be in once I get my degree. So I look forward to looking into a few of them to see which ones might be best for me. So let’s look at a couple now.

Society of American Archivists (SAA)

The Society of American Archivists was founded in 1936. The association mission is to encourage and develop the values of archives and archivists. The stand as a source for American archivists to come and communicate with others in the same field and interests. The association has four different types of membership, which include: full, student, associate, and institutional. All have annual dues. Benefits to becoming a member include getting an electronic copy of The American Archivist, which is a journal that has articles, case studies, research, and more within it. Full and Associate members would get a printed copy of this as well. Members also get the Archival Outlook which is a newsletter that talks about upcoming events and important news. SAA has a bookstore that members get to enjoy a nice discount on as well. Lastly they can join a mentoring program which brings people with similar interests together. They have an annual meeting every year in a different city which lasts about a week. There they can network, go to fun special events, and workshops.

Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA)

Art Libraries Society of North America was founded in 1972. The society’s mission is uphold the importance of art and design librarianship. They want to keep traditions strong but keep up with the ever-changing world’s technology. ARLIS/NA strives to be a great resource for people in the field to connect and learn from. The society has four types of membership as well, individual, Introductory, retired/unemployed, and student. Benefits to becoming a member include participating in the society structure such as holding a position in the executive board. But they also have committee's, divisions, special interest groups, and chapters that you can be involved in as well. ARLIS/NA also offers its members opportunities to get scholarships and awards. There are great career resources available to you as well. They also have a few publications that are special for you. They have Art Documentation which comes out twice a year with exciting and important articles to read and view. The Occasional Papers Series has longer essays and reviews on more focused topics. ARLIS/NA has an annual conference that gives members the opportunity to go and learn more in art librarianship. It gives them another chance to network in person. Another interesting event that I noticed they had was study abroad options. I thought that was really different and awesome for them to offer.

I choose to look at these two associations because they are geared toward career paths I would like to look more into. I love the SAA for it’s archival side and it has a lot of great benefits to becoming a member. I feel I could learn a lot from them and the networking opportunities would be amazing since they have about 5,000 members. I like ARLIS/NA as well. I enjoy that this one is not as big, with 1,000 members and that it is more of a focused group on art. I think I am really starting to get more interested in the art and museum side of the field. Like I stated in the above, I also like that it gives study abroad options, that’s great. I think giving people the opportunity to go somewhere else to see how they do things is wonderful. We can always learn new techniques and tricks. If I had to chose today one of the associations to join it would be the ARLIS/NA. I like the feel I get from their website and the literature I have read on it. They look like a small tight knit group with a lot going on. There were plenty of great benefits to joining as well. I really like that they help with looking for jobs. It’s nice that they are there to help fellow members out like that. I look forward to reading more of what these two associations offer as well as looking into a few more. That way I can choose one that fits me best, maybe two.

Ashley      

About SAA. (2014). Society of american archivists. Retrieved from

http://www2.archivists.org/

History & Mission. (2013). Art libraries society of north america. Retrieved from

http://www.arlisna.org/index.html

Personal Goals and Objections

Good Morning,

Today I want to talk about what my goals are for my career in the field. There are plenty of different types of jobs I can get from the degree. Some I haven’t even realized quite yet what they are. Through the class I hope to get a deeper look into all of the different jobs one can have in the field. But here are two types of career paths I am considering.

One job that I am very interested in that I could be myself having is a children’s librarian. I have always known that I love working with children. They are absolutely fascinating and they have the best imaginations. Some of my favorite memories from school were made in the library. I loved going into the computer lab and learning how to type or play jump start on the computer. It was always a lot of fun. But I have to say my favorite memories always were March is reading month. I loved the programs that the librarians would put on. One that really stuck in my head was when we pretended we were using the underground railroad. They set up the library with hiding places for us and I just remember it being a blast. We learned a lot and we got to have a lot of fun while doing it. That’s what I want to do. I want to help put on awesome programs for children all throughout the year. They don’t have to be just reading programs either, but computer ones would be just as important. I want them to be as excited to go to the library as I was. I think if children are excited to learn and read at a young age they will do wonders in the world and I want to help get them there.

The second job that I have been considering is working within a museum. I think archiving and preserving would be great as well. This wasn’t something that made me decide to go into this field though. But after going to orientation, I kept thinking back to this type of job. It seems so interesting and something I would have a lot of fun doing. Being able to help keep pieces of history alive is a really important task and being able to be a part of that would be amazing. I would love to work in any museum doing it. But I think an art museum is where I would like to be the most. I really love the idea of it and I hope to be able to get a better look at a job in this field throughout the semester because I am really interested in it.

Writing about what jobs I would like to have has been a little surreal. I feel like typing them up has made them more real to me than ever before. That is so exciting and I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me.

Ashley

Introduction and Assumptions/Assertions

Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Ashley Miklues. I am currently a grad student at Wayne State University in the LIS program. I earned my undergrad degree from Eastern Michigan University in Literature and I have a minor in Children's Literature. This is the first blog I have written. I look forward to learning how to use them.

I currently do not work in a library, I have only volunteered a few times. Therefore I have made quite a few assumptions or assertions about the field. I am very exited to learn more about the field this semester. I think it will be very eye opening to learn more about the reality of the profession then what I have thought and researched myself. 

Libraries are becoming more invested in technology as the culture changes.
When I think about a library I usually think books, right away. But there is so much more to what a library offers now. Computers are everywhere in libraries. They are an essential piece to learning now. The Internet offers us a way to get information quickly without having to search through books. I think library's realize in a way to stay current they need computers to survive.  

Libraries provide the best source of information.

Libraries have always been a great source for information. They have shelves and shelves of books to learn from. But now they offer even more with the help of the Internet and the computer they offer to their patrons. I believe the library has everything a person would need to learn about whatever subject they are looking into. They can go between books and the Internet. A little foot work never hurt anyone. Sometimes that's what one needs to do when they can not find what they're looking for on the Internet. Books are still there to help out and be useful. 

Libraries are great for keeping history alive. 

History is important and it is how we learn as a nation/world. I'm not just talking about books either. The library has an important job of archiving documents. Technology is great here because it has helped the field be able to archive even more then they were before. This is a very important aspect to the library that I think a lot of people overlook.