by Deb Hunt, 2012 SLA President-Elect
I often hear my colleagues discuss how SLA or other professional associations need to do more for members. What I don’t hear so much is how we can do more for ourselves. There are opportunities to learn and expand our skillset and value through SLA, but we need to expend the effort and funds to take advantage of them. As a candidate for SLA President-Elect, I talked to members all over the world. Many are rightly concerned that jobs are going away and that we often feel like we are on a downward path. But, what I also hear are excuses:
- I don’t attend the annual conference, CE courses, local meetings, etc. because my company no longer pays my way;
- I’m unemployed and cannot afford to attend events;
- I don’t have time to develop new skills;
- I cannot do professional development while at work due to firewall issues.
My response is that we cannot afford NOT to attend events and continue learning. If we don’t invest in ourselves, who will? This past year, I invested a substantial sum of money to attend a virtual online course to earn a certification in enterprise content management, an area of work that I’ve moved into over the past few years. Did a client or employer require me to earn this certificate? No, but I recognized that it gave me more credibility with potential clients and was well worth the time, effort and money.
Over my many years in the information profession, I’ve seen us move into areas of work that didn’t even appear on the radar back when I was in graduate school. If we continue to be future ready and agile, we can expand into other careers where there are jobs, money and opportunity. As I’ve added services to my own business, Information Edge, beyond more traditional areas of research and value-added analysis and library design and automation, I’ve leapt off the edge into expanding areas of opportunity. I’ve moved into document and enterprise content management, building on my info pro skillset, always learning, always on the lookout for new opportunities. There is a whole world out there that needs our skills and expertise, but we must be willing to take the leap, ever-learning, ever investing in ourselves and branding what we do as a valuable asset to any organization.
Deb Hunt is Principal of Information Edge which empowers clients to find the information they need to do their work. Information Edge specializes in enterprise content management, knowledge services, professional research, and library design and automation.
Deb has been a member of SLA since 1986 and SLA’s 2012 President-Elect. She served on the SLA Board as a Director from 2008-2010 and is the creator and team leader of SLA’s 23 Things, for which she received the SLA Presidential Award. She is a past President of the San Francisco Bay Region Chapter and a member of the Silicon Valley chapter and the Library Management, KM, and IT divisions. She is an active member in the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) and served on its Board of Directors from 2001-2003.
Although I understand that we need to do more for ourselves, it is wrong in my opinion to describe “I’m unemployed and cannot afford to attend events” as an excuse. It may be for some…but not for all of us. To suggest that those who do not have employment, or the funds to attend conferences is insensitive, and in my opinion comes from a position of privilege (ie: having a steady job and income).
Failing to attend conferences and other professional development/networking events during a period of unemployment equates to failing to advertise or market during an economic downturn. Activities like these are more important than ever during hard times. “This type of thinking is akin to not buying gasoline because the price is too high and continuing to drive anyway. Eventually, high price or not, the car is going to run out of gas and leave the driver stranded.” Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1534808
Like it or not, failure to make this investment in yourself will leave you stranded. This may be harder for people just starting out to budget for, but it’s key to maintaining a viable career. As an info entrepreneur of 13 years, I find that I am primarily responsible for my professional development and a steady income.
With all due respect, I disagree that it is akin to not buying gasoline. For some, that $100 registration fee (which is a low estimate) is a major investment and can be the difference between eating or having meds or a number of other items. I understand all too well the need to market yourself, and your business if you run one. My concern is that the argument presented is more equivalent to victim blaming than what it may be originally intended to be.
Liking it or not is irrelevant. The reality of the situation is what I am more concerned with. Also, I don’t think this is just hard on people who are just starting out to budget. If you don’t have the income, you can’t make it happen…regardless of how much you budget.
I understand restricted funds, I’m unemployed myself. As such, this year I pushed to make sure our local meetings were lower cost and even offered a meeting free for unemployed members; less than six people took us up on the offer.
Maybe they worried about the cost of child care, or the parking downtown, but that to me IS akin to not buying the gas for the car.
I agree it is an investment, and you may not attend every meeting, every Webinar. But surely there’s one local meeting that is worth the cost for the networking. One Webinar that is actually on a skill you want to learn. Budgeting for one or two things a year, even in unemployed times, is an investment in you. And the hard fact is you must invest something, even risk something, if you expect any type of return.
Michelle,
I think you hit the nail on the head. You have to invest in yourself in order to keep up with new technology and build relationship. My experience has been, its worth the investment.
Cindy
Deb – you are right about preparing for other areas. While I am a corporate librarian I do a great deal of clinical/heathcare research. I’ve been actively involved in preparing our policyholders (M.D.s) to accept and deal with electronic medical records. This, in turn, has opened my eyes to the scope of jobs that will be available when EMR is widely used. HOWEVER, one must take classes, become certified, etc. in order to work in these fields. As Deb said, you may not even actually work in the field after being certified, but yur clients will see your research as more credible.
It’s tough to work full-time and study, but I did it in Undergrad and Graduate school, so I know it can be done. We must notice what else we do outside the traditional boundaries of our profession and becomed educated and expert in those areas as well.