by Lynn Strand-Meyer, Minnesota Chapter, Advertising & Marketing Division

Spring 2007:  Graduate with MLIS.

Summer 2007: Attend 1^st SLA conference in Denver.

Fall 2007: part-time back-up consumer market research job morphs into excellent job share position with another SLA member.

Spring 2008: Morphs again into fulltime position.

Summer 2008: Attend 2^nd SLA conference in Seattle.

Summer 2008: Job morphs again back to part time.

Fall 2008: Lay-off.

Winter 2008-09: Wallow in self-pity and bemoan lack of jobs.

Winter 2008-Spring 2009: Start taking on contract research gigs.

Summer 2009: Attend 3^rd SLA conference in Washington DC.

Fall 2009-Spring 2010: Having a lot of fun working for myself.

Summer 2010: Attend 4^th SLA conference in New Orleans.

Fall 2010: Great opportunity at a big company opens for a market intelligence position. This newly created position SCREAMS for an individual with a library science background, but the big company doesn’t realize that. I sell myself. They totally buy in. Core competencies include knowledge management, organization of data, serving internal clients in a variety of positions – sales, marketing, business development.

The through line of the past almost 4 years: SLA conferences, keeping my skills, knowledge and expertise Future Ready.

Summer 2011: Attend 5^th SLA conference in Philadelphia.

Summer 2012: Attend 6^th SLA conference in Chicago (as part of the Annual Conference Advisory Council).

The Future? Bring it on!

Lynn Strand-Meyer is the immediate Past Program Development Chair of the Minnesota Chapter and Past-Chair of the Advertising & Marketing Division.