Thing 16: Advocacy, speaking up for the profession and getting published

Libraries have always needed advocacy, yet in today's economic turmoil the need to advocate libraries has become a necessity. From the many library closings, budget cuts, program cuts, etc. that we see all around us it is clear that the fundamental advocacy librarians need to do is that of the importance and usefulness of libraries to society. While there are many topics needed to be advocated for libraries, such as the importance of each and every program they offer, we need to start with the most basic of arguments about the place libraries have in society. We librarians need to learn how to best market ourselves and libraries as valuable and necessary services not only to administrative and government leaders, but most importantly to our users and potential users. One great marketing campaign example is from Troy Library where they sparked outrage in the community about the closing of the library by linking the closing of the library to the idea of book burning. 

Thing 15: Attending, presenting at and organising seminars, conferences and other events

I have only recently begun to attend conferences and I have enjoyed them immensely. Before conferences I have attended many webinars which I found very interesting. I like how easy they are to join and the convenience of being able to attend them from home/work. 

My first conference was Library 2.012, a great conference about so many topics. The best things about the conference is that it brings together so many different librarians from all over, large variety of topics, it's free, and you can attend from home. 

The first conference I attended in person was Access 2012. I was fortunate enough to be a volunteer for the conference and got to help out. It was a great experience and I loved every minute of it! The topics were all so interesting but a few presentations did stand out to me and really inspired me. My favorite of all the presentations was "A Library in a Box" by David Fiander. There are so many ways that this could be used! It's a great idea for small libraries or even archives to be able to distribute their own documents and public domain materials.

I have yet to present at a conference, a goal for the future!!