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Getting Involved: NMRT
by Priscilla Shontz
"Getting involved with one of the professional organizations is probably the most significant contribution you can make to your own career." -- Sheila Pantry and Peter Griffiths, Your Successful LIS Career: Planning Your Career, CVs, Interviews and Self-Promotion
The above advice has certainly held true for me. Through my involvement in several professional associations, I have made friends, have made contacts who have helped me in my job searches and other projects, have developed skills and interests that have surprised me and have helped me further my career, and have gained a wider perspective on librarians and librarianship. Through professional involvement, you can learn skills that you might not learn on the job -- for instance, project management, public speaking, budgeting, running meetings, planning programs or events, and writing.
Professional involvement looks good on your resume, and helps you make contacts that can help you get a job or an interesting assignment. If you already are convinced that professional involvement can help you, however, you may wonder how to begin getting involved.
Investigate Your Options
First, investigate and join associations (and sub-units) that interest you. Look at association web sites, and ask colleagues, mentors and friends which groups they find useful. Keep in mind that what works for you may be different than what someone else finds useful, and that your involvement in various organizations will probably change as your job duties and interests evolve. By joining an association, you will begin receiving its journal or newsletter and can begin finding out what the association does, and who's who in that particular organization. Experiment and find out what works for you.
Get Involved
After joining, consider volunteering for committees. You may have already heard that it is hard to break into certain organizations, such as the American Library Association (ALA). I would strongly encourage anyone who is new to ALA to consider joining ALA's New Members Round Table (NMRT). My involvement with ALA NMRT has been one of the most helpful and enjoyable experiences of my career.
I first joined ALA and NMRT as a student, but at the time had no idea that I could be involved in committees. So, I paid my dues and attended some conferences, but eventually ended up dropping my membership for a couple of years. Luckily, on my second job (a tenure-track position requiring professional involvement), co- workers told me how they'd enjoyed their NMRT involvement and how it had helped them get involved in other ALA units.
A unique feature of ALA NMRT is that every volunteer is guaranteed a committee appointment, as providing leadership development opportunities is one of the key missions of NMRT. I attended an NMRT Orientation at an ALA Conference, volunteered and was immediately appointed to a committee. I found out that I loved it! I have met so many great people and have gained some valuable experience through NMRT. I wish I had known about committee involvement when I was a student; it would have put me ahead of other new graduates by helping me make contacts and giving me a better feel for both the association and the profession as a whole.
Even if you can't attend conferences, you can still be involved in NMRT; they have several committees that don't require conference attendance. If you can come to a conference, though, do! It's a great experience, especially when you're involved in NMRT, because you can meet the people you've corresponded with during the year. NMRT is a very welcoming group, because members are all new to ALA. They're a pretty diverse group, too, because they include people in various types of information careers, from various backgrounds, and from multiple types of libraries and organizations. By becoming involved in NMRT, you can start to meet people in other units of ALA and learn where else you might want to become involved.
Branch Out
I'd encourage you to apply for involvement in any group that interests you. Some groups receive more volunteer applications than others, so the ease of being appointed for committee work will vary. In some associations, you may need to reapply several times. Gain some committee experience in a group such as ALA NMRT or your state association, and list that experience on your volunteer form. Sometimes you will make contacts in one group that will lead to invitations to join other committees or projects.
My ALA NMRT involvement led me into activities I never anticipated in 1995 when I filled out that first volunteer form. I became quite active in NMRT, and eventually served as President. Through my NMRT involvement, I met a wide variety of people and was able to move on to participate in other ALA units. I also enjoy being active in other organizations such as the North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG).
Through my professional involvement, particularly through my contact with other new librarians and students in NMRT, I developed an interest in career management issues. This led me to begin writing articles on the subject, and I have recently written a book called Jump Start Your Career in Library and Information Science (to be published by Scarecrow Press in fall 2001). (Ed: You may purchase this title from Amazon.com.)
My NMRT involvement has also helped me in my last two job searches. In both cases, I knew someone through NMRT who worked for institutions at which I'd applied. I was able to ask them about the organization and they were able to speak favorably about me to the search committee. I have also been able to list my professional activities on my resume and use some contacts as references. My diverse contacts have enabled and encouraged me to diversify my own career path, moving from academic to medical/special to public librarianship. I've developed skills I'd never thought possible, and I've made friends I will value forever.
References
ALA NMRT: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/
Priscilla Shontz: http://www.geocities.com/pshontz/resume.htm
Priscilla Shontz is the brand-new Branch Librarian at the Aldine Branch Library of the Harris County Public Library System in Houston, Texas. Previously, she worked as the Librarian at Driscoll Children's Hospital Medical Library in Corpus Christi, Texas. She has also worked as Head of Access Services at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and as the Librarian at Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant, Texas. Priscilla served as President of the ALA New Members Round Table in 1999-2000 and currently co-chairs the NASIG Continuing Education Committee.