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Starting a new position can be frustrating and fear-inducing, whether this is your very first job after graduation, your first in a new area after a move, your first in different part of your institution, or your first after an extended absence. Without the support and guidance from your peers and colleagues who have gone before you, your introduction, or re-introduction, to the working world can color your impression of your institution, position, or even profession. Here, find some ways to get involved when you are starting out - or starting over.

Involved: Finding Ways to Join In

When you're new, it helps to get guidance from people within your institution. They can tell you useful formal information and policies, such as how to fill out your vacation leave forms or whether you can date your coworker. Insiders are especially useful for gaining the information that makes your job go smoothly, such as how often the trash or recycling gets emptied, or whether the cafeteria food is any good.

After you've gotten these basics under your belt, you may want to get involved with your profession, either nationally or locally, or with other organizations that are related to or support your work.

National Library Associations and Organizations

You can find at least one national organization for workers in every type of library. Getting involved could be as easy as attending annual conferences, writing for the association's publications, or just offering opinions through feedback opportunities, surveys, and studies. If you want to be more involved, national associations usually have subgroups that invite members to join and participate in leadership opportunities. These subgroups could be called task forces, committees, roundtables, sections, initiatives, study groups, or ad hoc groups. Here are a few sites that offer lists of national associations:

• American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/ala/iro/intlassocorgconf/libraryassociations.htm
• Library HQ: http://www.libraryhq.com/orgs.html
• InfoWorks: http://www.itcompany.com/inforetriever/assn.htm
• San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Studies list: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/resources/orgs.htm

Beyond these professional library associations, you might also wish to join other national organizations directly related to your type of library or position. For example, law librarians may want to consider joining the American Bar Association. More specifically, public law librarians may want to join groups invested in helping bring legal information to the public, while academic law librarians may investigate groups like the Association of American Law Schools.

Local Library Associations and Organizations

While national organizations can help you gain a foothold in the profession, local associations and organizations help you find colleagues and peers who can collaborate (or commiserate) on the state of librarianship in your area. Many people start by joining their state library association or other local chapter of a national organization. Libcat provides a nice list of state library association links.

Other Local Organizations

One of the best places to find library advocates is through members of a local organization who rely on your library to support their work. For example, the local courthouse library can usually find support in the local bar association, so it is often a good idea for the courthouse librarian to become involved in the local bar association in some way.

Finding Peers in Unexpected Places

Is your library part of a larger institution? You may find peers or colleagues in the elevator, cafeteria, or other unlikely places. Cultivating relationships with nonlibrary colleagues lets you be involved, to inform others about the library, and perhaps learn a thing or two about the local scene. For example, you are riding the elevator and you overhear two colleagues complain about how difficult it is to find reliable information about the much-hyped new widget of the century. Now is the time to break elevator protocol and jump in to offer them assistance. They may thank you for your help and look forward to supporting the library in the future (or, at the worst, tell you to mind your own beeswax!). Most likely, you'll be glad you became involved.

Informed: Make the informational interview work for you

Informational interviews are a great way to begin new collaborative relationships. First, you identify the information you are looking for. Perhaps you are looking for an introduction to a different library department, or you may be seeking out information about an unfamiliar type of library in your area. Informational interviews are usually short, depending on who you are meeting with and their schedule, but could lead to follow-up interviews in which you gather additional information.

During these interviews, you get a chance to see if collaboration is called for. Would a collaborative relationship be beneficial for this department? What can you offer in return? Informational interviews offer a change to feel less isolated by being a more informed professional.

In Touch: Staying Involved

When you are no longer the new kid on the block, you owe a debt to the colleagues and supervisors who showed you around and helped you when you began. Arrange a follow-up call or meeting. Now is the time to evaluate the assistance you received when you began. Make useful suggestions and comments that show your appreciation, but also your desire for improvement, if needed.

Perhaps you will be the next person to help the new person. Take what you've learned, improve the technique and add information from your experiences; use these to guide and support the new person in becoming a confident professional.

Paula Seeger is Circulation Librarian at the University of Minnesota Law Library. She was formerly Branch Manager of the Dane County Legal Resource Center in Madison, Wisconsin.