The post #SLAtalk Roundup! Taking a Vacation that Works appeared first on Special Libraries Association.

But nothing can dull the shine from a vacation like returning to an overflowing inbox, a project that’s lagging behind, or a general build-up of stress at work or at home.

For this summer-edition of #SLAtalk, let’s discuss how to take a vacation that recharges your batteries without turning you into a firefighter when you return.

 Questions to Answer (15 minutes per question):

1. What do you do at work to prepare for your absence before a vacation?
2. When on vacation, do you unplug completely or stay connected to the office or your clients?
3. When you return, how do you get through the work that has built up while you were away?
4. What’s the best place you’ve ever traveled to?

When:

2 choices on Tuesday, July 16:

1. Session #1 at 17:30 UTC (1:30 PM eastern / 10:30 AM pacific)
2. Session #2 at 12:00 midnight UTC (7:00 PM eastern / 4:00 PM pacific)

Prepare with some light reading:

Check out “How to Take a Stress-Free Vacation From Your Stressful Job” by Jacquelyn Smith for Forbes.

New to #SLAtalk?

Check out How to #SLAtalk, the Why and How of #SLAtalk (YouTube), and our latest #SLAtalk recap posts.

The post #SLAtalk on July 16: Taking a Vacation that Works appeared first on Special Libraries Association.

The post #SLAtalk Roundup! Building on Lessons Learned at SLA 2013 appeared first on Special Libraries Association.

If you weren’t in San Diego, we don’t want you to miss out on this crucial knowledge.

Our twitter chat on Tuesday, June 18th will be a great time to refresh what you learned and discuss how you will put it to work–as well as hear what you missed at the sessions you wanted to attend but just didn’t have time for.

When:

Tuesday, June 18th, 17:30 UTC (1:30 PM eastern / 10:30 AM pacific)*

*Our 2nd (evening) session is on hold due to lack of interest

Questions to answer:

1. Share the most inspiring, actionable ideas you heard while at the conference – as many as you can think of in 15 minutes.

-first 20 minutes

2. What are some new things you plan to incorporate into your career strategies or at your organization? How will you convince your colleagues the new ideas are worth the time?

-second 20 minutes

3. What topics would you like to see in future SLA conferences?

-last 20 minutes

In the spirit of organization:

Tweet your answers according to the schedule above. Answer question one from 1:30 – 1:50 and so on.

New here?

Check out our latest #SLAtalk posts, including how to #SLAtalk, and the YouTube video: The Why and How of #SLAtalk.

Following the session:

Stay tuned to the SLA Blog where we’ll post a collection of great answers, as well as the link to all the tweets from the session. Notice your tweet being favorited from @SLAhq? You’ll probably be featured in our round-up.

The post #SLAtalk: Building on Lessons Learned at #SLA2013 appeared first on Special Libraries Association.

The post #SLAtalk Roundup! Teaching Users to Fish appeared first on Special Libraries Association.

Our fourth #SLAtalk session will take place Tuesday, June 4th, and will be jointly hosted by SLA and ProQuest & Dialog. They’re sponsoring the social media lounge at SLA 2013, and we’re pleased to have them lending their expertise to this topic.

You’re probably familiar with the Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” 

As information professionals, it’s imperative that we teach our users to fish. Whether your users are engineers, attorneys, students or even business moguls — how do you connect them with your resources? What instructional tactics do you employ to teach research skills that will last users a lifetime? 

When:

2 choices on Tuesday, June 4th:

 -Session #1 at 17:30 UTC (1:30 PM eastern / 10:30 AM pacific)

           Great Britain is one hour ahead of UTC during summer.

-Session #2 at 12:00 midnight UTC (7:00 PM eastern / 4:00 PM pacific)

Questions to Answer:

1. How do you create awareness and promote your organization’s available resources to your users?
-First 15 minutes

2. How is resource training handled in your library or info center, for new and/or existing employees?
-Second 15 minutes

3. For fee-based resources, how do you educate your users on the costs associated with research?
-Third 15 minutes

4. Do you have any tips or tricks on how to turn a reference inquiry into a “teachable moment?”
-Last 15 minutes

In the spirit of organization:

Try to tweet your answers to question 1 during the first 15-minutes of your session, answers to question 2 in the second 15-minutes of your session, and so on. You can take your queue to move on from the @SLAhq handle, which will tweet the appropriate question at the start of each 15-minute interval.

New here?

Check out How to #SLAtalk and the recaps of the first and second sessions.

Following the session:

Stay tuned to the SLA Blog where we’ll post a collection of great answers, as well as the link to all the tweets from the session. Notice your tweet being favorited from @SLAhq? You’ll probably be featured in our round-up.

The post #SLAtalk: Teach Your Users to Fish appeared first on Special Libraries Association.

In any profession, collaboration is key. In the information profession, it’s a driver of success and impact.

Working in groups can be fun and productive or the bane of your existence. Learn how information professionals accomplish tasks through collaboration, either within or outside their work place.

When:

2 choices on Tuesday, May 14th:

Session #1 at 17:30 UTC (1:30 p.m. Eastern / 10:30 a.m. Pacific)
Great Britain/United Kingdom is one hour ahead of UTC during summer.

Session #2 at 03:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. Eastern / 8:00 p.m. Pacific)
[Wednesday, 15 May - 13:00 Canberra / 11:00 Perth / 08:30 New Delhi]

Questions to answer:

1. In your experience, what are some skills or tricks of the trade for successful collaboration?
   -First 15 minutes-
2. What online or in-person resources or technologies are key to successfully collaborating on a project?
   -Second 15 minutes-
3. How do you handle difficult, slacking, or reluctant to engage group members?
   -Third 15 minutes-
4. Without disclosing proprietary information, what were the outcomes of the most successful collaboration you’ve had?
   -Last 15 minutes-

In the spirit of organization:

Try to tweet your answers to question 1 during the first 15-minutes of your session, answers to question 2 in the second 15-minutes of your session, and so on. You can take your queue to move on from the @SLAhq handle, which will tweet the appropriate question at the start of each 15-minute interval.

New here?

Check out How to #SLAtalk and the recaps of the first and second sessions.

Following the session:

Stay tuned to the SLA Blog where we’ll post a collection of great answers, as well as the link to all the tweets from the session. Notice your tweet being favorited from @SLAhq? You’ll probably be featured in our round-up.

The post #SLAtalk: Collaboration – Better…Stronger…Faster appeared first on Special Libraries Association.

Below are highlights for each of the four questions. For a full listing, check out the TAGS archive set up by Emma Davidson or browse through the tweets in the order that they were shared.

1. What subjects or skills do you wish you were taught or exposed to more in library school?

Q1: Definitely more finance and accounting, as it specifically relates to a library environment. #SLAtalk

— Library Sherpa (@LibrarySherpa) April 9, 2013

Q1: What subjects or skills do you wish you were taught or exposed to in library school?Coding. #slatalk — Megan Wiseman (@LibraryatLaw) April 9, 2013

Q1 – More stuff about project management and usability. Especially in a more universal, less OMG PROGRAMMING kind of way. #slatalk

— Kendra K. Levine (@tranlib) April 9, 2013

I wish my MLS program had devoted more time to the necessity of networking within and without your field #SLAtalk

— Bob Kosovsky (@kos2) April 9, 2013

I wish I had learned more about analyzing information, information visualization, and more coding and programming skills #SLAtalk

— Megan Rush (@inforush) April 9, 2013

Q1: Wish I had been exposed to more marketing, business, and competitive intelligence skills #slatalk

— Kim Schultz (@klyall) April 9, 2013

2. What was your favorite class or project from your MLIS program, and how have you applied what you learned?

Q2 – Best class was definitely Social Informatics. Really made the point that systems are for people and we can’t ignore that. #slatalk — Kendra K. Levine (@tranlib) April 9, 2013

Q2 Government Information was one of the most useful courses. Have used it in all my jobs so far. #slatalk — Tara Murray (@diylibrarian) April 9, 2013

Best LIS project: Designing db to track ref question metrics, resources used, etc. Good basics for doing similar project in ZenDesk #slatalk — Jill Strand (@jillinfopro) April 9, 2013

Q2: Ref. Interviewing- Knowing that when asked,” Do you have the NY Times?” the user really wants to know “Who’s the CEO of IBM?”#SLAtalk — Stanford Friedman (@StanfordF) April 9, 2013

3. What formal supplemental education, if any, did you pursue after your MLIS program?

#slatalk Q4.You can start with these: 17 Free Live Webinars for Librarians in April lnkd.in/AXbfi8

— Tom Rink (@coplibrarian) April 9, 2013

Q3 one of the best prof dev activities for me is the conferences etc. that my users attend. Hear what questions they ask each other #slatalk

— Tara Murray (@diylibrarian) April 9, 2013

Q3. Going for my CAS in Data Science at @ischoolsu in the fall. Other than that, buckets of CEs #slatalk

— Elaine (@ElaineLibrarian) April 9, 2013

Mostly have taken vendor and tech courses: drupal, InMagic, ESRI ArcGIS. Aside from that, constant conferences, webinars, etc#SLATalk

— Ischool Research (@IschoolResearch) April 9, 2013

Q3 -Lots of asking questions of my users. Buying them coffee and asking, “What’s the deal!” “I’m here to help!” #slatalk

— Kendra K. Levine (@tranlib) April 9, 2013

#slatalk Q3 I did a formal course about e-learning – combination of face-to-face teaching and online work. Very useful.

— Clare Aitken (@LibClare) April 9, 2013

@slahq Q2: Information Ethics at Pitt. Can’t tell you how often that comes into play in today’s electronic world, as #SLAtalk

— Amy Watson (@librarianamy) April 9, 2013

Q3: After MA,I did a chartered management institute course in line management & a Teaching in Lifelong Sector course.Each 10months #slatalk

— Sarah Wolfenden (@SarahWolfenden) April 9, 2013

4. What recommendation would you give a library school student?

Q4: The future is important, but students need to know library past in order to put it all into context to be successful, IMO. #SLAtalk

— Library Sherpa (@LibrarySherpa) April 9, 2013

Q4. Become active in professional associations and NOT just the student chapters. Working in a library even as a volunteer also. #slatalk

— Elaine (@ElaineLibrarian) April 9, 2013

I tell students to JOIN SLA w student discount! Meet so many great people and u learn about job types u wouldnt even imagine! #slatalk

— Brandy King (@KnowldgeLinking) April 9, 2013

Q4 Apply for any job that interests you. DO NOT rule yourself out (that’s HR’s job). #SLAtalk

— Joan Thomas (@msjoanthomas) April 9, 2013

Q4. Learn about data — how to organize, analyze, and disseminate: useful in any field. #SLAtalk

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) April 9, 2013

The post What Would You Tell Your Past MLIS-Student Self? #SLAtalk Roundup! appeared first on Special Libraries Association.

When:

2 choices on Tuesday, April 9th:
Session #1 at 18:30
GMT (1:30 pm Eastern / 10:30 am Pacific)
Session #2 at 00:00 GMT (7:00 pm Eastern / 4:00 pm
Pacific)

Questions
to Answer:

1. What
   subjects or skills do you wish you were taught or exposed to in library school?
   -Session
   #1: 18:30 – 18:45 GMT
   -Session
   #2: 00:00 – 00:15 GMT
2. What
   was your favorite class or project in LIS school? How have you applied what you
   learned to your career?
   -Session
   #1: 18:45 – 19:00 GMT
   -Session
   #2: 00:15 – 00:30 GMT
3. What
   formal supplemental education, if any, did you pursue after library school?
   -Session #1: 19:00 – 19:15 GMT
   -Session #2: 00:30 – 00:45 GMT
4. What
   recommendations would you give a library school student?
   -Session #1: 19:15 – 19:30 GMT
   -Session #2: 00:45 – 01:00 GMT

In the Spirit of Organization:

By splitting the questions into 15-minute intervals we
can keep the discussion organized and make it easier for participants to
interact. We’ll help by tweeting the appropriate question from @SLAhq at the
start of each interval, so take that as your queue to move on.

New
to this?

Check out “How
to #SLAtalk” for helpful tips, as well as the recap
of the first installment to see example-tweets from several participants.

Prepare
with some light reading:

“Preparing
Future Professionals through Broad Competency Planning,” from the Jan/Feb ’12 issue of Information
Outlook.

Not an SLA member? To access these articles, join SLA, or contact us to receive temporary access.

Following the session:

Check back into this SLA Blog
post after the #SLAtalk, where we’ll post some of the best ideas that you all
have tweeted. Notice your tweet being favorited from @SLAhq? Your handle
and tweet will be posted here!

The post #SLAtalk: What would you tell your past MLIS-student self? appeared first on Special Libraries Association.

Below are some highlights from both sessions from March 5th, which encompass a great career resource.

For a full listing, and other interesting statistics, check out the TAGS archive set up by Emma Davidson. 

1) What’s a successful job hunting method that helped you land you your current job?

@LibrarySherpa: Networking, networking, networking. SLA has been a tremendous resource for me to accomplish this and get results.

2) What’s a profession-specific way you’ve prepared for an interview that worked for you?

@LibraryatLaw: Personal doesn't = unprofessional . . . Remember, if all goes well these people will be coworkers! Have hobbies, a life

@TRAKJulieA: be warm/engaging, w/out oversharing/getting too personal. Walk that line. Answer ?'s fully & completely w/out getting off topic

3) What are key organizational traits you look for during an interview or online job search?

‏@pomponijada: open mindedness, eagerness to innovate, learn and apply new skills

4) How did you empower yourself to move ahead at your job? or what skills did you learn which led to your career growth?

The post Job Hunting and Career Growth Tips from #SLAtalk Participants appeared first on Special Libraries Association.