PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A Library Assistant’s Quest

The South Central Regional Library Council sponsored a panel discussion entitled Professional Development: A Library Assistant’s Quest.  The event took place at the Tompkins Cortland Community College’s annex in Center Ithaca on the Ithaca Commons on April 13^th.  Twenty-seven library assistants attended.

Judith Andrew, Music Materials Coordinator at Ithaca College Library, was the moderator. The panelists were

• Jan Aguirre

Library Specialist and Training Coordinator

Finger Lakes Library System

o Steve Massey-Crouch

Library Technical Specialist and Instructor of Computer Applications

Tompkins Cortland Community College;

o Jacalyn Spoon,

Library Administrator

Adelson Library, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

This was the first SCRLC-sponsored workshop specifically for library assistants in a number of years.  Judging from the lively discussions and the great amount of questions and shared solutions, the event was a great success.  Some questions addressed were:

• How can we excel in our job performance and stay motivated?
• How can we grow professionally?
• How much of our professional development is our employer’s responsibility and how much is ours?
• How can we insure our employability in a constantly changing profession?
• Is there really such a thing as a dead-end job?
• How can we inspire each other?

Following the panel discussion, some people stayed for a lunchtime session about re-establishing the long dormant SCRLC Library Assistants Special Interest Group.  You can be notified when the next event is scheduled by joining the Library Assistants’ listserv (LIBASSIST-L). To subscribe (it’s free), please send your email address to Nora Hardy, nhardy@lakenet.org

Submitted by Jan Aguirre, Judith Andrew, Steve Massey-Crouch, and Jacalyn Spoon.