LLAMA Midwinter Career Institute will focus on writing and editing skills

CHICAGO — Writing or editing a professional publication is a great way to build skills and advance your career. Are you are interested in expressing your opinion, telling a story or sharing an experience? Are you conducting research that you want to publish? Are you looking for new professional development opportunities to enhance your skills? Do you want to be a leader in the profession?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then plan now to be part of the Library Leadership and Management Association's second annual Midwinter Career Institute. "Writing & Editing: Developing Career Skills and Building Your Professional Reputation" will be presented from 1 to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 24, 2014, during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia.

During this half-day institute, you’ll learn the elements of successful writing, as librarians share their experiences, tips and motivations for publishing. Editors from a variety of publications will share what they look for in writers and contributors. If you’ve considered writing or editing as a way to fuel your professional growth, plan to join us in Philadelphia and register early to guarantee your spot.

The institute will feature three professionals who write for a wide variety of publications and publishers. Featured writers include:

• Jennifer A. Bartlett, head of reference services at the University of Kentucky Libraries. Bartlett is interested in reference services, virtual reference, library management issues and the history of libraries in higher education. She has written and edited for publications, including Public Libraries and College & Research Libraries, and currently writes the book review column “New and Noteworthy” for the LLAMA journal, Library Leadership & Management (LL&M);
• Toby Greenwalt, the virtual services coordinator at the Skokie Public Library, where he works to make his organization’s corner of the Web more human. He is obsessed with pop culture, noisy music, quiet movies and the way ideas grow and bounce off one another. He writes "The Wired Library" column for Public Libraries magazine, posts to theanalogdivide.com and talks too much on Twitter and Tumblr;
• Marta Deyrup, professor/librarian I at Seton Hall University Libraries. She is the author/editor of six books, among them the recently published "The Irish American Experience in New Jersey and Metropolitan New York: Cultural Identity, Hybridity, and Commemoration and Successful Strategies for Teaching Undergraduate Student Research." She has written scholarly articles, news pieces, interviews and book reviews for a wide variety of publications. She is also the acquisitions editor for LITA publications and the former editor of Library Administration & Management. She is on the editorial boards of College & Research Libraries, the Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship and Technical Services Quarterly.

The institute will also feature a panel of editors who edit publications that focus on multiple functional areas of librarianship and cover numerous topics. Speakers will include:

• Bradford Lee Eden, incoming editor for LL&M. He is also editor of OCLC Systems & Services: Digital Library Perspectives International and The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances and is on the editorial boards of Library Hi Tech and The Journal of Film Music. In addition, he has published five books. Eden serves as dean of library services at Valparaiso University;
• Beth M. Whittaker, editor of RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage, an ACRL journal since 2008. She is the co-author, with Lynne M. Thomas, of "Special Collections 2.0: New Technologies for Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archival Collections" (2009) and has published in numerous journals on a variety of topics related to special collections, cataloging and cultural heritage. Whittaker serves as assistant dean of distinctive collections at the University of Kansas Libraries;
• Sarah Watstein, who began serving as co-editor of Reference Services Review in 2005 after serving as a long-time member of the Editorial Advisory Board. She has written widely in a number of areas including HIV/AIDS, publishing, reference and user services and women’s studies. Watstein has served as the university librarian at the University of North Carolina Wilmington since 2010;
• Eleanor Mitchell, who began serving as co-editor of Reference Services Review with Sarah Watstein in 2005 after serving on the editorial board beginning in 2001. In 2012, she co-edited "Past or Portal? Enhancing Undergraduate Learning through Special Collections and Archives" (ACRL.) She is currently working on a volume on reviewing the academic library, to be published by ACRL in 2015. Mitchell is director of library resources at Dickinson College.

Registration fees for the Career Institute are $95 for LIS Student Members; $125 for LLAMA Members; $175 for ALA members and Retired Members; and $275 for Non-Members. On-site registration will be subject to availability and will be $275.

All current and past ALA Emerging Leaders, ALA Spectrum Scholars, and ALA Leadership Institute participants are eligible for a discounted rate of $95 for the institute.

Pre-registration prior to Jan. 6, 2014, is recommended as space is limited. Register online and look for “Ticketed Events” and then the LLAMA Institute.

The LLAMA Career Institute is a new continuing education offering aimed at early- and mid-career professionals seeking to acquire new knowledge, skills, and competencies in support of active and ongoing career development.

About the Library Leadership and Management Association

The Library Leadership and Management Association (www.ala.org/llama) advances outstanding leadership and management practices in library and information services by encouraging and nurturing individual excellence in current and aspiring library leaders. LLAMA is a division of the American Library Association.

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