Student Membership for FAFLRT is Now Free
By Michelle Chronister and Kim Lyall
Consider this: the average annual salary for all librarians in the Federal Government in non-supervisory, supervisory, and managerial positions was $80,873 in 2007. Sound enticing? Learn more about Federal librarianship by joining the Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table (FAFLRT). Student membership is now free.
At this year’s annual conference, approximately 125 participants attended the “Careers in Federal Libraries” pre-conference to learn about federal jobs. Attendees interacted with a panel of librarians from a wide range of government agencies and networked over lunch. Responses from participants were overwhelmingly positive and prompted FAFLRT to eliminate the fee for student membership.
Janet Scheitle, 2007-2008 FAFLRT President explains, “In looking to the future of Federal librarianship, FAFLRT decided to change its dues structure to attract new librarians. In doing so, FAFLRT hopes to not only attract highly qualified librarians to bring fresh ideas and energy to the round table, but we hope that we can influence and mentor new librarians to pursue careers within the Federal sector.”
“I really want to attract students to our round table,” agrees Nancy Faget, 2008-2009 FAFLRT President. “It’s so much fun to learn from students and help them discover opportunities. The job pays well, and there is significant potential for growing your career. You can work in a special, academic, public, medical, school or law library anywhere in the world and never leave the same employer.”
FAFLRT membership benefits include a subscription to the newsletter, the ability to exchange ideas on the FAFLRT discussion list, and invitations to programs and networking functions throughout the year. FAFLRT also offers two scholarships to students who have an interest in Federal librarianship: the Cicely Phippen Marks Scholarship Award of $1,500 to support the education of a student in an ALA-accredited master’s degree program and the Adelaide del Frate Conference Sponsorship Award of $1,000 to support attendance at an ALA annual meeting.
For those who will be in the Washington, DC area September 16, 2008, there will be a Federal Job Fair at the Library of Congress. This event sponsored by FLICC / FEDLINK features tips on resume writing, interviewing, and the federal application process. On-site resume review will be available as well as representatives from federal organizations currently hiring. For more information, contact Holly Kerwin (
hnic@loc.gov).
Current library school students, recent graduates, and job seekers interested in federal librarianship should seriously consider joining FAFLRT to learn more about issues affecting federal libraries and information policy. To become a member, go to
http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=Membership&Template=/CustomSource/Membership/Index.cfm# and add FAFLRT to your membership profile. To learn more about federal librarianship, visit www.ala.org/faflrt or join the new Careers in Federal Libraries group:
http://groups.google.com/group/careers-in-federal-libraries
Michelle Chronister (
michelle.chronister@gmail.com) is currently a master’s student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She plans to graduate in May 2009.Kim Lyall (
kim.lyall@gmail.com) received her MLS in May 2008 from the University of Maryland College of Information Studies. Kim is currently working at the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information where she per-forms database searching, training, and various outreach activities.