As some of you “know” [as in I've mentioned it before], I am currently a member of the following professional organizations (along with accompanying student chapters of ALA, ACRL, ASIS&T):
American Library Association
Association of College and Research Libraries
Association for Library Collections & Technical Services
American Society for Information Science & Technology
Illinois Library Association
Philosophy of Science Association
My ALA and associated divisions, along with my ASIS&T, memberships are all due for renewal late Oct/early Nov.
As a student, I save quite a bit but this is still a chunk of change. My issue, though, is are these the organizations I should belong to?
I’ve been to an ALA Annual (Chicago 1995), an ACRL conference (Minneapolis 1995) and attended an ALCTS CETRC meeting during ALA Annual. I am going to ASIS&T in early Nov.
But. There are several more organizations that I need to consider based on my interests and professional aspirations:
North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG)
Library & Information Technology Association (LITA)
International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO)
The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP)
I have no doubt that there are others that I am not even aware of or am forgetting.
NASIG has a student rate of $25. I ought to consider them as I am a serials cataloger.
LITA has a student rate of $25 also and I ought to consider them for many reasons. Can you say MARBI for starters?
ISKO does not appear to have a student rate and is 60 Euros or approx. $76+/year. That would be my most expensive membership by far, if you count ALA Divisions separate from ALA itself.
SHARP is $20 for students but does not include a subscription to their journal, Book History. If you want the journal you pay the full $55. Now SHARP is somewhat peripheral to my primary interests, but I’ve met several members of this organization and I love them and their work. Some of them were at the European Modernism and the Information Society and/or the Library History Seminar XI that I assisted with.
As for my current organizations:
I need to stay in ALCTS for many reasons. Besides, their student rate is $15. $15 people! Of course, you have to be a member of ALA first, but as long as I’m a student it isn’t too prohibitive.
ILA is my state library association. I forget what it cost, but it wasn’t bad. I will not be able to make their conference this Oct. since I’m going to ASIS&T a few weeks later, but I think this can’t hurt.
I’m attending my first ASIS&T conference in early Oct. This one was $40 as a student, plus an extra $12 to join 2 additional SIGs. I’ll have to see, but I’m guessing this one is a keeper since it addresses so many of my varied interests. I also much prefer smaller organizations and conferences.
This leaves ACRL. Hmmm? Yes, I intend to stay in an academic setting. But what am I getting from this extremely large division of ALA? Don’t get me wrong; I want to belong. I have also really enjoyed my time helping to start the first and only ACRL student chapter at UIUC; ACRL@UIUC [Thanks Rudy for getting the ball rolling!].
But they have no student rate, it costs $35 as a student. That’s $10 more than a student membership in ALA even. I personally get little value from C&RL News, and while I sometimes get something out of College & Research Libraries, I more often than not just find articles that irk me enough to comment on them here.
I may just have to swap LITA for ACRL this year and see how that goes. I’l hold off on ISKO for a bit after talking with my advisor, but I’ll keep an eye on the hopefully budding North American chapter.
SHARP will have to wait for now, too, due to finances. NASIG, maybe? Jenny, I know you told me something once before but feel free to remind me what you may have said.
Anyone else have comments on NASIG? Or on any others of these organizations? Ones I forgot? Feel free to debate why I should stay in ACRL vs. joining LITA. And please don’t suggest both, because along with ALCTS I cannot afford ALA and 3 divisions—even as a student.
Ah, to be a student and get the student rates. Whatever you decide, take advantage now. Once you enter the profession, it is a painful bite of money no matter how you slice it. I know. When I graduated and those rates went up, I had to do some thinking of my own. ACRL is one that I do wonder about. I did Immersion, which is a program of theirs, but you don’t have to be a member to do that. Other than that, I really don’t see much in it. Their publications are pretty bland compared to other things I read. I am not big on larger organizations either, and the odds of me going to an ACRL event, even if they are biennial, is pretty slim. Only reason I did Immersion this summer is because it was right in Houston, and my university still paid a lot to send me. I am praying for inspiration to how to ask them to send me to the 2007 Immersion so I can do the Program Track, but that is another story. Anyhow, not sure if I myself should renew ACRL when I redo ALA. Some of the other things you mention sound a lot more relevant. I think for your interests, maybe switching to LITA may be the way to go. Best, and keep on blogging.
A lot of it depends if you are going to the conference–if you intend to go to ALA become a member, but of course you are never going to hear me say “join ALA!”
I don’t know any members of ISKO, but I wonder what it’s like.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE NASIG. They have one of the best conferences I have ever been to. Every NASIG person I met pretty much rocked, was MORE than approachable, had a bunch of jobs they wanted to give me, and were open-minded about looking at useful technologies and adapting to changing users. I can’t say more good things about them. It was such a well thought out conference and everyone knows each other and really wants to mentor people. Of course you could say I am partial to them, first because I processed their archives (they are at UIUC so you could check em out) and because they gave me cash and prizes (well, airfare and awards). I would suggest you apply for their award. You get free conference travel and membership, and the archive has past winner entries….if you need a recommendation I’d be happy to give it to you, though I am sure you knpw more qualified types.
I am in the Info Architecture Institute and SLA as well. I am considering the AMerican Society for Indexers, but I don’t really see their professional benefit very clearly. IAI is really cheap and has good mentoring, and the best scale for prices of membershp I have seen. It may not be exactly up your alley though. kathryn might be able to give you some good tips–we discussed this same thing once…
Hey Angel and Jenny! Thanks for the comments. That is part of my strategy Angel. I figure I better have it narrowed down to which groups are indispensable by the time I have to pay full rates’ at least for a couple years or until the main focus changes. Reevaluation needs to happen once in a while.
I don’t necessarily feel like I do get a lot of direct benefit (right now) from ACRL. I must say, though, that I did go to ACRL in Minneapolis (2005) and quite enjoyed myself. But it was still too big! And cost me a fortune. The weather was beautiful and I met some amazing librarians. I just I could remember who a handful of them were. I had dinner with several incredible librarians, and I haven’t forgotten one of them.
All that said, I’d love to attend this coming year in Baltimore. If I can afford it. But it is going to have to be one of the 1st to get left off. Well, actually, the state association conference in Chicago in Oct. is the 1st casualty.
I should go to Annual in DC. I skipped New Orleans, as you both know. [If you are reading, I *really* missed you Lisle!] My mom, and my sister’s family are in Falls Church. Mom’s been asking when I’m coming visiting for a couple years…. Except for transportation, DC should be affordable.
Assuming my financial situation is what I believe it to be at the moment, I am going to ASIS&T.
NASIG will be in Louisville, right before Annual next year. That could be a tight squeeze. Summer, though….
Jenny, may be I just dreamed I asked you about NASIG. I knew about your work with their archives and the conference, but I don’t remember you being so supportive. So I’m pretty sure you told me the other stuff previously.
Thanks for the input guys.
Mark, I hear you! Not only are all my memberships due right now, but I have moved from a new member to the next fee level in ALA, and I’m choking on the total!
However, I get enormous benefit out of my ACRL section membership, and it is the only thing that keeps me involved in ALA and ACRL (in fact, I planned on not renewing my ALA membership, but received a virtual committee appointment and task force assignment that keeps me excited about librarianship, so I’m going to say that it’s still worth the money for now). I like the people, I like the publications, I like the committees I get to work with and the projects I get to work on.
If you cannot find a value to the organization, there’s not a single reason to keep paying for it. And you can still get on the listserv fro the sections of interest to you and keep up on the conversations that way.
By the way, great to finally meet you in CU last month! Did you enjoy Little Miss Sunshine?
Congrats on the exciting appointments! I do enjoy ACRL; I’m just not sure what benefits I am getting.
Yesterday I got my new CRL and there was a timely article about bibliometrics and interdisciplinarity. But while it is better than many of the articles I find in CRL, it still doesn’t seem to answer any useful questions. Also, the way it is written is odd. They seem to have come up with their hypotheses before they even knew the results of previous studies, which are involved in one of the hypotheses. Just seems like an odd way to proceed.
My interests in the profession are generally not covered by ACRL’s publications. This is not a critique of ACRL, though; just a statement about my interests. So maybe it is time to check out something else while I can afford to.
I appreciate your comments for several reasons. One, though, is that they show that maybe I did hit a good middle ground for once in my comments.
And I did quite enjoy Little Miss Sunshine!
http://marklindner.info/blog/2006/08/27/little-miss-sunshine/