Aimee Babcock-Ellis, Program Specialist,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.

How will attending the ALA conference contribute to my professional development?

Attending the ALA Annual Conference will allow me the chance to give back to the library community.

I am excited to be a 2012 ALA Emerging Leader! As an Emerging Leader, I am expected to attend both the ALA Midwinter and Annual conferences, where I am able to work on behalf of my fellow librarians.

My recent contributions to the library community include serving as co-founder and co-chair of the NewFeds Working Group, which is sponsored by the Library of Congress to support the development of professionals working in federal libraries for five years or less. Attending ALA conferences offers me the chance to make additional connections to build bridges and create partnerships for NewFeds programming.

As a past Spectrum Scholar, I look forward to participating in the Professional Options fair for the new cohort of ALA Spectrum Scholars; this event is very meaningful to me. The fair offers me an opportunity to share my knowledge with students who are seeking additional scholarships and professional options.

Additionally, I serve as co-chair of the ALA New Member Roundtable (NMRT) Mentoring Committee, and one of my duties at the ALA Conference involves overseeing the NMRT mentoring reception. Our committee has developed a strategy to revitalize the mentoring program, so I seek to be present to ensure the success of our program.

I also look forward to attending the MBA for Librarians sessions, in order to further my own personal and professional development.

Because I am currently unemployed, the costs of fulfilling my obligation will be tough to manage. Plus, the conference offers me the opportunity to take advantage of the Placement Center to learn new job-searching strategies.

Note: After submitting her essay, Aimee was hired for her current position at the National Institutes of Health. Congratulations, Aimee!

Yu-Hui Chen, Bibliographer and Outreach Librarian for Education, University at Albany,
State University of New York, Albany, N.Y.

How will attending the ALA conference contribute to my professional development?

Attending the ALA Annual Conference is vital to my professional development. As a junior tenure-track librarian at the University at Albany (UAlbany), I need to stay abreast of library trends and make contributions to the profession through research and service. And this conference is a prime venue for monitoring developments and best practices in academic librarianship, sharing research findings, and providing services to the library profession.

Because collection development is my main responsibility, I will confer with publishers, dialogue with vendors, and network with colleagues nationwide to broaden my knowledge of current and emerging trends in scholarly publishing, research databases, and e-discovery tools, digital repositories, and resource sharing. This knowledge is crucial to the continued provision of quality service at the University Libraries.

I also aim to fulfill my obligation as a member of the Association of College Research Libraries/Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (ACRL/EBSS) Research Committee by joining the committee meeting to plan professional development programs for the members and by assisting in the ACRL/EBSS Research Forum. And, as a mentor of the 2011–2013 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Diversity Scholars, I will attend events hosted by the ARL Diversity Program to offer guidance to potential future colleagues.

Additionally, I plan to present the results of my research on usability testing of the UAlbany Libraries’ Web portal.

Because severe budget cuts at UAlbany have hindered librarians from attending conferences like ALA, which are so important for professional development, I am requesting this travel grant based on need. I will share what I have learned with my colleagues upon my return.

Susan K.S. Grigsby, Library Media Specialist,
Elkins Pointe Middle School, Roswell, Ga.

How will attending the ALA conference contribute to my professional development?

Attending the 2012 ALA Conference will substantially contribute to my professional growth. I am a passionate advocate for school libraries and librarians, and attending the conference will help me apply that passion to my professional activities and growth. I typically return from library conferences with pages of notes about applying new ideas for improving academic achievement at my school and in my state. Add to that the wealth of networking opportunities available at ALA, and my effectiveness as a teacher and librarian will significantly increase and my practice will be enhanced.

While at ALA, I plan to attend the high-quality concurrent sessions, which will not only expose me to new tools and programs but also teach me how to deliver my own program more effectively.

In addition to obtaining valuable information from the concurrent sessions and networking opportunities, I look forward to growing within the ALA organization. I have been a board member of the Georgia Library Media Association since 2000, serving as treasurer, communications chair, professional development chair, president-elect, and president. Leading a state organization gave me the confidence to expand my sights, and I am now eager to serve on the national level. I have been accepted to run for an ALA Council position, and I am eager to begin the campaign. If I am elected, I believe it is the beginning of many years of service to ALA.

Due to continued budget cuts and stagnant salaries in Georgia, I cannot afford to attend, nor can my school contribute to my attendance.

Danielle Whren Johnson, Digital Access Librarian,
Loyola Notre Dame Library, Baltimore, Md.

How will attending the ALA conference contribute to my professional development?

As an academic librarian, I hold myself accountable to the standards of our university faculty members who are required to focus on the areas of teaching, service, and research.

My first duty as a librarian is to teach my students how to become information literate. Attending sessions at Annual on tools and techniques of instruction will help me become a more effective teacher because I can learn new methods of instruction from other librarians that will benefit my students.

Service to the library profession is also equally important to me. During Annual, I will be serving both my national and state library associations. I will be representing Association of College and Research Libraries, Maryland (ACRL MD), at the Chapters Council meetings. In addition to serving as my state’s representative, I currently serve as the vice chair on the ACRL Chapters Council. As part of this position, I also will be involved with the ACRL Leadership Council during my time at Annual.

Finally, attending Annual will offer me the chance to get involved with library-related research. It will provide opportunities for me to hear about research that is currently being conducted and present me with ideas for my own future research. Additionally, I will be able to network with other librarians with whom I can collaborate on future research.

Due to budgetary restrictions my library is currently unable to support my attendance at ALA Annual, but I believe my participation in this conference is paramount to fulfilling my obligations to teach, serve, and research.

Ann B. Perham, School Librarian,
Needham High School, Walpole, Mass.

How will attending the ALA conference contribute to my professional development?

School Librarians are “Lone Rangers.” We collaborate with every teacher, yet we have no one with whom to exchange, brainstorm, and grow professionally. State and national conferences offer superior professional development opportunities.

A priority for my school is interdisciplinary teaching. I initiated a collaborative project with three English and two History teachers to develop a co-taught freshman research project; the assignment has students “check up” on authors’ treatment of historical facts in weaving historical fiction. As a librarian, I celebrate my role with collection development, book talking, and reinforcement of research skills.

At ALA Anaheim, I will have a three-pronged mission. First, I will seek authors of historical fiction in the vendor hall and sessions; I’d like to identify at least one author who will Skype with our classes and discuss how he or she conducts research before embarking on writing the historical novel. Having students make the direct connection between research, writing, and history is a key concept. Second, I will locate just-right books for our high school readers. I hope to discover newly published gems by picking up gallery copies in the vendor hall, a perfect strategy for my summer reading and fall purchases. Third, I am confident that I will discover a colleague running a similar project, setting up an exchange of ideas.

Being granted an EBSCO scholarship would enable me to hurdle financial barriers to attending the 2012 ALA Annual Conference. Without school funding and as the sole breadwinner paying college tuition for son number five, ALA is only a professional-development “dream destination.”

Susan Lynn Ridgeway, Library Media Specialist,
Wooster City Schools, Wooster, Ohio

How will attending the ALA conference contribute to my professional development?

The ALA conferences are like no other in our profession. The broad range of classes, forums, and meetings provide an opportunity for growth in a variety of areas.

I am the only librarian in my district, so I have a need to develop programming for K-12 students that is fun and involves use of 21st-century skills. The ALA conference is a showcase for cutting-edge ideas about librarianship and trends in the field.

I also am very much interested in the technical aspects of librarianship. It is terribly important for me to find and implement software and streamlined procedures that my paraprofessionals can learn easily to save time, so we can spend more time with our students.

In addition, I would like to take a leadership role in ALA and become more involved with Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). The annual meetings are very informative and give librarians an opportunity to voice their opinions and contribute their ideas.

I love my job and work in a great district, and attending the conference will expose me to authors and publishers that I typically would not have an opportunity to meet in my small town in Ohio. Our state has struggled economically for years, and more than 50 percent of the students in our district are on the federal school lunch program. Because of these state- and district-wide financial hardships, there is little money left over from salaries or district funds to supplement professional development. Finding additional monies is the only way for me to attend workshops and conferences outside of the state.

Anna Shelton, Graduate Student,
The Information School, University of Washington, Tacoma, Wash.

How will attending the ALA conference contribute to my professional development?

Attending the ALA Annual Conference will transform my ability to lead in the library field by addressing four main goals: building lifetime relationships, understanding the national aspect of the “three-tier chess game,” testing my ideas, and gaining professional context about ALA.

ALA is the best place to learn from and connect with future mentors and co-conspirators. I’m interested in mobile outreach, Spanish-language services, services for incarcerated youth, and library administration. Across the country, other librarians share these passions. While I can read their blogs and conduct email interviews, nothing replaces the spark of meeting face-to-face to develop those relationships.

Meaningful change comes from effective advocacy simultaneously on three levels: local, state, and national-the three-tier chess game. I am involved with local and state priorities and issues, but ALA is the only place that will give me a sense of the national pulse.

I am on fire with what I am learning in graduate school, and thinking constantly about real-world applications and challenges. Attending ALA would give me the opportunity to hear the brightest ideas, learn about the most entrenched problems, and contribute my best to the mix.

While U.S. libraries will be my lifetime “community of practice,” I also will engage with global libraries. My 2012 dream is to win a scholarship to attend the IFLA conference in Finland next August and be the Global Libraries Research Assistant at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. To participate effectively in international conversations, I must be involved with and better understand ALA.

I cannot attend ALA Annual without this scholarship: I have a mortgage, a minimum wage job, and no summer financial aid.