UNYSLA: Spring meeting report part III: Career Paths as Information Professionals

Panel Discussion: Career Paths as Information Professionals
By Margaret K. Swanson

During the Upstate New York Chapter of the Special Library Association’s meeting held on the 24th of April 2009 in the Standish Room of the Science Library at SUNY Albany, an energizing panel consisting of Polly Farrington, Euan Morton, Jill Hurst-Wahl, and Ruth Wolfish recounted their personal adventures along the career paths they have embraced and answered career-related questions posed by the audience.

Panelists from left to right: Jill Hurst-Wahl, Polly Farrington, Euan Morton, Christian Miller (moderator), and Ruth Wolfish.

Jill Hurst-Wahl has a background in information technology and library science. Before creating Hurst Associates, Ltd., which specializes in training for digitization projects, Hurst-Wahl was a corporate librarian and a programmer. She also instructs graduate students at the iSchool at Syracuse University on management, digitization, and business intelligence, is a member of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries, and has published several articles in various journals as well as a book.

Polly Farrington, who offers technology consulting and training to libraries and library systems via her company P.A. Farrington Associates, worked as an academic librarian for seventeen years before striking out on her own in 1997. She now works with libraries and library systems in New York, Connecticut, and California. Her specialties include assisting with the development and management of web sites and teaching technology classes.

Euan Morton has recently established his own company, Black Dog Research, which specializes in competitive intelligence, market research, and intellectual property research. Before becoming a business owner, Morton was an analyst at Nerac, and a consultant at TekSystems and Entre Computer Systems. While at Nerac, he completed business research, computer-related patent research, trademark research, and competitive analysis nationally and internationally.

Ruth Wolfish is currently Client Services Manager at IEEE after spending eighteen years at AT&T/Lucent where she filled both library and non-library positions. AT IEEE, Wolfish promotes IEEE’s online products by providing materials, training, and support to librarians, her customers. Before joining IEEE, she held positions such as reference librarian, management trainer and administrator, and information specialist. Wolfish stressed that her career path was closely connected with the marketing skills she offered despite the fact that she had no marketing background.

All four panel participants consistently stressed the need to be open to new opportunities even if they seem to be taking you down an unthought of career path. In other words, when the door is locked, try the window instead even if it is facing a different direction. In addition to courageously trying and accepting new careers, networking is of the utmost necessity, and it must be integrated into your technology usage. Web 2.0 social networking tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter as well as strategies such as blogging and maintaining a prominent virtual presence are vital for marketing your skills and expertise in these economic times.

Margaret K. Swanson is currently earning her MSIS at SUNY Albany and working as a student assistant for Technology and Resource Sharing Services in Library Development at the New York State Library. Before spending the last three years teaching High School English at Douglas County School District in Northern Nevada, she earned an MST in Secondary Education English 7-12 at SUNY Potsdam and a BA in German and General Literature, English and Rhetoric at SUNY Binghamton.