SLA San Diego Chapter

Talking with Martha McPhail about the value of SLA

Since the late 1970s, Martha McPhail has not just been an SLA member, she's gotten the most out of her membership by seizing leadership opportunities and staying engaged with the association's decision making and strategy. Here Martha shares a few thoughts regarding the value of her long-term involvement with SLA.
 
Currently, Martha works for San Diego State University as a catalog librarian and women's studies librarian.
 
If you'd like to contact Martha, please write to her at [email protected].
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Talking with Martha McPhail about the value of SLA

As an academic librarian, how do you benefit from SLA? 
 
SLA’s broad scope allows many academic librarians to identify and network with compatible colleagues. I certainly have, through the three divisions I belong to: Museums, Arts and Humanities; Social Sciences; and Education. All of these are relevant to my daily work as a bibliographer for women’s studies.

I do belong to more specialized associations, such as SALALM for Latin American subject librarians and ACRL to keep up with academic trends. I belong to ALA to read American Libraries and to support our public and school libraries through ALA’s lobbying efforts. ALA conferences are too large and overwhelming.

SLA’s annual conference is right-sized, the exhibits showcase new technologies and services, the programs are educational, and I enjoy being in a different city each year. So I find SLA suits me professionally and personally.
 
What do you remember the most, or the most fondly, from your years of SLA membership? 

I first joined SLA in the late 1970s while serving as a sci/tech librarian in Sorrento Valley, back when there were horses on the hillside. I conducted all the online searching for our scientists on topics such as astrophysics, geothermal energy and nuclear testing. I also had to acquire, catalog and reshelve the books and journals: the whole gamut of operating a small special library.
 
Networking with other one-person library colleagues was greatly helpful to me, and I met them through our San Diego SLA meetings.
 
But then I decided to retool and pursue my personal interests, so I attended night classes at SDSU to get my second master’s in Latin American Studies. I was very fortunate that SDSU Library needed a librarian to catalog all the Spanish-language materials, and they hired me in May 1988. I’ve been able to merge my personal interests with my professional responsibilities, to serve twice as a Fulbright Scholar in Honduras and El Salvador, and to be professionally active internationally.
 
I’ve had a great career, and SLA has played a big role in my success.
 
What do you feel has been your biggest contribution to SLA?
 
That’s a hard question. For SLA-SD, I've served as the archivist, a director of the chapter's annual seminar, and the president during 1996/97. For SLA international, I've served as Chair of the Division of Museums, Arts and Humanities; on the Committee on Cataloging several times; on the Denver Conference Planning Committee; and on various task forces.
 
Chapters are the core of SLA, and as the SLA-SD Chapter president, I initiated the President’s Award which acknowledges outstanding service by a chapter member. I appointed our chapter’s first liaison to LIS students, beginning our support of scholarships for emerging young leaders. I am pleased both have continued. Serving since 1991 as one of SLA’s representatives to IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations, I’ve been a big booster of internationalizing SLA. Locally, I organized a bus tour of special libraries in Baja California and arranged for our chapter to pay two Mexican librarians’ SLA dues for two years. Some of our members still talk about that great bus tour. 
 
If you had it to do all over again, would you still contribute so much time and energy to SLA?

Yes, indeed! SLA has advanced my professional development and enriched my personal life. I owe SLA a great deal; it is why I have accepted various posts when offered. SLA is run by volunteers and is only effective when members contribute their abilities.

When you look in the crystal ball, what do you see in coming years for SLA and SLA-SD?
 
It’s pleasing to meet new colleagues at chapter meetings and events; SLA-SD has a bright future in our beautiful corner of the world. SLA will provide outstanding opportunities for learning, networking and service for us librarians and information professionals, and hence for our patrons. “Putting knowledge to work”: that’s SLA!
 
What's next for you?
 
I am retiring in June 2010! I’ll continue working the spring semester at SDSU for a couple of years, but will live in North Carolina during summer and fall. I expect to volunteer at an art museum library, assist Latinos with learning English, attend folk music festivals, read novels and travel.
 
I wish continued success for SLA-SD. Ya’ll come visit me in my beautiful Blue Ridge mountain home!

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Interview conducted and written by Daria DeCooman

We came, we saw, we sorted: Volunteer work party at Central Library brought out the best

On Saturday, November 14, two dozen SLA-SD members and friends descended on the San Diego Public Library's Central Library. There, we helped with two projects owned by the library's California Room, whose collection pertains to California history.

Info pros Bee Bornheimer, Robin Dodds, Melinda Hansen, Vani Inampudi (pushing the cart in the photo here), Marita Johnson, Peggy Makie, Sabrina Nespeca, Camerin Poulson, Melanie Quinn, Jennifer Snapp-Cook and Kate Vigderson all pitched in and gave the effort their all.

These intrepid volunteers helped sort and sleeve several boxes of historic photographs and helped box and sleeve several drawers of San Diego postcards. SLA-SD President Cindy Shamel also participated.

Prior to getting started on our work, we all enjoyed a tour of the California Room and the library's Wangenheim Room, which contains a collection of rare books, manuscripts and artifacts illustrating the development of the book through the ages.

Special Collections Supervisor Rick Crawford, a member of the California Room staff, provided an orientation to the California Room. Also he kindly made the volunteer opportunity possible and guided participants through the work needing doing.

The volunteer work party was staged as a way to give back to the California Room, whose staff help provide access to the SLA-SD chapter archives which are housed in the Central Library.

At the end of day, when the working and networking came to a close, all agreed that the event had been productive and lots of fun. Most importantly, Rick expressed appreciation for the group having put in place the first steps toward making the postcard and photo collections accessible to the public.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the California Room can contact Rick at rcrawford[AT]sandiego.gov.

Anyone interested in participating in future SLA-SD volunteer work parties just needs to stay tuned to this blog. Given the good results from this year's work party at the downtown San Diego Public Library, another work party on behalf of the California Room may be in the works for 2010.

See photos taken by SLA-SD President Cindy Shamel.

See photos taken by SLA-SD Archivist Daria DeCooman.

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Article written by Daria DeCooman

Sat., Nov. 14, 1-4p: Pls join us for volunteer work party to help San Diego Public Library

As many SLA-SD members know, the San Diego Public Library kindly houses our chapter archives at the downtown Central Library.
 
To give back to the SDPL, and more specifically the Central Library's California Room, whose staff provide significant assistance in helping SLA-SD members access our chapter archives, we're organizing a volunteer work party. Participants will roll up their sleeves and help California Room staff with two projects.

Below are more details.
 
Please, won't you join us? We'll have fun and help support an important partner, the San Diego Public Library.

Kind regards,
Daria DeCooman
SLA-SD Archivist
[email protected]
 
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SLA-SD volunteer work party to give back to the San Diego Public Library:

• Date: Saturday, November 14
• Time: 1-4p
• Location: San Diego Public Library, Central Library, 820 E St., San Diego, CA 92101-6416
• Parking: Get details at www.sandiego.gov/public-library/locations/
• Number of volunteers needed: 6-8
• What to wear: Comfortable casual attire (no gloves required)
• What to bring: Just yourself. Water will be provided. There's no need to bring laptops.
• What we'll do:
• Sort, rehouse and inventory several boxes of historic photographs that are now randomly housed
• Sleeve and box several drawers of San Diego postcards
• RSVP: [email protected]

Talking with Kaitlyn Means about serving as an info pro for the zoo

Since receiving her MLIS from San Jose State University in 2008, Kaitlyn Means has continued to work for the San Diego Zoo Library, where she started as an assistant librarian in 2007. Here Kaitlyn takes us behind the scenes, as she tells us what it’s like to be an information professional in a very special environment.

A member of the San Diego Chapter of SLA since 2006, Kaitlyn currently is lending a hand to help maintain and do research in the chapter's archives during her free time. Regarding the benefits she receives from her SLA membership, Kaitlyn says "It's great that SLA-SD has so many affordable seminars and networking events."

[email protected]
www.linkedin.com/in/kmeans
http://librarianscience.wordpress.com

 
Kaitlyn Means feeds a small-clawed otter.

Talking with Kaitlyn Means about serving as an info pro for the zoo

1. How did you land a position as a librarian for the San Diego Zoo?

I've always loved the zoo, and fell in love with the library on a tour of the Beckman Center when the building first opened. As soon as I walked into the Rare Book Room and inhaled that rich, pulpy old book smell and laid hands on the rhino horn, I knew I wanted to work there someday. I told the person giving the tour, "I want your job," and I meant it. Shortly after starting library school, I contacted the zoo to start volunteering at the library. The fates aligned, and after I'd been volunteering for them once a week for a year or so, there was an opening for an assistant librarian. I still had a little under a year of library school left to finish, but luckily they didn't mind and offered me the job. At that point, since they already knew I was capable of the job and desperately wanted it, the interview process was just a formality.

2. What exactly do you do for the zoo?

The library serves the entire Zoological Society of San Diego (ZSSD), which includes the San Diego Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, the Institute for Conservation Research and the Harter Vet Hospital, as well as various administrative offices and other departments strewn across San Diego County, not to mention conservation field workers across the globe. By far the most difficult aspect of what we do is trying to balance the collection to equally serve all ZSSD staff members and departments. The library is a bit sequestered since it's located in Escondido at the institute, so we try to have enough of an online presence to overcome the geographic hurdles, while functioning within the budget of a small nonprofit.

My job consists of cataloging new materials; managing our online databases, print and electronic serial subscriptions; paying the bills; interlibrary loans; and just generally managing the physical collection and our website. I also respond to reference requests directed to me from ZSSD staff and affiliates, and am always on the look-out for information that will be helpful to our staff. I also have a hand in our acquisitions and budget, since I'm lucky enough to have a director who values my input and includes me in the library's strategic planning.

And of course, I supervise our volunteers and occasional interns, and try to fit in my pet projects when there's time. So far, those have consisted of putting a staff article database with PDFs on our website, conducting a survey of zoo and wildlife libraries, and migrating our VHS collection into the 21st century. In the future, I plan to convert our system to an open-source ILS like Evergreen or Koha, and I'm in the process of switching our archives catalog over to Archon, a free, Web-based archives application.

3. What kinds of amazing animal encounters have you had on the job?

Let's see... I've had the opportunity to meet up-close, pat or feed, in the course of my job so far, a ratel, serval, okapi, kangaroo, sea lion, kookaburra, koala, cheetah, elephant and baby lion and giraffes. I'm probably forgetting some. I've also volunteered for Nurtured by Nature, a nonprofit run by one of the ZSSD keepers, so I recently met a three-toed sloth, fennec fox, paca, armadillo, wallaby and baby tamandua, as well as kangaroos, pole cats, baby small-clawed otters and some others. Not surprisingly, my off-the-job hobbies are also animal-related. I love to travel and do photography, and I'm planning a trip later this year to Manu National Park in Peru, where I'm hoping to see jaguars, tapirs, sloths and hundreds of bird and reptile species in the wild.

4. Was your decision to drive a Harley related to your job?

In a way, it was. I bought the bike (a 2001 Buell Blast) while I was working at the Museum of Photographic Arts library and living near Balboa Park in 2006. It was a bit too far to walk quickly enough, but not far enough away to justify driving a car, and parking at Balboa Park was sometimes a challenge. Plus, I'd always wanted a motorcycle. While I was volunteering once a week at the zoo library in Escondido, it was nice to ride up there, since the bike saves gas and can go in the carpool lane. On the day I signed papers to start my current job full-time, my car spun out in the rain on the highway and then was in the shop for many weeks, so I rode the motorcycle full-time 70 miles or so round-trip each day until I finally moved to Escondido to be closer to work. Plus, since I spend most of my time squirreled away in the library, cataloging furiously, I don't get a chance to socialize much with my colleagues. If people know who I am, they're more likely to come to the library to have their questions answered, so being the Girl With the Pink Motorcycle might make them remember me more.

5. What tips can you offer other info pros seeking jobs in the zoo industry?

Well, for those interested in learning more about zoo libraries in general, we're putting together an updated article with results from last summer's survey that went to zoo libraries worldwide. I’ve put the results on our website as well. You'll note that only 16 of the libraries that responded have full-time, professional librarians, and the survey was conducted before news of the recession caused many zoos to slash their budgets. So, it's clearly a challenging, specialized field to break into.

Special librarians are flexible though, and we have such varied skillsets; the key to breaking into any new area is adaptability. It's important to be able to work within very widely ranging budget requirements, work with people with varying technological skill levels, and learn quickly about any number of topics. I'm good at my job because, like so many solo or special librarians, I can do a little bit of everything. If I don't know how to do something, I know I can learn. Zoo librarians are a very self-directed, self-sufficient bunch of info pros by necessity.

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Interview conducted and written by Daria DeCooman

Talking with SLA-SD President Elect Bobbi Weaver about the Power of Volunteering

During the 2009 SLA Conference, SLA-SD President Elect Bobbi Weaver received the inaugural Business & Finance Division’s Leadership & Service Award. This new award was created to recognize members who demonstrate exemplary leadership and service to community or nonprofit organizations. In the interview presented here, Bobbi fills us in on her experiences as a volunteer and offers insights into the benefits that volunteering brings.

Photo: Bobbi Weaver receives the Business & Finance Division’s 2009 Leadership & Service Award from (on the left) Margaret Nelson with EvaluatePharma USA (the sponsor of the award) and (on the right) Terri Brooks, the Business and Finance Division's chair. 

How did you get started as a volunteer? What was your inspiration?

Since I was a child, I’ve been doing volunteer work. I was a Brownie and Girl Scout, and we often were recruited to do various community activities. When I was in college, I was an officer in the Canterbury Club, an Episcopalian-affiliated student fellowship group, through which I did outreach to an area nursing home. 

More recently, I became involved in volunteering to enhance my foreign language skills. In July 2004, I did a volunteer vacation at the Fundacción de Proteción Animal (FPA) in Loja, Ecuador where I organized the group’s small library and did a guest lecture on animal law for the law students at a local university. 
 
In later years, I began relearning French. To help my French skills, I developed an HTML file for La Société Québécoise pour la Défense des Animaux with links to Quebec municipal laws related to companion animals. I later became involved in literacy issues in Haiti, and periodically sent French books to a private school there.

How did you get involved with Haiti Reads, the group cited in the SLA Business & Finance Division's announcement regarding its awarding you the award?

A few months ago, a shipment of French books to the school in Haiti was returned to me. Rather than attempting to resend the package, I searched the Internet for organizations within the US that assist people in Haiti.
 
During my research, I found Haiti Reads. I contacted the president of the organization, Jeanette Attiso, and asked if she could use the French books. She said yes. As we conversed by email, I told her I was a librarian and she indicated that Haiti Reads was planning a small library to serve a community in Port-au-Prince. She later asked if I would be interested in serving on the board of Haiti Reads, and in advising them on the organization of the new library. I agreed, and have been assisting with issues of fundraising, collection development, preservation, cataloging and classification.
 
What results have you seen from your personal volunteer efforts, as well as efforts of nonprofits for which you've served as a volunteer?

In Ecuador, FPA was able to provide materials to a variety of patrons (e.g., members of the general community, university students, veterinary students, farmers), and thus able to help educate people on the humane treatment of animals. For the group, in addition to print materials, I compiled a list of Spanish-language links for information on animal welfare and environmental protection. Unfortunately, FPA later closed due to financial constraints, but the library’s collection was donated to a local university library. 

For Haiti Reads, I’m glad to have been able to provide the direction to launch the new library project. Though the new library is still in development, the building has been rented and is scheduled for renovations next month. This library will provide books and literacy training to children in one of the poorest areas of Haiti’s capital city. 
 
What does volunteering bring you?

Volunteering makes me thankful for what I do have, rather than envious of what I don’t. I am also personally motivated by my faith. 

Volunteering also enhances professional skills that I may not use in my regular job. For example, my job primarily involves reference, but in my volunteer work I’ve used other librarianship skills. I’ve also been able to keep up-to-date on resources outside the traditional legal resources that I use day-to-day.

What advice do you have for other info pros looking to get going with volunteering?

Many local organizations could benefit by having volunteers with librarianship skills. Additionally, because of our proximity to Mexico, librarians might want to consider opportunities across the border. In addition to educational institutions such as schools, organizations dealing with animal protection, environmental protection and human rights can use information professionals to help with community outreach. 

A great place to find volunteer opportunities is the website Idealist.org.  This site offers a database of volunteer opportunities throughout the world. Also, for job-seekers, Idealist.org includes job listings for nonprofit organizations in the US and worldwide.  

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Interview conducted and written by Daria DeCooman