I have to admit, all my information related ideas are being funneled directly into papers, leaving me with little material to post! I thought I’d restart with a shift towards more pragmatic posts…

On my end, I’ve been quite busy, already gearing up for the next semester. I’ll be the new student liason for CASLIS next year, am exploring strengthening student ties with APRA, and am happy to say that I’ve reconnected with TIG, as a consultant again, but this time regarding donor/gift development. On a side note about prospect research, the amount of publicly available information about donors is really incredible. Is there a word for the issues arising from aggregating personally identifiable public data? If not, there really should be. We still frequently call this a “privacy” issue, which is a total misnomer.

I’m also excited to be going to the CLA conference this year. My advice to new students regarding conference grants is to apply, apply, apply. Your chances of receiving funding are excellent. Also, if you are nervous about going alone or networking alone, just think that many people in attendance are friendly, helpful librarians! I really can’t imagine a nicer crowd to network with. I’ve found that people in the library field are usually supportive of new professionals and are generous in nature - so you can dispel any preconceptions about conferences being an exhausting schmooze-fest and get excited about meeting people who want to share their work and expertise with you. So keep your eyes on your inbox and apply already!