……………………………………………SCSLA
………………………………………March Meeting
………………………………..Springs Business Library
……………………………Darla Moore School of Business
………………………………University of South Carolina
……………………………………….Columbia, SC
…………………………………..Friday, March 16, 2012

9:15-9:45 Registration* (Coffee and Pastries)
9:45-10:00 Introduction (Stewart Curry, SCSLA President, Cynthia Kutka, SCLA President-Elect)
10:00-11:30 Speaker– Dirk Brown, M.Eng, PhD, MBA, Director of the Faber Entrepreneurship Center, Moore School of Business will speak on the role of Entrepreneurship in the South Carolina’s economic growth.
11:45-1:00 Lunch at the Gibbes Cafeteria in the Capstone building: Salad bar, sandwiches, hot bar (entrée including vegetarian choice and sides), pizza, soups, etc. – priced around $5 – $7, cash, credit or Carolina Card accepted.
1:15-2:15 Business Meeting
2:30-3:45 Tour of the Springs Business Library, Moore School, and brief presentation about new Moore School building with new business library.

It has been a great experience to serve as President of SCSLA.  Some wonderful things happened for our chapter in 2011.  There were two big accomplishments for the year.  First, our transition to the new website was started and finished.  I want to give many thanks to Sara Loree, our webmaster during this transition, who worked hard to complete this task.  The transition to a new website was a goal that I set for the chapter and I was happy to see us reach it.  Sara created a more dynamic and up-to-date site and it will be a great asset for the chapter moving forward.  I want to thank Kari Weaver for agreeing to be the new chapter webmaster.  I know she will do a fantastic job.  Second, Michelle Bing took over as the listserv manager; she arranged for our listserv, which had been hosted by USC, to be hosted by SLA.  Both changes put us in line with current SLA standards and expectations for our online chapter presence.

There were some great meetings last year.  We started off the year with a visit to the Citadel in Charleston.  This was followed by a visit to the Greenville Public Library and Art Museum.  Then we visited the Hollings Special Collections Library at USC.  We ended the year with a visit to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History in Columbia.  Each meeting was fun and informative with great speakers and tours.

I want to thank Stewart Curry for all of the work he did as President-Elect/Program Chair for our chapter.  His work was supported by our directors, David Morgan, Sherry Davis, and Tamara Law.  The meetings were a success due to their work and diligent planning.  I would also like to thank Nina Brunet for serving as Secretary and Jennifer Groff for serving as Treasurer.  Finally, thank you for the support I received from Christine Whitaker, Anne Orange, Helen Ivy, and Bob Williams.  Their insight and encouragement were invaluable to me throughout the past two years.

I look forward to all that will happen in the next year as Stewart takes on the role of President and Cynthia Kutka steps into the position of President-Elect/Program Chair.  I would like to thank Virginia Blake for agreeing to serve as Secretary and David McQuillan for agreeing to serve as Treasurer.    I know our new officers will accomplish great things for the chapter.

It has been a privilege to serve as the President of SCSLA.

Thank you.

Meredith Futral, Past-President, SCSLA

Our December 2^nd meeting of the South Carolina Chapter of the Special Libraries Association will be held in Columbia at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History (http://scdah.sc.gov/).  Dr. Kendra Albright will speak on Strategic Intelligence.  The day will also include a catered lunch, a behind the scenes tour of the archives, and our last business meeting of the year.  It’s going to be an informative and entertaining day, so plan to attend.

If you do plan to attend, please register by November 29th.  Registration details are below.  With your registration please include your choice of sandwich.

9:15-9:45 Registration (Coffee and Pastries)

9:45-10:00 Introduction (Meredith Futral, SCSLA President)

10:00-11:30 Strategic Intelligence – Dr. Kendra Albright (Associate Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina)

11:45-12:45 Lunch (catered by Crossings Deli – don’t forget to email your sandwich choice – see below)

1:00-1:45 Behind the Scenes Tour of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History

2:00-3:00 Business Meeting

Please register by sending an e-mail to Stewart Curry at stewart.curry@us.michelin.com

Directions to the Archives: (http://scdah.sc.gov/aboutus/location.htm)

SLA 2011: A First-Timer’s Experience

Virginia Blake

This year I was able to attend the SLA conference in Philadelphia. While it was my first time attending this one, it was not my first professional conference. Last year I attended ALA in Washington, D.C. with some of my USC classmates. I enjoyed that one but I was really looking forward to this one. SLA exceeded my expectations. I got to meet some great librarians, attend some informative sessions, and enjoy the city in my down time. If I shared everything I learned I would never finish this, so here are a few key things that I took with me from SLA 2011.

Networking was the one word that came up in every session I went to. This has always been difficult for me and last year at ALA I found it hard to meet people. However, at SLA it was so easy. I think part of it is because it was not my first professional conference, so I knew more of what to expect. SLA has so many opportunities outside of the actual sessions for you to network. On the first day of the conference I attended the Fellows and First Timers Meet and Greet. This was a great time to talk to those who have been in the profession for years, as well as others who were in the same position that I was in. I met other students and recent graduates on that first day that I kept running into throughout the other days. I also attended many of the receptions and open houses. I highly recommend these for a couple of reasons. Not only do you get to learn about all of the divisions in SLA, but you also get to learn about all of the options that come with your degree. I met archivists, law librarians, academic librarians, and a forensic librarian.

I’m very glad that many presenters put handouts and slides online because there were a lot of sessions I wanted to attend but couldn’t due to schedule conflicts.  While all of the sessions I went to were valuable, I do have some favorites:

• CSI Philadelphia: Forensic Science Explained – I have always been interested in forensics, so I couldn’t miss this session presented by the SciTech Division. Special Agent Gene Lanzillo showed us how the Evidence Response Teams works a crime scene from beginning to end.
• All the Career Connection sessions – I went to several of these sessions and they all provided me with some great information on interviewing, elevator speeches, resumes, and job hunting. I highly recommend these.
• 60 Apps in 60 Minutes – Presented by Scott Brown and Joe Murphy, this was a fun, and crowded, session. Some of the apps are great for productivity, and some are just for fun. Have a look here: http://www.slaconference.org/published/sla2011/sessions/DCI06TU/SLA_60Apps_MurphyBrown_June2011_Final.pdf

Social Media was a hot topic at the conference. There was a lot of talk about Linked In and Twitter. I highly recommend Twitter, even if you only use it for the conference, and follow the hash tag, in this case #SLA2011. Not only did I find great resources, articles, and blogs through this, but it was also great for finding things to do around Philly. Establishments such as restaurants and museums used our hash tag to let us know about deals and discounts we could get if we showed our conference badge.

I met some great people at this conference from all types of librarianship and got some great advice from all of them. This experience was so different than my first conference, and only in good ways. I came back from SLA inspired, energized, and ready to take on the library world. I’m already looking forward to SLA in Chicago next year.