On behalf of the LMD members I would like to say a fond farewell to Joni Savage as Blog co-chair and wish Joni the best in her future endeavors. I want to welcome Michelle Dollinger as our new LMD blog chair. Moving forward, I will assume the role as Social Network chair for the division and still blog post to the blog from time to time .  However, I am confident that Michelle will continue the tradition of providing maximum leadership impact through her blog post to come.

At last year’s SLA meeting, I met many of you and talked about the desire to become a leader in the profession. I discussed frustrations, concerns, and other issues that were tugging at me.  I was able to take all kinds of advice from you and learned a great deal at the conference. I thank you all so much for your support!

I have had the pleasure and opportunity to serve as a College Librarian for the University Libraries at Virginia Tech since March 1, 2001.  The experiences I have had there can be described as extraordinary and fulfilling. This honor has afforded me the ability to learn, share, and grow both as a professional and as a person.

I now have the knowledge and ability to move up in the profession of librarianship and therefore, have accepted a position as the new Library Director at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. I look forward to this new chapter in my life. I am absolutely thrilled! My last day at Virginia Tech is November 30, 2007 and I start at Clarkson on January 2, 2008.  Wish me luck!

Sincerely,
Michelle

http://freerangelibrarian.com/2007/11/07/email-lists-are-they-last-century/#comments

Regards, Juanita – LMD Chair-Elect

I want to take a moment to tell you all, thank you.  If you recall, I am a new (returning) member to SLA and now a new member of the SLA-LMD.  I was encouraged by the warm welcome and thoughtful conversations I had with you all.  I remembered why I loved the organization so much. I plan to become an active member of this division and look forward to working with you (please let me know what I can do to help and how to get involved). 

I am planning to attend the SLA Leadership Summit in January ’08 and then, of course, the SLA Annual Conference in June ’08. I hope to see you all again then or even sooner!

So, if you need anything, please let me know! I can be easily reached via e-mail: myoung@vt.edu or IM: myoungatvt (Yahoo, AOL, MSN).

Sincerely,

Michelle L. Young, College Librarian
Virginia Tech

Are you wondering how to “grow your political savvy” ?

Quite aside from your technical expertise, have you ever had the following thoughts when you read an email or a document, watched an interaction at a meeting, or otherwise observed someone else’s actions in the workplace:

Wow – that was tactful. I would have struggled to find a non-hurtful formulation.

What a good way to convey how the proposed initiative is in everyone’s interest?

A great solution to what seemed like an intractable problem – how did she come up with that?

I’ll have to adopt that technique next time I present in front of a group!

I, for one, have those reactions at times in my condo corporation board meetings!

Skills in leadership and management come naturally to some people … or so it seems.Great leaders and managers may in fact say “Oh, I learned that the hard way”. Personally, I look way back at my very early career and recognize that on occasion, while I meant well, I did not have the ballast of experience to counterbalance my youthful eagerness. (I’m thankful for that experience now and take every opportunity I can to share it.)

Are you wondering how to go about systematically broadening and deepening your “soft skills” so that you could …

• take on roles focusing on “moving the organization or department forward”?
• enhance your persuasion skills?
• participate in, or lead, new initiatives in terms of getting the necessary stakeholder buy-in?

This blog is all about letting us help each other.  What a good new device for the Division … let’s use it!