The Universe of Medical Librarianship

Apologies to those who do or do not understand the title reference… On Monday, May 19^th, at the MLA 2008 Conference, I will be attending the, “Connecting the Dots: Strategies for Building A Portable Career and Speed Mentoring” session from 2-3:30pm. There are two parts to the session. The first part consists of four round-table discussions including: Leadership; Professional Networking; Career Reinvention; and Professional Development. Each round-table is 20 minutes and you pick two of them. I selected networking and development.

For the second session, you may have heard of speed-dating, now introducing, “speed-mentoring.” Participants will have two to three 10 minute meetings with library administrators that will review your resume and provide guidance/discussion on professional development opportunities. For anyone that is new to the field of medical librarianship, like me, then consider signing up for this event. Today is the last day to sign up.

Having operated my own business I am no stranger to taking initiative or jumping head first into something. As exhilarating it can be to live by the “jump first, ask questions later” creed, it may not always bring the result you expect. I think this session will provide an opportunity to network and learn from those that have an understanding of the industry. Instead of jumping blindly into the profession you could get some precious advice and guidance from those that have the experience. Use this as an opportunity to carefully plan out your career path and development. A well thought out attack is better than coming out with guns blazing!