Emerging Leader

A little less than a month ago I returned to New York from an amazing trip to Las Vegas for ALA Annual. It was a very enjoyable but also bittersweet experience, as the conference signaled the official end of a wonderful year in the Emerging Leaders (EL) program

My first full day at Annual was spent at an all-day EL event at the Las Vegas Hilton (where Elvis lived!). The agenda consisted of engaging talks by a variety of leaders within ALA, as well was a panel discussion featuring EL alumni. The program concluded with a poster session open to all ALA membership, in which each EL team shared a poster based upon our group projects.

I was part of Team B, a group of five tasked to work with ACRL’s Science & Technology Section (STS) to assist them in developing a virtual research collaboratory. My team was able to narrow a multitude of potential software solutions to three free collaboration tools, which we researched carefully and identified what we believed to be the optimal solution for their needs, a program called Wiggio.

It was very exciting to present a poster at ALA Annual- I’ve been in the profession for nearly five years and this was my first time presenting at Annual. I was pleased at how many people attended the poster session, and met a number of librarians outside the program who were interested in our project. I was able to share some advice and insight for other librarians looking to connect and conduct research across distance. I feel that I gained so much from participation in the EL program, in terms of both leadership skill development and introduction to over fifty other librarians committed to making a difference in the profession and the association.

Katelyn Angell
RUSA Emerging leader