My (ISIP) Poster Session

So…if there is actually anyone reading this…it is worth giving you some background on my job before I give you the run down on the poster session.

During my undergrad at UW I had the amazing, wonderful, once-of-a-lifetime experience of being an intern in the Information Specialist Internship Program. It is a program designed by a truly truly wonderful group of administrators and librarians to: “introduce students from historically and statistically underrepresented groups to a profession in the library workforce” (my spiel – don’t ask me how many times I had to rattle this off during the session) These folks are getting their hands dirty – by the way. The basic run down of the program is (yes I am bit tired of talking about it) you do a two year internship where you bounce around to different libraries and learn things…see website for more info…www.library.wisc.edu/jobs/isip.htm

Upon completion of the program and matriculation to the UW Lib. School they offered me the opportunity to continue working with the program in a different role, as a project assistant. Basically I am slowly taking over most of the major operations of the program…recruiting, hiring(not alone), paperwork, orientations, introductions, intern upkeep, support, mentoring, improving the program through creativity and variety, and loads loads more. It is great. I am taking on a lot of the responsibility but we make decisions by committee – of 8 people.

Anyway, a poster session is essentially a large room with tons of bulletin boards. You make a poster about something that you have been working on or a concept/project that you think others might be interested in, and a variety of other miscellany. Then you stand by your poster for an hour or so and answer questions people may have as they peruse your content. It is crowded and hectic and when they ran out of tops for the free coffee things got interesting.

Three of the ISIP committee members and I put together a poster about the program and were there to share our successes and challenges with others. It is such a great program that addresses the major concerns of recruiting diverse individuals to the profession. We had a pretty good turn out and some people seemed genuinely interested and walked away saying things like “wow this is really great.” I agree.

I think this is one of the best formats to reach the most amounts of people and actually have the opportunity to engage them, listen to them, and talk face to face. Otherwise most session formats aren’t very personal and you feel as if you are talking at them (or being talked at) and if you are like me and don’t quite have the courage to ask questions – yet – then you don’t get to contribute. Not that any of the speakers actually stay on time and leave enough room for more than two questions anyway. (note to self: be on time when attending AND stay on time when presenting)

I just want to point out that – in my opinion – the key to the success of the program is the commitment from high levels of library administration. In this case, I am extremely lucky that my institution IS committed to this and has gone to great lengths to put it in place even through the hems and haws of the growing pains and development stages. They deserve a huge round of applause and thanks for setting this model.

Think you got what it takes to convince your administration that a program like this is necessary? Give it a try…they will probably squirm in their chairs…or they might give you a new job of internship coordinator!

Please contact me if you want to learn more about the internship program. I am sure the committee would be willing to meet or communicate with you on the process of getting it started and what it takes…I know I would.
OK . These last two entries have been a lot to read but they are important to me!

-Roy