We’re delighted to introduce the 5 winners of the 2012 Early Career Conference Awards, Co-Sponsored by SLA Europe, Business & Finance Division, Leadership & Management Division, Legal Division, Pharmaceutical and Health Technology Division, and Science-Technology Division (Diane K Foster International Student Travel Award)
Simon Barron:
I currently work as E-resources Co-ordinator at Durham University. During my MA in Library and Information Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, I focused my research on electronic resources, ebooks, National Digital Libraries, and the use of technology in libraries. I also use social media technology to campaign for public libraries as part of Voices for the Library.
I’m looking forward to working with the SLA – especially the Science-Technology Division – and getting a wider view of LIS. It’ll be great to learn more about trans-Atlantic developments in technology and to spread the word about the UK’s public library crisis.
Marie Cannon:
My name is Marie Cannon, and I am currently enrolled on the MA Library and Information Studies course at University College London, and I also work as a Library Assistant at London Business School. Prior to this, I worked as a Graduate Library Assistant at Norton Rose LLP.
I am extremely honoured and excited to have won the ECCA, and I am really looking forward to the special networking opportunities this conference is going to offer me. I am also interested in the ways libraries are adapting their services in accordance with the changing needs and expectations of users; particularly using web 2.0 technologies, and how this can be used in the legal sector in particular.
Ruth Jenkins:
I’m currently a student on the MA Librarianship course at the University of Sheffield. Prior to this, I was a Graduate Library Trainee at the Bodleian Social Science Library at the University of Oxford. I am always excited to learn how different library and information centres operate, particularly outside a traditional library setting, and I am really looking forward to meeting library and information professionals from varied and international backgrounds. This will be my first conference experience, and indeed my first time in the USA, so I am really excited to make the most of this amazing and generous opportunity. I would like to thank the Business and Finance Division for their sponsorship.
Giles Lloyd-Brown:
I’m a Senior Library Assistant in the newly opened Health Library for Cardiff University. I’ve worked for the University for over a year and I’m currently working towards Chartership with CILIP. I’ve previously worked in a Public Library and a government library before obtaining a Pass with Merit in an MScEcon Information and Library Studies course, from Aberystwyth University. I’m looking forward to many aspects of the ECCA experience, particularly meeting new people and hopefully building some lasting professional relationships, as well as becoming more involved with the SLA.
Sarah Wolfenden:
I graduated from University College London in 2008 with an MA in Library and Information Studies. Since then I have worked for Kingston College, supporting higher education students. I am professionally active, most notably on the committee of Academic and Research Libraries Group for London and the South East (ARLG LASEC) and am awaiting results of my Chartership application. I am preparing to start a temporary post as Subject Liaison Librarian for Social Sciences at Brunel University and am hoping the chance to attend the SLA Annual Conference will lead to new opportunities and that I will meet many inspirational people.
The SLA Europe board, and boards of the co-sponsoring divisions, are very pleased to welcome the 2012 ECCA winners to SLA. Look out on the blog for reports of their experiences at SLA 2012 in Chicago!