Welcoming our new President Elect – Amy Stubbing
After an extremely successful year with an excellent leadership team and board we are excited at what 2020 and beyond holds for SLA Europe. As Seema Rampersad moves to take on the mantel of president, we are happy to welcome our new president elect Amy Stubbing into the team. After winning the early career conference award in 2017, Amy has actively volunteered with SLA Europe working in a variety of committees.
See her interview below to learn more about her and what she hopes to achieve:
Tell us how you started off in the information profession?
I decided I wanted to work in libraries during the first year of my undergraduate degree really by accident. I was volunteering in a lot of professions to try and build up experience and as part of that started working with the Brunel University special collections. I ended up loving it and I’ve pursued a career in the information profession ever since! One of the things I love about the information profession is how many different jobs are available to pursue. In my time working in libraries I’ve gained a real mixed bag of skills and I have no doubt that the next five years will see this continue.
How did you first get involved in SLA and why?
I first heard about SLA from an old friend and colleague who won the Early Career Conference Award back in 2015. I started following what SLA were doing and attending a few events so when the academic division ECCA came up in 2017 I was really excited to apply to get some experience (hoping that I’d be able to get feedback and maybe win one year in the future). It was a huge surprise when I won the award and was able to attend the annual conference in Phoenix. I’d not been to a conference of that size before so didn’t know what to expect but I had an amazing time and I particularly enjoyed the community that I found at the conference. I made some life long friends through the ECCA so all together it was an easy decision to start volunteering with SLA Europe. I started out as the Webinar coordinator and while there have been times where I’ve been able to offer more than others I really haven’t looked back.
Why SLA?
I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in a lot of conferences and organisations over the past five years and I can wholeheartedly say that getting involved with SLA has been one of the best moves from my personal and professional development I’ve ever made. It’s a really supportive organisation with so many learning and networking opportunities that have definitely helped me in my career. The international aspect of SLA is also a major part of the appeal for me.
SLA is definitely the friendliest and most open organisation I’ve worked with, and this is really the main reason I see myself with them for a long time to come.
What are your plans for the coming year?
I’m very excited at what the next year is going to bring for SLA Europe. I’m going to be spending a lot of time learning from Seema and Simon but one of my big hopes it to continue to develop our approaches to making our amazing events programme available to our members all over Europe. It’s going to be a really exciting year for SLA Europe, so watch this space!