On Sunday night, there was a joint reception co-hosted by the NMRT (New Member Round Table) and the RMRT (Retired Member Round Table). As a new ALA member, I was invited to attend. I appreciate that these groups are based on tenure and interest, rather than age, as even though I’m joining the ALA later in my career, there’s a lot I don’t know about libraries yet!
This joint reception was a lively event with local foods (like Chicago-style deep dish pizza and hot dogs without ketchup) and awards for each group. Plus, we were encouraged to network with a BINGO game and the opportunity to win a ticket to the Gala Author Luncheon on Monday (selected by random drawing of those who completed the entire BINGO grid).
This activity encouraged interaction between new and retired members, as the goal was to identify an attendee who matched each square’s prompt. The prompts were designed to appeal to a broad range of attendees from those more likely to be true for new members (like “I am a member of NMRT” and “I am in library school”) to those more likely to be true for retired members (like “I am a member of RMRT” or “I am a library director”), along with those that could be true for anyone in attendance (like “I prefer non-fiction to fiction” or “I speak more than one language” or “I need caffeine!”).
Overall, this was a fun event and I’m glad I went. If you haven’t explored the ALA Round Tables yet, I’d highly recommend them as a way to get involved, meet relevant people, and better understand whichever part of this industry your round table is focused on.
Robyn Davis, CPTD, CEM (she/her) is the author of Exhibit Smarter: A Step-by-Step Guide to Trade Show Success, a member of her local library society (in Charleston, SC), and a new member of the ALA. This year, she will be attending the Library Insights Summit (a co-located event bringing publishers and librarians together) for the second time, but it’s her first time attending the full conference for ALA Annual. Robyn is looking forward to attending sessions where she can learn more about how librarians acquire new books and to visiting the exhibit hall. In addition to blog posts here, you can follow along with Robyn on LinkedIn.
Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.
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