Presenters: Janice Shipp, Kristi Smith, Vivian Bynoe, Brittani Sterling. Presented at the Georgia Libraries Conference in Columbus, GA on 10/04/2018. The Coastal Georgia Library Collaborative (CGLC) officially formed in 2016 to encourage collaboration, networking and professional development for Savannah area librarians and paraprofessionals. The Atlanta Emerging Librarians (AEL) formed in 2008 to serve Metro Atlanta MLIS students, new graduates and new librarians in a similar way. This presentation discusses both groups challenges and successes.

1. The Secret to Organizing and Maintaining
a Successful Networking Group
Coastal Georgia Library Collaborative & Atlanta Emerging Librarians
Janice Shipp
Savannah State University
Kristi Smith & Vivian Bynoe
Georgia Southern University
Brittani Sterling
Georgia State University

2. Coastal Georgia Library Collaborative
How it all started!
• In October 2015, I was approached by Karen Manning, the GLA 2nd
Vice President/Membership Committee Chair at the time.
• Karen encouraged me to sponsor a networking event in the Savannah
area for library employees.
• In December 2015, I held our first get-together at SCAD’s Jen Library;
14 people showed up!
• I organized several more meet-ups in the Savannah area, and in
December 2016, our group was inducted as a subgroup of Georgia
Library Association’s New Members Round Table.

3. What is our mission?
• To increase GLA membership through recruitment
and encourage active involvement
• To discuss timely library issues, trends, and librarianship
• To offer workshops for professional development
• To collaborate and share ideas
• To be of benefit to the community, its libraries, and its members
• To foster communication and networking amongst all levels of library
personnel

4. Who do we target?
• Library employees of all kinds:
paraprofessionals, media
specialists, public and academic
librarians, specialist librarians,
military librarians
• People in Coastal and Southeast
Georgia: Savannah, Brunswick,
Hinesville, Statesboro, and all the
little towns in between!

5. What types of events do we hold?
• Professional development: Workshops
• Social/networking: Bowling,
happy hour
• Webinar-hosting: ACRL webinars
• Holiday parties: Holiday Hoopla!
We like to have fun and also encourage
library staff to develop new ideas in
their own spaces!

6. How do we market our events?
● Email distribution list from a CGLC Gmail account:
 Compiled by harvesting library employee email
addresses from their employers’ websites: public
and private K-12 schools; public and private
universities and technical colleges; special libraries
 We currently have 414 contacts
● Evites using same distribution list
● CGLC social media: Facebook, Twitter,
WordPress blog

7. A few statistics...
The good...
● Live Oak Public Libraries meet-up: 25 attendees
● Savannah State University: 21 attendees
● Happy hour @ Buffalo Wild Wings: 16 attendees
● Escape the Library meet-up at Georgia Southern
University: 38 attendees
The ugly…
• National Library Workers Day bowling
outing: 8 attendees (this includes a
child!)
• ACRL webinar viewing party at Georgia
Southern University: 5 attendees

8. Catering to our colleagues
In 2017, we sent out a survey using Survey Monkey to find out
what types of activities people wanted to participate in. This is
what they said...

11. New ideas/Future goals
We have started an online book club (open to anyone),
named “CGLC Reads” on Goodreads.
• Different theme each month (e.g. Ghost stories in October)
• People can post their own book reviews on CGLC’s
Goodreads group page
• Our Social Media/Technology Chair posts pictures of people
reading their books on CGLC’s Facebook page and blog
• Opening up to new members and more paraprofessionals

12. Atlanta Emerging
Librarians
MEETING UP ACROSS THE METRO

13. Quick facts about ATL
• Metro Atlanta has grown to
encompass between 9-39 counties
depending on which source you
consult, and nearly 7 million residents.
• It’s the ninth-largest metropolitan
statistical area in the United States.
• It offers opportunities in every subfield
of librarianship, and some you
wouldn’t think of, from Children’s
Picture Book Exhibition Research
Assistant to Botanical Gardens Library
Director.

14. AEL meet-ups 2018
▶ Black Panther Film and Comic Discussion
▶ Jimmy Carter Presidential Library
▶ Decatur Book Festival
▶ The National Archives 2018 Symposium: Law and Order in the
Archives: Bootleggers, Counterfeiters, Privateers, and Everything
in Between
▶ The International Women’s Flat Track (Roller) Derby
Championships

15. Examples of past marketing

16. Mixed poll example
❖ In the past, Atlanta Emerging Librarians has organized events that have met at roller derbies,
libraries, and even trivia nights. As future members of AEL, what kind of events would you like to see
take place?
❖ When meeting up for an event in and around the Atlanta area, what is usually the biggest inhibitor of
doing so?
a) Traffic
b) Weekend events
c) Inconvenient locations (parking issues, driving distance)
d) Other reasons
❖ Would you be interested in participating in a virtual meetup, like a game night? (e.g., board games,
card games, video games?)
a) Yes
b) No
❖ Atlanta Emerging Librarians operates by gathering a new committee member each year who plans
events as a way for librarians to get together to hang out, network, and have a good time. In a few
sentences, what changes, if any, would you like to make to this model?
❖ Would you be interested in creating an official AEL member roll, where attendees of events are
required to sign up as active members of the organization?

17. Take the pulse of your organization
Are you….?
▶ Polling your members regularly?
▶ Taking into account geographic
centralization when planning
events?
▶ Considering members’ work
schedules and other possible
commitments?
▶ As admins, meeting regularly?
Administrative questions:
▶ How should they be divided?
▶ Will you have officers or general
admins?
▶ Who will be in charge of logistics?
▶ Who will be in charge of marketing?
▶ What long-held activities or ideas are
still being done for tradition’s sake?
▶ Are they still serving the organization?