Creating Community for LIS Distance Learners: The Atlanta Emerging Librarians Group
by Sarah Steiner, Learning Commons Librarian at Georgia State University, Co-Founder of Atlanta Emerging Librarians Group
While distance education programs in library science have been extremely beneficial for students, they can often leave attendees feeling detached from the library community and from each other. Many students complete entire programs without ever meeting a fellow classmate.
Atlanta distance students, fed up with this sense of detachment, decided to form their own community. In early 2008, a group of Florida State University graduate students partnered with the Georgia Library Association New Members Round Table to begin the Atlanta Emerging Librarians (AEL) Meetup Group. Atlanta is home to LIS distance students from programs in multiple states, including Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, and South Carolina, and the AEL group is open to students from any institution. Interest has been overwhelming; almost 170 unique individuals have registered for the first four events.
The AEL group, which meets three to four times per year, provides Atlanta students with an opportunity to mingle and chat with each other, then hear expert lectures on topics of their choice. Interest in this type of specialized group is likely to grow even greater, given the increasing popularity of distance education LIS programs.
If you’d like more information on the group or would like to contact the planning board, please visit http://gla.georgialibraries.org/div_nmrt_atllibmeetup.htm.