President’s Column, March 2024

In Ireland and the United Kingdom, spring is in full swing. The snowdrops have bloomed, daffodils have put on their annual display, and magnolia blooms and cherry blossoms are everywhere. This is one of my favourite moments in the calendar year.  For me, spring is a promise for what is to come. Harriet Ann Jacobs summed this up perfectly, when she observed, “The beautiful spring came, and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.”

Spring calls us to action. This is a time to plan ahead, to start new projects, and to move forward with proposed activities.  This may seem a quiet time in ASIS&T, but behind-the-scenes, there is much going on to prepare for Association activities. Our ASIS&T Board is busy with ongoing Association planning. Preparations for the Annual Meeting are also in full swing, and we look forward to receiving your submissions for papers, panels, posters, and workshops.

As I have previously mentioned, we want to increase involvement of our professional colleagues in our ASIS&T community. These people are central to the daily work that takes place in libraries and information centres around the world, regardless of world events. We can learn much through their expertise, research, and experience.  As you plan to register for our conferences, remember to tell your professional colleagues about this opportunity to collaborate.

Educational research will also feature prominently in our Annual Meeting.  This area of research offers an opportunity to consider how we can bring together all of our research in the classroom effectively, as well as how we can further our understanding of learning processes, to help students find professional and academic pathways through our highly interdisciplinary field.

Spring is your time to plant an ASIS&T garden, choosing from an abundance of webinars, SIG and Chapter events, and conferences.  We hope that you will include the many events in our ASIS&T calendar in your planning for the coming months, including the following key conferences:

• The 2024 IDEA Institute on Artificial Intelligence will take place in May/June. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with a series of 16 modules offered over four days, May 28-31. Those who take 8 or more modules will receive a certificate.  We encourage you to watch the ASIS&T website for more details!
• The 87th Annual Meeting of ASIS&T, to be held Oct 25-29, 2024 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The theme for this year’s AM is Putting People First: Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Care in Information Research and Practice. The link for submissions is now open via the ASIS&T website.  Important note: April 9th is the deadline for submissions.

With so much in the ASIS&T diary, you might wonder how you will ever complete everything you wish. In the words of Lucy Maude Montgomery, however, “Nothing ever seems impossible in spring, you know.”

And we have a fantastic team helping us to achieve our ASIS&T goals.  Lydia Middleton and her team are available to help us navigate our spring planning.  Many thanks also go to our ASIS&T Board, our SIG and Chapter leaders, and our Annual Meeting Conference Chairs and Track Chairs for their ongoing work to progress Association goals, as well as importantly to our members who have provided us with inspiration through webinars, talks, launches, and other activities throughout the year.

Should you need help with anything, please do not hesitate to contact our HQ team or myself. We’re happy to assist you.

For now, Go n-éirí an bóthar leat – May the road rise to meet you, as we continue into spring.

 

Crystal