LARRY
WRIGHT:
Head, Reference Services, NIEHS, Research Triangle Park, NC
LARRY
WRIGHT:
After graduation in 1985, I accepted a position at the National Institute of Environment Health Science. My supervisor, Dav Robertson, served on the chapter's board of directors. Dav enthusiastically nurtured and encouraged growth within SLA. Looking at the Chapter in 1986
Suddenly, members elected me to the NC Chapter's board of directors. Alice Cotten was chapter president while I was a first-year director, second-year librarian and wet behind the ears. Alice was a perfect mentor. I recall Alice wanted board members to represent members and sit with them in the audience, not at a table in the front of the room. The officers' table disappeared in NC Chapter meetings and has not returned!
From the beginning, Alice influenced me to represent those unable to attend meetings on a regular basis. As director, I was encouraged to explore area where the chapter could form alliances with students and their organizations. Students needed to know SLA had space for them.
Ten years have passed quickly. During those years, for me, the chapter has pushed by borders of expertise. Members have encouraged me to give my best; benefits from the Association increase in direct proportion to the amount of effort invested.
So many have invested. What a membership roll; what a wealth of talent! What a fertile field of future leaders in three SLA student groups! The chapter is rich with energy; it is opulent with members managing offices at the Division and Association levels.
Only in NC would so many members be willing to give a recent graduate a chance, ask him to serve on their board as director, give him some wings and let him flourish.
BARBARA
SEMONCHE:
In 1976, NC/SLA membership broke the 100 mark. One who helped put it over the top was an over-enthusiastic news junkie, sorely inexperienced as a newspaper librarian, a neophyte really, just learning the difference between a byline and a dateline, employed to launch what was to become known as the Durham Herald-Sun newspaper library.Truth to tell, if it were not for the generous support from Chapter members who were veteran librarians at the time with The News & Observer, The Greensboro News & Record, The Winston-Salem Journal Sentinel and The Charlotte Observer the Herald-Sun news staffers would be seriously wondering, "Who IS this impostor who claims to be a news librarian?"
Doubtless most of you can recall the professionals who came to your rescue and made you look good, better yet, proved absolutely essential to the success of your organizations. Our Association provides that pool of expertise, that deep reservoir of knowledge which we can dip into as needed to retrieve the vital support, direction, and information central to our work. If you haven't, you are missing the most important benefit of membership in SLA.
ROBERT
M. BALLARD:
The 30th anniversary of the North Carolina Chapter of the Special Libraries Association coincidentally denotes my 30th anniversary as a member of the Special Libaries Association. I was introduced to the Association by Judith Field, a current candidate for SLA President.During all of my teaching career, I have been active with student organizaions and have had the pleasure of establishing two SLA student groups. The most recent was at North Carolina Central University in 1977. Barbara Best Nichols served as our first President.
My most significan national honor was receiving the Science and Technology Division's National Achievement award in 1990. My proudest moments however, have been in observing the accomplishments of former student advisees such as Rebecca Vargha, another current candidate for Association office, and Barbara Akinwole, our current ND/State Chapter President-elect.
This page was created by Barbara P. Semonche. It was last updated January 1998. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to contact Barbara
here.