Hello fellow chapter members! I am eagerly gearing up for my term as President of the San Francisco Bay Region chapter next year, and I am looking for people to join my team. As Mimi mentioned in her recent President’s Message, she and I are working on filling the open positions on the 2013 Advisory Council. Although we plan to offer more discrete volunteer opportunities working with all of our Advisory Council Chairs throughout the next year, our current need is to fill these specific Chair positions.

Here’s where we need you to raise your hand!

• Bayline – As Mimi mentioned, the transition of Bayline to a blog format integrated into our new website was thrown off a bit due to unforeseen events in the life of our wonderful Bayline editor. We really need someone to step up and take the reins of our chapter newsletter. This would involve soliciting content to ensure at least two or three posts are generated a month (though more are welcome). You would have help since the Director and Assistant Director of Programs, along with the rest of the Board, are already soliciting write-ups of the various events throughout the year. However, we really need someone to solicit additional articles, set deadlines, edit the articles, and get them posted to the web site. Since the blog format is new, you’ll have a lot of opportunity to shape the Bayline editor role for the future.
• Webmaster – The web site itself is in need of a new friend. Cynthia Matano has very skillfully migrated our chapter content to the new WordPress format bringing us into line with the association’s Operation Vitality efforts. Cynthia has worked long and hard to bring us through this transition and now she needs a break! Help us keep our web site up-to-date. You will receive leadership rosters from yours truly, meeting minutes from the Secretary, and event notices from the Director of Programs. You will help Vendor Relations post sponsor advertisements on the site. Now that we are on the same platform, we are also exploring options for creating a new version of the Jobline page that can exist simultaneously on the both chapters’ web sites.
• Tours – Organize tours of local libraries and archives all over the Bay Area! These are very popular programs that always get great attendance. You will be responsible for setting up two tours, one in June and another in November. This is your chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at whichever institution you’ve always wanted to see. Best of all, the current Tours Chair is moving into another position on the Board and will be available to pass along her list of ideas and help get you started!
• Networking – Help our members connect with like-minded professionals! Keep current on local events sponsored by other groups of information professionals and make sure they know about our events, too! We are also looking at using this position to expand our social media efforts. Do you post questions or reply to other people’s posts on LinkedIn? Do you spend time engaging with groups on FaceBook? Are you active on Twitter? Spend a just a couple extra minutes on any or all of these platforms to develop the chapter’s presence.
• Public Relations – We know how awesome we are, but you can help communicate the value of information professionals to the world outside our membership! Write or solicit articles for local business newspapers. Find out where the C-Level people go for their information and make sure we have a presence there, too! Work with the association’s Public Relations Advisory Council on their podcasting project to interview members’ bosses about the value and impact information professionals bring to the organization. This is a more externally facing position that can really be what you want to make of it.

Volunteering with the chapter pays back in dividends many times over. As with so many things in life, you will get back out what you put in. So get involved! Please contact me if you are interested in any of these positions, or in hearing about other volunteer opportunities that arise.

I look forward to hearing from you!

By Anne N. Barker
Chapter President-Elect