One in a series of introductory screencasts created by the ALA Emerging Leaders Group I
FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://connect.ala.org
ALA Connect offers the opportunity for users to create member communities- communities that any ALA member can participate in. This provides a great opportunity for LIS students and alumni to congregate in an unofficial sort of way, network and build those professional relationship!
To see if your school already has a community for students and alumni, you can search for it using the search box, or browse by category. Student and alumni related groups will be listed under Member Communities, because they are user generated. By expanding the alumni Groups list, I can see the institutions that are already being represented in Connect.
If I don’t see my own alma mater, I can create a community by clicking here. It’s always a good idea to follow the format of the other LIS groups, to make sure that yours is easily found by others. In addition, you can select the subject headings alumni AND students by holding down the CTRL key while you select. If you need more information on creating a new member community, visit the “Create a Community FAQ” page under Help, or watch the Creating a New Community Screencast.
Once I’ve created my group, I can see it by mousing over My Member Communities . I can invite friends by clicking on Invite Friend, add images, and add events to the calendar, like with any member community.
As a student, you can start to build your own professional network by adding classmates and colleagues to your Connect Network. You can also explore groups that might be of interest to you by doing a quick search for students, and limiting by group by clicking advanced search. Finally, you can browse groups that pertain to your professional interests by browsing the groups by category. Check out the “Finding New Groups in ALA Connect” screen cast for details.
For more information about ALA Connect, visit the help community or use the “contact us” form if you have questions.
Music: Momentum by Crepusculum, available at www.archive.org