MLStEP Chapter Liaison

“MLStEP is a student and emerging professional organization that seeks to connect students, prospective students, and librarians within the first five years of their career with an interest in music librarianship. We welcome members from all areas of librarianship and our goal is to provide MLStEP members with a forum to learn about and discuss our discipline. MLStEP strives to help music librarianship students and early career professionals meet, collaborate, and learn from each other by maintaining a list of helpful resources, member blog posts, and hosting networking events at national

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and chapter meetings of MLA.” (MLStEP, 2022)

Chapter Liaisons’ primary duties

Work with the Programming Officer to plan membership engagement events at local chapter meetings
Work with the MLStEP board, advisor, and local chapter chairs to make students aware of internship, volunteer, and other types of music librarianship-related opportunities in their area
Lead outreach efforts in their respective regions during the annual Membership Drive
Advise and participate on MLA committees as requested

I enjoy this work very much and appreciate the effectiveness with which the officers and chapter liaisons worked together. For the annual Membership Drive, I helped to implement MLStEP’s new policies and procedures by

updating the contact list for the Mountain Plains region to include a greater variety of schools, in a bid to reach out to underrepresented populations
communicating with local colleges and universities in both the Pacific Northwest and Mountain Plains regions

Liaising with the local chapter

For liaising with the local chapter, I haven’t been as successful as I had hoped. The year and a half prior to me beginning a liaison role, there was no chapter liaison for my region. So, re-establishing a connection with the PNW chapter of MLA and establishing an effective communication channel between myself and the chapter has been a priority. The PNW chapter is quite small and less active than other regional MLA chapters, which perhaps has added to my challenges in becoming as effective a liaison as I want to be. I have a plan for this year and have started taking steps to improve communication between myself and the current chapter chair.

Increasing MLStEP’s inclusivity

I have intentionally attempted to prioritize diversity and inclusion in my leadership duties, backing up our chair’s goals to make MLStEP more inclusive. For example, during our membership drive, I reached out first to Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) in the regions I had been assigned (the Pacific Northwest and Mountain Plains regions), and have voted to give members multiple chances to put their names forward when volunteer opportunities arise. These are just preliminary, small steps but I am eager to listen to and support our chair as we put into practise our groups' strategy to make MLStEP more inclusive as it unfolds.

Outreach initiative

I’ve been doing outreach work with performing arts and GLAM organizations in the Pacific Northwest region. Specifically, I’ve been building a directory of regional organizations that may be open to taking on MLStEP members for hands-on learning experiences (practicums, paid or for-course-credit internships, volunteer positions) in music librarianship, AV archival management, and adjacent fields.

Value for GLAM & performing arts organizations and MLStEP members

MLStEP members have specialized skills and knowledge and are highly motivated to learn and gain experience, so have a lot to offer to the region’s GLAM and performing arts organizations. The directory also has value for our current and future members. Landing a part-time job in a library or archives while studying to be a librarian or library paraprofessional is rare. As a result, many students seek alternative ways to gain valuable experience. Figuring out where and how to acquire an experience can be challenging, especially for those not local or from historically marginalized groups within the profession.

Directory basics

The directory includes basic information on the organization, its contact person and email, and a description of the potential experiential learning opportunity including potential tasks, skills & knowledge to gain, type of position (e.g. internship for course credit, volunteer, paid), previous experience hosting students, virtual or on-site, and location. I share updates on the directory with regional members via email and through the MLStEP slack channel.

Organizations' participation

I hope for more and a greater variety of GLAM and Performing Arts organizations to establish a connection with MLStEP and for some to partner with MLStEP members for hands-on learning experiences. The directory is a living document – a bit sparse now, but it will grow. So far, I’ve established connections with

MLStEP at MLA conference 2022

I was grateful for MLStEP’s support at MLA’s 2022 conference. MLStEP sponsored two sessions, my and Carolyn Doi’s Representation matters: Developing a Canadian BIPOC composers dataset for music collection evaluation and development and our chair Geo Flores’ Asking “Why?” rather than “What?” - On the lack of BIPOC representation in music librarianship. As well, another chapter liaison, Emily, supported my co-presenter and I during our presentation by tending to the chat and introducing us. Other MLStEP members who were Tech Help answered my questions and eased my anxiety as a first-time presenter leading up to the conference.

MLStEP. (2022). Music Library Students and Emerging Professionals. http://mlstep.blog.musiclibraryassoc.org/