SLA Executive Board Nominees 2009
*To learn more about the Election process or to nominate yourself please go to our elections page.*Ashley Conaway, President-elect, 2010-2012
Ashley first became involved in SLA while she was an MLS student at the University of Pittsburgh. She attended SLA student group meetings, and became Vice President of the student group during her last semester. She recognized the personal and professional value of participating in the association during this time, and became involved in Maryland Chapter activities upon moving to the Baltimore area. In 2007 Ashley served on the Technology Day planning committee, and in 2008 became a Chapter Director. She is the editor of The Cutting Edge, the Chapter’s blog, and has implemented the Chapter’s Flickr photo album and LinkedIn group.
Ashley has been a librarian at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory since February 2007.
Candidate Statement: “Thank you for the nomination for President-Elect of the Maryland Chapter of SLA. With the Association’s centennial year winding down, it’s a great time to be involved in the Chapter as we look forward to the next 100 years!
As President I hope to continue strengthening our Chapter, building on the groundwork laid by past Presidents and chapter leaders. For instance, the Chapter strategic plan is currently under development, and I intend to work with the board members and committee chairs during my presidency to achieve goals identified in the plan, while updating the plan for future presidents and boards. I also want to guide our Chapter in directions that reflect those of the Association, as SLA embarks upon new stages in its Alignment Project plans. And, of course, I intend to have fun meeting and working with Chapter members.”
Edward Metz, Treasurer, 2010-2011
Ed moved from the Kansas City area with his family last year to accept a position as head of FEMA's National Emergency Training Center library in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The NETC library supports the research and instructional programs of the Emergency Management Institute and the National Fire Academy and provides outreach services to first responders across the country. Prior to that he served as the Systems Librarian at the US Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was an active member of the Heart of America Chapter of SLA, as well as its Military Librarian Division, and presented at the 2008 SLA Annual Conference in Seattle on the topic of library screencasting. Ed was the committee leader responsible for preparing the Combined Arms Research Library's winning nomination packet for the 2007 Federal Library of the Year Award. He has worked previously as an acquisitions as well as a reference librarian (also at the CGSC). Ed's professional interests lie in the realm of marketing library resources and services and in the leveraging of social media and Web 2.0 tools.
Ed earned his MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and also has an MA in German, BAs in German and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a distinguished graduate (French Language) from the Defense Language Institute, Monterey CA.
Candidate Statement: "It's my goal to rapidly familiarize myself with the state of the chapter's finances and to advise the chapter leadership and members on how best to bring our projects and goals to full fruition based on our available resources. I pledge to report regularly on the status of chapter finances to help the leadership make the best possible decisions."
Tamara Smith, Director, 2010-2011
Tamara F. Smith earned her M.L.I.S. at the University of Pittsburgh, and has been a reference and instruction librarian at Langsdale Library at the University of Baltimore for five years. She is also the government documents coordinator and acts as liaison to the Communications Design and Marketing departments. In addition to providing library instruction and conducting workshops at the University of Baltimore, Tamara is in her third year teaching LIBS 150 (Information Literacy and Research Methods), an online course at the University of Maryland University College. She also decided to pursue her interest in website usability and will complete her M.S. in Interaction Design and Information Architecture at the University of Baltimore in 2010.
Tamara has been a member of SLA since 2007, and joined the SLA-MD Membership Committee in 2009.
Rene Stein, Director, 2010-2011
Rene Stein is the librarian for the National Cryptologic Museum. For the past two years, she has provided reference services to visitors to the museum, museum staff, scholars, researchers, authors, other museums, students and the general public through telephone and e-mail inquiries. Rene also does collection maintenance, selects material for acquisition and deletion, administrative work, budgeting, marketing, and work with the museum staff. Prior to her work in the museum, she held several library positions at the National Security Agency doing database work, managing the map library, and was the chief (director) of the NSA libraries from 1999-2007. Rene’s first professional library job was working as a project manager at Herner & Company, one of the first information services consulting firms (established in 1955).
She earned an MLS at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Rene has been a member of SLA and the Maryland Chapter for a little over 20 years. Last March she hosted a chapter meeting at the Museum.
Candidate Statement: “SLA has provided me with professional contacts, opportunities, and good friends. When I was asked to participate on the chapter board, I agreed because I felt it was time to give back to a group that has done so much for me.”