In December 2020, I announced my new role as Chair of CILIP Cymru Wales Committee and why I took this role. Well, this January 2021, I start my second Chair role with the ALPSP Membership and Marketing Committee (MMC), taking the place of (how I can only describe her because she is) 'the awesome' Emma Wilson, Publishing Director, Journals, Books and Databases at the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).
Why take on two different chair roles from each end of a spectrum?
Though very different roles in the sense that CILIP is the voice of the information professional, and ALPSP supports organizations publishing scholarly and professional content, there is certainly a significant overlap. I'm going to be using my skillset and expertise from over 20 years in the industry working with service providers, libraries and users to bridge the gap between the two and provide a fresh insight and approach.
Because each complements the other, this will allow me to continue my vision of bringing communities together, learning from each other and driving progression forward. Managing a consultancy places me in a unique position of working with individuals at libraries, publishers, societies, funders, intermediaries and institutions, and the valuable viewpoint this gives me.
I'm really excited to be taking over the role of Chair for ALPSP Membership and Marketing Committee as it is a great organization, full of some very special people with an ultimate goal of strengthening and advancing academic and scholarly communications - whether the ALPSP staff team or the volunteers on the committees and council. It also, selfishly, gives me an opportunity to work with people I once worked with in past roles whom I really admire, and introduces me to new people.
Our working group and committee calls have been a lifeline through 2020 and provided me with much-needed relief and to be honest a lot of laughter. At some point, I will encourage a show and tell of pets - I have several to choose from but I think 'Mr Snakey' (my American Corn Snake for clarification pictured on the right) will be my first choice.
Last year I was Co-chair of Peer Review Week (PRW) 2020 with Phil Hurst from the Royal Society, as well as being Vice Chair of CILIP Cymru Wales and the ALPSP Membership and Marketing Committees, and a Business Wales mentor to a number of mentees here in Wales, UK. As for many of us, 2020 was a rather challenging year and certainly in the first part of the pandemic, I went on 'autopilot' and lost touch with myself. So for me, I am going to be reducing some of my voluntary commitments this year to focus more time on my Chair roles and maximize the efficiency of my output/input.
I am stepping down from my commitments to PRW and handing over The International Bunch's involvement to the highly capable Yasmin Hackett, our Marketing Executive. I will, of course, miss the committee there but I'll be able to hear all about it and see the fantastic collaborations and activities that come out in 2021 and beyond.
If you have an opportunity to join a committee, I thoroughly recommend it. Not only does it help you meet new people across the industries, but it helps you deep dive and gain a better understanding and appreciation for the people in specific industries, and the industries themselves. I know we are actively recruiting for committee members on the CILIP Cymru Wales committee...
I want to finish this post by saying a huge thank you to those I have worked with over the past year and some I will continue to work with. I'm looking forward to 2021 and most definitely to actually being at a physical conference together!
Should you have anything you want to talk to me about, confidentially or not, in either of my two Chair roles or as an industry expert, please get in touch with me.