ALIA Students and New Graduates Group – INCITE Article, June 2024, Volume 45, Issue 2
By Jack Kelly AALIA (CP), ALIA SNGG National Convenor and Rhodora Spring AALIA (CP), ALIA SNGG National Secretary)
ALIA Students and New Graduates Group aka ALIA SNGG, is a special interest group (SIG) that provides a space for students and graduates to communicate with ALIA, other ALIA Group , and colleagues from the (Gallery, Library, Archives, Museum and Records) GLAMR sector. Over the past two-years, ALIA SNGG has been busy creating a new website and WordPress Blog that recognizes the past work of the ALIA SNGG Social Media Team, ALIA SNGG Regional Coordinators, Resume Review Service and executive team (convenors, secretaries and treasure).
This group aims to promote library advocacy and networking supporting professional development learning and skills for students, graduates and the LIS community to enable members to engage, participate and grow.
About the group
ALIA SNGG was founded in 2003 by Alison O’Conner as the New Generations Group before becoming the Students and New Graduates Group (SNGG) in 2014. It provides support to students, graduates and other established GLAM professionals through posts on social media via Facebook, Instagram, X (formally Twitter), WordPress Blog, LinkedIn and YouTube Channel. We focus on:
- promoting our yearly #GLAMRmatch networking event to all ALIA Members
- professional development learning posts with library design, media literacy, accessibility, creative design and social media tips
- library-related news and trends
ALIA SNGG works closely with ALIA New Generation Advisory Committee (ALIA NGAC) on topics of importance to students, graduates, early-career professionals, mid-career professionals and established professionals.
ALIA SNGG aims to:
- promote library advocacy and networking
- provide professional development learning and skills for students, graduates and the LIS community
- equally support students, graduates and ALIA Members in their library job search/career with professional feedback on all resume reviews via ALIA SNGG Resume Review Service (ALIA SNGG RRS)
- provide and build GLAMR networks via our #GLAMRmatch networking event
- provide answers to library sector questions
- encourage ALIA Membership and participation
Trends in the LIS field change as quickly as a library display. Maintaining engagement focused on providing accessible, diverse and easy-to-understand information through our communication channels is vital to us as information professionals. By asking questions, we learn and grow.
In January, we were thankful to have an ALIA SNGG Public Library Q&A chat with ALIA Board President Jane Cowell AALIA (CP).
Tips we learned from Jane when applying for public library jobs:
- remember you are applying for a role at a council
- when unsure on a part of the position description, call or email to ask questions
- volunteer experience is experience. Share the customer service and interpersonal skills you have learned as a volunteer and think about how that volunteer experience connects to the job
- follow the social media pages of libraries and read any blogs connected to the place you want to join to stay in the loop on library news and changes
- follow any blogs and social media of GLAMR professionals who interest you
You can view our ALIA SNGG Q&A Public Library Zoom chat with Jane via this YouTube link.
As an ALIA Group we encourage student, general and professional (associate/graduate, library technicians and allied field) ALIA Members to join us and get involved with SNGG.
Why we joined SNGG
Jack Walter Kelly (he/him) AALIA (CP), ALIA SNGG National Convenor
For me becoming the new Convenor of ALIA SNGG involved a mix of personal and professional reasons. I wanted to:
- connect with people across GLAMR through networking events and professional development opportunities
- befriend fellow students graduates and early-career professionals
- understand the issues and opportunities facing ALIA SNGG members and the library sector
- refine leadership skills and help facilitate curiosity and information sharing across ALIA SNGG and the GLAMR sector.
Rhodora Spring (she/her) AALIA (CP), ALIA SNGG National Secretary and Social Media Coordinator (X)
My SNGG journey started by joining the ALIA SNGG Social Media Twitter (now X) team. This was the place where I could share my interest in social media and learn from other students, graduates and GLAMR professionals. I accepted the opportunity to become the ALIA SNGG National Secretary to:
- further support ALIA SNGG by learning more about ALIA, ALIA Regional and ALIA Special Interest Groups. Connecting students, graduates and ALIA Members to physical and online professional development and networking events
- build new GLAMR connections by learning from other libraries, librarians and established professionals
- connect ALIA SNGG to the resume review service and library professional advice and tips.
Why should you join ALIA SNGG?
Students, graduates and new professionals should consider joining ALIA SNGG to:
- connect with other students and graduates and share your GLAMR experiences
- broaden your GLAMR knowledge, professional writing skills, creative design, accessibility and media literacy skills as an ALIA SNGG Social Media Coordinator
- assist ALIA SNGG in supporting the needs of current and future groups of information professionals in Australia.
All ALIA Members have access to ALIA SNGG Resume Review Service. It is a free service offering resume reviews with feedback from an established GLAMR professional for up to three reviews a year. We look forward to supporting ALIA Members, students, graduates, early-career, mid-career and established professionals to build their GLAMR networks during #GLAMRmatch 2024. Furthermore, we invite ALIA Members to connect with us via our ALIA SNGG socials and to share their GLAMR stories with our group as a post on our ALIA SNGG WordPress Blog.

References:
ALIA Students and New Graduates Group, ALIA SNGG Q&A Public Library Zoom chat with Jane Cowell. (29 January, 2024). [Youtube].