Below are a few updates we mentioned at the most recent Professional Staff meeting (Feb. 27):

Chair for 2009: I (John Oliver, jo2203@columbia.edu) will be serving as Chair of the Committee for Columbia Library and Information Professionals (CCLIP).

Changes in constituent representation: We will no longer maintain direct assignments between individuals/divisions and CCLIP representatives. If you have questions or concerns, either get in touch with the committee member of your preference or send an e-mail to cclip@libraries.cul.columbia.edu.

Chair/Chair-Elect system: Each year the committee will choose a Chair-Elect from its group of new committee members. The Chair-Elect will spend the first year of his or her service on the committee preparing to assume the CCLIP Chair position during his or her second year of service. This year the Chair-Elect is Lea Osborne.

Speakers and topics wanted: The committee would like to host several events this year, and we have two possible venues for people to talk about the exciting projects their working, to raise issues of concern or to lead a discussion about some library or information issue.

• One option is a CCLIP Talk: Give a talk or host a discussion on a topic of your choosing (this is in the vein of a brownbag talk, although you’re not limited to lunchtime!). For these CCLIP Talks we’re also looking for topics of interest; we could set up speakers to discuss topics you are interested in. (For example, we have some CCLIP Talks in the works that would better explain some of the services available to members of the Columbia community).
• Another option is to give a professional staff meeting “Lightning Talk”: Give a brief report at one of our Professional Staff meetings. Take 5-20 minutes (it’s up to you!) to describe some project you’ve been working on.