Network, know your customers, and sell: former librarian, now a bookseller, has the same advice for information professionals and entrepreneurs

Information Outlook, June, 2005 by Karen Santos Freeman

"I wouldn't have gotten to where I am without being an SLA member," Cooney says frankly. "SLA as an organization and as a networking opportunity is largely responsible for what I am able to do now."

SLA's organizational goals stress creating and providing learning, advocacy, and networking opportunities for members. She advises that members cannot underestimate the value of the association as a network. The banking association in Chicago, she points out, would not have sought to recruit her if the executive director had not heard about her through her SLA contacts.

"Because I was in SLA, I knew a lot of people," she says.

Cooney says members should consider the value of the association as a network when considering their membership and dues.

"All of my experiences reinforce my view that working with a network of colleagues is a very valuable reason for belonging to a professional association and to SLA," she says.

As Cooney enjoys her hard-earned success and continues to strive for improvement, what advice would she offer her network colleagues?

"I would encourage people to be willing to take a few risks," she says. "I don't think the profession does enough of that."

Karen Santos Freeman is director of communications at SLA.