Eric Schwarz Honored as SLA Diversity Leader

I'm pleased to announce that at the Special Libraries Association conference (SLA 2009, to be held June 14-17), I will be recognized as one of five winners of the 2009 Diversity Leadership Development Program Award for "up and coming information professionals."

In addition to my professional work, I've been fortunate to participate in two wonderful groups within SLA: the New Jersey Chapter (NJSLA) and the GLBT Issues Caucus.

In particular, I'm grateful to Barbara Burton, NJSLA immediate past president, for sponsoring my nomination for the award and for asking me to serve as chapter president. I'm sure the leadership skills I've learned serving members of both the chapter and the caucus were a key factor in my selection for the award.

I also extend my congratulations to my fellow awardees: Regina Beard, Julia Leggett, Nora Martin and Nedelina Tchangalova. I'm honored to be considered with these women who have accomplished so much in their careers.

A press release on this program soon will be posted on the SLA site.

Cool Seattle, Cool SLA

Seth and I are in Seattle for the SLA conference. 60-something-degree weather in Seattle is a nice change from 90+ in NY metro area last week. The Homewood Suites hotel is very nice -- great to have a fridge, too. Some construction, so no pool for this trip. )-:

I've been doing a lot of blogging for NJSLA and even trying Twitter instead of here.

Posted 'LinkedIn a Box' module on this blog's sidebar. Let me know if it works/makes sense.

Seeing Seth's family later this week in Seattle/Carnation, and my mom's cousin next weekend in Portland, Oregon.

Great Minds Think Alike

Check out Aaron the Librarian. I didn't get the idea for my site/blog name from Aaron, but good ideas are meant to be stolen.

As a reporter in a previous career, and now as a customer service agent, I try to speak clearly on the phone, especially when identifying myself, but I've been called Aaron, Derek, Alex, Erin, etc. My favorite is "Alec Suarez."

The original EricSchwarz.com (no relation) has gone all 404, but you can see something he put up in 2004. I remember reading his wedding tales, but I never contacted him to express my URL envy.