The first post in a series on how to get to the SLA 2014 conference in Vancouver through a variety of awards offered by SLA. In this post Bethan Ruddock, about to start her term as a Director for the SLA Board, reflects on how winning the SLA Rising Star award in 2010 has influenced her career.

When 2009 SLA President Gloria Zamora contacted me in early 2010 to tell me that I’d been selected as an SLA Rising Star, my first thought was ‘woohoo!’ My second was ‘why me?’ I still don’t know the answer to that question, but I determined that if I hadn’t earned it by my contribution to the association so far, I’d justify it by my contribution in the future.

The 2010 conference in New Orleans was my second SLA conference, following Washington in 2009 as an SLA Europe ECCA winner. While everyone on Washington had been very friendly, I really only knew my fellow ECCAs, and felt anonymous in the huge crowd of information professionals. In New Orleans, that all changed. People I’d never met would stop me in the corridor between sessions, or call to me from a moving escalator. ‘Hey, rising star! Well done!’. Suddenly I had recognition within the association. I had status. It was overwhelming and enchanting, how the association had taken me to their hearts. Before, I’d felt part of SLA Europe. Suddenly, I belonged to the whole of SLA, and it felt wonderful.

And the recognition wasn’t just confined to the association. I had a trophy to put on my mantelpiece, an award to put on my CV. I could go to my employers and say ‘look! I’m award-winning!’. It showed my employers and colleagues that others were recognising my potential to lead, and I’m sure it helped them to demonstrate that the belief and trust they’d placed in me since the start were well-placed. And it helped me to start believing in myself a bit more – that maybe I should feel more confident about having something to contribute to the profession I loved.

When the announcement about the Rising Star award went out, congratulations poured in from my twitter network. Always generous in celebrating other’s success, they spread word of the award, and this was picked up by CILIP, who asked if they could interview me for CILIP Gazette. This interview was read by the commissioning editor of Facet Publishing, and ultimately led to me being asked to write the New Professional’s Toolkit. Of enormous benefit to me, this project also benefits the profession as a whole, giving me the opportunity to share the knowledge of brilliant professionals with others around the world.

The Toolkit wouldn’t have been the rich resource it is without my SLA connections. I wanted to make the case studies relevant to library and information professionals across the world, and my SLA network helped me find contributors from different countries and sectors. Being a Rising Star helped me to approach these people – I really don’t think I’d have had the courage to approach Mary Ellen Bates without that behind me!

It’s great to be part of a cohort of Rising Stars, too. Not just my year, but all of the winners so far, and the links with the Fellows we forged through the JJ Keller round tables. We haven’t done much as a group yet, but we have a mailing list, and Chris Zammarelli has been looking to organise something at conference, using the Rising Stars expertise. I think that as the number of Rising Stars grows, we can start to make more of our cohort, and start some ‘junior Fellows’ type activities.

Ultimately, winning the Rising Star award has led me to the very privileged position I’m in today, about to start a term as Director on the SLA Board. I don’t know yet exactly how this will give me the opportunity to serve my association and my profession, but I’m looking forward to finding out! As with the a Rising Star, I don’t know exactly what I’ve done to deserve the trust and recognition of my colleagues in this way, but I’m going to spend the next three years making sure I’m worthy of it.