Q&A with Rhonda McGinnis

Current professional position
Business/Economics Subject Specialist Librarian at Wayne State University

Involvement with CUBL
Member for 16 years. Never miss the annual Breakfast since I can’t wait to interact with “people just like me”, Served on the Membership Committee twice and on the Business Instructional Materials Committee for a year

Education
BA in International Business and German Studies at Ohio Wesleyan University, Fulbright Year in Germany at Universität Mannheim in Economics, MA in Economics from Indiana University (I actually was ABD in Economics there but couldn’t settle on a topic and found that I preferred the research process itself) and an MLS from Indiana University

Why did you choose the SLA CUBL section?
When I started attending the SLA Annual Conference I naturally gravitated to the Business & Finance Division because that’s the sort of information I was working with. Then I attended the CUBL Breakfast and found people who spoke my language and shared my interests and concerns. Ever since then the CUBL Breakfast is the highlight of every Conference because it’s really a great chance to connect with old friend to see what they’ve been doing and to meet new friends to see how they approach the challenges and opportunities inherent in the academic setting.

How has the CUBL section helped you professionally?
Through CUBL I had the opportunity to present a Poster in the Section’s very first Poster Session in Washington DC. It’s also been an excellent way of getting to know the movers, shakers, and innovators in our niche of the Business Librarianship field. This was particularly useful when I was preparing to teach the Business Information Sources course for Wayne State’s School of Library and Information Science. As I was searching databases to uncover articles to use as readings for the class I would regularly say to myself,” I know her, she gave that great talk on X at last year’s Breakfast” or “I remember meeting him at such-and-such session”. The connections I’d made through CUBL were also invaluable when it was time to go up for promotion and needed to propose external reviewers. It was great to know that I could present the committee with a list of outstanding Academic Business Librarians that knew me and could comment knowledgably on my contributions to the field.

Why would you recommend the CUBL section to others?
First off, I think it’s very important to find a group of professional colleagues that understand what you do and the day-to-day and long term challenges that you’re facing. CUBL is perfect for that, at least for me. I’m the only Business Librarian at Wayne State so my colleagues there don’t really understand what I do some of time and how the B-School can differ dramatically from the Liberal Arts sometimes. I also think the presentations at the CUBL Breakfast and the Poster Sessions are terrific! I always learn something and leave energized with new ideas of things to try when I get back to Wayne State.