Thing 13: Professional Organisations

I have been a member of the Danish librarians' organization, Bibliotekarforbundet (BF), since I graduated in 1994. It's headquartered in Copenhagen.

Over the years I have used BF's different services on several occasions and if I lived in Copenhagen I would have used it even more. There are no local branches of the organization and eventhough we live in a small country it still takes me three hours to go to Copenhagen - it's a lot of time to spend on a two hours event on a Wednesday afternoon. Some of the events take place in other parts of the country but not nearly enough if you ask me.

 

Employment and salary

There's no collective agreement between employers and employees in the corporate world like between the local authorities and librarians in public labraries, so when I got my first job in a private company I got help from BF to settle on a reasonable salary level for me to negotiate for and to read through the contract of employment before I signed it.

Member of special interest group

When I was working in different companies I was member of a networking group of other librarians in the business world. We were - and still are - a minority among librarians and the focus of BF has been on public libraries. But even though private librarians have very diverse jobs according to industry, some things are common, e.g. marketing/positioning efforts in the organization or compliance to copyright and license agreements.

Courses and other professional input

BF arrange seminars or workshops on both "union stuff", e.g. retirement planning or stress management, and professionally relevant subjects like online tools and teaching skills.

National conferences

Every other years there's a national meeting for all memebers of BF - a weekend full of professional and social content. And it's free - so I usually attend to get something in return of my member fee :-) And of course get new impulses and meet old colleagues and fellow students.

Conflict with my employer

I have been lucky not to have had any serious conflicts with any of my employers but this years I've experienced some changes at work that I couldn't accept just like that, so I consulted my professional organization for counselling. They couldn't do anything to help me and the changes became effective nevertheless, but still it was a positive experience to talk to a legal consultant and discuss the situation.


As I went through my list of touch points I was surprised how much I've actually used my organization. But with 936 € a year  in member fee, I think I should, too! :-)



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Jeg blev medlem af bibliotekarforbundet, da jeg blev bibliotekar DB i 1994. Siden da har jeg brugt forbundet i mange forskellige sammenhænge. De er et forholdsvist dyrt forbund af at være medlem af, så jeg sørger for at få noget for mit medlemsskab - selv om det meste fagligt relevante foregår i København.