This guest post comes from Eleanor Crumblehulme. Eleanor is a Systems Librarian for the SILS Consortium. She was a member of PIAC from 2020-2024 and was elected to the Steering Committee in 2021. She is currently the Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect.
I attended my first Innovative Users Group (IUG) conference in 2018 in Orlando, Florida. I was a brand-new systems administrator and knew almost nothing about administration for an integrated library system and even less about the IUG. At the conference, meeting a whole community of people in similar roles and attending sessions that illustrated the range of systems work was wonderful and inspiring.
During my time on the Polaris-Innovative Advisory Council (PIAC), I really began to feel the sense of community among Polaris and Innovative users and to develop a relationship with members of the Innovative, now Clarivate, staff. Because of this support, I felt confident enough to put my name forward for the IUG Steering Committee. Learning about and contributing to the development of IUG through the informal mentorship that is built into the Steering Committee is already having a profound impact on me and on my career.
I will never forget the excitement of IUG 2023 in Phoenix (the first in-person conference after the pandemic), and the pleasure of gathering together with the IUG and Clarivate community continues to increase as I deepen existing friendships and make new ones.
IUG offers so many points of connection among libraries and with Clarivate. Resources like the Discord chat (invite link here), the IUG Forum, the monthly Zoom Forums, and the MEEP process are all opportunities to learn, to share knowledge, and to have a sense of community. I look forward to seeing everyone in Denver!