Recently, I enjoyed a conversation with Eugene Giudice, SLA Treasurer, about the Special Libraries Association. The interview is below.

Lauren Hays: Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Eugene Giudice: My name is Eugene Giudice. I am the Senior Research Services training specialist at Denton’s, a law firm in Chicago, and I’m currently SLA Treasurer.

Lauren Hays: Please describe your experience with SLA.

Eugene: I have served with the Illinois community as their secretary, and have also done some committee work for SLA. This is my first elected position with the SLA Board. I have been a member since 2007.

Lauren: You mentioned the Illinois community. Will you speak a little bit about that?

Eugene: The Illinois community is a gathering of library and information professionals who work in special libraries within the state of Illinois. There are a lot of us! Many of us work in the Chicago metro area. The Illinois community puts on an annual professional development symposium, and we create opportunities to tour other libraries and create networking opportunities for individuals in the profession.

Lauren: Why did you decide to get involved in SLA at the beginning?

Eugene: One of the things I truly believe in is that as an information professional I need to leave the profession in a better state than I found it. Part of that means supporting the institutions that support the profession. I am a member of a number of different other library associations, all committed to providing good quality, professional development to members and networking opportunities, so that we, as a profession, can stay vibrant, engaged, and relevant.

Lauren: What excites you about SLA?

Eugene: I think one of the things that excites me is the opportunity to revise, rebrand, and rethink how SLA operates. I would be dishonest if I did not acknowledge we are in some challenging times. However, in working with other members of the staff, and seeing the innovation, the ideas coming forth in terms of reimagining the conference, and in reimagining our Information Outlook publication, I am really confident we will be able to move forward and become a stronger association.

Lauren Hays: For a special librarian who is not part of SLA, what would you say to them? Why should they join SLA?

Eugene: I stay engaged in SLA because it provides me with an opportunity to see library and information professionals from a wide swath of disciplines. I can interact with someone who works in agriculture or food—or somebody who works in the legal community can come to us with questions about legal materials.

On any given day, I might be working with someone who works in biomedical or engineering. The cross-disciplinary approach and perspective that SLA provides is important because the profession is becoming more and more interdisciplinary. We need to build an understanding of different sectors and professional areas. Even in the law firm I need to understand how business works, how finance works. Sometimes I work with our patent attorneys, and need to understand the patent process.

Lauren: Is there anything that SLA is doing specifically to encourage cross-disciplinary discussion?

Eugene: One of the things we are doing is focusing on a reimagined and re-envisioned conference in July. We are going to have both vendors and professionals from different disciplines. The focus is going to be on creating opportunities where individuals can talk in small groups, and attend excellent world-class programming.

Lauren: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Eugene: With the changes that are coming in technology through the use of generative AI and the changing nature of the relationship with vendors, now more than ever, we are going to need each other—we’re going to need each other’s wisdom to navigate these changes.

I think the best way to navigate them is in an association like SLA. I would encourage anybody in the profession to consider membership in SLA seriously.