Bob Finn PHOTO by hagop photography

On the lists

by Bob Finn

By the time you read this, I’ll be gone.

After eight years I’ve decided to step down as NASW’s cybrarian. At this writing the new cybrarian has not been selected, but we received 21 excellent applications. I’m quite certain that whoever is hired will be more than up to the job.

Two changes in my life have combined to make me realize that it’s time to pass the torch. I started this job when I was a full-time freelancer, but now I have a full-time staff position (San Francisco Bureau Chief for the International Medical News Group) that entails a great deal of travel. It’s become increasingly difficult to keep up with NASW work when I’m on the road.

And then, in May 2003, my wife Joanne and I went to China and adopted a beautiful baby girl. Jamie YuanOu Finn is just past two years old now, and is the light of my life. Giving up the cybrarian job will allow me to spend more time with her.

I’ve greatly enjoyed being NASW’s cybrarian, and I give it up with reluctance. It’s given me the chance to get to meet many more of you, personally and virtually, than I would otherwise have been able to meet in a hundred years. (It’s also given me an opportunity to meet literally thousands of social workers-misdirected members of the other NASW.)

The next cybrarian will have quite a challenge on his or her hands. Useful as the NASW Web site is, its look screams 1997, and it’s in bad need of a redesign, both cosmetically and functionally. The next cybrarian will play an important part in ushering in those changes, working with the Web Committee and a professional designer.

This comes at a time when NASW is adding more and more services for its members. When I started as cybrarian there were no NASW workshops, no NASW mentoring program, no NASW Education Committee, no NASW FOIA Committee, no NASW Freelance Committee, and no NASW Insurance Committee. Now we have all those committees and more, each needs a listserv, and most need sections of the Web site they can call their own.

When I started we had a single online discussion group in the Journalism Forum on CompuServe. Now we have five active listservs open to anyone: nasw-talk, nasw-freelance, nasw-pr, nasw-teach, and nasw-chat.
When I started NASW had two classes of membership-active and associate-and freelancers were thought to constitute a small minority. Now we have a single class of membership, and we know that at least half the membership freelances part- or full-time.

And when I started the NASW Board met once a year and dealt with only a small number of issues. Now, through its listserv, the board meets continuously throughout the year, and board members and officers are all far more active and far more willing to take on projects, big and small. These involve providing more and more member services and have resulted in an enhanced level of respect for NASW among other professional associations.

So I wish the new cybrarian well, and I promise to remain available for help and advice whenever he or she requests it.

And I won’t be going far. NASW is an outstanding organization, and I hope to find other ways to contribute for many years to come.

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Bob Finn administered NASW’s Web site and e-mail lists at nasw.org. His personal e-mail address is finn@nasw.org.

PHOTO by hagop photography