Member Benefits & Membership

Membership in the New England Library Association provides unique opportunities for professional growth and development. Members can enjoy a broader network of viewpoints, ideas, and colleagues while still having the advantage of working on a personal and manageable scale. The NELA community promotes work both within and across New England states and collaboration with state associations and colleagues from all areas and management levels is strongly encouraged. NELA does not currently offer institutional memberships.

Membership Rates
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Member Benefits

Connections | Continuing Education Opportunities | NELLS (New England Library Leadership Symposium | Grants & Scholarships | Joint Membership DiscountsMentor/Mentee Program | Staples Advantage PlanDiscount for NEW & Retired Members


Connections

Connect with library professionals across six New England states and from all areas of librarianship to share ideas, get inspired, and make lasting relationships.
 
Develop leadership and teamwork building skills by becoming involved in committees, sections, or by serving as a NELA officer. Service offers the chance to work on event planning, budgeting, outreach, strategic planning and more. NELA also hosts a biennial leadership symposium, NELLS, designed to foster leadership skills in mid-career library professionals.
 

Continuing Education Opportunities

Attend a diverse selection of continuing educations programs at our annual conference and the spring one-day conferences from the ITS, NERTCL, and NETSL Sections.  Educate others in your field by submitting and presenting a program idea for Annual Conference.  Check out the NELA calendar for upcoming events.

Events Calendar

NELLS (New England Library Leadership Symposium)

Take your library career to the next level by applying for one of the NELLS programs. To best serve all levels of library workers, NELLS has a three tiered approach: Tier 1 - Emerging Leaders, Tier 2 - Mid-Career Leadership, and Tier 3 - Advanced Leadership. Click HERE to learn more about NELLS!

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Grants & Scholarships
 
NELA offers a variety of scholarship and grant opportunities.
Scholarship Details
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Joint Membership Discounts
 

Thanks to a collaboration with the state associations, individuals who are already members of those associations may now become members of NELA for a significantly reduced cost. When renewing membership in or joining the Connecticut Library Association (CLA), Maine Library Association (MLA), Massachusetts Library Association (MLA), New Hampshire Library Association (NHLA), Rhode Island Library Association (RILA), or Vermont Library Association (VLA) members may also, for a flat fee of $20 ($15 for students and trustees), become full members of NELA. To join with a joint membership, please visit your state association's website.

NEW starting in 2024 - Rolling Joint Membership Option

Did you forget to add a joint NELA membership when doing your state renewal? Please email your state's membership contact and Megan Bishop at [email protected] to learn about retroactively adding the joint NELA membership.

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Mentor/Mentee Program
 
Shadowing/mentoring opportunities foster professional knowledge and skills and help both participants strengthen their communication skills.
 
NELA's mentor/mentee program is designed to provide mentoring opportunities to librarians and paraprofessionals of diverse needs by volunteer mentors from various library fields and geographic locations. Every effort will be made to match participants with mentors who share stated interests. Both mentor and mentee must be members of NELA.

Mentor/Mentee Program
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Staples Advantage Plan

NELA members are eligible for discounts on a wide variety of office supply products through the Staples Advantage Plan. The discounts apply for all Staples brand products and many others, though not all items sold by Staples. Email [email protected] to register.
 
To learn more, contact the Membership Committee at [email protected].
 

Discounts for Incoming & Retired Members
 
Retirees can join or renew for a flat rate of $100 for 10 years of membership - a 50% savings!  Regardless of membership level, first year members are eligible for a $10 discount.  If you have never been a NELA member before, use the code NEW-MEMBER when filling out your application to receive $10 off the total cost of your membership.
 
Join/Renew
  • If you have previously had a joint membership, but you would like to do a stand alone NELA membership this year, please email Megan Bishop at [email protected] to update your profile and allow for member registration through the NELA website.
  • If you have recently renewed your joint membership through your state association's website, and you are trying to register for a NELA event but are not seeing accurate member pricing for the event, we likely have not received your updated information from the state association. Please email a copy of your paid invoice to Megan Bishop, and we can manually update you in our system to allow you to register for the event.

Member Type Dues
Annual Salary: $0 - $15,000 $20
Annual Salary: $15,001 - $25,000 $30
Annual Salary: $25,001 - $35,000 $40
Annual Salary: $35,001 - $45,000 $50
Annual Salary: $45,001 - $55,000 $60
Annual Salary: $55,001 - $65,000 $70
Annual Salary: over $65,000 $80
Retired $20
Student $15
Trustee/Friend $30

 

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