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ACRL Circle of Friends: Patricia Wand

May 8th, 2013 by Mary Jane Petrowski in Circle of Friends

Patricia WandThe ACRL Circle of Friends acknowledges the sustained generosity of those who have been Friends of ACRL for five or more years. The Friends of ACRL was created to provide a means for the association to take bold steps above and beyond its traditional member programs and services. Rapidly changing demographic, economic, and technological trends are presenting academic libraries and librarians with new challenges and competition that demand immediate solutions. The Friends of ACRL have responded to these new challenges and provided additional support that will enhance and ensure the relevance of our profession. To join or learn more about the Friends of ACRL, please visit the ACRL website.

This month we profile ACRL Circle of Friends member Patricia Wand. Patricia is a consultant based in Bethesda, Maryland and has been a Friend of ACRL since 1998.

1. Describe yourself in three words:  I like people.

2. Why do you support the Friends of ACRL? I support Friends of ACRL because I believe in the power of communities whose members share a commitment to self-improvement.  In ACRL, our commitment to the information profession and life-long learning form the foundation of advancing learning, teaching and scholarship.   Hence, I support the ACRL community with my time, knowledge and money.

3. What might someone be surprised to know about you?  I grew up with seven siblings on an Oregon farm in the Columbia River Gorge.

4. Since you’ve become a member of ACRL, tell us about someone who influenced you in some way? A powerful mentor for me was JoAnn Segal, former executive director of ACRL.  JoAnn taught me about the external and internal characteristics of associations; how they differ from university, civic and commercial organizations and about the unique roles of staff and volunteers. In the late 1980s, I absorbed many valuable lessons watching JoAnn astutely manage in all directions as she brought us through the birth pangs of the first Operating Agreement with ALA.

5. What do you hope ACRL will achieve in the near future (or the long term)? I hope we continue building a toolkit to help us become stronger advocates for the importance of information in developing life-long learners, promoting creativity and innovation, generating new knowledge, and building democratic practices. To achieve these seemingly intangible goals we need tangible resources which include strong academic libraries, archives and information centers. Thus we must be proactive spokespeople with the skills and data to convince the decision makers of the need for financial support.

6. In your opinion, what is the most important work that ACRL does? The most important work that ACRL does is the venue it provides in bringing together committed professionals to improve learning, teaching, and research in higher education.

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ACRL Offering Webcast on MOOCs

May 7th, 2013 by Margot Conahan in eLearning, Higher Education

Join us for the ACRL e-Learning webcast, “Goodbye Cybrarians, Hello Moocbrarians: Envisioning the Role of Librarians in Massive Online Open Courses,” to be offered Wednesday, May 22 (1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Central).

Technology is enabling higher education to change more in the next ten years than it has in the past hundred. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are potentially one such technological innovation and have generated a lot of press in the past year. This live, interactive webcast will focus on the role of the librarian in these online courses. Examine what librarians are currently doing to provide support for these institutional course offerings and discuss possible future roles that librarians can play as MOOCs move from the margins to the mainstream.

Complete details including the full webcast description, learning outcomes, and registration materials are available online.  Contact Margot Conahan at mconahan@ala.org or call (312) 280-2522 with questions.

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WGSS Seeks NWSA Liaison

May 6th, 2013 by David Free in Liaisons, Sections

The ACRL Women & Gender Studies Section (WGSS) is currently seeking applications to serve a two-year term (July 2013- June 2015) as the ACRL liaison to the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA).  Liaisons are responsible for outreach, education, and communication between NWSA and ACRL in order to form strong relationships and advance the interests of ACRL and NWSA.

About NWSA
Established in 1977, the National Women’s Studies Association has as one of its primary objectives promoting and supporting the production and dissemination of knowledge about women and gender through teaching, learning, research and service in academic and other settings.

Our commitments are to: illuminate the ways in which women’s studies are vital to education; to demonstrate the contributions of feminist scholarship that is comparative, global, intersectional and interdisciplinary to understandings of the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences; and to promote synergistic relationships between scholarship, teaching and civic engagement in understandings of culture and society.

NWSA recognizes that women’s studies is broader than what happens in the classroom and acknowledges women’s centers staff as feminist educators. Campus-based women’s centers have a long history of working together with women’s studies to transform the curriculum, the campus environment, and society at large.

Through their scholarship and pedagogy our members actively pursue knowledge to promote a just world in which all persons can develop to their fullest potential—one free from ideologies, systems of privilege or structures that oppress or exploit some for the advantage of others. The Association has more than 2,000 individual and 350 institutional members working in varied specialties across the United States and around the world.

For more information about the organization, please visit the association website or contact the current NWSA/ACRL Liaison Cindy Ingold (cingold@uillinois.edu).

Deadline for Applications
Friday, May 17, 2013

Submission Requirements
Nominees must submit:
A letter of application articulating qualifications and a current vita to:

Jennifer Mayer, WGSS Chair (mayerj@uwyo.edu)

Expectations

  • Liaison attends the annual NWSA conferences
  • Liaison submits an annual report to the ACRL Liaisons Council
  • Liaison writes an article about their activities for the WGSS newsletter
  • Liaison serves as ex-officio on the WGSS Executive Committee and ex-officio on the WGSS Research Committee.

Qualifications

Required:

  • Current member of ACRL and WGSS
  • Experience with or interest in women and gender studies
  • Interest in coordinating activities to increase interaction between NWSA, ACRL, and WGSS
  • Experience with or interest in outreach and advocacy related to women and gender studies.
  • Financial support to attend NWSA Annual Conferences for the length of the two-year term if not funded by ACRL (Note:  Liaison may apply for up to $1500 in conference funding from the ACRL Conference Grants Committee, but funding is not guaranteed).
  • Excellent communication skills

Desired:

  • Record of serving WGSS and/or ACRL on committees, task forces, or in other roles.
  • Current membership in NWSA
  • Previous NWSA conference attendance or other involvement with NWSA.

Selection Process Timeline

  • May 20 – 24, 2013: A subcommittee of the WGSS Executive Committee reviews submitted applications.
  • May 28, 2013: WGSS Chair contacts successful candidate.

Questions?  Please contact WGSS Chair, Jennifer Mayer: mayerj@uwyo.edu

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Member of the Week: Amanda Binder

May 6th, 2013 by Mary Jane Petrowski in Member of the Week

Amanda BinderAmanda Binder is Social Sciences Librarian at University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. Amanda has been an ACRL member since 2009, is a 2013 ALA Emerging Leader,  and your ACRL member of the week for May 6, 2013.

1. Describe yourself in three words:  Engaged. Curious. Genuine.

2. What are you reading right now (or listening to on your mobile device)? I am reading Dreaming of Dixie: How the South Was Created in American Popular Culture by Karen Cox, a history professor at UNC Charlotte.

3. Describe ACRL in three words:  Important. Visionary. Leader.

4. What do you value about ACRL? ACRL provides the infrastructure for professional development and networking that allows me to grow as a librarian.  Especially valuable are the ACRL workshops, trainings, and publications that help me learn from and connect with other academic librarians.

5. What do you, as an academic librarian, contribute to your campus? One of the perks of working as a librarian in a university setting is that you get to serve many different roles on campus; I am sometimes a teacher, sometimes an advisor, and sometimes an event organizer.  I like to think that in my traditional role as a research librarian I help students and faculty better connect to the resources that they need to be successful in their academic careers.  Libraries have an opportunity and a responsibility to envision how we can be used as resources on-campus and I enjoy contributing to that conversation.

6. In your own words: As an academic librarian, I am engaged in a community that is dynamic, rewarding and ever-changing.  The emergence of new library offerings and partnerships in universities, such as graduate fellowships and digital scholarship labs, is supporting students and faculty in new and creative ways.  With more changes ahead, and a strong association behind us, I feel very lucky to be working in and contributing to this profession.

Editor’s Note: Are you an ACRL member? Would you like to be featured as ACRL Member of the Week? Nominate a colleague? Contact Mary Jane Petrowski at mpetrowski@ala.org for more information.

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2013 ACRL Election Results

May 3rd, 2013 by David Free in Elections

Karen WilliamsKaren Williams, associate university librarian for research and learning at the University of Minnesota, has been elected ACRL vice-president/president-elect. She will become president-elect following the 2013 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, and assume the presidency in July 2014 for a one-year term. A full biography of Williams will be available on the ACRL website next week

Julia Gelfand, applied sciences and engineering librarian at the University of California-Irvine, and Susan Barnes Whyte, director of library and media services at Linfield College, have been elected to the ACRL Board of Directors as director-at-large. Douglas Lehman, director of the Wittenberg University Thomas Library, has been elected ACRL Councilor.

Full 2013 election results will be available Monday, May 6, on the ACRL website.

Congratulations to those elected and many thanks to the dedicated members willing to stand for office.

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Immersion Program Applications Due May 10

May 3rd, 2013 by Margot Conahan in Events, Information Literacy

Applications for the Immersion Program Assessment and Intentional Teaching tracks are due Friday, May 10, 2013. Embrace your educational role by embarking on a path of teacher development and pedagogical inquiry in a community of practice for academic librarians devoted to collaborative learning and individual renewal.  The Assessment and Intentional Teaching Tracks will be offered November 20-24, 2013, in Nashville.

Assessment: Demonstrating the Educational Value of the Academic Library Track – Discover how to approach assessment from a learning-centered perspective. Participants will emerge with a broader understanding of assessment and how to use assessment as an important tool to guide evidence-based classroom, curriculum and program development.

Intentional Teaching: Reflective Teaching to Improve Student Learning Track – Find out how to become more self-aware and self-directed as a teacher.  This track is aimed at the experienced academic librarian (5+ years teaching experience, in a library or other setting) and facilitates the process of critical reflection through peer discussion, readings and personal reflection as a pathway to professional growth and renewal.

Visit the Immersion website for complete details about the program, including curriculum, learning outcomes and application instructions. Questions concerning the program or application process should be directed to Margot Conahan at (312) 280-2522 or mconahan@ala.org

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ACRL Supports Accelerating Science Award Program

May 2nd, 2013 by Kara Malenfant in Scholarly Communication

ACRL has joined major sponsors Public Library of Science, Wellcome Trust, and Google to launch the Accelerating Science Award Program (ASAP), which recognizes individuals who have applied scholarly research – published through open access – to innovate in any field and benefit society.

The award program seeks nominations of individuals who have used, applied, or remixed open access research to innovate and make a difference in science, medicine, business, technology or society as a whole. The goal of ASAP is to build awareness of and encourage the use of scholarly research published through open access.

Three top awards of $30,000 each will be presented.  The nomination period is open from May 1 to June 15, 2013.  Winners will be announced in Washington, DC in October 2013, during an Open Access Week event hosted by SPARC and the World Bank.

Potential nominees include individuals, teams, or groups of collaborators such as scientists, researchers, educators, technology leaders, entrepreneurs, policy makers, patient advocates, public health workers, and students. For more information on the ASAP program and to make a nomination, please visit the ASAP web site.

As the higher education association for librarians, ACRL is committed to advancing learning and transforming scholarship. One of ACRL’s three strategic goals is that librarians accelerate the transition to a more open system of scholarship. By sponsoring ASAP, ACRL is signaling the importance of its strategic objective to promote new means to reward and value open scholarship.

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C&RL News – May 2013

May 2nd, 2013 by David Free in C&RL News

C&RL News - May 2013The May 2013 issue of C&RL News is now freely available online. Thanks to everyone who joined us in Indianapolis for ACRL 2013. It was a great conference! If your experiences inspired you to share your great ideas and projects with your peers, make sure to read Trudi Bellardo Hahn and Paul T. Jaeger’s article “From practice to publication” in this issue. They give an excellent overview of the publication process and lots of tips on the where’s and how’s of getting your work out in a variety of ways. Tina Baich looks at international publishing from the discovery angle in her Internet Resources article “The global research landscape.”

One hot topic in Indianapolis was the flipped classroom instructional model. Ilka Datig and Claire Ruswick continue the discussion by outlining “Four quick flips” they have successfully used in information literacy sessions. Their practical advice and activities can easily be applied to new or ongoing experiments with flipping in libary instruction. Distance learning librarianship was on the ACRL 2013 docket as well. Rachel E. Cannady, Britt Fagerheim, Beth Filar Williams, and Heidi Steiner provide tips and advice on “Diving into distance learning librarianship” that can help both veterans and librarians new to distance learning services.

Wrapping up our look at instruction this issue, Lindy Scripps-Hoekstra discusses how her experiences as a high school teacher translate to the information literacy classrom in her The Way I See It essay “Eight tips from the trenches.” In this month’s ACRL TechConnect feature, Emily Ford of Portland State University examines moving Web usability card sorts studies online and discusses the question “Is digital better than analog?”

Make sure to check out the other features and departments in this issue, including the second round of profiles of 2013 ACRL award winners and a brief overview of the upcoming 2013 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.

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Mentors Needed for Spectrum Scholars

May 1st, 2013 by David Connolly in Diversity, Leadership

Are you interested in developing the next generation of academic librarians and ensuring a diverse workforce? Then consider mentoring an ALA Spectrum Scholar through the ACRL Dr. E.J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Program. The program links participating library school students and new librarians, who are of American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander descent, with established academic librarians who will provide mentoring and coaching support.

 What’s Involved?
Mentors will serve as role models in academic librarianship and provide career guidance, as well as help mentees find opportunities for involvement and leadership in the profession. They must be academic librarians, have professional experience (a minimum of ten years preferred), and be active in ACRL. Mentors must make a commitment for a minimum of one year and up to maximum of three years.

Mentors will receive Web-based training from ACRL to assist them in building a successful mentoring relationship. Mentor responsibilities include:

  • Contacting the mentee monthly or on a regular basis.
  • Spending time with the Spectrum Scholar at library conferences where both are in attendance.
  • Submitting brief status reports and an annual report (one page form).

How Do You Apply?
If you are interested in becoming a mentor for a Spectrum Scholar through the ACRL Dr. E.J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor program, please complete the application before May 17, 2013.

What Happens Next?
The ACRL Dr. E.J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Committee expects to be matching new pairs of mentors and Spectrum Scholars by early June, and both parties will be informed of the match soon thereafter. If we are unable to match you with a Scholar immediately, you will be notified and your paperwork will be kept on file.

Please apply today to be an ACRL Spectrum Scholar Mentor! The profession needs you.

If you have additional questions about the ACRL Dr. E. J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Program please contact Committee Chair Jade Alburo at jalburo@library.ucla.edu or ACRL staff member David Connolly at dconnolly@ala.org.

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ACRL Sets 2013 Legislative Agenda

April 30th, 2013 by Kara Malenfant in Advocacy

Each year, the ACRL Government Relations Committee, in consultation with the ACRL Board of Directors and staff, formulates an ACRL Legislative Agenda. Drafted with input from key ACRL committees, ACRL leaders, and the ALA Washington Office, the ACRL Legislative Agenda is prioritized and focuses on issues at the national level affecting the welfare of academic and research libraries. The ACRL Board of Directors recently approved the 2013 ACRL Legislative Agenda in time for National Library Legislative Day, May 7-8, in Washington, D.C.

The 2013 ACRL Legislative Agenda focuses on three issues that the U.S. Congress has recently taken, or will most likely take, action on in the year ahead: first sale doctrine, public access to federally funded research, and federal funding for libraries. New this year, the agenda includes a watch list of policy issues of great concern to academic librarians. Legislation on these issues is not likely to arise and, moreover, ACRL does not believe that any legislation about these issues is necessary. Issues on the watch list are: government information, safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, orphan works/section 108, and fair use. ACRL will continue tracking these issues and advocate for the best interests of academic and research libraries, if necessary. Read the complete legislative agenda for more details.

Don’t forget to advocate for libraries in May by calling or emailing Congress as part of ALA’s Virtual Library Legislative Day.

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