Assessment Interest Group (AIG)

The Assessment Interest Group is looking forward to the annual ALAO conference in November. Our sponsored session, “One Shot at Success? Assessing the Effectiveness of Single Session Instruction on Student Attainment of Information Literacy Skills” (Thomas Hyland, Lakeland Community College), will consider the impact of librarian instruction in  an English composition class. We hope to see you at this session!

This session fits in with our focus on instructional assessment this year. We have already begun discussing the 2016 Spring Workshop, in which the Assessment Interest Group will partner with the Instruction Interest Group to focus on instructional assessment. Watch for more details over the next few months!

If you’d like to share ideas about assessment of all kinds, don’t forget the AIG listserv: aig@alaoweb.org
Mandy Shannon, Wright State University, AIG Co-Chair

Collection Management Interest Group (CMIG)
We are looking forward to an active and exciting year as “all things collection development” continue to evolve at an amazing rate.  At the ALAO conference in November CMIG will be sponsoring a session being presented by Amy Fry and Jennifer Harvey of BGSU, titled “Print and electronic monograph use: questioning what we think we know”, which promises to be an interesting and though provoking session.  A survey will be going out to members soon to help us determine the focus of our spring workshop – please be on the lookout for that, and plan to offer up ideas for what you would like to see presented/covered in our workshop!                                                                                       Jessica Grim, Oberlin Colleg1e, CMIG Co-Chair

Instruction Interest Group (IIG)
The Instruction Interest Group is excited to announce a collaboration with the Assessment Interest Group for the Spring 2016 workshop.  IIG and AIG will be hosting a joint workshop focused on assessment of library instruction.  More information on the workshop will be available at the annual conference in November.

IIG continues to add to quality content to the IIG Blog  at https://alaoinstructionig.wordpress.com/ .  This semester you can look forward to entries from librarians at Denison, Otterbein, and Ohio University-Lancaster.  The committee is always looking for new and interesting blog entries on the topics listed below.
•  Innovative uses of instructional tools (particularly those related to new technologies)
•  One-shot instruction ideas
•  Keeping instruction interesting
•  Collaborating with departmental faculty
•  Assessment (of one-shot sessions, the program, librarian teachers, etc.)
•  Impact of the revision to ACRL’s IL competency standards on instruction
•  Teaching and learning with web scale discovery

If you are interested in contributing, please use this link to submit a proposal
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ncWdHPW_9-Wx9xhGSaOwJE4Hi0x0vQorgk0SVcuMGBI/viewform.

Thank you to Sara Klink whose term as co-chair ended in July and a hearty welcome to Dana Knott, Library Coordinator, from Columbus State Community College Delaware Campus, who joined IIG as this year’s new co-chair!
Melissa Bauer, Kent State University at Stark, IIG Co-Chair

OLSSI 2015 Reflections by an H. W. Wilson Scholarship Recipient

I was pleased to earn one of four available scholarships to attend the Ohio Library Support Staff Institute (OLSSI), the annual summer conference hosted by the ALAO Support Staff Interest Group. This year, the conference was held July 26-28 in Berea, OH, near Cleveland, and the theme was “Past, Present, & Future.”

Having attended ALAO’s Annual Conference and numerous other conferences geared toward librarians, it was a valuable learning experience to participate in a conference focused specifically on library support staff. Because my role at the Miami University Libraries is that of a paraprofessional, OLSSI offered discussion and training that was immediately relevant to my day-to-day work.

Though courses on a variety of subjects were offered, my scholarship guaranteed enrollment in the four available H. W. Wilson Award classes: “Keys for Becoming an Effective Supervisor,” “It’s the Law, Even in the Library,” “Building User-Centered, Flexible Teams,” and “Collaborate for Success.” These courses were taught, respectively, by Luren Dickinson, Director of Shaker Heights Public Library, and Cathi Cardwell, Director of Ohio Wesleyan University Library.

Dickinson’s classes were packed with information that I will continue to study, especially the content on laws pertaining to the library. Bringing his 40 years in libraries to the table, I particularly enjoyed his ability to speak from experience to staff aspiring to supervisory status.

Cardwell’s courses were peppered with audience-speaker interaction and group activities. My takeaways from her courses? The key to flexible teams is employees who are creative, communicative, collaborative and critical thinkers. Reflect and be flexible!

If you’ve not yet attended OLSSI, I not only encourage you to consider attendance, but apply for a scholarship! This event is an invaluable chance to gain practical knowledge and network with Ohio library support staff and librarians. In the words of my supervisor, Assistant Dean Lisa Santucci, “This is a wonderful opportunity and the scholarship presents staff who may not be able to attend with this great experience.” Information about the 2016 scholarship contest will be available on OLSSI’s website in early 2016: http://olssi.org/scholarships/

Laura Birkenhauer, Miami University

Technical, Electronic, & Digital Services Interest Group (TEDSIG)
TEDSIG is getting ready to send out the call for TEDDY Award nominations, so start thinking about Technical, Electronic, and Digital Services people you can nominate!                                                                                                                                           Kelly Kobiela, Ohio Northern University, TEDSIG Co-Chair

Diversity Committee
2015/16 ALAO Diversity Scholarship Award

The ALAO Diversity Committee is pleased to award the 2015-16 Diversity Scholarships to Kristen Zajac. We were very impressed by her demonstrated and potential for contributions to the profession.  The Diversity Scholarship includes $1,500.00 for tuition, free registration to the ALAO Annual Conference, and a year of mentoring by an
ALAO member.

Kristen is attending Kent State University with an academic focus in Children’s Librarianship, and is currently employed part-time at the Euclid Public Library as a Children’s Associate.  She has demonstrated leadership through the pursuit of grant opportunities, including developing and implementing in a pre-teen literacy program.  Her interests in diversity include sharing selection suggestions (videos and books) with the librarian that focus on issues related to under-represented groups. She has spearheaded an outreach program directed at children with autism, and offers suggestions for working with teens and helping transition children into the libraries’ teen programs.  Kristen’s background in puppetry provides opportunities to offer diverse approaches to children’s programming efforts.

When asked about winning the scholarship and its impact, she stated: “The financial component of the Diversity Award has been a boon to me, as it will ease the burden of debt after I complete my degree. I am also extremely excited to have a mentor who will encourage and guide me in my exploration of work within libraries. I currently
work in the Children’s Department at Euclid Public Library, but look forward to learning more about academic libraries and investigating how my passions relate to them as well.

“Best of all, after winning the award I feel even more inspired to work towards providing diverse library programs and services throughout my career. Since I’m at the beginning of my career trajectory, I believe that this experience will positively shape how I think about library services and my potential to make an impact.”
Eileen Theordore-Shusta, Ohio University, Diversity Committee Chair

Research & Publications Committee News
Three new members joined the Research & Publications Committee.  They are              Heidi Beke-Harrigan, Director of Library Services.  Walsh University
Sherab Chen, E-Resources Metadata & Discovery Librarian.  Ohio State University
Lisa Mackinder, Head of Acquisitions & Collections Services.  Ohio University

2016 Research Grant Award Program
The call for the 2016 research grants will be announced this Fall.  If you have a research project or are thinking about a research project that could use some funding, we can help!  ALAO members can apply for up to $2000 in
research funding to cover the costs for current or upcoming research projects.  Look for upcoming announcements
and deadlines for this year’s program on our ALAO RPC web page, Facebook and Twitter, and on the ALAO listservs!

Research & Publications Grant Awards, Recipient Update-Rocki Strader
We reached out to the 2014 RPC award winners for an update about their research projects and how they used the award funds.  All three winners made great use of the funding.  We will be sharing their stories in this and upcoming issues.

Rocki Strader
The Ohio State University Libraries                                                                                                 In 2014, I was awarded $497 by ALAO for my research project titled, “The cataloging of sound recordings in the United States: a chronological account.” These funds went toward travel expenses (gas, food, hotel) and materials costs (photocopies, batteries for digital camera) associated with a week-long visit to the Music Library Association (MLA) archives at the University of Maryland. The visit occurred in June 2014. I took digital pictures of more than 1000 pages of documentation and also had more than 600 photocopies made of  documents that I couldn’t get good resolution on with my camera.

This paper was intended to be, and is, historical and descriptive. Sources include primary documents such as correspondence, published and unpublished reports, memos, draft standards, as well as finalized published standards, and secondary sources, including monographs and articles about the standards and their application.

The paper is primarily a chronological account, but incorporates elements of bibliographic essay. It chronicles how sound recordings have been cataloged and made accessible since libraries began collecting them in the 1910s. I engaged with this topic because there is no published account that pulls together the development of cataloging standards for sound recordings from those standards’ beginnings in the 1930s.

Examining primary documents is really the only way of gaining access to the insights and frustrations of our predecessors in the field. Reading the unpublished documentation of discussions (some outright arguments!) pertaining to the cataloging of sound recordings was eye-opening and helped me more fully realize how complex cataloging of these non-print media has been since libraries starting collecting them around the 1910s. Some
published articles pointed to differences of opinion in the handling of these resources, but seeing those opinions rendered in correspondence and memos made the issues come alive. Minutes and reports of meetings from the 1930s through the 1980s go into the types of details that almost never see the light of publication, and they highlight the care, thoughtfulness, and passion, that have gone into decades worth of work on crafting and
evolving the standards that we use today. Some of the controversies that existed then still exist today.

It took the remainder of 2014 and through most of February 2015 to pull together all the materials that I had gathered and to finish what turned out to be a gigantic project. In the end, in late February 2015, I submitted a long article to Notes of the Music Library Association, a peer-reviewed journal, with the final title, “The cataloging of music sound recordings in the United States: an evolution of practice and standards.”  It was accepted in June 2015, on condition of making some revisions, which I made, and it should be published in the Fall 2015 issue of Notes.
Heidi Gauder, University of Dayton, Research & Publications Committee Chair