C2YCLIG News

Call for Committee Members

The Community and Two-Year College Interest Group (C2YCLIG) Chairs are in the midst of program planning for the year, and we are excited to organize professional development and networking opportunities on topics critical to community and two-year college libraries.

We are seeking C2YCLIG members interested in contributing to these efforts! By participating in the C2YCLIG’s Committee, members can provide valuable insight into the unique needs of C2YCL staff and help the Committee and Chairs organize its events.

This Committee will largely work virtually and does not require in-person attendance at events. Please consider joining the C2YCLIG Committee, which you can do via the ALAO Volunteer Form on the ALAO website.

Focus on Homeless and Food Insecure Students

Student success work at many institutions across the country has turned its attention to the underlying causes of student distraction, stress, and trouble with their academics. Instead of assuming students are “just bad students,” many institutions are looking at students’ lives outside of college that impact their capacity to focus in the classroom and study outside of class. Community and two-year colleges in particular have students dealing with life situations that make it difficult to attend college full time (a general marker for success in college) because they have multiple responsibilities (children, aging family, multiple jobs, etc.) outside of class.

Given the diverse issues impacting students, the C2YCLIG is planning to focus in Fall 2019 on two critical issues for our students: homelessness and food insecurity. For insights into the impact of homelessness and food insecurity, we suggest watching Dr. Sara Goldrich-Rab’s “Campus Matters: Paying the Price” talk at The New York Times Conference in 2018. Dr. Goldrich-Rab is the founding director of Temple University’s Hope Center and has a long career as a sociologist studying the lives of college students.

Upcoming Events

C2YCLIG will host the following programs on topics related to homeless and food insecure students:

• Roundtable at Annual Conference — Check the schedule for the Annual Conference to learn when and where we will be meeting in Columbus on Friday, October 18.
• Fall Semester Soundoff — Be on the lookout for event details on our soundoff dedicated solely to Library Services to Homeless and Food Insecure Students, Staff, Faculty, and Community Members. We aim to hold the soundoff in November.

–Karla Aleman, C2YCLIG Co-Chair, Lorain County Community College
–Julie McDaniel, C2YCLIG Co-Chair, Sinclair Community College

PROMIG News

The new Programming, Outreach, and Marketing Interest Group (PROMIG) continues to grow and now has 32 members. Over the past year, we’ve partnered and hosted a spring workshop with NEO-RLS, developed a Communications team, and established a team of Planning Coordinators.

The Communications Subcommittee will work to create a toolkit of resources for outreach and is made up of 5 members: Laura Birkenhauer (Miami), Kapil Vasudev (OSU), Melissa Cox Norris (UC), Jessica Crossfield McIntosh (Otterbein), and Vanessa Kraps (OSU). The Planning Coordinators Team is made up of 3 members: Zachary Lewis (U. of Dayton), Jessica Crossfield McIntosh (Otterbein), and Jaclyn Spraetz (Miami). They will lead the team in coordinating workshops and recruiting volunteers.

Over the past few weeks, PROMIG has piloted a Topic of the Week segment on the listserv to generate discussion centered around topics related to student success, high school outreach, reaching underrepresented audiences, and other focused areas listed on our page. This discussion has been led by Laura and Kapil of the Communications Subcommittee and has provided group members with a combination of personal reflections along with additional resources to consider for support in those areas.

Come join our roundtable at ALAO annual conference to meet PROMIG members and hear about the exciting things we have planned for the upcoming year!

–Shaunda Vasudev, PROMIG Co-Chair, Capital University
–Eboni Johnson, PROMIG Co-Chair, Oberlin College

 SCAIG News

The Special Collections and Archives Interest Group (SCAig) is pleased to welcome Rachel Makarowski, Special Collections Librarian at Miami University’s Special Collections and University Archives, as incoming co-chair for the 2019-2021 term.  Rachel will serve as SCAig co-chair with Suzanne Reller, Reference/Collections Librarian at the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library, whose term will conclude at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year.

SCAig will be hosting a roundtable discussion at the ALAO annual conference during the IG Roundtable hour, focusing on reference and digitization services for researchers including: the charging of fees, student labor, and maintaining time restrictions for these services.  Attendees are encouraged to come and share their experiences and ideas. All conference attendees are welcome to join us!  We also would love to hear your ideas for future SCAig workshops and meetings.

For more information on SCAig, contact the co-chairs at scaig-chairs@alaoweb.org.

– Suzanne Reller, SCAig Co-Chair, University of Cincinnati 
–Rachel Makarowski, SCAig Co-Chair, Miami University

SSIG News

“Support Staff Interest Group onboarded its new co-chair, Rob Withers from Miami University, who joined current co-chair Erin Smith from Case Western Reserve University. Jennine Vlach, our outgoing co-chair from Case Western Reserve University, assisted with the onboarding process. The co-chairs wish to thank Jennine for her outstanding service over the past two years. SSIG intends to reach out to its current membership to ascertain whether this year’s meeting should be an online-oriented event, a physical conference, or a combination of the two, since membership gave last year’s webinar a warm reception. SSIG is open to partnerships if other Interest Groups would like to consider co-sponsoring an event this year.”

–Erin Smith, SSIG Co-Chair, Case Western Reserve University
–Rob Withers, SSIG Co-Chair, Miami University

STEM IG News

The STEM Interest Group (STEMIG) is pleased to introduce a new mailing list for the members of the interest group stemig@alaoweb.org. To join this list please send an email to stemig+subscribe@alaoweb.org. We are also inviting interested interest group members to join the Steering Committee to help with program planning for the Spring Meeting and the Annual Conference.

–Matthew Benzing,  STEM IG Co-Chair, Miami University,
–Daniela Solomon, STEM IG Co-Chair, Case Western Reserve University

Join the brand new Sustainability Interest Group (AKA SusIG)!

Just as we humans face huge challenges and uncertainties in our collective future, so too do libraries. The Sustainability Interest Group (SusIG) was formed this spring in order to provide a state-wide forum for the exchange of ideas and opportunities related to sustainability in academic libraries. The interest group’s intent is to encourage and support the actions of academic librarians and library staff in accordance with the following definition of sustainability: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Join us! And, if you have any questions, please check out our website (https://alaoweb.org/ig/susig) or reach-out to the co-chairs with questions or ideas for what specific issues you’d like to help this interest group tackle!

–Evan Meszaros, Sustainability Interest Group Co-Chair, Case Western Reserve University
–Chuck Vesei, Sustainability Interest Group Co-Chair, Baldwin Wallace University