ALAO Planning Committee News

The 2020 ALAO Conference Planning Committee (CPC) faced a significant challenge in spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic made in-person gatherings dangerous. After weighing several options, the CPC decided to go forward with the 2020 conference but take on the daunting task of transitioning it completely online. Many of you attended that first online ALAO conference (and are hopefully the second!) and witnessed first-hand the decisions and results of the CPC’s work. By many accounts, the conference was a success.

ALAO was not alone in its need to make a quick transition of its events to an online venue. To help other organizations who might need to move their professional development offerings online, a subset of 2020 CPC members collaborated to write an article about their experiences. We are excited to announce that our article, titled “Going digital: Strategies for transitioning a conference to an online format” will be published in the Journal of Academic Librarianship later this year! A corrected proof is currently available on the Journal of Academic Librarianship website: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102433. Thank you to all of the 2020 CPC members for contributing to the success of the conference, and we hope you will all take a look at the article when it is published!

–Mandi Goodsett, Past President, Cleveland State University
–Mark Eddy, Case Western Reserve University
–Melissa Hill, Web Manager, Ohio Wesleyan University
–Sara Klink, Interest Group Coordinator, Stark State College
–Stacey McKenna, The Ohio State University
–Marsha Miles, Cleveland State University

Case Western Reserve University News

On Thursday, November 18, 2021, the Kelvin Smith Library hosted Kepler at 450: An Interdisciplinary Celebration. 

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a central figure of the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. His work was interdisciplinary, involving not only astronomy and physics, but he also described musical harmonies that the planets orchestrated in their paths around the sun, offered political advice to the Holy Roman Emperor, and agonized over theological doctrines that led to his excommunication.  KSL Special Collections recently acquired a valuable 1621 edition of Mysterium Cosmographicum, which laid the groundwork for many of Kepler’s pursuits.  This is the 400th anniversary of the publication of the book and the 450th anniversary of Kepler’s birth. Our event brought together scholars from the fields of music, history, physics, astronomy, philosophy, and the library to discuss Kepler’s impact on and across their fields. The celebration included opening and closing music performances featuring guest artist and world-renowned cornettist Bruce Dickey, who performed with faculty and students from CWRU’s Historical Performance Practice program.

A full program of the day’s events can be found here, and a playlist of recordings of the events can be found on CWRU’s YouTube channel here.

On October 12th, Provost Ben Vinson III today announced the appointment of Emory University’s dean and librarian Yolanda Cooper as Case Western Reserve’s vice provost and Lindseth Family University Librarian. She will begin her new role on January 1st. See the full announcement for more details.

–-Brian Gray, Case Western Reserve University

Oberlin College News

Oberlin College welcomed Valerie Hotchkiss as the new Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries.  For the past five years, Hotchkiss served as university librarian at Vanderbilt University. Prior to that, she led Bridwell Library at Southern Methodist University and the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois.  Soon after her arrival, Valerie initiated a strategic planning/visioning process, reaching out to every sector of the campus community and to the Friends of the Oberlin College Libraries.  She now chairs the search committee for the long-vacated Associate Director for Collections and Resource Services position. 

Read more about Valerie Hotchkiss here.

–Alison Ricker, Oberlin College

Ohio University News

After more than 25 years of service to the Libraries and Ohio University, Eileen Theodore-Shusta will be retiring from her position as the Libraries’ Director of Planning, Assessment, and Organizational Effectiveness on December 31, 2021.  Eileen’s contributions to the Libraries have been many and varied; and she is known across the university as a respected collaborator and colleague.  Eileen has contributed in numerous ways to ALAO over the years, including helping to establish and serving as the first chair of the Assessment IG; and as a member and chair of the Diversity Committee for several years.

–Eileen Theodore-Shusta

Ohio University Libraries is proud to announce the following staffing changes:

• Katy Mathuews has accepted the position of Senior Director of Administration. Katy began her new position on August 15, 2021. She formerly served as the Head of Collections Assessment & Access.
• Seth Sisler has accepted the position of Head of Acquisitions & Collections Services. Seth began his new position on November 1, 2021. He formerly served as the Electronic Resources Librarian.

—Katy Mathuews, Ohio University