Interest Groups News

Posted on March 14, 2022 by anitaslack

ALAO Interest Group Events

ALAO’s interest groups are gearing up to finish the academic year with lots of great events! ALAO has 12 active special interest groups that have formed to discuss concerns, issues, and new trends related to academic librarianship in Ohio. Keep an eye on the ALAO events page for spring and summer events brought to you by our interest groups!

Joining an interest group is a great way to participate in leadership events and network with fellow librarians and library staff. For more information visit the ALAO website https://www.alaoweb.org/igs/index.html. 

–-Sara Klink, Interest Group Coordinator, Stark State College

Interest Groups Seek Co-Chairs

Two of our Interest Groups are seeking co-chairs for two-year terms starting July 2022 through June 2024. You are encouraged to reach out to either co-chair regarding IG activities and the opportunities they offer. They can meet with you remotely with any questions you have.

Assessment Interest Group (AIG)

The purpose of the ALAO Assessment Interest Group is to provide a vehicle to discuss and share issues and developments pertinent to assessment in Ohio academic libraries. Topics of interest would include assessment of library impact and value, organizational performance, collections, student learning outcomes, rubrics, user attitudes and behaviors, as well as effective research methodologies, techniques for data analysis, and data visualization. Interests potentially overlapping those of other ALAO interest groups, e.g. information literacy or collection assessment, will be pursued in collaboration with those groups. Please contact Jeanna Purses at jpurses@lec.edu with your questions.

Scholarly Communication Interest Group (SCIG)

Members of this group will work to identify, address, and promote scholarly communications issues that impact libraries and higher education including copyright, licensing, Open Educational Resources, Open Access, digital scholarship, and more. Please contact Cindy Kristof at ckristof@kent.edu with your questions.  Cindy would like to extend her gratitude to previous co-chair Drew Balduff for his dedicated service.

–-Cindy Kristof, Scholarly Communications Interest Group Co-Chair, Kent State University

Collection Management Interest Group (CMIG) News

CMIG will have a virtual meeting (probably 90 minutes – 2 hours) in late spring or summer. The focus will be on introducing the topic of “read & publish journal deals” to those that are not familiar with this fairly new model or those that want to learn more. Generally, the publication costs transition from traditional journal subscriptions (read) to publishing costs (OA authoring of articles). In this session, we would include a discussion of the logistics and effects on institutions that do not publish much content but still need access to read the content. Do these deals work for all institutions? If publishers transition to this model as the only option, what does it mean for “read-only” institutions?


Send any suggestions of comments to Brian Gray and Kevin Messner.

–Brian C. Gray, CMIG Co-Chair, Case Western Reserve University
–Kevin Messner, CMIG Co-Chair, Miami University

Community & Two-Year College Libraries Interest Group (C2YCLIG) News

Join us for an end of the semester sound off!

Friday, April 29th @ 10:00 AM via Webex

Email c2yclig-chairs@alaoweb.org for more information. 

–Megan Mamolen, C2YCLIG Co-Chair, Lakeland Community College
–Ragan Snead, C2YCLIG Co-Chair, Northeast Ohio Regional Library System

Special Collections and Archives Interest Group (SCAig) News

The Special Collections and Archives Interest Group (SCAig) is currently in the process of planning its spring workshop, tentatively scheduled for May 2022. Miriam Intrator of Ohio University and Rachel Makarowski of Miami University have joined the co-chairs on the planning committee, who would like to thank them for their time and assistance!

In November 2021, SCAig issued a survey to its members on workshop format and topic preferences. Based on the results of that survey, the workshop will be virtual, and revolve around the theme of diversity, equity and inclusion, and digital preservation. The planning committee will be reaching out to potential speakers soon!

–-Henry Handley, Special Collections and Archives IG Co-Chair, University of Dayton
–Josh Zeller, Special Collections and Archives IG Co-Chair, Mount St. Joseph University

Sustainability Interest Group (SUSIG) News

SUSig Craft Party

The Sustainability Interest Group has held two events so far this year. In January, we partnered with TEDSIG for a discussion event in which we used design thinking to explore how libraries can respond to climate change.

In February, we held a Craft Party in which we promoted recycling by learning how to make woven art pieces with old CDs (see the picture below!).

Looking forward, for our Earth Day event at the end of April we’ll be hearing a presentation from Ginny Boehme, Science Librarian at Miami University, who will talk about some of the sustainability and environment-related projects she has worked on with faculty and students.

–Kim Hoffman, SUSig Co-Chair, Miami University
–Bethany Spieth, SUSig Co-Chair, Ohio Northern University

Posted in Vol. 40 no. 1 (March 2022) | Tagged | Leave a comment

Notes from the Trenches

Posted on March 14, 2022 by anitaslack

A New Program to Support RCR Training

Since fall semester 2018, the University of Toledo (UToledo) has regularly organized in-person training workshops for graduate students on the responsible conduct of research (RCR). This workshop is designed to complement and reinforce the online CITI training already required of students.

The RCR Players

The initial creation of the RCR workshop program included participation by the university’s Office of Research & Sponsored Programs; the College of Graduate Studies; the university’s Research Integrity Officer (RIO); and various deans, professors, and graduate student volunteers representing the colleges of Natural Sciences & Mathematics; Pharmacy; Health & Human Services; Nursing; and Engineering; as well as the Psychology Department (College of Arts & Letters). Significantly, the University Libraries have also been involved in the planning, design, and delivery of the workshops since the inception of the program. Representing the University Libraries in these workshops are Professor Wade Lee-Smith (Research Engagement Librarian) and Professor Lucy Duhon (Scholarly Communications Librarian).

How we do it and what we cover

This half-day RCR training workshop is now held annually (on a Saturday in spring, mid-semester) and includes topics such as research integrity/good research practices; research misconduct and its consequences; the role of the university’s RIO; the relationships between mentors and their graduate student protégés; awareness of bias and conflict of interest; data management; and the importance of ethical authorship and responsible publication – this last segment is led by the University Libraries. A particular value of this in-person training is the opportunity for students to participate in break-out sessions on research dilemmas and to engage in and react to role-playing situations.

UToledo’s RCR workshops have been attended by up to 150 graduate students at a time. The COVID-19 pandemic suspended the workshop in 2020, but it resumed in spring 2021, when the program moved completely online, hosted on Blackboard’s Collaborate. Spring 2022’s workshop will once again be held in person.

Feedback from the graduate students continues to inform the design of the program. Post-training survey responses and in-session quick polls can indicate ‘fuzzy’ topics needing revision or areas for additional training.

Why we do it

RCR training is critical to the orientation of new researchers and scientists to “develop, foster, and maintain a culture of integrity in science and to discourage and prevent unethical conduct,” (https://oir.nih.gov/sourcebook/ethical-conduct/responsible-conduct-research-training) and because “the scientific enterprise is based on a foundation of trust.” (https://oig.nsf.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2021-04/RCR_MIR_Final_7-25-17%20%281%29.pdf) 

RCR training also gives students a firm grounding in the compliance requirements for conducting U.S. public-funded research, and is required of all researchers, including students, who conduct research funded by the National Institutes of Health.

– Lucy Duhon, Scholarly Communications Librarian, and Wade Lee-Smith, Research Engagement Librarian, University of Toledo

Posted in Vol. 40 no. 1 (March 2022) | Tagged | Leave a comment

People & Library News

Posted on March 14, 2022 by anitaslack

Bryant & Stratton College News

Joseph M. Dudley has been promoted to the role of System Librarian and will be providing reference and technical services for campuses in Ohio, western New York, and Wisconsin.

–-Joseph M. Dudley, Bryant & Stratton College

Case Western Reserve University News

After a conference back in 2019, Andrew Mancuso (Preservation Officer, Scholarly Resources & Special Collections) was approached by a researcher at the Center for Imaging Science at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and asked if the Kelvin Smith Library (KSL) had any interest in participating as a test institution for a grant they were working on. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) indeed awarded their Research Grant proposal to build a low-cost, end-to-end multi-spectral imaging system; and so RIT built it, named it MISHA, and sent it on the road to its first field testing site (KSL). Since then, Naomi Langer (Digitization Technician Digital Learning & Scholarship) and Andrew have been imaging known palimpsests in KSL’s collections, processing the data, and writing feedback for RIT and the NEH about the system and software. Naomi and Andrew just wrapped up a whirlwind tour of collaborating with 8 different institutions across the state of Ohio, imaging collections objects, and providing them the raw data to process and make their own discoveries with.

Results from a test strip of effaced parchment and from a worn manuscript bound volume from visits to The Preservation Lab at the University of Cincinnati and a visit to the Thompson Library at OSU.

CWRU Personnel News

Kelvin Smith Library hired Olivia Hobbs as a Research Services Librarian to support various disciplines in the arts & humanities and the social sciences. Olivia is a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee (Master of Science in Information Science). She recently worked in Delaware for the Dover Public Library and Kent County Public Library.

Ben Gorham (Kelvin Smith Library) was elected to the ILiADS (Institute for Liberal Arts and Digital Scholarship) Steering Committee in the position of Academic Partnerships Coordinator. This is a 2-year term position in which Ben will work with academic institutions and ILiADS to prepare for and run the annual, weeklong digital scholarship event and conference. The annual ILiADS summer institute draws participants from around the country to collaborate on and advance digital scholarship projects and is now in its sixth year of operation.

Learn more about Yolanda Cooper, new vice provost and Lindseth Family University Librarian, with this recent interview: https://thedaily.case.edu/5-questions-with-yolanda-cooper-new-vice-provost-and-lindseth-family-university-librarian

Josie Cotton was recently awarded a Library Education Scholarship from the FRIENDS of the Heights Libraries Scholarship Committee. She is currently pursuing a Library Science graduate degree at Kent State University.

—Brian C. Gray, Case Western Reserve University

University of Toledo News

The Health Science Campus of The University of Toledo is celebrating its 17th year as host of the Artist Showcase. The show features a variety of creative works from faculty, staff, and students in the health sciences at the university. In the past, shows were physically displayed, and accompanied by an artists’ reception and a speaking event. The COVID-19 pandemic made a traditional show impossible, and so for 2021 the artwork was available to view digitally. This year the show is available to view both in person and online; a decision was made by the show’s committee to exclude the speaker and reception due to the continuing presence of the virus. The 2021 event and current show may be viewed here:  https://sites.google.com/view/hscart21/home. Video of two guest lecturers (The Marriage of Art and Science and Create Your Own World) can be viewed at https://libguides.utoledo.edu/hscart/about.

–-Gerald Natal, ALAO President Elect/ Interim President, The University of Toledo

Posted in Vol. 40 no. 1 (March 2022) | Tagged | Leave a comment

President’s Report

Posted on December 7, 2021 by anitaslack

Conference Summary

Jessica Crossfield McIntosh, ALAO President

A very successful 2021 conference is now complete. We had a total of 279 registrants, including 71 non-ALAO-members, and 31 students. We got some wonderful feedback from attendees:

“Kudos to the organizers, this was a great conference this year. There was a good variety of topics and many that I came away thinking what can I do to implement something like this at my library. I liked the format because if I could not watch something at the time allotted, I could go back and watch it later.”

“I did like the change this year in that you watched the prepared presentation together and then had plenty of time following for Q&A. It seemed more like an in-person presentation.”

“While I think this conference was awesome and I give *all* the kudos to everyone involved, I miss going in person!”

“I loved the AMA. It was great to hear from librarians from other types of libraries and learn about their job duties and collections. I would love to see this program offered next year with representatives from different library types.”

“Really appreciated having the presentations pre-recorded and available but also showing them at the designated time slot, so that everyone could “attend” in the matter that worked best for them. Also really appreciated breaks between each session. So many virtual conferences neglect to include adequate breaks.”

“I’m always interested in additional support staff and technical services topics, as so often the default presentation is reference and instruction. But I also thought this year was more equally balanced, and am hopeful/optimistic that trend will continue!”

The conference content is now open to all, and it will be available until next year. Please share with colleagues who may not have been able to attend.  http://2021.alaoweb.org/

ALAO Membership Meeting

Like last year, we held the membership meeting during the conference instead of a truncated board meeting. It was open to all ALAO members and lasted about 20 minutes. About forty people attended. Please feel free to send any feedback you have about this format for future conferences. 

ALAO Award Winners

Congratulations to our 2021 ALAO award winners! The ALAO Awards Ceremony was also open to all ALAO members and had 64 attendees. It was a lovely celebration but we hope to see everyone in person next year.

Award NameWinner
Research & Publications Committee Research GrantDr. Feng-Ru Sheu
Continuing Education GrantNathanael Davis, Cedarville University   Kristin Cole, Otterbein University   Mike Monaco, University of Akron
TEDDY AwardKen Irwin
Kathryn Venditti Mentoring AwardMark Eddy
Jay Ladd Distinguished Service AwardDerek Zoladz

Another huge thank you to the members of the 2021 Conference Planning Committee for their time, energy, commitment and teamwork. We had our post-conference session Wednesday and have built a great advice document for the 2022 CPC. If you have any additional feedback about the conference and didn’t have a chance to fill out the post-event survey, feel free to reach out to me.

Executive Board Meeting Report

The ALAO Executive Board has been making progress on projects related to two of our strategic priorities. One strategic priority is to improve the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) of ALAO as an organization, while also providing support to our members in this area. To accomplish this goal, the board is working on the following projects:

A DEI taskforce, in collaboration with the Diversity Committee, has been formed. The group has begun to plan and work on initiatives: a state DEI resource toolkit, and a programming roadshow. We look forward to sharing more as things progress, and thanks again to those who’ve volunteered for the taskforce.

Related, the diversity committee with Jerry Natal and Mandi Goodsett, have taken the lead on developing a DEI statement for ALAO as an organization. They’ve been pulling some examples and best practices for development of such a statement. The goal is to put forth an example for the board at the February 18th meeting.

The other strategic priority is increasing ALAO’s program offerings with external organizations and membership outreach. Planning is being done with the Membership and IG coordinators to determine next steps in these efforts. More information will be shared in the spring. This initiative is a continuation from an idea last year to further involve students in the state with ALAO. Membership Chair Maureen Barry is preparing a proposal that will be brought to the board in February as she reaches out to student supervisors over the coming months.

And finally, I’ve accepted a new position and must resign from participation on the board. Gerald Natal, president-elect, and Mandi Goodsett, past-president, will be taking the lead and standing in as interim President in the coming months. I will miss the wonderful professionals that make up this organization. Thank you all for your continued service.

ALAO member input and feedback is always welcome. If you have ideas for how ALAO could improve or would like to volunteer to help with a specific project, please feel free to reach out to a board member.

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 4 (Dec 2021) | Tagged | Leave a comment

Vice President/President Elect Report

Posted on December 7, 2021 by anitaslack
Jerry Natal, Vice President/President Elect

Another season is winding down, another semester ending. Traditionally, it is a time of the year for reflection and giving thanks, as well as planning for the coming year. I personally have much for which to be grateful—much of the work I have done over the past several months has resulted in rewards both tangible and intangible. The coming year is sure to present me with many new challenges, and while it is not always possible to anticipate what lies ahead, there is comfort in knowing that there are resources available to help me navigate through the trials and tribulations that may surface. Among these resources are the members of the ALAO board and the next committed group of conference planners as we revert back to an in-person conference. Speaking of the board and conference planning committee, I’d like to publicly thank the 2021 conference planning committee for their time, commitment, and expertise in organizing a successful annual conference, with a special heartfelt thank you to Jessica McIntosh for her service and leadership leading up to the conference. As you likely now know, Jessica has resigned her position as President of ALAO due to a conflict of interest with a new job opportunity; I am happy for her and wish her well in her new position with Cengage.

According to ALAO’s bylaws and procedures, as a consequence of the presidential resignation, I will be acting as interim president of ALAO, pending approval of the ALAO Board to assume the duties officially. Past President Mandi Goodsett has graciously offered to support me in my endeavors as I prematurely take the reins of the organization (I would like to think this is more of a co-interim situation), and I find re-assurance in the collective wisdom of the ALAO board. Onward and upward!

Program Committee Report

Being interim president of the organization does not preclude chairing the 2022 annual conference planning committee, and so I give you a brief update on the CPC. An intrepid group is now assembled, comprised of veterans and new faces, which will be meeting in December to begin initial planning. They are:

Don Appleby, University of Akron

Cara Calabrese, Miami University

Paul Campbell, Ohio University

Kristin Cole, Otterbein University

Melissa Cox Norris, University of Cincinnati

Mark Eddy, Case Western Reserve

Kathy Fisher, Ursuline College

Ken Irwin, Miami University

Sara Klink, Stark State College

Katie Maxfield, Wittenberg University

Rob O’Brien Withers, Miami University

Peggy Rector, Denison University

Allen Reichert, Otterbein University

Seth Sisler, Ohio University

Ann Marie Smeraldi, Cleveland State University

Katy Tucker, Xavier University

We have a solid group for now, but I anticipate more volunteers may be needed as the conference date approaches. If anyone is willing to be “on call,” please send me an email.

I have been contemplating ideas for a theme and keynote speaker(s), and hope to have a theme selected at the next CPC meeting; however, I am more than happy to entertain ideas from the membership! A call for proposals will be issued once the theme has been decided.

Before I sign out, there are a few things I’d like to mention. Mandi Goodsett will be directing the efforts of a task force to coordinate interest groups with ALAO’s DEI strategy. Mandi is also leading the effort to develop a Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion statement for the organization. Many thanks to Mandi and everyone else involved in this important work.

I’d also like to take this opportunity on behalf of ALAO to thank the SWON library consortium for their years of acting as our organization’s fiscal agent—you were there when we needed you! I would also like to welcome OhioNET, with whom we have had a long relationship, as our new fiscal agent. While I am on about OhioNET, I would like to wish OhioNET’s former deputy director Christine Morris well at her new position as digital resources manager for OPLIN. Christine was a long-time member of ALAO and great supporter of the organization. Finally, I’d like to remind everyone to consider taking advantage of the great opportunities offered to ALAO members, such as the Continuing Education Grant and the Research Grant.

As we head into the remainder of the season and into the new year, I would like to reaffirm my commitment to the organization, and wish you all the best of holidays.

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 4 (Dec 2021) | Tagged | Leave a comment

Past President’s Report

Posted on December 7, 2021 by anitaslack
Mandi Goodsett, ALAO Past President

I am pleased to report that the Awards Committee selected winners for the 2021 Kathryn L. Venditti Mentoring and Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Awards.

For his work with MLIS students and his support for colleagues at his institution and around the state, Mark Eddy (Case Western Reserve University) was awarded the Venditti Mentoring Award.

For his tireless work to improve the online image of ALAO and push ALAO members to embrace new ideas and challenges, Derek Zoladz (OhioNET) was awarded the Ladd Distinguished Service Award. Congratulations to both!

We had many excellent nominations this year, so I encourage anyone who submitted a nomination to do so again in the future. 

These two ALAO awards, as well as several others, were presented at the ALAO Conference in a virtual ceremony again this year. There were quite a few attendees, many of whom shared congratulations and well-wishes in the chat. Congratulations to all of our award winners!

In early 2022, the Nominating Committee will be putting out a call for ALAO board nominations. We will need nominees for Vice President/President Elect, Secretary, Membership Chair, and three Members at Large. In the meantime, if you are interested in serving on the Nominating Committee (a brief appointment that would begin in January and end in April 2022), let me know by December 16th. Please consider serving the ALAO community in one of these roles!

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ALAO 2021 People’s Choice Poster Award Winners

Posted on December 7, 2021 by anitaslack

At every ALAO Annual Conference, the Research & Publications Committee askes attendees to vote for the People’s Choice Poster Award. This award is typically given to one poster; however, this year, we had a three-way tie. All three posters will each be given the $100 award to split among the co-authors. Please join us in congratulating the following People’s Choice Poster Award winners from the 2021 ALAO Annual Conference:

“Beyond the Land Acknowledgement: Indigenous Language Revitalization, Student Activism, and Library Research”

  • Stefanie Hilles (Miami University)
  • Ginny Boehme (Miami University)

“Thinking through Diversity in the University’s Music Library to Connect to the Academic Community and Beyond”

  • Trinidad Linares (Bowling Green State University)

“A Celebration of Us!: A Telling of a Libraries’ Value During COVID-19 Through Stories and Data”

  • Deborah Tenofsky (University of Cincinnati)
  • Ted Baldwin (University of Cincinnati)
  • Catie Carlson (University of Cincinnati)
  • Katie Foran-Mulcahy (University of Cincinnati)

–Paul C. Campbell, Research & Publications Committee Co-Chair, Ohio University
–Katy Tucker, Research & Publications Committee Co-Chair, Xavier University

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2021 Conference Website Now Available

Posted on December 7, 2021 by anitaslack

We are pleased to announce that the 2021 ALAO Conference website is now open and viewable to all! Even if you did not register for the conference, feel free to view and share the recorded sessions on the conference website, including the keynote sessions, posters, membership meeting, and awards ceremony.

Thank you to all who were able to join us for the annual conference!

P.S. We hope to see you next year for the 2022 ALAO Annual Conference, scheduled for November 3-4!

–Melissa Cox Norris, Public Relations Coordinator, University of Cincinnati

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Notes from the Trenches

Posted on December 7, 2021 by anitaslack

The ALAO Mentoring Program: In Our Own Words

NOTE:  We recognize that the mentoring program is a personal experience and for many mentoring relationships to succeed, confidentiality is a critical component.  We are choosing to share our experience because we truly enjoyed working with each other and we hope that by sharing our story, others who are curious about the mentoring program can understand what it involves.

Josh:  When I signed up for the ALAO mentoring program, I had already received my MLIS degree and worked in an academic library for three years. Now I wanted to see what I could do to increase my professional development and engagement. I hoped to receive advice on what I could do to enhance my reference approach, develop my student worker management skills, and learn more about the LIS research process. These areas became our program goals, around which we had structured discussions. Through sharing our experiences, we were led down unexpected avenues, taking us beyond these goals.

Heidi:  I signed up for the mentoring program because ALAO has been a great organization for me and I wanted to give back.  The mentoring program is an easy way to establish a more in-depth connection with a colleague, something that can be difficult in a committee setting.  My goals were more general, but in addition to working with Josh in a way that was beneficial to both of us, we talked about how Josh uses LinkedIn, a platform that I use only infrequently.

Josh: Heidi has worked at public as well as academic libraries, so she was able to give me a diverse perspective on reference. Our valuable discussions of the reference interview, sources, and searching helped to clarify my own approach. It was valuable as well to discuss library student worker management. We both work at Catholic, liberal arts institutions, so it was interesting to see where our recruitment and training strategies aligned or differed. Heidi also alerted me to research opportunities at the ALAO conference–particularly the poster session, an excellent option for the beginning researcher. Furthermore, I learned of the importance of connecting with the university community through presentations, workshops, and demonstrations. This is particularly relevant to my professional situation, as librarians are not able to achieve tenure at Mount St. Joseph University, making our degree of visibility even greater importance.

Heidi :  The mentoring program is nice because it’s what the partners agree to make of it.  Josh had very clear goals and my experience aligned with his aims, so it worked really well.  We met for an hour via Zoom every other month this past year.  Josh is a very easy-going person, so once he shared his goals, the conversations were great–there were a couple times when we had to continue our topic the following month because we ran out of time.  It also helped that Josh prepared questions to guide the conversation.  Once Josh shared some of his interests and career plans, I could more easily spot opportunities that he might consider. I also benefited from hearing about his experiences at his library, as it’s always helpful to hear how others tackle similar issues. Josh and I had a good connection and learned from each other during this mentorship.  Even though I’ve been a librarian for a few years, I approached this program as a learner–while I was happy to share my experiences with Josh, I was also there to learn about him as well as from him.  

Josh:  The most valuable part of my experience in the program was the encouragement I received from Heidi to pursue new professional opportunities. As a new librarian, it is difficult to develop and maintain professional confidence. My mentor alerted me to opportunities for leadership, development, and advancement that were always in my grasp, and through her support, I felt more confident in my ability to pursue them. As a result, I served on the spring workshop planning committee of the Special Collections and Archives Interest Group (SCAig). A few months later, I was accepted as SCAig co-chair–something I probably would not have applied for prior to my mentorship experience. This is why I recommend the program to new LIS professionals. When you are struggling with professional timidity, having someone to give you those little pushes is so pivotal!

–Joshua Zeller, Special Collections & Archives Interest Group Co-Chair Head of Access Services, Mount St. Joseph University
–Heidi Gauder, Coordinator of Research & Instruction, University of Dayton

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 4 (Dec 2021) | Tagged | Leave a comment

Member Spotlight

Posted on December 7, 2021 by anitaslack

Let’s shine the Member Spotlight on Sterling Coleman from Clark State College!

What is/are your role(s) in academic libraries?

I am the Director, Library Services at Clark State College in Springfield, Ohio.

What do you like most about academic library work?

The thing I like most about academic library work is information literacy. I love teaching students how to find the information they need by using our scholarly electronic resources in a timely manner. I especially love to see the look of enlightenment in their eyes when they have learned something new.

What are some interesting projects you’ve been involved with lately?

I am currently performing archival research for a history project celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Clark State College. Last year, I published my book How Books, Reading and Subscription Libraries Defined Colonial Clubland in the British Empire with Routledge, Taylor & Francis. And for the previous two years, I have served as the moderator for a summer book club among Clark State’s faculty and staff dealing with the topics of anti-racism and racism in our daily lives.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself.

I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and thus I am a life-long New Orleans Saints fan. GO SAINTS! I graduated from Louisiana State University, the University of Michigan and Florida State University thus I am a Tiger, Wolverine, and Seminole all rolled into one. GEAUX TIGERS! GO BLUE! GO NOLES! 

What do you love about being an ALAO member? (Or if you’re a newer member, you might prefer to answer Why did you join ALAO?)

I love the camaraderie. I love meeting with my peers and sharing ideas with them. Also, I love attending the ALAO Annual Conferences and I love presenting at these conferences when my work schedule permits.

–Maureen Barry, Membership Chair

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