Vice President/President Elect Report

Posted on September 15, 2021 by anitaslack
Jerry Natal, Vice President/President Elect

A hearty hello to the ALAO membership! In addition to the overall buzz I acquire at the start of a new semester, I am excited to begin my tenure as your Vice President/President Elect. This means, of course, that I must begin to devote a portion of my thought processes to 2022 and ALAO’s 48th annual conference, which at this early stage is being planned as an in-person event for early November. This decision was made before the COVID-19 pandemic took its current turn in the wrong direction, and in fact was based on the results of the poll that was sent to ALAO members back in June 2021 (see below).

Since my powers of prognostication are ineffectual when it comes to the behavior of viruses, I can only hope that the Era of COVID will exist only in the history books in fall of 2022. And so I look forward to the 2022 conference with optimism. If nothing else, planning committees are getting accustomed to hosting conferences online, and we should be in good shape for that eventuality.

If there is an interest, this is how 37% of ALAO members felt about future conference options. First choice (by a slim margin over a “Live conference with recorded presentations shared virtually for a cost”) was to “Alternate live and virtual conferences each year,” followed by “Live conference; offer selected sessions after the conference as live webinars for a cost,” and lastly offering “Hybrid/Flipped (Pre-recorded content with in-person activities).” The pandemic has had an indelible impact on conference planning—it is certain this question will be revisited in the future.

In my experience, the conference planning committee members typically come up with the ideas for a theme and keynote speakers. I would also like to tap into the collective wisdom of our knowledgeable and resourceful ALAO membership and welcome any and all ideas for a theme or dynamic speakers for consideration. Additionally, I’d be happy to hear from anyone who might be interested in being on the 2022 team.

Here’s wishing you a great fall semester!

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 3 (Sept 2021) | Tagged | Leave a comment

ALAO Virtual Conference Event: Save the Date!

Posted on September 15, 2021 by anitaslack

ALAO Virtual Conference Event: AMA – Working with Art and Cartoons

October 21st, 2021, 3:30-4:30 – Online

This free event will be offered in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) format. This is your opportunity to learn what it is like to work with visual collections! Have you wondered what it is like to feature comic strips, or the best way to present art? Curious about the resources available to support art and design research? Learn about two unique Ohio libraries, the Jessica R. Gund Memorial Library and The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum from two of their librarians!  Join us for this fun virtual event and bring your questions. Conference registration not required. Meeting details forthcoming.

–-Katy Tucker, Research & Publications Committee Co-Chair, Xavier University

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 3 (Sept 2021) | Leave a comment

Find ALAO on Social Media

Posted on September 15, 2021 by anitaslack

Follow, like, and share ALAO on social media. Have content ideas? E-mail Melissa Cox Norris, ALAO Public Relations Coordinator, at publicrelations@alaoweb.org.

https://www.facebook.com/ALAOorg/

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 3 (Sept 2021) | Leave a comment

Call for Mentors

Posted on September 15, 2021 by anitaslack

Call for participation in the 2021-2022 ALAO Mentoring Program

The Academic Library Association of Ohio’s Professional Development Committee (ALAO PDC) is excited to announce a call for participation in the 2021-2022 Mentoring Program. 

Program Overview

The Academic Library Association of Ohio Professional Development Committee reviews registration information and matches mentoring pairs. The annual program typically runs from October 1 through September 30. 

The mentor application contains a few fields that will be posted on the ALAO web page as a prospective mentor bio. Mentees will select three potential mentors from the bios and the PDC will match participants and reach out to new mentor-mentee pairs. 

We invite people interested in being mentors to complete the application: https://forms.gle/DL71UzdtysdPcqfs9  

Applications are due September 14, 2021

  1. Mentor bios will be posted to an ALAO web page.
  2. Prospective mentees review the list of available mentors and identify three mentors they would like to work with.
  3. Prospective mentees complete an online application listing their top three mentor choices.
  4. ALAO PDC will then work to create a match. When a match is confirmed, both parties will be notified.
  5. Prior to your first mentoring meeting, ALAO PDC will provide some guidelines and suggestions to help get the mentoring relationship off to a good start.
  6. Typically, most mentoring relationships meet for at least four sessions based on mentor/mentee availability and scheduling preferences.
  7. At the end of the mentoring relationship, a program evaluation will go out to both parties.

Who Can Be a Mentor?

We welcome mentors from all levels of professional experience in academic libraries. Mentoring offers a meaningful way to engage with a colleague, be a supportive listener, and help them identify and achieve their professional goals.

Questions? Please contact Melissa Bauer: mbauer10@kent.edu, Michelle McKinney:  michelle.mckinney@uc.edu, or Kristen Peters: petersk@wittenberg.edu 

–Melissa Bauer, First Year Board Member, Kent State University-Stark Campus

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Join the Diversity Committee

Posted on September 15, 2021 by anitaslack

Address various aspects of human diversity, including ethnic and racial, country of origin, religious affiliation, gender, LGBTQIA, ability, and age. This Committee serves as an advisory group to ALAO to assist the organization in providing leadership for diversity by acting as a bridge to promote understanding and to help foster and sustain diversity throughout the organization.

Specific Activities

Plan, organize and hold educational programs and activities that may:

-Develop among Ohio academic library personnel a sensitivity and positive attitude toward human diversity.

– Encourage academic library personnel in Ohio to interact with other individuals and organizations that promote diversity.

– Encourage the incorporation of diversity concerns in all areas of Ohio academic library policy and practice.

– Develop and/or share recruitment and retention strategies to attract a diverse population to careers in Ohio academic libraries.

– Communicate regularly to the members of ALAO about activities and items of interest concerning diversity.

Past activities include, creating ALAO Code of Conduct, reporting forms and workflow; workshops (online and in person); and administering the ALAO diversity scholarship.

For more information please contact CoChairs Edith Scarletto (ediths@bgsu.edu) or Gwen Short (short.67@osu.edu)

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 3 (Sept 2021) | Tagged | Leave a comment

Interest Groups News

Posted on September 15, 2021 by anitaslack

Collection Management Interest Group (CMIG) News

On July 14, 2021, the Collection Management Interest Group (CMIG) hosted a 90-minute webinar called “Partners in Success: Libraries and Vendors”. The presentations were followed by a lively discussion and a Q&A session.

Stephanie Church is an Acquisitions Librarian at Case Western Reserve University’s Kelvin Smith Library. Her primary responsibilities include monograph purchases in any format, managing and implementing user-driven initiatives, collection assessment, and vendor relations. She kicked off the day with her tips to success, along with various best practices for partnership.

Michelle Kraft is the Library Director of the Cleveland Clinic Health System. As the Director, Michelle oversees library resources and services for multiple hospitals in Ohio and across the United States. As a result, she works with vendors on the best methods for providing access to online resources to a diverse group of medical professionals with very unique needs. Michelle highlighted the power of collaboration with vendors, instead of always taking an “attack” approach in finding solutions.

Greg Schraft has been with IOP Publishing for over 6 years and he currently manages all US Government and a mid-west academic territory. His entire career has been in publishing with extensive time at Elsevier and Lexis Nexis with both sales and management roles. He shared examples of success through communication efforts and how customer feedback benefits content platforms, features, and content.

Stay informed of future CMIG events on our website and email list.

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

–Kevin Messner, CMIG Co-Chair, Miami University

Community and Two Year College Libraries (C2YCLIG) Interest Group

The Community and Two Year College Libraries Interest Group will be holding a general membership meeting on Thursday, September 16th at 2pm via WebEx. Current IG members will receive the meeting link via email later this month. Please contact us at c2yclig-chairs@alaoweb.org if you would like to be added to the IG listserv. Please consider completing the survey regarding C2YCLIG meetings and events for 2021-2022 by clicking the link below. 

C2YCLIG 2021-2022 Survey

–Megan Mamolen, Community & Two Year College Libraries Interest Group Co-Chair, Lakeland Community College

–Ragan Snead, Community & Two Year College Libraries Interest Group Co-Chair, Lakeland Community College

Instruction Interest Group (IIG) News

The Instruction Interest Group (IIG) is pleased to welcome Stefanie Hilles, Arts & Humanities Librarian at Miami University as the new Co-Chair for the 2021-2023 term. She will serve with Abi Morgan, Social Sciences Librarian, also at Miami University, whose term will end in July 2022. 

IIG will be hosting a coffee/lunch hour discussion at the 2021 ALAO Annual Conference. We welcome all conference attendees interested in teaching and learning strategies to join us for a chance to share your experiences returning to face to face instruction this fall or staying remote. 


We always welcome new members to our group. If you have questions about IIG, or you are interested in joining our workshop planning committee, please contact iig-chairs@alaoweb.org

–Abi Morgan, Instruction Interest Group Co-Chair, Miami University

–Stefanie Hilles, Instruction Interest Group Co-Chair, Miami University(/em?

Programming, Outreach, and Marketing (PROMIG) Interest Group News

The PROMIG group would like to welcome Nate Floyd as our new co-chair for 2021-23! Nate is the Student Success Librarian for Foundational Learning at Miami University. Outreach and engagement are major parts of Nate’s job at Miami, and he brings some experience with creating marketing materials for other organizations and events on campus. As a graduate student in the Media School at Indiana University, he also taught public relations and visual communication. 

One of the major goals Shaunda and I set when we first started The Programming, Outreach, and Marketing Interest Group (PROMIG) in 2018 was to create a toolkit of programming, outreach, and marketing resources and tools. These could be templates for posters and promotional materials, examples of various assessment tools, even a web bibliography of articles or books. Nate is excited to help us make good progress on that goal this year. We’d love your input on this or other ideas that you’d like to see the group work on in the coming year.

Contact us at promig-chairs@alaoweb.org to share your ideas!

–Eboni Johnson, Programming, Outreach, and Marketing Interest Group, Oberlin College

–Nate Floyd, Programming, Outreach, and Marketing Interest Group, Miami University

Scholarly Communication Interest Group (SCIG) News

Change in Leadership

The Scholarly Communications Interest Group recently welcomed Cindy Kristof as SCIG co-chair for the 2021-2023 term. This position was formerly held by Heather Crozier of Ohio Northern University. Cindy currently serves as Head of Copyright & Scholarly Communication and Associate Professor at Kent State University. She will work with Drew Balduff, fellow SCIG co-chair, to create professional development opportunities for interested ALAO community members.

–Draw Baldruff, SCIG Co-Chair, The University of Findlay

–Cindy Kristof, SCIG Co-Chair, Kent State University

Special Collections and Archives (SCAig) Interest Group News

The Special Collections and Archives Interest Group (SCAig) is pleased to welcome Joshua (Josh) Zeller as incoming co-chair for the 2021-2023 term. He currently works as the Head of Access Services at Archbishop Alter Library, Mount St. Joseph University. He will serve as co-chair alongside Henry Handley, Collections Librarian at the University of Dayton’s Marian Library, whose term will conclude in June 2022. Josh and Henry express their thanks to Rachel Makarowski of Miami University’s Special Collections and Archives for serving as co-chair from 2019-2021.

If you have ideas, opinions, or questions about what events you would like to see from SCAig, please get in touch with the co-chairs! For the annual SCAig spring workshop we’d love to hear from you about preferences for a virtual or in-person event, potential topics, and speakers. Look for a preliminary survey coming out later this year.

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

– Henry Handley, SCAig Co-Chair, University of Dayton

– Joshua Zeller, SCAig Co-Chair, Mount St. Joseph University

Sustainability Interest Group (SusIG) News

The Sustainability Interest Group looks forward to another year of events and learning. In particular, we plan on continuing our ‘Sustainability on Your Campus’ discussion series, in which librarians from around the state share the sustainability activities and programs happening on their campuses. If you are interested in speaking at one of these events and/or joining the interest group, please email susig-chairs@alaoweb.org.

–Bethany Spieth, Sustainability Interest Group Co-Chair, Ohio Northern University

–Kim Hoffman, Sustainability Interest Group Co-Chair, Miami University

Technical, Electronic, and Digital Services Interest Group (TEDSIG) News

TEDSIG is now accepting nominations for the 2021 TEDDY Award!

The TEDDY award recognizes distinguished service by an ALAO member in the fields of Technical, Electronic, and Digital Services. It recognizes an individual’s significant contributions to their colleagues and to the field. Such contributions may include, but are not limited to: sustained service to the community, pioneering innovative practices, influential publications or presentations, or demonstrated leadership to the profession.

The TEDDY is awarded annually at the ALAO Conference, and includes two waivers to any future TEDSIG event, along with the well-deserved fame and recognition amongst your colleagues. Due to the ongoing pandemic, our TEDSIG mascot TEDS will be spending another year in hibernation.

To nominate a colleague for the TEDDY award, please send a brief nomination rationale to TEDSIG-chairs@alaoweb.org

Nominees must be current ALAO members, who have worked in – or are currently working in – an Ohio academic library in the area of Technical, Electronic, or Digital Services.

The deadline for this year’s nominations is October 1, 2021. If you have any questions, please contact the TEDSIG Chairs Chris Deems and Jerry Yarnetsky via email at TEDSIG-chairs@alaoweb.org.

–Chris Deems, Technical, Electronic, and Digital Services Interest Group Co-Chair, Ohio Northern University

–Jerry Yarnetsky, Technical, Electronic and Digital Services Interest Group Co-Chair, Miami University

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 3 (Sept 2021) | Leave a comment

Member Spotlight

Posted on September 15, 2021 by anitaslack

Let’s shine the Member Spotlight on Shelby Stuart from Case Western Reserve University!

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

I’m the Electronic Resources Librarian at Kelvin Smith Library, CWRU’s largest campus library. I primarily manage authentication and access to KSL’s many, many research databases, ebook collections, online journals, and streaming media. My other major responsibilities are shepherding e-resource licenses through our review and negotiation process as well as gathering and analyzing e-resource usage data.

What do you like most about academic library work?

Problem-solving is one of the most rewarding parts of my work. I especially enjoy working with users to get to the bottom of complex e-resource access problems. Though most of my job takes place behind the scenes, I still enjoy volunteering as a substitute for occasional reference shifts, which allows me to stay in touch with students, faculty, and staff outside the library while keeping my public service skills sharp! In my previous role supervising student employees here at KSL, I got to witness firsthand how remarkably driven CWRU students are. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that I play a direct role in supporting their access to scholarship.

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

At the moment I’m collaborating with colleagues on several projects related to accessibility, from setting up the HathiTrust Accessible Text Request Service on our campus, to pulling together resources for a future accessibility webpage (shout out to my colleague Josie Cotton for spearheading this project!), to developing model accessibility language for our electronic resource licenses. I’m also looking forward to serving as CWRU’s representative on the new OhioLINK Accessibility Implementation Team once it gets started.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself.

I care a lot about sustainable food systems! I was awarded an environmental sustainability scholarship to Kalamazoo College, where I started volunteering at the campus garden and was really inspired by all the urban farming initiatives happening in Detroit at that time. Since then I’ve volunteered for three different campus gardens, an urban farm, and a CSA program.

What do you love about being an ALAO member?

The ALAO community is so supportive and quick to help each other out. My favorite ALAO experience so far has been serving for two years on the Conference Planning Committee, who really stepped up in 2020 when it became clear that we’d have to cancel our in-person conference and move to a virtual format for the first time. It was a LOT of work, but also an amazing sense of accomplishment to pull that off.

—–Maureen Barry, Membership Chair, Bowling Green State University

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 3 (Sept 2021) | Tagged | Leave a comment

Membership Report

Posted on September 15, 2021 by anitaslack

The current membership of ALAO includes a total of 317 members consisting of 286 regular members, 5 retiree members, and 26 student members. We are excited to welcome new members who joined between May 29, 2021 and August 29, 2021.

Alonso Avila, Oberlin College

Amy Badertscher, Kenyon College

Jane Berger, Owens Community College

Nicole Conforto, Wayne State University, Student

Jeff Corbett

Michelle Early, Xavier University

Kathleen Flores, Kent State University, Student

Pamela Friedrich, Lake Erie College

Katie Gosman, Cedarville University, Student

Kristen Kirchgesler, Case Western Reserve University

Grace Kohler, Cedarville University, Student

Katherine Korwan, Cedarville University, Student

Sarah Miller, University of Dayton

Ryan Mulholand, Dominican University, Student

Sarah Probst, OhioNET

Janis Salomon, Wayne State University, Student

Emily Wages, University of Cincinnati Clermont College

Elly Watkins, Cedarville University, Student

–Maureen Barry, Membership Chair, Bowling Green State University

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ACRL Chapters Council Report

Posted on September 14, 2021 by anitaslack

During the 2020-2021 academic year, the ACRL Representative:

  • Forwarded to the ALAO Board list or the ALAO membership list information emailed from ACRL as appropriate.
  • Attended ALAO board meetings, and communicated questions to ACRL as necessary.
  • Compiled the Ohio Chapter Annual Report for ACRL

Updates from ACRL Chapters Council at ALA Annual

  • ALA
    • Forward Together – many resolutions are being drawn up; there is movement but it is taking a great deal of time.
    • Membership and the value of membership is top of mind for leadership.
  • ACRL
    • Awards program is on a one year pause while a taskforce determines if the awards are still relevant to members.
    • CR&L News will be online-only starting January 2022
    • Membership is under discussion – focusing on retention and engagement; identifying why people leave.
    • ACRL taskforce is looking at the budget as it relates to EDI work in ACRL, and if ACRL is living its values
  • LibLearnX
    • Replacing Midwinter, and will focus more on content and less on meetings.
    • Call for proposals forthcoming.

–-Created by Katie Blocksidge, The Ohio State University at Newark.  Submitted by Jane Hammons, Liaison to ACRL, The Ohio State University

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 3 (Sept 2021) | Leave a comment

Funding Opportunities Column

Posted on September 14, 2021 by anitaslack

ALAO Conference Support Staff Grant

Are you a staff member planning to attend or present at the 2021 ALAO Conference? Consider applying for the Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) Support Staff Conference Grant.

The Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) seeks to encourage support staff development and participation in ALAO activities through the Support Staff Grant. To that end, the ALAO Executive Board may award up to $150 annually to assist and encourage support staff to attend the ALAO Annual Conference. All support staff currently employed in an Ohio academic library are eligible to apply. Priority is given to applicants with an accepted 2021 ALAO conference program proposal.

Eligibility:

  • Support staff currently employed in an Ohio academic library 
  • ALAO membership is not required

Application Deadline: Thursday, September 23, 2021 11:59 p.m.

Awardees will be notified by October 01, 2021. 

For more information apply online. To learn more about the ALAO Support Staff Conference Grant visit the ALAO website.

If you have any questions about the Support Staff Grant, please contact Professional Development Committee chair, Elizabeth Sullivan.”

As far as the other grants go, we’re not soliciting applicants for the Continuing Education grant until November, and we don’t have the webpage or forms set up yet, but if you want to do a short blurb reminding people that it exists, we can say the following, 

ALAO Continuing Education Grant Coming Soon

The Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) Continuing Education Grant is awarded each year to support the cost of participating in professional development opportunities such as conferences, workshops, seminars, which are related to the member’s current position or in pursuit of a professional library degree. Current ALAO members are eligible to apply for funds to defray the costs of attending any library-related educational opportunity occurring during the calendar year. Applications for 2022 will open in November 2021.

–Elizabeth Sullivan, Professional Development Committee Chair, Oberlin College

Posted in Vol. 39 no. 3 (Sept 2021) | Tagged | Leave a comment