The Research and Publications Committee is pleased to announce that Dr. Feng-Ru Sheu, Instructional Design Librarian at Kent State University, has been awarded 2021 ALAO Research Grant funds for her project “Flipped Classrooms for One-Shot Library Instruction in Remote Teaching (in the time of COVID)”. She will be exploring the use of the flipped classroom model for “one-shot” library instruction sessions in an online learning environment, focusing on student experiences and learning outcomes for this approach. We congratulate Dr. Sheu and look forward to hearing about the results of her research.
–Ken Irwin, Research and Publications Committee Co-Chair, Miami University –Katy Tucker, Research and Publications Committee Co-Chair, Xavier University
The current membership of ALAO includes a total of 321 members consisting of 288 regular members, 5 retiree members, and 28 student members. We are excited to welcome new members who joined between February 25, 2021 and May 28, 2021.
Zaineb Bayahy, Capital University
Jennifer Blasi, Xavier University
Nicole Conforto, Wayne State University
Donna Fuller, Columbus State Community College
Laura Maidens, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Katie Maxfield, Wittenberg University
Sam Mays, Kent State University
Karen McKillip, University of North Carolina Greensboro
Dawn Winans, Kettering University
–Maureen Barry, Membership Chair, Bowling Green State University
Let’s shine the Member Spotlight on Shannon Simpson from Kenyon College Libraries!
What is/are your role(s) in academic libraries?
My job title is Scholarly Instruction Librarian, but I think of my role, as a BIPOC Librarian in the Academic Librarian field, as one of constant education and learning and creating. Whether that be with fellow librarians working to learn and incorporate critical pedagogy and librarianship into our everyday work, or working with students and faculty to develop and engage a deeper understanding of the world of information and how that insight is essential to using and working and creating new information responsibly.
What do you like most about academic library work?
I adore working with college students. I am a creative person that relishes the challenge of taking difficult information literacy concepts, figuring out where and how they should be approached from a more critical and social justice standpoint, and then creating interactive classroom experiences that engage learners in ways that are new and a bit different than what they are expecting or have experienced. While great classroom experiences require quite a lot of planning, when it goes well, it feels like magic. I’m here for that.
What are some interesting projects you’ve been involved with lately?
I am so over the moon to be working with an amazing team of enthusiastic librarians in the coming year on a CODEX funded project: Reframing the ACRL Framework: A Roadmap for Equitable Information Literacy Instruction. We’re working from a shared desire to create learning objects based on the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in order to provide students with a deeper understanding of inequity and racism through the lens of media and information literacy. This project has given a group of librarians from Denison, Wooster, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan (and Kenyon) the opportunity to start with a reflective process on teaching, social justice, and anti-racism, in order to move toward the development and implementation of unique learning tools that are long overdue in our field. I am so excited to see where we go with this!
Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
I have a running list of fictional band names and album titles that I randomly come up with. For instance, I am just waiting for a rap/metal act named Kombucha to come on the scene after dropping their single, “Trace Amounts” from their debut album, “The Mother.” There’s no doubt it will be a banger.
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 am a newer member, but I spent years in a couple of Maryland-wide groups. I’ve found that being able to learn and grow and collaborate with librarians across different campuses is always inspiring. I feel so lucky to work with a truly dynamic group of librarians at Kenyon, but it’s just as wonderful to hear from and learn and grow with the myriad talented librarians across Ohio.
On a more serious note, however, I think librarians are at a precipice. We need to decide whether or not we want to do the hard work of rooting out and tearing down library systems of oppression in order to build new structures that support all information seekers. It’s in no way easy work, but if ALAO is up to that challenge it will have lasting impacts for generations. I have hope that we can transform ourselves and our libraries from information gatekeepers into information gateways.
—Maureen Barry, Membership Chair, Bowling Green State University
ALAO’s interest groups don’t stop over summer! ALAO has 12 active special interest groups that have formed to discuss concerns and issues related to academic librarianship in Ohio. Keep an eye on the ALAO events page for summer and fall 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
Collection Management Interest Group (CMIG)
Partners in Success: Libraries and Vendors
The Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) Collection Management Interest Group (CMIG) is offering a virtual meeting that will focus on library and vendor partnerships. There will be 3 presentations of about 15-minutes each followed by Q&A, open discussion, and group brainstorming on these topics. The presentations would look at various concepts embedded in close collaborations as demonstrated through real-world examples, best practices, and/or successful results. Zoom will be used for the meeting on July 14, 2021, at 2pm-3:30pm. Registration will be required, but the meeting will be free.
The benefit to vendors on collaboration and why they want to see partnerships.
How librarians and staff can directly influence and direct the resources, tools, and platforms offered by vendors.
How librarians and staff can push for change in how vendors interact with libraries and users, including communication, assessment, fiscal terms, behind-the-scenes processes, automation, etc.
Stephanie Church (Acquisitions Librarian, Kelvin Smith Library, CWRU)
Stephanie will discuss why librarian/vendor relationships should be viewed as symbiotic and how taking time to nurture these relationships is one of the most effective ways to advocate for yourself, your library, and the profession.
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.
Sharice Collins (VP of Marketing and Market Engagement, IOP Publishing, Inc.)
Title: Partners in Scholarly Communication
There are many opportunities for vendors and librarians to work together to achieve mutual benefit. Sharice will discuss how to identify, develop, and evolve those partnerships and will share some examples of success.
Sharice Collins is Vice President of Marketing and Market Engagement for IOP Publishing. Based in the Philadelphia Headquarters, Sharice is a member of the company’s Senior Management Team, overseeing all marketing, promotion, and exhibit activities for the Americas.
Michelle Kraft, MLS, AHIP, FMLA (Director, Cleveland Clinic Health System Libraries)
Negotiating with library vendors is not a full-contact sport and viewing it as such will leave you and the rep mentally bruised, battered, and most likely no closer to an equitable solution. Listening, strategic sharing, and understanding, qualities found more in diplomacy, tend to be more productive, less stressful, and often lead to future positive experiences.
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.
STEMIG continues to hold open discussions for members (or anyone interested!) to drop in, connect with colleagues, and discuss whatever is on their minds. These virtual discussions take place at 11:00am on the second Friday of each month at this Zoom link. We will next be meeting on June 11th.
In association with the Scholarly Communication IG and the Michigan Academic Library Association (MiALA), STEMIG is sponsoring the workshop “An Antiracist Framework for Scholarly Communications.” We will be welcoming presenters Niccole Coggins (Editorial, Design, and Production Coordinator & Assistant Project Editor at UVA Press) and Jocelyn Dawson (Journals Marketing Manager at Duke University Press). Librarians and interested faculty can register here:
A recording will be available following the workshop.
We are also electing our next co-chair! Information about the candidates and a ballot are available at https://forms.gle/y8gZaXqjYDMiZrVp9. Voting will close on June 11th and the results will be announced on June 18th.
–Zach Sharrow, STEMIG Co-Chair, College of Wooster –Daniela Solomon, STEMIG Co-Chair, Case Western Reserve University
Anne Kumer, Stephanie Becker, and Naomi Langer had their proposal accepted for the Stanford Libraries Working Meeting on Archival Discovery and Delivery, where small groups are now working to develop a topic related to improving archival discovery and delivery into a written contribution of 5-10 pages for inclusion in a larger handbook compiled and published by the project. Their proposal is titled “Access is People: How Investing in Digital Collections Labor Improves Archival Discovery & Delivery”.
Stephanie Church gave a presentation in a JSTOR webinar on Wednesday, Sept. 16 titled “Creative ebook acquisition strategies during COVID-19”. She discussed KSL’s e-resource usage trends during the pandemic and the library’s strategies to control costs. The webinar can be viewed from JSTOR’s Webinars page.
Mark Clemente has been selected to receive the 2020 Staff Diversity Excellence Award! The Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship Team nominated him and a committee made up of CWRU Diversity Leadership Council members selected him to receive the award. Mark and other award winners were recognized at the Office for Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity Annual Diversity Achievement Awards on Wednesday, May 5th.
Daniela Solomon presented a poster at ACRL’s 2021 Virtual conference, April 13-16 titled “Benchmarking Open Access Publications from School of Engineering Faculty”. This study is benchmarking open access publications against the paywalled publications published by the faculties of CWRU’s School of Engineering over a ten-year period. Using Elsevier’s Scopus abstract and citation database and SciVal data, the study compares publication trends, citation impact, and collaborations impact. The study also helped identify open access engineering faculties champion, the local research topics most commonly published open access, as well as the preferred journals for open access publishing. The results are informative for the liaison librarian in engaging individual faculty or the school administration, provide a greater understanding of the engineering faculties’ knowledge of open access topics, and inform the library campus-wide advocacy efforts for open access policy.
Erin Smith contributed the vignette on assessment titled “Vignette: I Like and I Wish” to The One-Shot Library Instruction Survival Guide, 3rd edition edited by Heidi Buchanan and Beth McDonough published by ALA. The book was published on March 25 and the press release is available here.
Jena Styka‘s poster submission “A Space Odyssey: The Ongoing Journey to a Better Space Assessment” was accepted for presentation at the ARL Library Assessment Conference to be held October 26-28 in Rosemont, Illinois. It is her first professional submission so congratulations to you, Jena and well done!
Jacey Kepich had a guest editorship and editorial piece for a special issue of Music Reference Services Quarterly dedicated to project management. Earlier this year Jacey’s peer reviewed article on planning and implementing ANSCR was published online in this special issue. You can read her guest editorial piece, her peer-reviewed article, and links to the three essays, three articles, and an e-resource review which she edited for the special issue at this online link“
Anne Kumer, Stephanie Becker and Nora Blackman. They were all awarded an LSTA Metadata Mini-Grant from the State Library of Ohio, in conjunction with the Ohio Digital Network. Spanning nearly 100 years, the CPH Production Photographs, accessible online and numbering over 6,000 still images, offers an expansive look at the development of regional theater productions from the view of the audience, backstage, and during rehearsals. This grant will enable us to perform a legacy metadata cleanup making search and discovery more consistent across platforms, as well as discoverable on the larger web, where many researchers begin their searches. Depositing the production photographs, and later, other materials from the CPH collection, into DPLA, will give researchers unfettered access to a comprehensive catalog of theatre history, showcasing it alongside similar collections from the New York Public Library, University of Utah, and Tarrant County College.
Liz Bober was recently interviewed for an article in Elsevier titled “An evolving library role optimizes data to add value” which highlights her work in helping to improve CWRU’s international rankings. The article also includes her how-to guide on optimizing citation data in the ranking process.
Nora Blackman has some updates about two of our special collections: the MOCA Archive (Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland) and the Charles F. Brush, Sr. papers.
1) Over the course of several months in 2018-2019, Nora worked with the documentary team and MOCA staff to identify and describe resources for use in the recently released documentary film, Aggie. The film focuses on Agnes Gund’s 2017 sale of Roy Lichtenstein’s Masterpieceand subsequent donation of the proceeds ($165 million) to start a fund for criminal justice reform called the Art for Justice Fund. Notoriously camera and publicity shy, Gund was a founder of MOCA and member of the philanthropic Cleveland Gund family.
2) Over the past year, Nora worked with representatives of JSTOR to participate in their pilot program to develop a platform for Open Access primary source materials – Open Community Collections The partnership goals included learning how to integrate Special Collections archival collections alongside relevant books, journals and primary source materials on JSTOR. Special Collections’ participation included sharing one of our oldest online collections, The Charles F. Brush, Sr. papers, digitized in their entirety in 2010.
–Brian C. Gray, Collection Management Interest Group Co-Chair, Case Western Reserve University
Cedarville University News
Academic school year 2018-2019
Julie Deardorff, Director of Library Collection Services at the Centennial Library, was recognized with Cedarville University’s 2020-21 Teaching Collaboration Award. This annual faculty award recognizes inter-departmental collaboration and a commitment to integration and fostering a learning community in which different strengths are collaboratively joined to maximize the educational experience for students. Her nomination noted her regular collaboration with the English Literature and Modern Languages Department to offer a Library Internship course and her work with other university departments and local libraries coordinating student independent studies in library science. She was commended for being “always ready to assist a colleague or associate” and for the “excellent quality of her collaboration.”
–Joshua B. Michael, Cedarville University
Kent State University News
Kent State University Libraries digitizes 50 years of Black United Students’ publications
Historic publications from Kent State University’s Black United Students are now accessible in University Libraries’ digital archive. The Special Collections & Archives Department facilitated the professional digitization of 81 publications, which are now located at www.library.kent.edu/special-collections-and-archives/ksu-black-united-students-records.
The publications, written and created by members of the Kent State organization over a span of 50 years, have undergone three name changes throughout their history: Black Watch (1969-1978), The Spectrum (1979-1989) and Uhuru (1989-2019).
Black United Students was founded at Kent State University in 1968 and has remained consistently active to the present. From its inception, members of the organization have advocated for the equality of Kent State students of color, including addressing fair facilities, budget allotments, student enrollment, faculty representation, academic programming, departmental organization and social justice concerns, among many other issues in its decades-long history. The KSU Black United Students archives have been heavily used by researchers around the world.
Kent State University librarian awarded grant to add books about Ohio
Kent State University Mary Hricko, Ph.D., library director at Kent State’s Geauga Campus and the Twinsburg Academic Center, recently received a Celebrating Ohio Book Awards & Authors (COBAA) Grant for $1002. The grant, which is sponsored by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services and awarded by the State Library of Ohio, provides federal funding to expand collection development of books about Ohio and written by Ohio authors.
“The books we will receive from the grant not only showcase Ohio authors, but the selected titles will help readers uncover Ohio’s literary and cultural history,” says Dr. Hricko.
Most of the funds awarded through the COBAA grant will be used to add books to the library’s juvenile collection for the Middle Childhood Education Program at Kent State’s Geauga and Twinsburg campuses. The funds will also provide support materials for other instructional courses – many of which address diversity and inclusion issues – such as Ohio History, African-American Literature, Media, Power and Culture, and Introduction to Justice Studies.
Kent State University Libraries earns grant to benefit audio recordings from May 4, 1970 shootings
In spring 2019, Kent State University Libraries was selected by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to benefit from a $30,561 award through the Recordings at Risk grant program, generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant provides funds to digitize more than 400 audio and audiovisual recordings from the May 4 Collection, which documents the Kent State Shootings and is housed and administered by Special Collections and Archives. Haley Antell, digital initiatives and outreach librarian, and VirginiaDressler, digital projects librarian, are the grant’s co-primary investigators.
Many of the materials included in the grant are recorded on legacy formats, such as magnabelts, that cannot be played or digitized onsite at Kent State. Through the grant, the recordings were sent to a vendor that specializes in historical AV formats. Prior to sending the more than 400 recordings to the vendor, each item was organized, labeled and extensive metadata was created. Finally, the materials were carefully packaged and sent to be digitized. Batches of the AV files were returned in digital format over the following months. The final batch was received in spring 2020.
An intensive workflow must be completed to prepare the digitized content for public use. This includes quality assurance, copyright analysis and creation of descriptive metadata to allow materials to be searched and browsed in the online environment. This extensive work to complete the grant objectives is expected to be finalized by May. As a result of this grant, approximately 300 of the newly digitized May 4 recordings are already available online and are currently accessible on Special Collections and Archives’ website at www.library.kent.edu/special-collections-and-archives.
–Cynthia Williams, Kent State University
Service Learning Librarian Blog Relaunched
The Service-Learning Librarian blog editorial team is pleased to announce the blog’s relaunch with its new host, University of Northern Iowa at https://sllibrarian.uni.edu. We envision Service-Learning Librarian, founded by Maureen Barry, as a hub connecting those in academic libraries supporting service-learning efforts on their campuses.
The editorial team: Anne Marie Gruber (University of Northern Iowa), Maureen Barry (Bowling Green State University), Jennifer Nutefall (University of Northern Colorado), Jenise Overmeir (Marymount University), and Olivia Ivey (American University).
Interested in contributing to the blog? Contact any team member or connect with us on Twitter: @sllibrarian
–Anne Marie H. Gruber, University of Northern Iowa
University of Dayton News
University of Dayton Libraries is proud to announce several promotions and new hires:
Christina (Tina) Beis was promoted to Director of Collections Strategies & Services and Associate Professor.
Ben Daigle will join as the new Director of Information Systems and Digital Access and Associate Professor beginning June 16.
Ione Damasco was promoted to Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence, Engagement, and Operations, a new position at the Libraries.
Tanya Ellenburg-Kimmet will join as the new Collections Processing Assistant on June 1.
Kayla Harris, Librarian/Archivist in the Marian Library, was promoted to Associate Professor.
Fred Jenkins, Associate Dean of Collections and Operations, will celebrate his retirement on June 30 as Professor Emeritus.
Sarah Miller will join as the new Research Services Librarian and Assistant Professor on July 16.
Zoe Plotnick joined the Access Services team as the Student Services Specialist in February.
Fran Rice, former Director of Information Systems and Digital Access, retired on April 30 and is now Professor Emerita.
–Katy Kelly, University of Dayton
University of Toledo Raymon H. Mulford Health Sciences Library News
Visit the Health Science Campus Artist Showcase, which is sponsored by the Raymon H. Mulford Health Sciences Library at The University of Toledo. The art show is comprised of works in different media submitted by students, faculty, and staff in the health sciences to highlight their talents outside of their normal jobs. Typically, the artwork is physically displayed, and there is a reception with a special topics speaker, but the COVID-19 pandemic required rethinking how this year’s show would be presented. I am pleased with the result (mostly through the efforts of UToledo’s Event Coordinator, Alyssa Slottke), and thought I would share with my library colleagues in ALAO. This year we also included poetry along with the artwork. Take a break from your busy day and relax with some beautiful photographs, paintings, drawings, sculpture, and Haiku. Enjoy! https://sites.google.com/view/hscart21
–Gerald Natal, University of Toledo
Wittenberg University News
Thomas Library at Wittenberg University is pleased to announce that Katie Maxfield has joined our staff as the Digital Initiatives Librarian. In addition to reference and instruction responsibilities, Katie will be maintaining and upgrading our current digital projects as well as working with faculty to spearhead new initiatives. Katie comes to us from Edmonton, Canada, where she recently completed her MLIS at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include information behavior, scholarly communication, open access and open educational resources, audiovisual collections, and digital libraries. In her free time, she enjoys choral singing, trying out new recipes, and dominating at board games.
The ALAO Board continues to work on projects in the following three areas: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI); support for Interest Groups; and COVID-19 support and relief.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)
Stay tuned for an Ohio academic library worker DEI survey that will be shared in the coming weeks. The survey results will help inform ALAO programming and support going forward. We encourage all ALAO members to complete it and share with their non-ALAO-member colleagues.
ALAO will soon be offering a new professional development opportunity for members. We will be providing scholarships for ALAO members to attend We Here events, programs, and classes. Take a look at their offerings and think about what programs you might want to participate in!
The ALAO Board has approved a new Code of Conduct for ALAO events and meetings, which can be found in several places on the ALAO website, including the top right menu. We have also recently approved two reporting forms: one for Code of Conduct violations, and one for general inclusivity suggestions from our members. Both forms will be available on the Code of Conduct webpage soon. In addition, we hope to have a slide about the Code of Conduct available for all Interest Group co-chairs to use at events.
The Board has also approved changing the title of our webmasters to “web managers” to reduce gendered language in our organization.
Interest Groups Support
The Interest Group (IG) Activities Task Force has completed their work and developed a list of potential activities for IGs to explore, as well as the resources needed to accomplish these activities. Since the pandemic, IGs have been flexible, creative, and active in their programming, even though it has necessarily moved online. Before proceeding with efforts in this strategic area, we plan to ask IGs what ALAO can do to support similar programming efforts even after the pandemic is over.
COVID-19 Support
Late in 2020, the COVID-19 Financial Assistance Task Force developed a new ALAO membership category with reduced cost for those impacted by COVID-19 financially (such as by being furloughed or laid off). We will continue offering this membership category at least until July 1st.
Our survey of ALAO membership regarding COVID-19 practices has closed, and we will be releasing a report based on the results to all members soon.
The ALAO Board is looking into methods of advocating for public-facing academic library workers to be moved earlier in the Ohio vaccine schedule. We will keep the membership informed as we proceed.
We also agreed to extend the deadline for ALAO 2021 Board Elections — thank you to everyone who decided to run!
I’m grateful for the great ideas and tremendous amount of work the ALAO Board members have contributed this year to our, as you can see, very many projects! If ALAO members have ideas or comments about any of these projects, please feel free share them with us.
The 2021 ALAO Board Election will take place March 22 – April 9, 2021. You must be a member to vote, so it’s the perfect time to consider joining or renewing your membership! More information on joining and renewing here.
This year we are voting on Vice President/President-Elect, Treasurer, Public Relations Coordinator, and three Board Member at Large positions. You can learn more about the responsibilities of these offices in the Procedures Manual and Bylaws.
Voting will take place online. Emails will be sent on March 22 containing access to candidate biographical information and an online ballot form.
Thank you in advance for casting your vote! And special thanks to our wonderful candidates:
Vice President/President-Elect
Gerald Natal, Health and Human Services Librarian, The University of Toledo
Treasurer
Don Appleby, Library Specialist, University of Akron
Public Relations Coordinator
Melissa Cox Norris, Director of Library Communication, University of Cincinnati
Board Member at Large
Melissa Bauer, Online Learning Librarian, Associate Professor, Kent State University – Stark Campus
Mark Eddy, Research Services Librarian, Case Western Reserve University
Michael Hawkins, Data Librarian, Kent State University
Jessie Long, Outreach and Instruction Librarian, Miami University Regionals
Kristen Peters, Interim Library Director, Wittenberg University
Chris Robinson-Nkongola, Reference and Instruction Librarian, Bowling Green State University
Bethany Spencer, Evening Circulation Supervisor, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College
Happy 2021 to our fellow ALAO members. On behalf of the Conference Planning Committee, I am excited to announce the theme for the 2021 conference: Building Bridges: Dialogue, Deliberation, and Connection in Academic Libraries.
The Conference will take place virtually Oct. 27th-29th and will be accessible via conference website. On Thursday, October 29th, there will be a preconference presented by Fobazi Ettarh focusing on vocational awe and its impact on library work. Our conference social will be held Thursday evening and, while the format is still being determined, is guaranteed to be fun.
On Friday, October 30th, our keynote speaker will be Sofia Leung, a librarian, facilitator, and educator, who works “towards fulfilling the promise of social justice in libraries and higher education.” We will also welcome Nicole Cooke, associate professor at the University of South Carolina, as our closing keynote presenting on “Re-Envisioning LIS: Activating Social Justice.”
Thank you to the members of the 2021 Conference Planning Committee for their dedication and hard work thus far. We are excited to continue planning for October.
Call for ALAO 2021 Conference Proposals
The Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) conference planning committee invites you to submit proposals for the 47th Annual Conference, Building Bridges: Dialogue, Deliberation, and Connection in Academic Libraries. We encourage thoughtful, timely proposals from all areas of library work.
Adherence to the conference theme is encouraged but not required.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
Civic engagement
Collaboration
Dialogue
Libraries as space/third space
Instruction modalities & virtual libraries
Misinformation
Service changes/transitions
Emerging technology solutions
Crisis management
One proposal form will be used for all presentation types:
Presentation (or other 50-minute session)
Poster Session (brief, pre-recorded session)
Lightning talk (brief live session)
If you have a unique format idea, not listed above, please submit it under the presentation option (Panel discussions, etc… )
–2021 ALAO Conference Planning Committee
Conference Planning Committee Social Event Task Group Seeks Your Input
The ALAO Social task group would like your input on ideas for the ALAO Annual Conference Social. Please Fill out our form by March 22, 2021.
The Application for the Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) Continuing Education Grant is now open! Are you presenting a conference paper, attending a workshop or course, or looking to participate in other professional development opportunities (virtual or in-person) in 2021? The ALAO Continuing Education Grant can help you get there!
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, course, seminars, etc. 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.
Eligibility:
Applicant must be a current member of ALAO.
Applicant of continuing education activities not related to “We Here” may not have received this grant in the previous three award cycles.
Previous recipients of the professional development award in the past three years are eligible to apply for the “We Here” continuing education grants.
Funded event must occur between January 1 and December 31, 2020.
If you have any questions about the Continuing Education Grant, please contact Professional Development Committee chair, Pamela Espinosa de los Monteros
We Here Scholarships
ALAO is excited to announce that we will now be offering scholarships for ALAO members to participate in We Here events and community school courses! Most We Here courses are open to anyone, and any ALAO member is welcome to apply for a scholarship to participate. Scholarship applications are due by July 1st and will be awarded on a rolling basis while funds last.
We Here is a “supportive community for BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] library and archive workers”. The group provides a safe community for People of Color to learn, share, and intervene in systems of oppression in the library & archive profession. In addition to providing support, advice, and networking for BIPOC members, We Here offers a number of public-facing projects for BIPOC and non-BIPOC folks alike, including a publishing collective called up//root , a newsletter, online events and recordings , and community school courses taught by members here.
Applicant must complete the scholarship form completely
ALAO members may only apply for one We Here scholarship per calendar year
Application Deadline: March 19, 2021 11:59 pm (or until funds are depleted)
Please allow 2-3 weeks between your scholarship application and the event for which you would like a scholarship. The scholarship amount will cover event registration costs only. If you have any questions about the We Here Event or Course Scholarship, please contact the ALAO President, Mandi Goodsett.
See the links above for listings of We Here’s event and course offerings.
Whether or not you apply for a We Here scholarship, we encourage you to consider becoming a We Here patreon if you are financially able. This allows you to make monthly contributions to the work of We Here and support their important projects.
-–Pamela Espinosa de los Monteros, Professional Development Committee Chair, The Ohio State University.
Let’s shine the member spotlight on Julie Deardorff from Cedarville University!
What is your role(s) in academic libraries?
Julie Deardorff
I’ve been at Cedarville University for 25 years, most of that time as Director of Collection Services. I’m responsible for collection development and acquisitions for all subjects and formats. I also manage the technical services related operations.
What do you like most about academic library work?
I’m happy to work at a library that values the print book collection and selecting print books is still my favorite part of my job. I enjoy working with our faculty and students to meet their needs. I also like creating efficient processes and fixing problems, which is a good thing considering how much of my time seems to be devoted to that!
What are some interesting projects you’ve been involved with lately?
I created our Library Careers Program, which provides internship and independent study courses, as well as other activities and events, for undergraduate students considering library science. I love working with our students and staying connected with them as they go on to impact the profession. I also serve as the archivist for our Higher Learning Commission accreditation team and have been heavily involved with our last two reports.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
My husband and I have traveled to all 50 states. We haven’t made as much progress with countries yet, but we did have the chance to co-teach The English Novel in England twice. Oxford is my happy place.
What do you love about being an ALAO member?
I am very grateful for the wonderful relationships that I have been able to develop with other Ohio academic librarians through the conferences, workshops, Collection Management Interest Group, and serving on the ALAO Board. I’ve only missed one conference in 25 years and every single one has been helpful.
–Maureen E. Barry, Membership Chair, Bowling Green State University
ALAO Newsletter 