ALAO Newsletter

The Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award recognizes an individual who has been an ALAO member for at least 5 years, and who has promoted academic libraries and librarianship not only on his or her own campus, but also within the state. The award also recognizes someone who has provided leadership in the promotion of ALAO through service such as committee membership, executive board office, or interest group office.

I had the pleasure of awarding the 2016 Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award to Julie Deardorff, Director of Library Collection Services and Associate Professor of Library Science at Cedarville University. She has been a member of ALAO since 1996. She has served in various leadership roles such as interest group chair for collection management, interest group program coordinator, workshop coordinator, and discussion group moderator. She has presented at conferences, participated as a panelist, and presented a poster.

From the nomination, the nominator shared that Julie developed an undergraduate library internship program 11 years ago which has had nearly 30 interns explore librarianship as a career option through learning about and carrying out multiple aspects of library work including cataloging, processing, circulation, reference, instruction, archives, and other areas.  Internship students work closely with current staff, develop and carry out projects, deliver presentations, document their experiences, and play important roles in the operational activities of the library.  The internship is listed as a for-credit class and counts toward graduation requirements in both the History and English programs, in which she serves as the faculty member of record.  Of the 29 interns, 11 have gone on to 6 different library schools (including 4 currently enrolled at Kent State) and 10 of the 30 are working in libraries (including 1 in Rwanda) and another working for a library association. In 2015, she led a group of 1 former and 3 current interns in delivering an ALAO workshop entitled “Today’s Undergraduates…Tomorrow’s Library Directors!” so that other Ohio academic libraries might be able to adapt some of these concepts into their local campus communities.  She has also served as the faculty member of record for 2 independent study courses in librarianship for interns who wanted additional opportunities to explore careers in librarianship.  And she has advised 6 additional students through a non-credit Library Careers Program that she has developed that is a slightly scaled-down version of the internship.

Julie has organized and conducted an annual Library Careers Interest dinner which has served to provide an introduction to students and staff members about all the different forms a library career can take.  Attendees are treated to a dinner, a presentation from that semester’s group of library interns on what they have learned, and, finally, a personal narrative or panel discussion by current library professionals.  These library practitioners have ranged from public, academic, special, and school librarians – including some with archive, government, and international experiences.  Over 160 students have attended the dinner, now in its 11th year, along with university and local librarians, alumni, current and former interns, Career Services staff, and faculty members.  A number of attendees have gone on to work in the library and/or participate in the internship program. She takes an active role in representing the university library and librarianship at the bi-annual campus Career Fair.  She maintains a list of graduates who have gone on to careers in librarianship and has provided advice, recommendations, and support to them as well as to former interns and any student who expresses an interest in librarianship as a career.

The nominator also said “I cannot imagine that anyone has done more practical work to promote librarianship as a career option for undergraduates in Ohio.”

Brian C. Gray, Past President, Case Western Reserve University

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting will be held February 16-20, 2017 in Boston.  You may know AAAS primarily as the publisher of Science, that venerable and highly regarded journal that ranks among high-impact journals; see rankings at NIH (some thoughts on the failings of the journal impact factor are at the end of this piece).  As the American Library Association liaison to AAAS, let me tell you more.

AAAS is “an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science for the benefit of all people” and the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society.  Participating in the AAAS Annual Meeting is a remarkable experience for the breadth and depth of the content shared in a relatively manageable venue (typically just two hotels, side by side, instead of the relentless complexity of ALA Annual conferences flung throughout a dozen hotels and cavernous convention sites).  Within the space of a few days, you can learn amazing things in a vast array of scientific research and come away blinking from the brilliance of stellar presentations.  You can also witness the public outreach of AAAS to teachers, students and the public in the enormous popularity of Family Science Days, and benefit from opportunities to network with science writers, science librarians, government officials, policy makers, and the inevitable crowd of exhibitors that support science education and research.  View the program online.
It is an exciting experience, and I am honored to serve in the role of ALA liaison to the AAAS.  Part of that role is facilitating participation by librarians in the annual meeting; every year for at least a decade, AAAS publishing division has sponsored 30 librarians by paying the meeting registration fee for each person. Some sponsored librarians have given poster sessions as well as full session presentations.  This year’s gathering will include an evening reception with Bill Moran, Science publisher.  Contact me if you would like more information: aricker@oberlin.edu.

Regarding the journal impact factor (JIF), a report earlier this year delves into the “opaque” process followed by Thomson Reuters for gathering and analyzing data to determine the JIF.  A research team representing eight publishers and universities developed an alternative method for the process.  John Bohannon summarized the report in “Hate journal impact factors? New study gives you one more reason.” DOI: 10.1126/science.aag0643.  The full research paper appears as a preprint in BioRxiv.

Alison Ricker, Procedures Manual Coordinator, Oberlin College

In Crucible Moments: Inspiring Library Leadership, Steven J. Bell (editor) offers a fresh perspective in the popular leadership literature.  In this collection of personal reflections, contributors reflect on the small, transformative moments that spurred them along the leadership path.  Coming from librarians at various stages in their careers, the book explores the meaning of leadership and explores the various lessons, motivations, and inspirations that have quietly supported their leadership development.  The most valuable offering of the book, however, is the inspiration to reflect on one’s own leadership identity, mindful of one’s own crucible moments and the impact they may have on one’s own leadership path.  Indeed, Crucible Moments approaches leadership as personal growth as much as professional growth.

The book also provides many practical lists and themes to guide the reader on his or her own leadership journey. Each chapter begins by listing takeaways and ends with reflections and key lessons. These prompts provide opportunities to build discussion and guide self-reflection. Though the book is comprised of fifteen unique stories, several themes and practices are repeated throughout the book. The contributors acknowledge that the path to leadership is peppered with uncertainty and challenge. However, they encourage the reader to seize opportunities to grow into leadership. Several practical suggestions are encouraged including lifelong learning, mentorships, leadership programs, and participation in institutional and professional organizations and committees. Further, the importance of self-reflection, mindfulness, and ethics are highlighted as essential to inspiring authentic library leadership.

Members of ALAO will be especially interested to read Eboni Johnson’s leadership journey, including service as vice-president/president-elect of ALAO and, later, as president and past-president, among other roles.  Johnson speaks of the validation that comes with the confidence from and teamwork with peers.  Johnson’s leadership roles also encouraged her to pursue her own passion for encouraging diversity in the profession.  Johnson’s takeaways include using failure as a catalyst for success, facing fears, and using your own philosophy to build a professional legacy.

The book also highlights Char Booth and Trevor A. Dawes, both speakers at the pre-conference sessions of the ALAO annual meeting in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Booth emphasizes the need for self-reflection, expanding upon the process she took to identify as a leader while Dawes writes of the merits of developing a guiding mission to support the learning and leadership development of the self and others.
Indeed, the themes shared by Johnson, Booth, and Dawes align well with the value of participation in ALAO.  Crucible Moments is a wonderful companion to take along on your leadership journey.

References
Bell, S.J. (2016). Crucible moments: Inspiring library leadership. Place: Mission Bell Media.

Katy Mathuews, Membership Chair, Ohio University