ALAO Newsletter

Rocki Strader, Ohio State University

Here I am, writing my last Newsletter report as ALAO President. I’d like to take a few moments to look back on some of my experiences in that capacity. This is by no means an exhaustive list of what happened this year! I’ll take them more or less in chronological order:
In July 2010, the Executive Board held its annual Leadership Retreat. I went from Vice-President/President-Elect to President. And jumped right in to issues ranging from a new five-year strategic plan to fully implementing our new online platform to incorporating the Association as a full-blown non-profit organization.
I want to thank (again!) Gaynelle Predmore for her leadership in organizing and presenting the new strategic plan, which you can see at http://www.alaoweb.org/aboutalao/strategicplan2010-2014.html. Gaynelle and I guided some lively discussion, and I’d like to thank everyone on the Board for their insights and suggestions. We have some strong words to live by through 2014.
Thanks also are due to Brian Gray and Frank Bove for their patience for migrating our online presence to a new platform (Wild Apricot) and for their continued due diligence as we learn all the capabilities of the new system. Many members have expressed appreciation at being able to register for events and renew memberships online. I would also like to welcome back Karen Plummer as a co-webmaster and also now as a Member-at-Large.
The 36th Annual Conference held on October 29, 2010, at the Crowne Plaza Columbus North. Our guest speaker was Stephen Abram, of Gale Cengage. You can view his presentation here: http://www.slideshare.net/stephenabram1/ohio-academics-5607801. We had a full house and many excellent presentations and poster sessions. My thanks to the planning committee for anticipating and handling the myriad details so well.
I would be remiss in my review if I left out our Communications Editor. I would like to express our appreciation to Lindsay Midkiff Miller for service as Communications Editor, and to welcome again Katie Gibson who has stepped in to the position.
Throughout the year the Board has been discussing and refining the documentation needed to become a separate incorporated non-profit organization. Our efforts are drawing closer to fruition: ALAO members should have received an email in mid-May announcing a special election to approve a set of Bylaws to replace our Constitution. The election is to take place June 1-15, 2011. The Bylaws are a necessary part of the paperwork that we need to file to finish the incorporation process.
On June 7, 2011, The Ohio State University, Newark campus, will host the ACRL Roadshow: Scholarly Communications 101. This event is being sponsored by ALAO and OhioLINK. As a chapter of ACRL, we consider both privilege and responsibility to be associated with this event. More information may be found in Susan Scott’s report in the March 2011 ALAO Newsletter.
Finally, I’d like to thank the 2010/2011 Executive Board for putting up with me this past year. It’s been a pleasure to work with you! And a warm welcome to our newly elected officers for 2011/2012: Sue Polanka, Vice-President/President-Elect; Don Appleby, Treasurer; Peggy Rector, Public Relations Coordinator; Members-at-Large: Alice Crosetto, Alisa Mizikar, and Karen Plummer.
Brian Hickam is poised to take over as President in July, and I wish him the best! I look forward to serving as Immediate Past-President under his leadership.

Results of the 2011/2012 election are as follows:
Vice President: Sue Polanka
Treasurer: Don Appleby
PR Coordinator: Peggy Rector
Board Members At-Large: Karen Plummer, Alisa Mizikar, Alice Crosetto

Congratulations to our newly elected officers!
Thanks to all who voted (34% participation), and especially to those who volunteered to run for elected office.

Brian Gray, Case Western Reserve University
The time period for an ALAO membership is now one-year from the date you renew or join, instead of a strict calendar year. The new online membership databases allows us to manage such an option. It will allow people to join and gain the benefit of one full year of membership without worry of optimizing when to join.

Members are also asked to verify contact information and other details are correct.
To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Go to the website (http://alaoweb.org)
2. Log-in in the top-right corner, or click on “Forgot password” to get details emailed to you
3. Click on “View profile” in the top-right corner
4. Click on “Edit profile” to change contact information, interest group involvement, and other details. Under “profile” you can be included/excluded in the online membership directory, if the feature is used (right now ALAO is not using this feature).
5. Any fields that cannot be changed, please email concerns or changes to bcg8@case.edu so they can be changed in the membership database.

Diane Kolosionek, Cleveland State University
The ALAO Diversity Committee is pleased to award the annual Diversity Scholarship for 2011-
2012 to Bridgette Billingslea. Bridgette is currently a student in the Master of Library and Information Science program at Kent State University. She earned an undergraduate degree in History from The Ohio State University. The ALAO Diversity Scholarship awards Bridgette $1,500 towards her tuition, complimentary registration for the ALAO annual conference in November, and a year of mentoring from an ALAO member.
The Committee appreciated the quality of this year’s scholarship applicants, but Bridgette’s demonstrated commitment to diversity and her experience working with diverse patient and physician populations were especially impressive. Bridgette is employed as a Senior Patient Access Representative at University Hospitals of Cleveland. Her numerous leadership and volunteer activities include Service Vice President for the Beta Omega Chapter of Gamma Sigma Sigma, National Service Sorority.
Congratulations to Ms. Billingslea! The Committee is confident that she will be a strong leader and advocate for diversity and inclusion in academic libraries.

Curriculum Materials Centers Interest Group
(Stephanie Bange, Wright State University)

The 2011 CMCIG Spring Workshop was held at Wright State University, in the Charles & Renate Frydman Educational Resource Center (ERC). Sixteen attendees listened intently and participated in the workshop, themed “Local Resources and Collaborations”. Stephanie Bange, Director of the ERC, gave an overview of audiobooks, their usefulness in the classroom, audiobook evaluation and awards. She shared some anecdotes about her recent experience as a member of the 2011 Odyssey Award Committee and gave everyone 5 audiobooks to add to their library’s collections. The group headed over to WSU’s Bolinga Center, the home of the Virginia Hamilton & Arnold Adoff Resource Center. There, Dr. Dana Murray Patterson explained the history of the resource center, allowing everyone access to the collection — reference materials, personal readings and books written by Hamilton and Adoff — used by Virginia Hamilton and Arnold Adoff to research information for their books. ThinkTV (Dayton area PBS station) Educational Projects and Services Manager Mary Anne Kirk talked about the free streaming video and teacher instructional materials available on local PBS websites. Such programs as “Our Ohio : Exploring Our Heritage” and “World War II : Exploring Your Local History”, streamed through ThinkTV, were highlighted. Mary Anne said that (hopefully) soon all the streaming programming available through individual PBS stations will be gathered into one umbrella website. A highlight of the tour of the ERC was the 3,000 item collection of the Dayton Holocaust Resource Center, available for loan to Ohio libraries through OhioLINK. In the afternoon, the group gathered at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, where we were given a docent-tour of the permanent exhibit “Prejudice & Memory” by Holocaust survivor Renate Frydman. At the conclusion of the business meeting, attendees were able to wander through the museum at their leisure.

Distance Learning Interest Group
Kathleen Pickens-French
On May 13, 2011, the Distance Learning Interest Group (DLIG) hosted its spring workshop, “INOV8: Revitalizing Distance Learning” at Ohio Dominican University. With 41 registrants from 22 institutions, the workshop’s four sessions offered attendees an opportunity to network and discuss current trends in e-learning.
Louis Mays opened the workshop with an overview of using Blackboard to connect with dual-enrollment students in Learning Management Systems: Synchronous and Asynchronous Strategies for Remote Users. He was followed by TL; DR: Amp your Audience’s Energy (Without Draining Yours), an interactive presentation focused on keeping an online audience attentive through effective design and visual appeal. Attendees had a choice of which breakout session to attend: Technical Writing with Karen O’Hara; Prezis for Presentations with Eric Resnis & Eli Sullivan, or; Animoto for Videos with Kathleen Pickens-French.
After a buffet lunch, the panel for Exceeding Comes Later: Identifying & Understanding Expectations prompted a lively discussion on the role of librarians in an online learning environment. The panelists included: Karen O’Hara, online instructor & Knowledge Base Coordinator; Jessica Long, Public Services Librarian; Katherine Topper, Kent State SLIS student, and; Sarah Garrison, University of Kentucky SLIS student. John Burke closed the workshop with an engaging review of multimedia issues with Audiovisual Conundrums: Legality versus Equality with Media Resources.
Many of the resources and materials from the presentations can be found on the DLIG Blog at http://distancelibrarians.wordpress.com. Please visit the blog to join the DLIG listserv, share resources relevant to distance librarianship, or to find collaboration opportunities by volunteering for a DLIG committee.
Special thanks to the 2011 Workshop Planning Committee—Meghan Frazer of Kenyon College, Jessica Long of Miami University Middletown, Christina Bonner of Ohio Dominican University, and Kathleen Pickens-French of Miami University Hamilton.

Instruction Interest Group
Kathryn Venditti
On April 21st, the Instruction Interest Group (IIG) hosted their annual workshop on a beautiful spring day at the Ross Auditorium, Franklin University in Columbus. “Thinking outside the Library: Creative Collaboration for Library Instruction” brought together 55 Ohio academic librarians to hear from colleagues who shared their unique, successful approaches to building instruction programs through cross-campus collaboration.
Featured sessions included two presentations by teams of instruction librarians and their campus partners, and a best practices panel discussion. The workshop kicked off with a presentation by Franklin University librarians Carmen Byg and Tiffany Hampel who worked with Ryan Brainerd from Franklin’s Interactive Design Services to design an interactive, multimedia tutorial, a “Library Passport.” The impressive “Library Passport” contains library information and research tips, along with course-specific material, including a graded assignment. This project was developed in collaboration with faculty, librarians and course designers.
Lauren Wahman, librarian at Raymond Walters College, University of Cincinnati, along with UC English faculty member, Brenda Refaei, and Pam Rankey, from UC’s Office of Information Technology, presented “Collaborative Teaching: A Library and Teaching Faculty Partnership.” This cross-disciplinary partnership developed and team-taught a unique First-Year Experience (FYE) pilot course that targeted non-matriculated students, with the objective of helping undecided or non-matriculated students successfully transition to college.
After a break for a well-received stromboli buffet, with espresso bar and lots of interesting conversation, the attendees reconvened to hear from a panel titled Conversations on Collaboration: Strategies for Success. Daron Larson, Instructional Resources Librarian from, Franklin University, moderated the panel of three librarians from a variety of institutions who shared their successful strategies for collaborating with institutional partners to improve their information literacy programs. Panelists Amy Fyn from Bowling Green State University, Eric Resnis from Miami U and Sara Klink from Stark State College each shared how they work with partners on their campuses to respond to the distinct needs of their student populations.
The overwhelmingly positive evaluations from the workshop indicate that the workshop was a success and many attendees suggested that our engaging panel moderator, Daron Larson, should host his own T.V. show. Paul Jenkins, Director of Library Services, College of Mt. St. Joseph, and author of Faculty-Librarian Relationships (Oxford: Chandos, 2005) graciously donated a copy of his book as a door prize for the workshop. Thank you, Paul!
The workshop was organized by the Instruction IG Planning Committee: Lauren Wahman, Daron Larson, and IIG co-chairs Carmen Byg and Kathryn Venditti. Carmen Byg will be stepping down as co-chair when her term ends in July. Many thanks to Carmen for her leadership over the past two years! We are pleased to welcome Lauren Wahman who will take on the role of IIG co-chair. The items on the IIG’s agenda for the remainder of 2011 are to launch a blog and to sponsor an instruction-related session at the ALAO Annual Conference on November 4, in Toledo.

Support Staff Interest Group
(Mary Ayres, Southern State Community College)
This will be my last time to write for the ALAO newsletter. It has been a pleasure to step in again as co-chair for SSIG. It is definitely a great group of people to work with. If you haven’t signed up to be part of the SSIG Planning Committee please do so. I am sure that you will really enjoy it. As part of the planning committee you plan a spring workshop. SSIG just had their workshop on Friday, May 13. It was, once again, a great event, which was reflected in positive evaluations. The workshop was held at the South Campus of Southern State Community College, with 23 in attendance. Classes were about time management, tech news you can use, mobile apps, web 3.0 and free tools. The food was something to write home about, and we all know how important food is. Everyone was also able to take home a bag of goodies which included an Appalachian cookbook, loaf of Amish bread and Amish apple butter. We are already taking recommendations for next year’s breakout session so if you would like to recommend any topics for our sessions please e-mail them to the next year’s co-chairs. Within the next few weeks I will be sending out information about the SSIG Award of Appreciation and the SSIG Award of Excellence. Be thinking about who you want to nominate. Next year the co-chairs will be David Allen from Southern State Community College and Angela Williams from Cleveland State University.

Technical, Electronic, and Digital Services Interest Group
Elías Tzoc, Miami University
On Friday, May 27th 2011, the Technical, Electronic, and Digital Services Interest Group (TEDSIG) hosted its Spring Workshop at OhioNet. The workshop title was Linked Data (LD) and it highlighted three guest speakers. The 22 attendees included a librarian from Michigan and two library students.
The first session “What is Linked Data, and What Does It Mean for Libraries?” was led by Emily Nimsakont, Cataloging Librarian at the Nebraska Library Commission. In the first half of her presentation, Emily provided a great overview of basics and principels of LD, she also demonstrated a few LD projects such as Freebase. In the second half, she talked about what LD could mean for libraries and highlighted current projects such as The Library of Congress Authorities and Vocabularies.
The second session “Linked Data Activities at OCLC” by Ralph LeVan, Senior Research Scientist at OCLC Inc. Ralph began his presentation with an overview of the LD technical requirements including the construction of RDFs. Then, he talked about specific examples under development at OCLC such as The Virtual International Authority File. The last session Non-Linear Thinking and New Media Literacy by Jared Bendis, Creative Director New Media at Case Western Reserve University. Jared talked about the “ocean of new media” and underlined that one of the key elements in the world of new media is the non-linear nature of its existence and of our exploration of it.
The workshop was well accepted, all participants provided positive feedback and suggested new topics for future workshops as well. For those interested in following up on what LD could mean for libraries, the following links may be of interest: The Strongest Link: Libraries and Linked Data, a recent article by Gillian Byrne and Lisa Goddard; and Linked Data Building on Cooperative Relationships, a presentation at the upcoming ALA Annual Conference.

Ann Watson, Ohio University, Lancaster

Ohio’s Library Advocates pose for a picture on the steps of the Russell Senate Building after the group had met with Senator Portman’s office.

Ann M. Watson and Alison Ricker represented Ohio’s academic libraries during the 2011 National Legislative Day held on May 9-10 in Washington, DC. Twelve individuals representing Ohio libraries, including State Librarian Beverly Cain, met with Legislative Aides for both House and Senate members from Ohio.
Below is an excerpt from information provided by the ALA Office of Government Relations handout which provided us with information to share to share during our Congressional office visits.


The FY2011 Budget
On April 14, 2011, after vigorous partisan debate, behind-the-scenes haggling and a nation wondering if the federal government would shut down, Congress finally approved the FY2011 budget for its final five months, ending September 30. Congress made a .2 percent across-the-board cut to all federal programs and made $38.5 billion in cuts to both mandatory and discretionary spending compared to FY2010.

Tanya Ellenburg-Kimmet, Chair Olssi Steering Committee
The Ohio Library Support Staff Institute Steering Committee would like to thank ALAO for their many years of support they have supplied our institute. ALAO has helped us in many ways, including many generous contributions to the work we do. We are heading into our 10th Anniversary conference July 31st through August 2nd. We invite ALAO members to check us out at http://www.olssi.org and see the programming we offer. You may also visit us on Facebook and see photos of happy attendees, some of which were at the conference because of ALAO.

Bowling Green State University

• Libby Hertenstein began employment as full-time, tenure-track Cataloger and Metadata Librarian in May. Libby brings enthusiasm and a wealth of experience from her previous cataloger positions with The Ohio State University Libraries and the Lilly Library at Indiana University.
• Dave Widmer began his position as Web Applications Developer in June. Dave is a BGSU alum of the Visual Communications Technology Program, and has served as the lead developer for eLearning with oversight for his current employer’s web site. He brings talent and skills on the server and client side, as well as software and source control.
• Vera Lux and Rob Snyder have accepted tenure-track appointments as Reference and Instruction Librarians in the Library Teaching and Learning Department of the University Libraries. Vera Lux has served in the temporary position of Associate Librarian for Library Teaching and Learning since September 2010. Previously, Vera came to BGSU from the University of South Florida Tampa Library. Vera will begin her new appointment on July 1, 2011. Rob Snyder returns to the University Libraries after having served as Reference and Instruction Librarian at Heidelberg University Beeghly Library since June 2010. Rob will begin his new appointment on June 13, 2011.
• Sara Bushong has been named Bowling Green State University Libraries dean effective May 10, 2011. An associate professor, Bushong has been a member of the library faculty since 2000 and has served in a number of capacities, including interim and associate dean and chair of the Archival Collections and Branches. Bushong originally joined the faculty as Head Librarian of the Curriculum Resource Center. Before coming to BGSU, Bushong held posts as District Elementary Librarian and Technology Curriculum Coordinator for the Perrysburg Exempted Village Schools, and choral music teacher in Whigham, Ga. She earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree and Master of Education degree in Library and Educational Media from BGSU, and a Master of Library Science degree from Kent State University.

Case Western Reserve University

• Heather R. McGinnes CNM, CFRE, has been hired as Director of Library Development.

Miami University

• Retiring from Miami Libraries in Spring 2011 are Janet Stuckey (Head of Special Collections), Ed Via (Interlibrary Loan), and Scott Van Dam (Access Services). Congratulations and all the best to Janet, Ed and Scott.
• Miami Libraries welcomed Kim Tully as Special Collections Librarian in November 2010.

Ohio State University, OARDC, Wooster

• At the recent annual meeting of the Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC) in Beltsville, MD, Connie Britton was awarded the 2011 Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes an individual who has provided outstanding leadership in facilitating cooperation among institutions and organizations anywhere in the world that are committed to the identification, delivery, or preservation of freely-available, evaluated, digital content and quality services for agriculture, food, and natural resources information.

Ohio State University, Marion/ Marion Technical College Library

• Director/Head Librarian Betsy Blankenship received the Kappan Citizen of the Year Award from the Marion Area Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa. She was recognized April 27 for her efforts toward meeting Phi Delta Kappa’s motto, “Committed to Service and Excellence in Education.” She also received a certificate of appreciation for hosting the exhibit Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic and Medicine from October 31 – December 11, 2010. She currently serves as Secretary of the Marion chapter.

Ohio University, Lancaster

• Ann M. Watson, currently Library Director at Ohio University Lancaster and past President of ALAO has accepted the position of Dean of the Library at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia as of June 30, 2011.
  An additional congratulations to Ann, who has been elected to a two-year term as Member-at-Large in the ACRL College Libraries Section.

Ohio Wesleyan University

• Xudong Jin, Associate Director of Libraries, Head of Technical Services and Collection Development Coordinator at Ohio Wesleyan University Libraries, has been elected as an American Library Association Councilor. He is one of the thirty-four newly elected ALA Councilors-at-Large members for a three-year term, 2011-2014.

Southern State Community College

• Is your Library on Facebook? The Learning Resources Center (LRC) at Southern State Community College has an active Facebook site located at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Learning-Resources-Center-at-Southern-State/127603367275314.
  Almost 300 people ‘Like’ the LRC site on Facebook. The site consists of a Wall, basic Information, Photos, Discussions, Links, Events and even Video. The LRC also contributes new items from in the catalog directly to the Facebook site. Circulation of new items increased once featured. Facebook posts are integrated with the LRC Twitter site as well. This is an excellent marketing and PR tool for libraries.

Youngstown State University

• Robert Ault, Microforms Librarian, has co-authored and produced a documentary titled Ash and Smoke: The Holocaust in Salonika which will be released in late Spring 2011.
• Maria Barefoot, Assistant Reference and Instruction Librarian for the Health Sciences has accepted to the University of Pittsburgh Certificate of Advanced Study in Health Librarianship Program with a full scholarship beginning May 2011.
• Shelly Xiaoli Zhu, Electronic Services Librarian, hosted a WordPress blog workshop with Dr. Sherry Linkon for YSU faculty and staff on February 18, 2011.