ALAO Newsletter

2024-2025 ALAO Executive Board Election Results

I am excited to announce the candidates who will be joining the Executive Board for 2024-2025. Please join me in congratulating:

• Vice President/President Elect: Paul C. Campbell
• Secretary: Mira Scarnecchia
• Treasurer: Don Appleby
• Board Members-at-Large: Stephanie Founds, Kathy Ladell, Edith Scarletto
• Membership Chair: Laura Birkenhauer

The results for the Board Member-at-Large position were particularly close and required a runoff vote by the board. So, a big THANK YOU to all the candidates on the ballot—your willingness to serve is admirable and greatly appreciated!

An aside to our colleagues who were not elected this year: thanks for stepping up and running for a position. ALAO offers many opportunities for our members to engage and lead. I would encourage you to consider becoming involved with one of our Interest Groups or committees, volunteering for an appointed position (two currently seeking interested persons: Communications Chair* and PR/Outreach Coordinator*), and of course, running again next year.

To all others, please consider a position on the ALAO board in future elections—the organization benefits from a diversity of new ideas and perspectives.

• ALAO volunteer form
• Interest Groups
• Committees

*If you are interested, please contact pastpresident@alaoweb.org

 Thanks also to the members of the Nominating Committee for this election cycle: 

• Beronica Avila
• Laura Birkenhauer
• Mark Eddy
• ALAO web managers Katy Tucker, Jason Wardell, Rich Wisneski

Congratulations

I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate ALAO’s current president, Mark Eddy, Madeleine Fix from The Ohio State University, and Laura Sheets from Bowling Green State University for being selected  for the OhioNet 2024 Library Leadership Ohio Cohort.

Condolences

You may have heard of the recent passing of our colleague and longtime ALAO member Alison Ricker. Alison’s passing was a shock to me. I had last spoke with Alison when I chanced to meet her at the ACRL conference in March of 2023. Alison told me of her plans to retire after a long and storied career [see Oberlin campus news story]. I had the pleasure of spending time on the ALAO board with Alison years ago; my impression then was that she was that person who always spoke up, who always contributed ideas—she was not one to be content to sit passively. Alison was the sort of person I could learn from—for me this amounted to informal mentoring.

More recently, while I was ALAO president, Alison contacted me several times to suggest that ALAO address one or another issue. It wasn’t too long ago that I had one last opportunity to work with Alison when she volunteered to be a member of the ALAO nominating committee I was chairing. True to form, she always had ideas and suggestions to improve the tasks at hand.

Alison received ALAO’s highest honor, the Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award, in 2001. To add to that recognition of her dedication to promoting librarianship and academic libraries throughout the state, there are plans to remember Alison at ALAO’s 50^th Anniversary conference next fall. I’m certain she was missed by her colleagues when she retired from the profession, and she is missed by her family and friends. Yet…

You can shed tears that she is gone

Or you can smile because she has lived

You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back

Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left

~David Harkins

Ohio Library Support Staff Institute

I experienced another bout of disconcerting news recently when I read this line in an email:

“OLSSI is coming to an end. You have only TWO MORE chances to mix and learn with other library assistants and librarians from across the state.”

OLSSI—the Ohio Library Support Staff Institute—was formed in 2000 by Doug Morrison and Dr. Linda Dobb as an affordable retreat for library assistants and aides. It has since grown to address the issues and needs of all library support staff, providing opportunities to learn new skills, hone existing skills, and  meet and network with colleagues.

 The first event took place in 2002 at Ohio Dominican University; I was privileged to be present at that event when I was a circulation supervisor at The University of Toledo (it was where I would make the acquaintance of future ALAO president Brian Gray). This year marks OLSSI’s 22^nd conference, whose steering committee incorporates volunteers from all types of libraries from across the state. Michael Bradshaw, OLSSI Chair Emeritus, informed me that they have hosted library assistants, librarians, and library directors, with attendees coming from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Texas. The online conference drew people from “Maine to California, and from Canada and China!”

I recall my excitement those many years ago when I was asked if I wanted to attend the first event. It was great to get away for a couple of days, visit another institution, meet with my support staff colleagues, and take back some ideas to improve my service to the university community. In some way the opportunity made me feel special. So, I had to ask, is the event no longer sustainable, has there been a loss of interest, are there volunteer issues…I was told “all the above.” Which started me thinking that there must be a way to salvage this wonderful project. I intend to explore some ideas…

Meanwhile, this year’s OLSSI event will be at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, July 28 – 30.

     The class list can be found here

     Registration is here

I encourage staff to attend this event if possible, and support OLSSI’s mission to “revitalize their enthusiasm for library work to make our libraries and ourselves better than ever!” Let’s hope this is not the next-to-last opportunity to attend…