ALAO Newsletter

Rocki Strader, Ohio State

The ALAO Executive Board held its Annual Leadership Retreat on July 12-13 marking several transitions in our leadership.

We noted the service of those who completed their terms on the Board:  Karen Wilhoit (Past President); Angel Gondek (Membership Chair); Ione Damasco and  Stephena Harmony (Board Members at Large); Carolyn Sanders and Kathy Yoder (Curriculum Materials Center Interest Group co-chairs); Kathy Burns (Support Staff Interest Group co-chair); Kiffany Francis (Technical, Electronic and Digital Services Interest Group co-chair); Kristen Kirchgesler (Distance Learning Interest Group co-chair); and Ken Burhanna (Diversity Committee Chair).

At the same time, we welcomed new leaders to the Board: Brian Hickam (Vice-President/President-Elect); Pat Wood (Membership Chair); Mark Eddy, Angel Gondek, and Krista McDonald (Board Members at Large); Stephanie Bange and Linda Scott (Curriculum Materials Center Interest Group co-chairs); David Allen (Support Staff Interest Group co-chair); Elias Tzoc Caniz (Technical, Electronic and Digital Services Interest Group co-chair); Kathleen Pickens-French (Distance Learning Interest Group co-chair); and Diane Kolosionek (Diversity Committee Chair).

It was a privilege to work with all these folks through the retreat, and I look forward to working with the new Board through the coming year.  We are facing several challenges and opportunities:

One such challenge will be working through changes happening with our current fiscal agent, SWON Libraries, as they reorganize over the next several months.  This is the second such challenge in the last two years.  Part of ALAO’s response is to begin the process of becoming an incorporated non-profit organization (but still remaining a chapter of ACRL).

I would like to use this opportunity to solicit the general ALAO membership for interest in the Research and Publications Committee.  This committee’s charge includes (but is not limited to) awarding a grant of up to $500 annually, and maintaining awareness of other grants and awards that may be of interest to ALAO members.  If you are interested, please contact Rocki Strader, Brian Hickam, or Mark Eddy.

We continue to follow through on moving our membership database to a new software platform.  Most of this is in place.  We used the new system, Wild Apricot, for this spring’s election.  All is on track for handling online registrations for this year’s conference and for migrating our web content.

Speaking of the conference:  “Academic Libraries: Now and Tomorrow,” ALAO’s 36th Annual Conference, will be held on October 29, 2010, at the Crowne Plaza Columbus North, Columbus, Ohio.

My thanks to everyone who has served ALAO on the Board, the Program Committee (aka Conference Planning), and committees and interest groups as we move into a new year.  I hope you and others will seek out these opportunities with ALAO in the future.  We are in challenging and exciting times, and ALAO is well positioned to move forward and meet them, as our conference theme says, “now and tomorrow!”

Alison Ricker, Oberlin College

The heat, humidity and relentless sunshine did not deter some 2,000 librarians from a rally for American libraries on Tuesday, June 29, at the tail end of the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.  I was grateful to be part of the group as one of ALAO’s legislative advocates, and thank ALAO for supporting me with a Legislative Advocate Travel Award.

The Ohio contingent included nearly 30 people, representing school, public, and academic libraries, plus INFOhio and the State Library.  Prior to the conference, William Morris of the State Library did a superb job of keeping us informed and arranging appointments with members of congress and/or their staff.

Between the legislative alerts from the ALA Washington Office and materials prepared specifically for Ohio, we were armed with excellent background information and talking points on funding the Library Services Technology Act (LSTA) and Improving Literacy Through School Libraries; a mandate to include school libraries, staffed with a full-time state-certified school librarian, in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA); and requests to support Net Neutrality, the Access to 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, and Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA, H.R. 5037).

We also sought support for the Congressional Research Service Electronic Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3762), Open the Congressional Research Service (S.R. 118), and to oppose the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act (H.R. 801), which would negate and reverse the NIH Public Access Policy and block FRPAA.  You can readily find information on all of this at www.ala.org/ogr.

The entire group met with Senator Brown’s Legislative Assistant for Education issues, Moira Lenehan-Razzuri, shortly after the rally, where we emphasized the effectiveness and efficiency of LSTA-funded collaboration within Ohio and the essential role of libraries for education, training, and economic development in the state. Individual appointments with our representatives were next, followed by a smaller group meeting with Dana Smullen, Professional Staff Member for Senator Voinovich.

Ray English and I met with Deborah Koolbeck, Legislative Director for the Hon. Marcy Kaptur (9th District, which includes Oberlin), and with the Hon. Jim Jordan (4th District) and his Legislative Director George Poulios.  Jordan and Poulios were very generous with their time, as was Debra Logan, school librarian in Mount Gilead, who graciously allowed us to tag along to her appointment.  FRPAA was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, of which Kaptur and Jordan are both members.  Other Ohio members of that committee include Steve Driehaus, Dennis Kucinich, and Michael Turner – if you are a constituent of any of these Representatives, I urge you to write to him/her and ask for an open hearing on the FRPAA bill.

I greatly enjoyed the day’s experience, and had fun as an Advocacy volunteer during the conference – handing out flyers at the Exhibits Opening and directing foot traffic on the morning of the rally gave me some insight into the coordination required for an event of this size.  I recommend it to anyone with an interest in how our country is governed – and isn’t that all of us?

Stephena Harmony, UC Raymond Walters

The Professional Development Committee (PDC) is pleased to announce the following awards for 2010:

•    Sevim McCutcheon, Kent State University, to attend the annual ALA conference with the focus on the new RDA cataloging standards;

•    Carla Myers, University of Akron, to attend the Center for Intellectual Property Symposium at the University of Maryland with the focus on copyright issues pertaining to academic libraries.

Congratulations Sevim and Carla!

Recognizing both the increase in costs for professional development and a greater need of support for ALAO members, the ALAO Board approved an increase of $500 for the Continuing Education(CE) grant.  In 2011 the CE grant will be $2,500.

The PDC also revised procedures to clarify deadlines, outline the blind review process in greater detail, and address changing circumstances of applicants prior to and following the award of the grant.

The 2010 PDC Committee members are:
Don Appleby
Ione Damasco
Stephena Harmony, Chair
Gregory Martin
Nicole Robinson

Ken Burhanna, Kent State University

The ALAO Diversity Committee is pleased to award the annual Diversity Scholarship for 2010-2011 to Jasmine Jefferson. Jasmine graduated from Kent State University with a degree in American Sign Language in December 2009 and began graduate study at the School of Library and Information Science (also at Kent State) this past spring. The ALAO Diversity Scholarship awards Jasmine $1,500 towards her tuition, complimentary registration for the ALAO annual conference in October and a year of mentoring support from an ALAO member.

Jasmine Jefferson

The ALAO Diversity Committee was impressed with the overall quality of this year’s applicant pool, but Jasmine’s demonstrated commitment to diversity and strong academic record helped her application stand out. In particular the committee appreciated her broad, inclusive approach to diversity. She stated in her scholarship application that “I believe it is important to not only advocate for multiculturalism, but also for persons who are differently-able….” Jasmine currently works as a graduate assistant in Reference and Periodical Services at Kent State University Libraries.

Congratulations to Ms. Jefferson! The Committee is confident she will be a strong leader and advocate for diversity and inclusion in academic libraries.

Kathryn L. Venditti, Ashland University

On March 12, 2010, the Instruction Interest Group (IIG) co-hosted a spring workshop with the Distance Learning Interest Group (DLIG) at Ashland University.  Titled Effective Instruction from Design to Assessment, the workshop offered two sessions and plenty of time for networking for the 44 attendees from across the state.

During the morning session, Instruction by Design: a Panel Discussion, a group of instructional designers from three institutions discussed innovative methods for designing classes. After a buffet lunch, Carolyn Radcliffe from Kent State University shared assessment techniques in a session titled Knowing What They Know: Information Literacy Assessment Techniques. Feedback from the workshop evaluations was overwhelmingly positive.

The IIG looks forward to sponsoring a session, Teaching Tomorrow’s Students Today, at the forthcoming ALAO Annual Conference.

Kathy Yoder, Bowling Green

On May 21, 2010 the Curriculum Materials Center Interest Group of ALAO held their Annual Spring Workshop at Bowling Green State University.  The Jerome Library’s Curriculum Resource Center was host to 26 participants who met for a day of meetings and presentations on topics of interest to those who are involved in library collections for pre-service teachers.  This year’s participants not only included representatives from academic libraries in Ohio, but also from the surrounding states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.

Hosted by Kathy Yoder, Acting Head of Bowling Green State University’s Curriculum Resource Center, and assisted by CRC staff members Gaynelle Predmore, Vicki Seifert, and Jennifer Nyiri as well as instructor Kellie Tilton; the event featured an afternoon visit to The University of Findlay’s Mazza Museum International Art from Picture Books.

The morning session opened with a presentation from Ohio Resource Center Ambassador and Findlay High School Librarian Debbie Reynolds.  She shared information about The Ohio Resource Center’s website, which works to improve teaching and learning among Ohio teachers by promoting standards-based best practices.  The participants explored the website and were impressed with the depth of information and organization of the resources.  As university collections embrace digital resources, The Ohio Resource Center is a valuable and comprehensive tool for curriculum materials centers to offer pre-service teachers studying at their institutions.

A New Resources Round Table drew on the expertise of the participants as all were invited to share information on popular items that they carry in their centers.  Most attendees chose to participate in this activity, and a comprehensive list of all that was mentioned was created and distributed at the end of the day in a list titled “Curriculum Center Must Haves.”  Over 50 items were shared in the categories of children’s literature, curriculum titles, audiovisual resources, realia, puppets, and periodicals.  Electronic copies of “Curriculum Center Must Haves” is available by contacting jnyiri@bgsu.edu.

Other morning activities included a welcome from Interim Dean and former CRC Head Librarian Sara Bushong, tour of Jerome Library’s Curriculum Resource Center, and a short ALAO-CMCIG Board Meeting.  The Michigan workshop attendees expressed an interest in hosting a workshop in conjunction with the Ohio CMCIG at a southeastern Michigan location.  Next year Stephanie Bange of the ERC at Wright State University offered to co-chair the CMCIG along with Linda Scott of the University of Mount Union.  Initial plans are to hold the ALAO-CMCIG Spring Workshop at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

The afternoon involved the group traveling south to Findlay, Ohio to the Mazza Museum of International Art from Children’s Picture Books.  A soup and salad luncheon was held at the Gardner Pavilion at the University of Findlay followed by a docent led tour of the museum, library, and vaults of the Mazza.

Mackenzie Betts, OLC Director of Communications

Strike It Rich at the 2010 OLC Expo

Registration is now open for the 2010 OLC Expo on Sept. 10 at the Ohio Expo Center’s Lausche Building in Columbus. The Expo is full of opportunities to meet with vendors showcasing money-saving products and services, hear top-notch speakers, network with your peers, and win fabulous prizes. Plus, attendees get all this for FREE – talk about “striking it rich”!

This year’s featured speakers include:

•    Narrator Johanna Parker, the voice of Sookie Stackhouse in the recordings of Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire books that are the basis for HBO’s series “True Blood” (sponsored by Recorded Books, LLC)

•    Scott Brown, President, Foundations of Service, who has 20 years experience in customer service and leadership management (sponsored by BayScan Technologies)

•    Zach Price, Library Planner, TRIAD Architects, who will share the five critical steps to assessing your library and planning for change (sponsored by TRIAD Architects, Ltd.)
Check out the Expo section of the OLC website for more information on the OPLIN Stakeholder’s Meeting, the OLC Annual Business Meeting, vendor product demos, OLC Connects! and, of course, how to get free books. Attendance at the 2010 OLC Expo is free but registration is requested for entry in the door prize raffle. If you register by Aug. 1, you are entered for a chance to win an e-reader! Register today and make plans to connect with your colleagues from across the state.