Information about the awards, including a full list of awards, eligibility, and criteria, are available on the MLA website at the following URL: http://www.mdlib.org/about/awards/default.asp.

The nomination process is quick and easy. Nominations can be made using the following online form: http://www.mdlib.org/about/awards/nominate.asp.

Don’t let your gratitude go silent another day. Nominate a colleague now!

• Lucy Holman (moderator), President of the Maryland Library Association and Director, Langsdale Library, University of Baltimore
• Gina Calia-Lotz, Instructional Services Librarian, Harford Community College Library
• Ted Kruse, Associate Director for Technical Services, Langsdale Library, University of Baltimore
• Barb Mann, Assistant Director for Public Services, Information and Library Services, University of Maryland University College
• Amanda Youngbar, Library Associate for Learning Commons, Towson University, and a distance-education student in the Library & Information Science program at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Julie Zamostny, Staff Development Coordinator, Western Maryland Regional Library

The program will also feature a presentation by Steven Bell entitled “Tomorrow is What We Make It: Designing Our Preferred Future.” Bell is the Vice President/President Elect of ACRL and Associate University Librarian for Research & Instruction at Temple University.

Program Details:
Date: Friday, October 14, 2011
Time: 9am – 3:30pm
Location: Loyola University Graduate Center, Columbia, MD (view map)

This program has been approved for 4 contact hours. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. When registering, please indicate your sandwich choice: Tuna Salad, Ham & Swiss, Turkey & Provolone, Grilled Veggie Sandwiches. Registration and breakfast will open at 9am; the program will begin at 10am.

Registration: MLA Members, $60; Non-members, $90; Students, $51. Register at: https://www.mdlib.org/happenings/register.asp

The future is a slippery concept, especially when it comes to figuring out how to ensure that our libraries remain relevant. There are so many things to consider – our services, the research products we provide, not to mention how the needs and expectations of our patrons will change. It’s overwhelming and tempting to stick our heads in the sand, leaving the future thinking to our directors and deans.

Stop avoiding the issue! On October 14th, take the future into your own hands and join us for a day of thinking and talking about the changes tomorrow will bring.

We’ll begin with a presentation by Steven Bell: “Tomorrow is What We Make It: Designing Our Preferred Future.” After that, we’ll hear from a panel of librarians who will take your questions and discuss what worries them about the future – and what we can do. Throughout the day we’ll engage in some hands-on activities designed to get you thinking outside the box. Come ready to engage with your creativity! Bring the questions and ideas you cultivate out of view of your coworkers, and shine some light on them today.

Program Information:
Date: Friday, October 14, 2011
Time: 9am – 3:30pm
Location: Loyola University Graduate Center, Columbia, MD (view map)

This program has been approved for 4 contact hours. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. When registering, please indicate your sandwich choice: Tuna Salad, Ham & Swiss, Turkey & Provolone, Grilled Veggie Sandwiches. Registration and breakfast will open at 9am; the program will begin at 10am.

Registration: MLA Members, $60; Non-members, $90; Students, $51. Register at: https://www.mdlib.org/happenings/register.asp

The panel will be about 45 minutes long, and during this time panelists will be free to share their own ideas, opinions and observations in response to questions and topics that may be provided ahead of time or on the spot. Panelists are not required to make a formal presentation or discuss initiatives taking place at their library. Whether or not your
ideas have been implemented is not important for this panel! We expect that panelists will have about five minutes to respond to an initial question, and then we hope to have a lively conversation between panelists and the audience, addressing additional questions and ideas as they come up.

If you would like to participate in the panel, please contact Alison Cody (acody@apa.org) with the following information by Wednesday, August 31:

-Name, title, and library
-Brief description of your job function
-Number of years in the profession
-The number one thing you believe libraries need to do NOW to stay relevant in the next two years
-Your best/craziest idea for improving your library
-One program or service at your library that you think should be scrapped or dramatically altered

There’s no need to write a novel – a few lines will help us get a sense of you and your ideas.

And of course — please share this with any colleagues you think would be interested.

Alison

Virtual attendees: Alison Cody, Veronica Arellano, Mou Chakraborty

Professional Development Presentation

Roundtable Discussion of ALA Annual

Fall Program (10/14/11)

There is a planning wiki for this program where people can submit ideas. We had to make some  decisions about the program in order to submit paperwork to MLA. The title of the program will be The Future Starts Tomorrow and it is scheduled for October 14th. The tentative location is Loyola Columbia.  Steven Bell will start with a talk about a variety of things. He has to incorporate certain topics such as  ACRL initiatives, user experience, design thinking and how to combine these. Steven will talk for approximately 1.5 hours but will stay the entire day.  Breakfast/start of day will be around 9-10 a.m. and we will finish up at 3:30.

In the afternoon, there will be a panel and a larger group discussion. At this time, we need suggestions for panelists and other ideas for interactive activities.  The purpose of the panel will be to hear about unique and exciting projects/positions from different academic libraries in the area. Alison is drafting a call for panelists. We are looking for a diverse group of people working professionally in academic librarians who feel that they’re doing something unique and/or cutting edge. They don’t necessarily have to be implementing it at this time but have a very new or big idea about something. We are willing to take five people who just have an idea and give each one about ten minutes to talk and take questions.  Katy mentioned that we will need to include parameters of what we want panelists to do. These should include time allotted, the number of other panelists, etc.

2012 conference programs

David and Carrie [Willson-Plymire, MLA-DLA 2012 Conference Director] talked and decided the deadline for the call for proposals should be deadline moved up to 9/15, which is a week before the conference committee meeting.  At the time of this meeting, we had received two proposals so everyone is encouraged to promote participation, especially from local librarians. MLA might pay for some expenses within reason, but it is likely that the organization can’t reimburse any expenses.

Katy is planning the workshop on publishing (previously planned and cancelled for 2011 conference).

Other potential programs (reported from Conference Committee meeting)

Intellectual Freedom Group–session about training staff about how to teach this topic
DLDS–ebooks consortium
TSD–top trends and transitioning to RDA
SIG–getting a job/prof orgs
Writing for the web
Planned abandonment–when to let go of a service or resource
Financial literacy
Collaborations with high schools/elementary schools–information literacy
Google+
Grant writing
Sharing marketing ideas (steal these ideas)
Distance education

Carl Olson from GIIG spoke about co-sponsoring a session on American Factfinder 2.  This would be a regular conference session and a trainer from the Census Bureau to attend. The group agreed that this would be a good idea and Carl is going to work on submitting the proposal.

Screencasting is a possible screencasting topic but there need to be computers and we are not yet sure there will be enough for this. There is also the possibility of partnering with LMD for a preconference. David will check on both of these issues at the next Conference Committee Meeting.

Happy Hour at MLA
We are looking into having a happy hour for academic librarians at the conference. This would ideally take place at Liquid Assets. We will look into the possibility of reserving a space and are currently deciding on the best time to do this activity so as not to interfere with other MLA programs.

Nominating Committee

Simmona Simmons has offered to serve as the nominating committee for next year’s officers. Nominations are due 11/1.

Small Discussion Groups

We talked previously about hosting quarterly or semi-annual discussion groups around a topic of interest. These would take place online although hybrid attendance could be a possibility. We need to submit an initial program planning form for this but would only need one for the entire series. Instruction could be a possible topic for the fall, perhaps early or mid November.

Our next meeting is September 6th, 2011 at Loyola-Notre Dame Library from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  This will take place in the first floor seminar room. We may need parking passes–updates to come on this issue. The Wimba room is reserved so this will be available for virtual attendance as well as in-person.

Contact information for ACRL-MD officers
Alison Cody, President, acody@apa.org
David Dahl, Vice President, ddahl@towson.edu
Joanna Gadsby, Secretary, gadsby@umbc.edu

Directions to the library parking lot are available here:http://www.loyola.edu/library/directions.htm.  A parking permit is not needed, but attendees should check in at the security desk upon arrival.

If you are unable to attend in person, we will be using Wimba to extend the meeting to any interested virtual attendees.  The Wimba meeting URL is http://mdlib.wimba.com/launcher.cgi?room=md_meetingMLA. After clicking the link you will need to enter ‘md_meetingMLA’ as the Room ID and your name. You will need speakers or headphones connected to your computer for audio. A microphone is recommended for participation, but Wimba also provides a chat feature, which we will be monitoring.

We look forward to seeing you there!

ACRL MD, the academic libraries division of MLA and the state chapter of ACRL, is on the lookout for conference proposals. The conference will be held in Ocean City, MD, from May 9-11, 2012. Conference sessions are typically 75 minutes long (though there are some shorter and longer time slots available), and are scheduled throughout the day on Thursday and on Friday morning. Wednesday is reserved for full- and half-day pre-conference workshops.

While ACRL MD’s focus is on providing a wealth of quality conference programming for academic librarians, the best sessions also have some relevance for our colleagues outside of the academic library sphere. For information on recent topics, please take a look at the 2011 and 2010 conference programs: http://www.mdlib.org/conference/2011/default.asp.

Submit your proposal now!

Proposals for concurrent sessions are due by 11:59pm on Thursday, September 15. Proposals will be peer-reviewed.  If you have any questions about the conference or the call for proposals, please contact David Dahl (ddahl@towson.edu | 410-704-5748).

Virtual attendees: Alison Cody, David Dahl, Alan Bogage, Patty McDonald, Sara Arnold-Garza

Presentation
Jim Fish, Director of Baltimore County Public Libraries
Using Today’s Numbers to Plan Tomorrow’s Services: Effective User Services Assessment (Reprised from ALA annual conference)

Nominating Committee
While division elections aren’t held until the spring, we will need to submit the names of those who are interested in running for ACRL MD offices in November 2011. At this time, we need volunteers to organize the nominating committee and those people will start gathering names of those interested in running for secretary and vice president elect.

Fall Program
Steven Bell will definitely be coming to speak the ACRL MD fall program on October 14th. At this time, we need to design the program’s format including time of day, location, the potential inclusion of other speakers, and generate ideas for topics. The online poll conducted last month indicates that people are interested in two major themes: “Design Thinking and Innovation in Libraries” and “The Future of Academic Librarianship”.

Ideas generated during this discussion:

-Full day program preferred

-Possibility of focusing on the ACRL study, “The Value of Academic Libraries”, ACRL draft standards on media and information literacy, how ACRL sees these reports and standards as fostering innovation and guiding the future of libraries

-Look for libraries in MD putting these standards into practice, perhaps in order to align with accreditation

-Looking for a location close to BWI that could possibly accommodate 75 people and be a flexible workspace. HCC, AACC, UMBC have  been contacted. Loyola Columbia looks like a good bet. The program is tentatively scheduled at this location but we have to wait until the final fall schedule is published to determine if it is definitely free on this date.

-Currently operating under the idea that SB will present in the morning and help lead a hands-on activity in the afternoon.
Any additional ideas for topics or aspects of this program should be sent to ACRL MD officers.

2012 Conference Planning
Call for proposals draft is being updated. Suggestions included that the e-mail that accompanies the form should have more information on this conference as well as a link to last year’s programming. Those submitting proposals will be encouraged to come up with an idea that would also be relevant to non-academic libraries. MLA policies about reimbursement/timeline will be sent in a follow up email once their proposal is accepted. It was proposed that additional language be added to reflect the fact that reimbursement of expenses by MLA is not guaranteed. In addition, if we accept a proposal, the person submitting it should  be informed to hold both the Thursday and Friday of the conference free until we are notified of available time slots.  Possible that preference will be given to local and/or regional presenters? We will aim to get the call for proposals out soon and ask that they are returned by 9/30/11 so we will have time to review them. A selection committee will tentatively meet on 10/3/11. At this time, it will be an open meeting for those interested in participating. However, we do ask that if you have submitted a proposal that you do not attend this meeting!

DD will need to submit ideas for presentations at the Conference Committee meeting on 7/20.

Current ideas include:

-Government Interest Group may be interested in co-sponsoring a program on Factfinder.

-Katy Sullivan is working on reorganizing the publishing session originally scheduled for 2011.

-Pre-conference on screencasting is a possibility but there will be difficulty getting a computer lab for this purpose since the public library is not available this year.  Is it possible to ask people to bring a laptop? This could make the Factfinder workshop difficult as well. DD to inquire at conference committee meeting if they can supply any equipment for this type of presentation.

Other business
Possible tracks at conference

-Is it better to track by topic (technology, leadership, etc) or by type of library? Discussion went the way of type of library since it would be difficult to generate enough broad topics. It was brought up that any track should be indicated in the mini-booklet used at the conference.

A conference theme should be decided by the next time we meet in August.

Small discussion groups
DD posed the idea of holding quarterly discussion groups using hybrid format (Wimba and in person). They would be free and last less than 2 hours. Several people agreed that this was a good idea and DW-J added that it would be a good way to advertise getting value out of your membership. AC added that we should peruse the MLA president’s objectives for potential topics. We could possibly start this in fall 2011. If you have ideas for topics, please send them to ACRL-MD’s officers in the meantime. Contact info is below.

Next meeting is August 8th at Loyola-Notre Dame Library from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  This will take place in the first floor seminar room. Parking is free but you will need to check in at the security desk.  The Wimba room is reserved so this will be available for virtual attendance as well as in-person.

Contact information for ACRL-MD officers
Alison Cody, President, acody@apa.org
David Dahl, Vice President, ddahl@towson.edu
Joanna Gadsby, Secretary, gadsby@umbc.edu

In addition, Jim Fish, the director of the Baltimore County Public Library, will share his ALA presentation on assessment in libraries with us. The focus of his talk will be the value of using numbers and will include current examples of this type of evaluation.

The meeting will be held in the Level 1 Seminar Room at Loyola Notre Dame Library. Directions to the library parking lot are available here: http://www.loyola.edu/library/directions.htm.  A parking permit is not needed, but attendees should check in at the security desk upon arrival.

If you are unable to attend in person, we will be using Wimba to extend the meeting to any interested virtual attendees.  The Wimba meeting URL is http://mdlib.wimba.com/launcher.cgi?room=md_meetingMLA. After clicking the link you will need to enter ‘md_meetingMLA’ as the Room ID and your name. You will need speakers or headphones connected to your computer for audio. A microphone is recommended for participation, but Wimba also provides a chat feature, which we will be monitoring.

We look forward to seeing you there!