ACRL MD is looking for presenters for the lightning rounds at our upcoming Unconference, If You’ve Got It, Flaunt it: Making the Most of Our Collections in a Fragmented World. The lightning rounds will be 5-10 minute prepared talks (time will depend on the number of presenters, but you will be informed at least 2 weeks before the unconference of the amount of time you will have). We’re looking for presentations on any aspect of library collections: collections themselves, how your library is providing access to collections, tools being used to highlight collections, etc. The possibilities are endless. The lightning talks are intended to serve as a spring board for the round table discussions immediately following. The best topics for lightning round presentations will provide for lively discussion and debate. Lightning round speakers will be asked to serve as the facilitator at a round table discussion on their topic immediately following the lightning rounds. If you are interested in presenting during the lightning rounds please submit a short proposal containing your presentation topic and at least 3 related questions that will facilitate discussion on your topic during the round table sessions. Proposals are due by Monday May 14. You will notified no later than Friday May 18 if your proposal was accepted. Email all submissions to Danielle Whren Johnson at dwhren@loyola.edu.
The Unconference will be held on June 1 from 9:30-3:15 at Stevenson University’s Greenspring Campus. For more information about the program including registration information please visit https://acrlmd.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/unconference3/
Author: Danielle Whren Johnson
If You’ve Got It, Flaunt it: Making the Most of Our Collections in a Fragmented World
Collections. Libraries wouldn’t exist without them. We have collections of books, serials, electronic resources, archival materials, media in all formats – the list goes on. What are you doing with your collections these days? Are you building a new one? Rethinking how you provide access to an older collection? Reinvigorating your special collections? Moving them on- or off-site? Presenting them in new ways? Join ACRL MD on Friday, June 1, 2012 for our third unconference, where you can share your ideas for and initiatives around any kind of collection in your library – and hear what other folks are up to. This year the unconference format will feature lighting talks, roundtable discussions, time for demonstrations and micro workshops. We’ll provide coffee and donuts in the morning, and lunch in the afternoon. You provide the great ideas.
The more you come prepared to share and discuss the better the unconference will be! You can contribute in the following ways:
Lighting Rounds and Round Table Discussions
We’re looking for people interested in contributing to the lightning rounds. The lightning rounds will be 5-10 minute prepared talks (time will depend on the number of presenters, but you will be informed at least 2 weeks before the unconference of the amount of time you will have). The lightning talks are intended to serve as a spring board for the round table discussions immediately following. The best topics for lightning round presentations will provide for lively discussion and debate. Lightning round speakers will be asked to serve as the facilitator at a round table discussion on their topic. If you are interested in presenting during the lightning rounds please submit a short proposal containing your presentation topic and at least 3 related questions that will facilitate discussion on your topic during the round table sessions. Proposals are due by Monday May 14. You will notified no later than Friday May 18 if your proposal was accepted. Email all submissions to Danielle Whren Johnson at dwhren@loyola.edu.
Show and Tell and Micro-Workshops
If you aren’t contributing to the lightning rounds (or even if you are) there will be plenty more time for you to share your ideas during the afternoon Show and Tell Demos or Micro-Workshops. Prior to our afternoon session participants can suggest topics for informal 15 minute show and tell demos or micro-workshops. Attendees will vote on which topics they would like to hear more about and the top 6 choices will be the ones presented during the afternoon session. Show and Tell demos and Micro-Workshops can be as formal or informal as you like.
Show and Tell Demos
Is your library doing something super cool with collections? Share your hard work, plans, and ideas during a 15 minute show and tell.
Micro-Workshops
Know of a neat tool, piece of software or hardware, etc. that you’re using to support collections in your library in some way? Micro-workshops are 15 minute sessions in which you can provide a quick introduction and tutorial to these tools to whet your fellow librarians’ appetite for more.
For more information on submitting a proposal for the lightning rounds or how the unconference works contact Danielle Whren Johnson at dwhren@loyola.edu.
Schedule:
Date: Friday June 1, 2012
9:30-10 Registration
10-11 Lightning Rounds
11-12 Roundtable Discussions based on lightning rounds
12-1 Lunch (included, Vegetarian options available)
1-1:30 Planning for afternoon sessions
1:30-3 Show and Tell Demos/Micro Workshops
3-3:15 Wrap up and Evaluations
The conference will take place at Stevenson University’s Greenspring Campus in St. Paul’s Pavilion (1525 Greenspring Valley Road, Stevenson, MD 21153). Directions and a campus map found at http://www.stevenson.edu/explore/locations/directions/index.asp#gspring.
Registration Fees:
MLA Members $55
Non-MLA Members (plus 50%) $82.50
Students (less 15%) $46.75
Registration deadline is May 18, 2012. Register at https://www.mdlib.org/happenings/register.asp.
Parking for Tuesday 9/6 Meeting at Loyola/Notre Dame Library
The next ACRL MD meeting is being held at the Loyola Notre Dame Library from 1-3pm on Tuesday 9/6. The Loyola Notre Dame Library has recently instituted a pay to park system. Meeting attendees can request a visitor pass for free parking to place on the dashboard of their car from the attendant’s desk when they enter the library. Just let the attendant know you are at the library for the ACRL MD meeting and ask for a pass for your car. If you get the pass you DO NOT need to pay. If you have any questions please contact Danielle Whren Johnson at 410-617-6872 or dwhren@loyola.edu.
Registration is open for our fall program!
The Future is Tomorrow
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.
Tomorrow is What We Make It: Designing Our Preferred Future
In 2011 a futuristic essay detailed the death of academic libraries. The current rash of pessimistic thinking about the future of this profession – and possibly even its future demise – may not be greatly exaggerated. While cautionary tales and threats of extinction may be useful in helping academic librarians stay focused on building a sustainable future, they typically are based more on imagined fears than reality. We need to remember that we are in control of our own destiny, and that this profession is in crisis only if we allow it to happen. Tomorrow is an opportunity to create our preferred future.
In this presentation, Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research & Instruction at Temple University and vice-president/president-elect of ACRL, sheds some light on the prospects for academic librarianship in a tumultuous higher education and information landscape. Adopting a design approach to achieve an intentional user experience provides a strategy for a future-proofed library.
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
Call for panelists for fall program
ACRL MD is currently seeking 4-5 panelists to participate in our fall program, to be held on Friday, October 14, from 9am-3:30pm at Loyola University’s Graduate Center in Columbia, MD. The program, “The Future is Tomorrow,” will focus on ways to embrace and address the changing role of the academic library and librarian. We are looking for a diverse mix of panelists, representing a range of job functions and experience. (Stay tuned! Registration will open soon.)
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
ACRL Meeting Minutes, 8/8/11
In person attendees: Danielle Whren-Johnson, Joanna Gadsby, Katy Sullivan, Shana Gass, Natalie Burclaff, David Dahl, Patty McDonald, Sara Arnold Garza, Carl Olson
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
ACRL, Maryland Chapter 