Volunteer Opportunities

We’re always looking for volunteers! Below are just a few ways to get involved, organized by level of commitment. If any of these sound interesting to you, let us know by filling out our contact form.

Leadership roles

I can be committed and responsible for tasks at varying levels over a long period of time.

Vice President/President-Elect
The role of Vice President/President Elect is a three-year commitment, with varying responsibilities. This is an elected position.* Nominations start in September, election results announced in May.

As vice-president:

  • Serve as the ACRL MD representative on the MLA Conference Committee, including coordinating ACRL MD’s call for proposals and proposal review
  • Attend all MLA Conference Committee meetings (varies in-person and virtual)
  • Attend all ACRL MD planning meetings
  • Assist with other program planning and initiatives
  • Contribute content to the ACRL MD blog (acrlmd.wordpress.com) or other social media platforms

As president:

  • Plan the fall program
  • Attend the Congress of Academic Library Directors (Maryland) meetings as ex-officio (alternating virtual and in-person)
  • Attend MLA Executive Board Meetings (held every other month, in person at the MLA office)
  • Set agendas and run ACRL MD meetings
  • Submit bi-monthly reports to MLA and annual reports to MLA and ACRL Chapters Council
  • Attend all ACRL MD planning meetings
  • Assist with other program planning and initiatives
  • Contribute content to the ACRL MD blog (acrlmd.wordpress.com) or other social media platforms

As past-president:

  • Plan the summer program
  • Attend all ACRL MD planning meetings
  • Assist with other program planning and initiatives
  • Contribute content to the ACRL MD blog (acrlmd.wordpress.com) or other social media platforms

Secretary
The role of secretary is a one year commitment. This is an elected position.* Nominations start in September, election results announced in May. 

  • Attend all ACRL MD planning meetings
  • Record and publishing the minutes for these minutes
  • Communicate events to Marylib and other media channels
  • Coordinate meeting schedule with MLA Office
  • Assist with other program planning and initiatives
  • Post content to official ACRL MD social media accounts

*For all elected positions:
Candidates must attend at least 1 planning meeting during the year leading up to their nomination and participate in the planning of an ACRL MD program or other event prior to the start of their term. Significant contributions to other aspects of MLA will be considered in place of the other requirements. During their term of office, individuals holding these positions must be registered MLA members.

Project specific roles

I can be highly committed for short periods of time to complete specific tasks.

Professional Development Program Subcommittee Member
This role is a 3-4 month time commitment. Responsibilities may include:

  • Attending program planning meetings (usually virtual)
  • Brainstorming themes, speakers, locations, call for proposals
  • Crafting a schedule, creating learning outcomes, and submitting the PDP form to the MLA office three months in advance of the program
  • Contacting speakers, selecting proposals, contacting catering
  • Marketing the program
  • Helping day-of: Registration, welcome table, leading an activity, handling feedback forms, clean-up/set-up

Social and Networking Events Subcommittee Member
This role is a 3-4 month time commitment. Responsibilities may include:

  • Attending program planning meetings (usually virtual)
  • Brainstorming social and networking events
  • Making arrangements
  • Marketing the event/activity
  • Helping day-of: Welcoming and participating

*Generally our main social event is in February

Journal Club Discussion Facilitator (on hold for reminder of 2019)
This role is a 1-4 week time commitment. How it works:

  1. The issue of College and Research Libraries is published (freely available online) the month prior to our discussion date, which gives the host and attendees time to read. Once the issue is published, ACRL MD’s secretary will send out a survey of the articles in the latest issue, which asks people to pick the top three articles they’d like to discuss.
  2. After about two weeks, the secretary will send out a follow up notification through Marylib to invite everyone to attend and announce the two or three articles selected for the discussion.
  3. If you’re the host, you’re expected to read the three articles and come up with discussion questions. Keep in mind, not everyone attending will have read all of the articles, so it’s useful to summarize the article, and to also have some discussion questions related to the article’s topic, but not necessarily the article itself.
  4. Our journal club discussions occur on the third Friday of every other month (unless it runs into a holiday) from 11:30am-12:30pm. They all take place virtually through MLA’s Blackboard Collaborate. If you’re hosting, you’ll need to have microphone and speaker capabilities on your computer/device.

MLA Conference Proposal Peer Reviewer
This role is a 2-4 week time commitment. Responsibilities include:

  • Reading 5-10 proposals the first two weeks in September (the proposals are for the Maryland Library Association Annual Conference in May, and each proposal consists of a short paragraph describing the session and 2-3 learning objectives)
  • Reviewing the proposals using our rating system. It is a blind peer-review process, so you won’t receive any identifying information, but the proposal coordinator will make sure there is no obvious conflict of interest (so no worries if you or your colleagues have submitted a proposal – you can still volunteer!).  Everything is done electronically.
  • Meeting virtually at the end of September to discuss the top proposals.

CRAB Article Writer
This role is a 1-4 week time commitment. Responsibilities include:

  • Writing an article about ACRL MD activities
  • Submitting the article to CRAB, the Maryland Library Association official online newsletter (deadlines are Dec. 5, March 5, June 5, and Sept. 5)

Webinar Host
This role is a 1 week time commitment. Responsibilities include:

  • Reserving and arranging a space at your institution to accommodate a group of attendees to watch one of the ACRL webinars provided to chapter organizations for free — but we are only given a set number of logins, but can have numerous viewers at each location.
  • Communicating location details with attendees that have signed up for the webinar at your institution
  • Participate and attend the webinar

Contributor roles

I can’t regularly commit time, but I have some great ideas or contacts!

  • Contact ACRL MD if you have free space to host a fall program, webinar, workshop or meeting.
  • Share ideas for themes for our fall program
  • Send us speaker ideas or session formats
  • Let us know if you’ll be at one of our events/programs and can take pictures or contribute to social media posts
  • Submit presentation or proposals to one of our programs
  • Share, retweet, forward, amplify, like, and/or tell a friend about our call for proposals, program information, or other communications from ACRL MD that catch your eye