The following is a round-up of activities many of our colleagues participated in at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference held June 23-28 in Orlando, Fla., as well as ALA-affiliated organizations’ June conferences. Please see also the June 27 Library News post on Associate Dean Karen Estlund’s two ALA panel presentations and new ALA leadership roles for Penn State Shenango Head Librarian Matt Ciszek and Head of Library Learning Services Rebecca Miller.
Andrew Completes Chairmanship of MAGIRT
A three-year leadership role in Map & Geospatial Information Round Table concluded for Cartographic Resources Cataloging Librarian Paige Andrew. During his stint as chair, Andrew was involved in everything from planning meetings and programs, establishing and then leading Executive Board meetings, participating in multiple Committee, Discussion Group, and Interest Group activities, writing a column for MAGIRT’s newsletter, and collaborating with other ALA units, most especially the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT).
An overwhelmingly successful formal half-day program at the 2015 ALA Annual Conference, co-sponsored with GODORT titled “Data Visualization in the Library: Collections, Tools and Scalable Services” became the foundation for the formal 2016 formal Preconference workshop held last week. Another highlight of his term was serving as chair of the Nominations and Awards Committee and being part of the process of deciding who would be selected for our annual Honors Award.
Andrew also was presented with his 2016 Margaret Mann Citation at the ALCTS Awards Program.
Behler chaired ACRL Instruction Section conference program
Information Literacy Librarian Anne Behler chaired the planning committee and moderated the ACRL Instruction Section conference program, attended by more than 175 people.
Herb served on Children’s Book Council panel
Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian and Director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book Steven Herb spoke on a Children’s Book Council panel titled “Graphic Traffic: Graphic Novels Takeover.”
Jackson serves in leadership roles at ACRL and ALA conferences
Athena Jackson, Dorothy Foehr Huck Chair and head of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library, chaired the plenaries subcommittee for the Rare Books & Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of ACRL conference, “Opening Doors to Collaboration, Outreach, and Diversity.” Jackson moderated the opening plenary: “Open the Door to a More Diverse and Collaborative Future,” and an additional papers panel: “Diversity and Cultural Communities.”
Following the RBMS conference, Jackson transitioned to her three-year appointment as Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect of RBMS at ALA’s Annual Conference. She also serves and participated in a planning meeting as co-chair of the Roundtable Discussions as a member of the ACRL 2017 conference coordinating committee for “At the Helm: Leading Transformation,” in Baltimore.
Knapp assumes presidency of LIRT
Larry and Ellen Foster Communications Librarian Jeff Knapp, who has served in various roles in the Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) for more than 10 years, assumed its presidency on July 1. The purpose and mission of LIRT is to “empower … librarians, from all types of libraries, to become better teachers through sharing best practices, leadership and professional development, and networking.” Although there are a number of different units within the American Library Association that deal with library instruction, LIRT sets itself apart by bringing academic librarians together with public and school librarians.
Novotny served as Library History Round Table chair
Eric Novotny, history librarian at University Park, served as Chair of the Library History Round Table (LHRT) and presided over a full slate of activities, including convening the Executive Board Meeting, hosting the Edward G. Holley Memorial Lecture on “History, Childhood, Memory, and Imagination” and attending our annual Research Forum on “History of Reading and Readers in Libraries.”
Novotny, Lear’s library history journal launched
Novotny, and Bernadette Lear, reference librarian at Penn State Harrisburg, unveiled a new scholarly journal at the annual conference with the first edition set for Spring 2017. Sponsored by ALA’s Library History Round Table and published by the Penn State University Press, Libraries: Culture, History, and Society is the only journal in the United States devoted to library history.
Rustic begins term as Chair of Reference Services Section
Amy Rustic, a reference and instruction librarian at Penn State New Kensington, began her term as Chair of Reference Services Section (RSS) on July 1. She was elected and served as Vice Chair last year. RSS is the largest of RUSA’s sections and represents a wide range of reference librarians.
