ALAO Newsletter Blog

The spring ALAO Newsletter (Volume 28, Number 1 March, 2010) is now available! Featured in this issue:

• President's Report
• ALAO Updates and What's Happening
• Apply for ALAO's Legislative Travel Grant
• Call for Proposals, ALAO Conference 2010
• Support Staff Interest Group (SSIG)
• Curriculum Materials Center Interest Group (CMCIG)
• People and Libraries News

ALAO members interested in submitting information to the newsletter should contact Lindsey Midkiff Miller, ALAO Communications Member.

A New Challenge

My library career has just presented me with an exciting new challenge. This semester I began my new position as Assistant Library Director at the Stark State College, Digital Library. Yes, assistant director! Don't get too excited, there are only 2 of us on staff, the director and myself. We have been charged with the task of setting up library services for the campus community. Stark State College is a very motivated, growth oriented and popular 2 year college in Stark County. The growth the college is experiencing is unheard of during these tough economic times and I am excited to be a part of it.

The Digital Library itself, has a wonderful physical space. It's very stylish and modern with 6 plasma TVs on the walls for teaching purposes and 32 computer workstations. We have no print resources in the library. The majority of the resources we provide are via OhioLINK. We also have a partnership with Kent State, Stark Campus Library to use their traditional library space to house our print collection and allow our students to request and pickup materials through OhioLINK.

The faculty and students are very excited about their new library. For many years they have had access to most of these resources but the missing link was the lack of librarians to guide them to the resources and show how to use them appropriately. So far I have taught 30+ classes introducing library services and resources. At least 1 or 2 students from every class have made a point to share with me how thankful they are to know about these resources and many even told me the resources are "cool!"

There are many challenges ahead as with starting anything new. We are working to "brand" our new library while at the same time figure out what it really means to call ourselves a "digital library". Please feel free to post any comments or questions regarding this topic, I'd be interested in your feedback.

The clouds are back!

I missed the clouds.

After tweaking the template and layout in January, the overall look was much easier on the eye, but the library clouds were gone. Last week Blogger in Draft announced the new Blogger Template Designer and post featured this handy video.



I spent time Friday morning updating the AU Library News Blog and the IRC News & Information Blog using the template designer. Not only can you choose cleaner template designs, but it is also possible to personalize the background colors, fonts, upload logos for the banner, and adjust the width of the blog text area as well. Once one was complete, it was easy to duplicate the template for the second. Now these blogs have a more uniform look that utilizes the university web site color palette and logo (though the IRC logo is about 20 pixels less in height). Plus, they are just prettier. It was only a matter of time before I started thinking about Library Cloud sans clouds.

Luckily, I have blog-mates that understand me and indulge my technology eccentricities!

OLSSI 2010

Today the Ohio Library Support Staff Institute announced three scholarships available for their annual retreat and conference. For additional information about OLSSI and the 2010Support Staff Institute, visit the OLSSI web site.

~ OLSSI ROCKIN’ Scholarships ~

Ohio Library Support Staff Institute
Baldwin-Wallace College
Berea, Ohio
July 25-27, 2010

Times have never been tougher for libraries in Ohio. Ever-decreasing budgets, cross-the-board cutbacks, the elimination of travel and/or continuing education, lay-offs, furloughs, it goes on and on. In an effort to KEEP helping libraries and their support staff, OLSSI is offering three scholarships to its 2010 conference & retreat.

OLSSI Scholarships are awards covering the entire $225 registration fee for the annual Ohio Library Support Staff Institute. This will allow three people to attend the 2010 Institute free of charge. To apply, you must meet the following criteria:

1. Be presently employed as a library support staff member.
2. Be a first-time attendee of the Ohio Library Support Staff Institute.
3. Agree to contribute to the planning the 2010 Institute as a Steering Committee member.
   

How to Apply:

Please write, in 200 words or less, why you would like to attend the Institute, and how you think attending OLSSI will help you and enhance your library/work performance.

• All applications must be written by the applicant, and not their supervisor(s).
• The Scholarship Contest begins at 8:00 AM, March 15, 2010.
• Deadline for scholarship entry is 5:00 PM, April 16, 2010.
• Winners will be announced on or before April 21, 2010.
  

Please remember to provide the information listed below, along with your essay and send via e-mail to OLSSI.scholarships@gmail.com

ALAO: SSIG Workshop

Another spring workshop announcement via the ALAO list serv; a Grant Writing workshop presented by the Support Staff Interest Group. For more information about this workshop, contact SSIG co-chairs Mary Ayres or Kathy Burns, Southern State Community College.

Saving Our Libraries One Grant at a Time
Support Staff Interest Group
ALAO-SSIG 2010 Spring Workshop
A Face-to-Face Grant Writing Workshop
May 14, 2010, Friday,
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Workshop Location: OhioNet
1500 West Lane Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43221-3975

Keynote Becky Cropper – Mrs. Cropper has worked for Ohio State University Extension for 32 years. Since 1987 she has had grant funding in the range of $100,000.00 to support local 4-H programs. The grants have been from private foundations, United Way and government grants used for a variety of educational programs.

The workshop will be hands on for the participants who will "write" a grant during the daylong session.

Registration Deadline: May 2, 2010
Continental Breakfast Provided - Lunch will be on your own

36th ALAO Conference: Call for Proposals

The following announcement was sent via the ALAO list serv and is available on the ALAO Conference Web Site. Whether submitting your first poster or session presentation or you are already a presentation veteran, the ALAO conference is a fantastic venue for professional development. Visit the conference site for information about session and poster guidelines and submit your proposal!

Call For Proposals
Presentation and Poster Session
Deadline: April 16th, 2010

The ALAO Conference Planning Committee invites you to submit proposals for presentations and poster sessions that bring new, exciting, and practical ideas and approaches that can be used in all academic library settings. This year’s conference theme “Academic Libraries: Now and Tomorrow” looks at the challenging first decade of the 21st century we’ve just come through and gives us a window to the future as we look ahead to the next ten years.

Presentations may take the form of contributed papers, demonstrations, workshops, research,and panel discussions. Poster session proposals embracing the conference theme and that present original ideas, innovative solutions to problems, library related projects, and creative approaches to challenges facing academic libraries today.

We hope to encourage both library support staff and library student growth, career development, and participation in conference activities by offering both a Support Staff Presenter Grant and a new offering for this annual conference is the Library Student Presenter Grant! Further details on both grants are available on the conference website.

ALAO: DLIG/IG Spring Workshop

The Academic Library Association of Ohio's (ALAO) Distance Learning Interest Group (DLIG) and Instruction Interest Group (IIG) are co-sponsoring a Spring Workshop.

Effective Instruction from Design to Assessment
Friday, March 12, 2010
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Ashland University

"Session 1 - A panel of professional instructional designers will share their expertise with creating effective instruction programs. Discussion will include tailoring programs to fit the audience, to meet objectives, and to be used with on-campus and distance learning settings."

"Session 2 - Carolyn Radcliff, Associate Professor, University Libraries, Kent State University and project administrator for Project SAILS, will highlight a variety of assessment techniques that you can use with your students, with an emphasis on knowledge testing." -- ALAO Spring Workshops 2010

Registration for this workshop is open through Wednesday, March 10, 2010. A registration form is available online @ http://msass.case.edu/findit/docs/ALAO_flier.pdf

For more information, please contact:

Kristen Kirchgesler
kristen1@case.edu

Kathryn Venditti
kvenditt@ashland.edu