Enhance your MiALA membership by joining an Interest Group! There is no additional cost to join one or many IGs. These groups - there are 17 of them! - are based on your professional interest and are a great way to get involved in conversations and developing activities with your colleagues from across the state. Find a full list of IGs and contact information here.

The members of the Web Development, Design, and User Experience Interest Group have voted to change their name to the Web/UX Interest Group.

The Library Vendor Relations Interest Group has merged into the E-Resources Interest Group. All members of the Library Vendor Relations IG have been added to the E-Resources IG project area and message boards. The chair of the E-Resources IG is LeAnne Rumler and the chair-elect is Patrick Roth.

Find out more about the E-Resources IG

The E-Resources IG is holding a pop-up conference on Thursday, November 30^th from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm.  The invitation is open to all but there is a $5 fee for non-members.  The description is listed below.  Registration is open now and ends Nov. 28^th.
 
Librarians and Vendors; Colleagues in Collections
The librarian-vendor relationship is critical in meeting the information needs of library users. Without vendors, libraries can’t provide the information our users are looking for and without libraries, vendors can’t have a successful business model. Historically, this relationship has been a relatively strong one, but like all relationships, there are areas where both can implement change to make things work more smoothly. This panel discussion will provide a venue for a positive exchange between librarians and vendors to find better ways to communicate with one another, and influence change by both librarians and vendors to meet our user’s needs.
 

The Instruction and Information Literacy IG met in September and decided to form a smaller group to look at the future of the MIX (Michigan Instruction Exchange) conference. That small group will meet in November. The IG also created a list of members and areas of research interests, for future potential collaboration opportunities. Finally, the IG reached out to ALAO to see how they run their Instruction IG.

It’s hard to believe it’s already November! I know this is an incredibly busy time of the semester for many of us.

We have been moving forward on a number of initiatives within MiALA. Perhaps most exciting is the launch of the new MiALA website, which has been under construction for a number of months. Many thanks go to Heather Ladiski and the entire Website Task Force for their thoughtful redesign and attention to detail. Not only is it a great redesign, with many new and enhanced features.  The revamped members only area is now much easier to access and use. If you have a moment, check out the new features, including the message boards for easy communication on a variety of topics.

We also developed a new task force, chaired by Emilia Marcyk, Breezy Silver, and Arlene Weismantle, that will be looking at the sections and how to structure them within MiALA for maximum benefit. If you a member of section, you should have gotten a survey earlier in October that asked for member feedback. Please take a moment to fill it out, if you can.
I hope to see many of you at the Assessment Pop Up on November 3^rd. We will also be planning a few “MiALA On the Road” events in the new year, in an effort to connect with MiALA members across the state. If you’d like us to visit your area or institution, please drop me an email.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions, concerns, or ideas. MiALA’s strength is our membership!

Jessica

The long awaited redesigned www.miala.org is now live.  Some highlights to show include:

• New look for the news feed
• New look for upcoming events
• A static area to learn about the next annual conference
• A reference information area (located under About MiALA – board info/bylaws) where members/leaders can access the latest versions of the bylaws, board meeting minutes, and reference manuals.
• A calendar dedicated to leader deadlines (located under About MiALA – board info/bylaws). Currently just includes newsletter deadlines but will be populated with more information shortly.
• Event reminders. For any event listed in any calendar on the MiALA website, you can click on the event information page and be provided with the ability for the system to send you an email reminder of the event.
• Outside conferences have been added to the MiALA event calendar to help in your event planning.
• Current and archived eNewsletters are now easily accessible (located under News & Events – Monthly eNewsletters)
• Section/Interest Group/Committee information is now accessible from one page (under Current Members)
• Search tool to easily look up information on the website
• A brand new looking member’s only area (more information on the member’s only area will be shared shortly).

 
Let me know what you think!  If there is anything else that you think that we should have on the website, let us know! Thank you to the Website task force for their hard work redesigning the website to be more user friendly/accessible.
 
Members of the Web site task force were:
Julia Eisenstein
Cole Hudson
Julia Daniel Walkuski
Joshua Sanchez
Jenny Wright
Ashley Blinstrub
Jackie Wrosch

The LIRT (Library Instruction Roundtable) Awards recognize a librarian or library program that has made a significant contribution to the fields of library instruction or information literacy. This is a great opportunity to highlight the outstanding librarians and innovative programs here in Michigan at the national level, so considering nominating a colleague (or yourself!).

Each year, LIRT awards two prizes: the LIRT Innovation in Instruction Award for an outstanding library program and the LIRT Librarian Recognition Award to an individual librarian. Awardees will receive $1000 cash, a plaque, and a $500 stipend to attend ALA Annual.

More information, rubrics, and nomination checklists are available on the LIRT Awards website.

Nominations are due January 15, 2018. Winners will be notified no later than February 15, 2018.

Sarah Klimek - Michigan State University
Charlotte Griffith - Muskegon Community College
Pamela Hudson - ACMS-Coaching Services, LLC
Carol Whittaker - Delta College
Jon Jeffryes - Grand Valley State University
Kate Luebke - Aquinas College
Daniel Harrison - Henry Ford College
Linda Knox - University of Michigan Duderstadt Center
Erik Nordberg - Walter P. Reuther Library
Tessa Betts - Henry Ford College
Jennifer Adams - Jackson College
Josh Olsen - Kettering University
Saxony Betts - Kettering University Library
Emily Dunn - Kettering University