Do you know of a MiALA member that you would like to see spotlighted in an upcoming eNewsletter?

Would YOU like to be our next member spotlight?

The communications and marketing committee is looking for members of all types:

• new members - long time members
• students members - individual members - institutional representative members
• board members - interest group members and/or leaders - committee members and/or leaders - section members and/or leaders
• members from small institutions - members from large institutions - members from medium institutions

You get the picture...we want to hear from any and all members willing to share a little bit about themselves and why they are a member on MiALA.

Take a moment and fill out the member spotlight questionnaire and watch for yourself in an upcoming edition of the MiALA monthly newsletter!

Spring 2018 Mid-Michigan Digital Practitioners Meeting & Mi-ALA Pre-Conference

May 16, 2018
8:30am-12:00pm (optional flextime to afternoon)
Michigan State University Libraries – Digital Scholarship Lab
East Lansing, Michigan

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN. Go to the event registration page for more information.

Description
The Mid-Michigan Digital Practitioners group (MMDP) is an award-winning regional collective of librarians, archivists, museum curators, conservators, historians, scholars, educators, and students engaged in creating and curating digital collections in Mid-Michigan and the surrounding region. They meet twice annually in the spring/fall. MMDP meetings are designed to provide a free and open forum for conversation, collaboration, and networking for all attendees.

This free one-day pre-conference event will take the place of the regularly scheduled 2018 Spring MMDP meeting and bring the normal two-day full experience of that meeting to attendees of the Mi-ALA Annual Conference. This is a great opportunity to learn more about MMDP and build bridges of collaboration with the Mi-ALA community.

MMDP regulars will be in attendance and provide:

• Presentations
• Workshop
• Birds-of-a-Feather Discussions
• Hands-on Technology Demonstrations
• Lightning Talks
• Poster Demonstrations

Intended Outcomes

1. Deliver a dynamic and diverse program to expose library and archives professionals to exciting digital projects at work in our state
2. Provide an opportunity for digital practitioners from across mid-Michigan to provide updates on their most recent developments and engage in constructive feedback with their peers 
3. Seize upon the enthusiasm and forward-progress of Mi-ALA and MMDP to foster a “meeting of the minds” and cross-pollination of ideas and collaborations between the two communities

Target Audience
This pre-conference event is geared towards librarians, archivists, curators, students and other professionals interested in engaging, learning about, or actively working on digital initiatives/projects to advance collections and scholarship at their institutions or across the state/region.

Presenter Information
Several of the current Mid-Michigan Digital Practitioner planning team members (Richard Adler, Robin Derminer, Melinda Isler, Elisa Landaverde, Dallas Pillen, Devon Proudfoot, Matt Schultz, and Bryan Whitledge) will be in attendance to present. Proposals are being accepted until April 6th – see the Call for Proposals here.  

REGISTRATION IS FREE but limited to 40 participants. Lunch and beverages will be provided.

The Open Educational Resources Interest Group held a webinar on Tues., March 6, as part of the worldwide Open Education Week celebration entitled "What Works for Me: Successful OER Strategies." Five IG members--Michele Pratt (Delta), Kate Pittsley-Sousa (EMU), Julia Rodriguez (Oakland U.), Kendra Lake (SC4), and Matt Ruen (GVSU) shared strategies that they have used to promote the adoption of free or low-cost textbooks on their respective campuses. You can view their slides in OER Commons here or the Michigan Community Colleges OER LibGuide here.

Duane Strojny, Western Michigan University Cooley Law School

Devon Davidoski, Michigan State University

Colleen Welsch, Southwestern Michigan College

Giancarlo Idris, Macomb Community College

Minhao Jiang

Kyrsten Rue, Henry Ford College

Theresa Moore, Michigan State University Libraries

Jane Reiter, Davenport University

Sarah Krebs, Davenport University

Oneka Samet, Wayne County Community College District

Marianne Swierenga, Western Michigan University Libraries

Rebecca Grai, Northwood University

Theresa Ball, Northwood University Strosacker Library

Richard Adler, University of Michigan Library

Sheila Garcia, University of Michigan

Karen Coghlan

Jodi Coalter, Wayne State University

Happy April, MiALA Members! April means Spring, but it also means we’re just about a month away from the conference. I am looking forward to great programming and networking opportunities. I’ve been checking out the different posters and presentations, and I am again so excited to learn from colleagues around the state. There are also two excellent pre-conference opportunities for MiALA members – one is an ACRL Standards Workshop, entitled Planning, Assessing, and Communicating Library Impact: Putting the Standards for Libraries in Higher Education into Action. Spots are filling fast for this pre-conference, and it’s limited to only 40 people to ensure a hands on, deep dive into the topic. What a great opportunity for MiALA members. We are also excited to partner with Mid-Michigan Digital Practitioners (MMDP) to host their spring meeting as a pre-conference. This is another exciting partnership for MiALA, and is reflective of how diverse our membership is. Both of the pre-conferences require a separate registration from your conference registration, so be sure to sign up if you’re interested (and don’t wait)!

Since it’s conference time, that also means it’s time for Nominations and Elections! I know Stephanie Mathson, past-president of MiALA, and her committee have been hard at work to make sure we have excellent MiALA members running for our open positions. Nominations will open April 20th, so we want to make sure you have time to think about positions you might be interested in. If you know of someone you’d like to nominate, OR if you’re interested in running for a position yourself (and you should!) get in contact with Stephanie and her committee. You can find all election information here.

Have a great April, and as always, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please feel free to email me at jsender@msu.edu.

Registration for MiALA’s 3rd annual conference is now open! This event will be held May 17-18 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing. We're excited about all this conference has to offer, including:

• Keynote Speaker from Data Driven Detroit
• Pre-conference reception from 5-7pm Wednesday, 5/16 at the MSU Union (open to all attendees)
• 25 breakout sessions throughout the conference presented by your Michigan academic library colleagues
• A networking lunch on Thursday
• Poster session/Information fair
• A tour of the MSU Libraries’ Digital Scholarship Lab
• Dinearounds for dinner on Thursday night - a great way to explore what East Lansing has to offer!
• The MiALA annual membership meeting on Friday morning - see what MiALA has accomplished in the past year, and what's in store for the future!
• “Birds of a Feather” boxed luncheon featuring Interest Group sessions
• Here's the registration link

Registration costs are as follows:
Full Conference: $150 MiALA & ALAO members, $200 non-members, $50 LIS students
One-day: $100 MiALA & ALAO members, $150 non-members, $25 LIS students

A room block has been secured for the nights of May 16 & 17 at the conference hotel. Go to the MiALA Annual Conference webpage for instructions on how to reserve your room. The deadline to reserve a room is April 16, 2018.
 
We're excited about this conference, and can't wait to see you there. For more information, go to the MiALA Annual Conference webpage.

Registration for this year's Preconference Workshop is now open!

Planning, Assessing, and Communicating Library Impact: Putting the Standards for Libraries in Higher Education into Action (ACRL Standards Workshop)
May 16, 2018
8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Michigan State University Libraries - Green Room
East Lansing, MI

Libraries in higher education are increasingly required to demonstrate their value and document their contributions to overall institutional effectiveness. The Standards for Libraries in Higher Education is a framework for library planning and assessment that can be used for a variety of circumstances including annual planning, program review, and accreditation self-study. Through presentation, discussion, and group activities, learn how to use the Standards to communicate your library’s impact.

Learning Outcomes
Workshop participants will be able to. . .

• Establish the library and institutional contexts to effectively engage in planning, self-study, accreditation, or program review processes.
• Use the ACRL Standards for Libraries in Higher Education and other foundational documents as a framework to develop benchmarks, evaluate quality and performance, and demonstrate value to the institutional mission.
• Evaluate various metrics and assessment tools to select the best approach for a given situation.
• Examine the role of leadership in building a culture of evidence to engage all librarians and staff members in effective decision-making.

Target Audience
This workshop is intended for all librarians, library staff, and library administrators who need to demonstrate the value of their library by documenting their contributions to overall institutional effectiveness and/or to identify areas for quality improvement. Attendees are not expected to have previous experience applying the Standards. Though the primary audience is librarians, library staff, library administrators and other campus professionals in areas of assessment, institutional planning and improvement, and academic technology may be interested as well.

Find out more about this workshop and register here!
Don't delay! Limited to 40 participants!
Price: $90 per person, which includes morning coffee/light breakfast, a boxed lunch, and an afternoon snack.
(Registration ends on May 15)

MiALA’s nominations and election season is about to begin, and I would love for all members to consider running for an open position. We need to fill quite a few slots, including: Vice President/President-elect, Treasurer, and institutional representatives on the Board of Directors; Chairs for our three standing committees; and Chair-elect, Secretary, and At-Large Members (2) for each of our three Sections. You can find complete details on our Election Central webpage.

Sometimes getting involved with an association like MiALA is about who you know. Several of us who have served on the Board or in other positions were encouraged to run by folks serving as MiALA leaders at that time. All we needed to do was believe in our organization and its growth, and also believe in ourselves and our potential to serve.

We got involved because service is important—particularly for those trying to attain tenure or continuing appointment. But also because librarianship and service go hand-in-hand. We take turns bearing the weight and responsibility for our organization because it’s ours.

Prospective candidates: Remember that you won’t have to do all the work yourself. You will have responsibilities that are yours to shoulder if you are elected, but you can ask for help. Section leaders have a Board of Directors behind them and behind the Directors is an entire membership interested in helping out where they can.

Special skills are not needed to serve. But, to be honest, if you’re considering a run for Treasurer, it would be helpful to have some background in budgeting and be able to use Excel.

Service commitments vary depending on the time of year and which specific activities you’re involved with, but a quick survey of past and current leaders indicates that one to two hours per week is typical. Meetings are held virtually using Zoom, but in the summer, we do hold a Leadership Retreat, so that all outgoing and incoming Directors and Section officers can meet face to face for lively discussions, strategic planning, and camaraderie.  

Nominations will open April 20th and close May 21st. If you have questions about a position you’re interested in, reach out to the person who currently holds it or or contact me or another member of the Nominations & Elections Committee.

If you do run and aren’t elected, please stay involved. When the Board creates an ad hoc committee or a task force, it draws members from MiALA’s volunteer pool, including past nominees. And remember: You can always run next year!

The Conference Scholarship subcommittee is pleased to announce this year’s conference scholarship recipients:

Pre-conference Scholarship Recipients:

1. Elaine Meyer – U of M Dearborn
2. Hayley Bommarito – St. Clair County Community College
3. Martha Stuit – Delta College
4. Sandy McCarthy – Washtenaw Community College
5. Kathryn Maciejewski – Gogebic Community College

Conference Scholarship Recipients:

1. Elaine Meyer – U of M Dearborn
2. Hayley Bommarito – St. Clair County Community College
3. Alison Greenlee – Wayne State University
4. Martha Stuit – Delta College
5. Elizabeth Measell – Grand Valley State University
6. Sandy McClure – Washtenaw Community College
7. Hazel McClure – Grand Valley State University

A huge thank you to everyone who applied, and a hearty CONGRATULATIONS to each of the recipients, each of whom were chosen through a double-blind scoring process and selected by highest scores.

We look forward to seeing each one of you at this year’s MiALA Conference on May 17 & 18 at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing, MI!

With sincere best wishes from the Conference Scholarship Subcommittee:
Elizabeth Walker, Spring Arbor University (chair)
Jennifer Bowen, University of Detroit Mercy
Alex Hauser, Michigan State University
Agnes Widder, Michigan State University

Julie Garrison
Dean of Libraries, Western Michigan University

What are you currently reading?
Responsibility Center Management: A Guide to Balancing Academic Entrepreneurship with Fiscal Responsibility - as our university is undertaking conversations about transitioning to a new budget model. I also listen to a lot of audio books on my commute and I just finished Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and am starting Beneath a Scarlet Sky.

What are your research interests?

Really, I'm interested in a little bit of everything related to changing programs and culture in libraries, most recently I've been delving into aspects of leadership, organizational psychology, and change management in libraries.

Do you have hobbies or interests outside the library?
I love listening to live music and traveling with my husband and family.

What drew you to the library profession?
My interest in digging for answers and doing research combined with the deep satisfaction of connecting others to the information they needed drew me to the profession.

What do you value about MiALA?
The network of smart, capable, and collaborative academic colleagues in the state of Michigan! The conferences, workshops, and programs MiALA offers are excellent and I always come away with new ideas to consider implementing at my own institution.