Delta College
Krysta Vincent

Michigan State University
Zoë McLaughlin

Lansing Community College Library
Anne Rau

Grand Valley State University
Preethi Rao

The Community and Junior College Libraries Section (CJCLS) of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is excited to now be accepting nominations for the annual EBSCO Community College Learning Resources Leadership Award and EBSCO Community College Learning Resources Program Award!
 
Awards sponsored by EBSCO Information Services:  Winners will receive a citation and $750 cash sponsored by EBSCO Information Services at a special ceremony during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., June 2019.
 
Submissions must be received by December 7, 2018.  Self-nominations are welcome!
 
For complete information about these awards, the application form and past winners, please visit:

• Learning Resources Award Info Page
• Library Achievement Award Info Page

The applicant for the Learning Resources Leadership Award should demonstrate achievement in one or more of the following areas:

• Significant achievement in advocacy of learning resources/library programs or services, or
• Leadership in professional organizations that are associated with the mission of community, junior, or technical colleges.

 
The applicant for the Learning Resources Program Award should demonstrate achievement in the following area:

• Significant achievement in development of a unique and innovative learning resources/library program.

Questions and nominations must be emailed to:  Laura Mondt, Northern Essex Community College, lmondt@necc.mass.edu
 
Laura Mondt
Instruction and Research Librarian
Bentley Library-Haverhill
Northern Essex Community College
(978) 556-3421

Using Online Learning Tools to Broaden Instructional Reach in STEM Library Instruction
Thursday, December 8, 2018
2:00 - 3:00 PM EST online using zoom

Presented by the MiALA STEM Interest Group, please join Eric Tans of the Michigan State University Libraries and Ed Eckel of Western Michigan University Libraries for an hour-long webinar on how they use video tutorials and other asynchronous learning modules to increase student engagement and promote important information literacy skills in STEM courses at their universities. Eric will discuss a collaborative effort between his institution's instruction librarians and science faculty to create a science-focused information literacy learning module for non-majors on critical evaluation of science information resources. Ed will discuss how he set up a "flipped classroom" approach to teaching information search skills for a freshman engineering writing course.

It is free to attend this webinar but registration is required. For more information and to register, go to the STEM IG event page.

Registration is now open for the MiALA Cataloging/Metadata Interest Group Pop-Up conference on batch editing tools. We have an exciting line-up, including talks on MarcEdit, OpenRefine, Excel, and scripting.

The event will be held on December 7th from 10-4 at the MCLS building in Lansing.

The cost will be $15 for MiALA members and $20 for others. Lunch will be included.

We welcome all, whether or not you work directly with records. You can register here.

In the blink of an eye the holidays are upon us!  

In keeping with my theme of using the season to talk about the organization, we’ve moved into the realm of giving.

MiALA could use your help with giving, by sharing your expertise and interest with other members. In the past few months, the MiALA board has sponsored an exceptional series of requests by our interest groups to put on meetings, workshops, and seminars.  If you have a topic where you would like to share with the membership - help us give this to the membership!  We have funding to support events via our Interest Groups, and can help with logistics, registration, and many other details.  If you’re interested in learning more or have a topic your Interest Group would like to share, please don’t hesitate to reach out at president@miala.org.

In last month’s column I asked for others to share thoughts of gratefulness and wanted to highlight one of the responses.  I’m happy to share this with all of you, thank you Tina for sharing your story with all of us!

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, filled with joy, giving – and hopefully time to think about a program, workshop, or seminar you can champion!

- Paul Gallagher

Ten years ago this coming May I started as library director at Northwestern Michigan College and joined a fabulous group of committed and creative librarians.  Once I got my filing system set up, had toured the campus and met all the people, I looked around and realized that I was alone. In spite of my excellent NMC colleagues, I was the only community college library director within an 80 mile radius. And I had a million questions.

Today I have a much broader circle of librarian colleagues.  I have people to call or email when I have a question about how to deal with a vendor or choose new equipment or make a policy change.  I also have an annual conference to go to where I can learn from other librarians and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I have opportunities to share what I’ve learned with my colleagues.

So I am grateful for MiALA and how it has given me a community of community college librarians. It’s so wonderful to be part of an organization that acknowledges and appreciates our work and gives us a space to think and work together.

MiALA has made my work better and easier and a lot more fun.  Because hanging out with really smart people is the real reason I became a librarian in the first place.

- Tina Ulrich
11/16/18

Edward Eckel
Western Michigan University Libraries
Engineering and applied sciences librarian

What are you currently reading?
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy; Careless Love: The unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick.

What are your research interests?
Currently, I'm interested in how freshman engineering students develop topics for their research papers. This gets into how novice researchers figure out what is a good problem to pursue, and how to come up with search terms for something one knows little about. Also I've been part of the recent Harwood Initiative training run with MCLS and am very interested in getting that going at my university.

Do you have hobbies or interests outside of the library?
I love going into my study in my house, closing the door and singing out loud to myself. I sing blues, country, rock and soul music. Unfortunately, I don't know how to play any instruments yet so I can't accompany myself, otherwise, I'd try to sing in public. Plus I've always been interested in poetry. Recently I've really love the book Cannibal by Safiya Sinclair.

What drew you to the library profession?
I grew up spending every waking moment in my local library. I used to help out during breaks and over the summer by running the film projector to show movies for kids. Then I began working in my college library when I was an undergraduate. Then, after a few twists and turns, I went to library school.

What do you value about MiALA?
I'm really enjoying getting to know my STEM colleagues elsewhere in Michigan. Either doing monthly electronic meetings or in the MiALA pop-up conferences or the annual conference, I learn about what my colleagues are doing, get ideas for things to try myself, and also hopefully can share a little of what I do and what I've learned as an engineering librarian.

Is there anything else that you would like to share?
I'm looking forward to being more active in MiALA. I think this statewide organization is doing a great job of connecting academic librarians and promoting professional development.

Michigan Academic Library Association (MiALA) 2019 Annual Conference: 
Call for Presentation Proposals
Submissions Due Friday, January 11, 2019
 
OUR VALUE: COMMUNICATING, PROMOTING, VISUALIZING
May 13-14, 2019
Saginaw Valley State University
 
MiALA invites you and your colleagues to submit presentation proposals for the 4th annual conference to be held May 13-14, 2019 at Saginaw Valley State University. Please consider sharing your innovations, creative endeavors, and practical solutions for communicating, promoting, or visualizing value in academic libraries. Participation from librarians, library staff, LIS students, and administrators from all types of academic libraries is encouraged.
 
We welcome proposals in any topic related to the conference theme, including, but not limited to:
 
Accessibility
Administration
Assessment and Evaluation
Budgets
Cataloging and Metadata
Collections
Distance or Online Learning
Critical Librarianship
Education and Curriculum
Electronic Resources
Instruction and Information Literacy
Leadership
Mid-Level Management
Open Educational Resources
Outreach
Research Services or Reference
Resource Sharing
Technical Services
Technology
User Experience
Web Development and Design
 
Proposals for presentations, panels, or facilitated discussions (40 minutes) or mini-presentations (20 minutes) can be submitted using the online submission form and must be received by Friday, January 11, 2019. The primary contact listed on each proposal will receive a message indicating receipt of the proposal when it is submitted and decisions on all proposals will be communicated to the primary contact by Friday, February 1, 2019.
 
Questions about proposals can be sent to Amie Pifer (piferas1@cmich.edu) or Elizabeth Webster (ewebster@msu.edu). Questions about the conference in general can be sent to conference@miala.org.