Member Meet-Up: Transfer Students
02/10/2023

Cataloging & Metadata IG Meeting
02/13/2023

IDEA Reading Group Discussion
02/23/2023

Instruction & Info Lit IG Casual Conversation: Engage
02/24/2023

Instruction & Info Lit IG Casual Conversation: Assess
04/04/2023

Mark your calendars for these two exciting Casual Conversations from the Instruction and Information Literacy IG.

Engage: How can we better engage students during online instruction?
Friday, February 24, 2023, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Online instruction offers unique challenges for student engagement. What are some strategies that you have used to engage students and foster learning in an online environment? Have you incorporated active learning into online asynchronous sessions, or made personal connections with students who appear as “black boxes” in synchronous classes? Participants will have the opportunity to share and learn from each other. IG Leadership Team member Amy Brandt, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, will lead the conversation.

Assess: How can we improve our assessment of library instruction?
Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 2 - 3 p.m.
Whether you want to revamp existing assessment efforts or you are just getting started, join us in considering how to use assessment data to improve student learning. Participants will be able to swap stories and tools used to assess library instruction sessions and courses, what they learned from the assessments and how they used that information. IG Leadership Team member Amy Fyn, Eastern Michigan University, will lead the conversation. 

The URLs to register and get Zoom links may be found through the Upcoming Events links (above)  and on MiALA's online calendar of events. 

Hi Folks,
 
The spring semester is now well underway! While it may not feel like spring in Michigan yet, we can all look forward to warmer weather and the annual conference in May. As I mentioned in January, the conference website is up and running. The deadline for the call for posters has been extended to Feb. 8.  Scholarship applications are due by Feb. 24. Please keep an eye out for registration information. We still need a host for our 2024 (and 2025) conference so please consider submitting a proposal. More information on hosting the conference can be found here.

Memorial note
 
I have very sad news to share with MiALA; our colleague Tom Volkening passed away in December. Tom retired in summer 2022 from Michigan State University Libraries as the Engineering Librarian after many years. He was an active member of MiALA, and I know many of us have good memories of working with him. I’ll remember Tom for his excellent paw paw bread and nature photography. The MSU Libraries will be naming our Seed Library after Tom in honor of him and his love of gardening. In lieu of flowers, suggestions from Tom’s family for donations in his memory are listed in his memorial here.
 
Best,
Carin Graves

Interested in attending the 8th Annual MiALA Conference, but funding is in short supply? Apply for the MiALA Annual Conference Scholarship! The scholarship has been developed to support a current MiALA member’s attendance at the Annual Conference. We will be awarding up to seven MiALA Annual Conference scholarships. The Annual Conference Scholarship will cover full registration to attend this year’s in-person conference as well as two nights lodging at our conference hotel. Awardee and/or awardee's institution will be expected to cover any remaining conference or travel costs.
 
All current individual/student/retiree members of MiALA (with 22-23 membership dues paid) are eligible to apply for the Annual Conference registration grant. Applications are due Feb. 24, 2023.
 
To apply, please fill out this form. For more information, visit our MiALA 2023 Conference Scholarships Guidelines and Information page. 
 
Funding for the conference is provided in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library of Michigan.

Deadline Extended to Wed., Feb. 8, 2023
 
Riding the Waves: Finding Balance in an Age of Uncertainty
 
The Michigan Academic Library Association invites you and your colleagues to submit poster proposals for the 8th Annual Conference to be held May 17-19, 2023, at Hope College in Holland, MI. Please consider sharing your innovations, creative endeavors, and practical solutions for navigating today’s uncertain times and finding our own inner stability while providing balanced, reliable and diverse resources and services to our students and faculty.
 
We welcome posters on any topic related to work in academic libraries, and particularly if they have a connection to the conference theme. Broad participation is encouraged from librarians, library support staff, LIS students, and administrators from all types of academic libraries (including but not limited to public universities, private colleges, and community colleges). Poster proposals should include a description of no more than 300 words. They will be evaluated on relevance to the academic library profession, originality and creativity, and clarity/applicability of content and outcomes.
 
MiALA membership is not required to submit a proposal. Regardless of the decision on a proposal, MiALA encourages you to attend the conference. Poster session proposals may also be submitted if your presentation proposal is not accepted.
 
Please submit your poster proposal using the online form here by Feb. 8, 2023.
 
The primary contact listed on each proposal will receive a message indicating receipt of the proposal when it is submitted; decisions on all proposals will be communicated to the primary contact by Feb. 24, 2023.
 
Questions can be sent to Poster team leader, Jill Spreitzer at werdeljc@udmercy.edu. Questions about the conference in general can be sent to conference@miala.org.
 
Please visit the MiALA 2023 Conference website for more details on the conference. Funding is provided in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library of Michigan.