It's Academic

Email via ellen@palibraries.org

Do I have to log in before I register? 

Yes, members must log in to receive the membership rate (up to $100 savings). No login is required for non-members.

I don’t remember my username and/or my password. 

Contact PaLA headquarters- 717-766-7663

I am a presenter. Do I have to register? 

Presenters who are Pennsylvania librarians are expected to benefit from other conference sessions and events and to support the state organization by registering at the discounted member rate. Presenters outside the library profession or state are not required to register. Contact Kim Snyder to verify eligibility and to receive the discount code.

My library is a member. Does that get me the member rate? 

No. But, you can use PaLA BUCKS if your library membership is $100 or more.

What are PaLA BUCKS? 

A promo code that provides a non-member with the member rate. Member institutions receive one BUCKS discount code per $100 dues paid.

If my library is a member, how do I obtain the BUCKS discount code? 

Contact PaLA HDQ at 717-766-7663 to verify eligibility & receive the discount code.

Are meals are included in the registration fee? 

Each day, a lunch is included. Full breakfasts and dinner events require an additional fees.

My registration fee seems to be the wrong amount. 

Select the MONEY ORDER/CHECK option to delay payment and allow you to complete your registration. Then call PaLA before you pay!

How do I clear my cart if I made a mistake and want to start over? 

Click on the cart icon to clear it and start the registration process over.

How do I print an invoice or receipt? 

The final registration THANK YOU page has a View Invoice/Receipt link (use the printer icon) that will enable you to print your invoice/receipt. You may also print your itinerary via the VIEW EVENT REGISTRATIONS link.

My library/organization pays my registration. What should I do? 

It is best if you complete your own registration, select the MONEY ORDER/CHECK option, then print the invoice from the link available on the THANK YOU page to submit to your business office. Payment of the invoice can be made by either check or credit card.

CRD-PALA 

Hello!  We have two candidates for Vice Chair, and one for Secretary. Please see below!

Vice Chair/Chair Elect

Erin Burns

Candidate Statement:  “I have been a member of CRD since I joined PaLA when I was hired by Penn State University in 2008. I have a unique perspective, as I have worked at both ends of Pennsylvania during my time at Penn State, at both the Wilkes-Barre campus and the Shenango campus. Currently, I serve as the membership liaison for the CRD, and as such, am a member of the board. Additionally, I have had other leadership experience at Penn State, as I served as chair of the Library Faculty Organization from 2014-2015. I am running for Vice-Chair/Chair-elect because I do have experience leading and collaborating within statewide organizations, and would enjoy this opportunity to further advocate for libraries in Pennsylvania.”

Jill Hallam-Miller

Candidate Statement: I am running for CRD Vice Chair because I see and want to develop opportunities for communication and collaboration between PaLA’s chapters, divisions, and roundtables, and I want to continue to support the efforts that this division’s current and previous leaders have begun.

Candidate Bio: Jill is the Blended Learning Librarian at the Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library at Bucknell University in Lewisburg. She has been involved in reference and instruction, and in incorporating technology into those realms, in academic libraries since 2010. Prior to her life in academic librarianship, she worked in the finance and insurance industries.

Jill earned her M.S.L.S. from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, and her B.A. in Humanities from University of Maryland University College. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in educational technology through Boise State University.

Her PaLA activities include:

• Archivist, College & Research Division, 2015-present
• College & Research Division Connect & Communicate Series planning committee chair and CRD Board Member, 2014-present
• Secretary/Treasurer, West Branch Chapter, March 2015-present
• Secretary/Treasurer, South Central Chapter, 2013-2014

She has presented posters at the PaLA Conference, and at at ALA Annual Conference, and has presented at the LOEX and ACLCP conferences.

In addition to her PaLA activities, she is a member of ALA and ACRL, and has served ACRL as Chair/Co-Chair of the Distance Learning Section Discussion Group, is currently a co-editor of the Instruction Section Newsletter, and is incoming Vice Chair of the Instruction Section’s Communication Committee.

Jill is the West Branch Chapter’s nominee for sponsorship to the Pennsylvania Library Association Leadership Academy (PALS)  for 2016.

Secretary 

Christina Riehman-Murphy

Candidate Statement: Christina Riehman-Murphy is an Assistant Librarian at Penn State University Abington College. Combined with my previous experience as a high school teacher, circulation assistant and librarian at a Pennsylvania public library, and librarian at a small private university, I value the unique offerings of collections and place that libraries of all kinds hold for their patrons. Now as an academic librarian, I see my role on campus as that of both an expert matchmaker and scaffold disassembler who partners students and researchers of varying information literacy competencies with the information they seek while providing students with the tools they need to become their own expert researchers in their chosen fields. At Penn State I engage students via outreach and reference, introduce faculty to OERs, serve on the Committee for Internationalization and Diversity, and currently research gender issues and assessment of one-shot library instruction. I see college and research libraries as academic intermediaries for our campuses and see our work as core regardless of evolving formats or future platforms

**Ballots will be forthcoming in July and due back early August.**

Christina Steffy, MLIS, AHIP
Chair, Pa Library Association College & Research Division

Special Guest Posting authored by Kim Braun

As the pomp and circumstance surrounding commencement fade, it is an opportune moment to contemplate employment opportunities for those with an MLS/MLIS. The degree easily lends itself to careers within library settings (public, academic, and school libraries). Positions in special libraries, such as legal and medical librarians, are also intuitive fits. Job descriptions usually stipulate that applicants must have the degree. However, the research and analytical skills honed during an MLS program can transfer surprisingly easily beyond traditional libraries. Job descriptions in varied fields may not list an MLS, but the required skill set can provide a complementary fit. Whether a librarian has a newly-minted MLS or is reentering the job market, looking beyond the stated required degrees and instead focusing on the employer’s desired skills can significantly expand employment opportunities.

For those with prior library experience, vendor work opens opportunities beyond the physical library, but still within the broader library space. Vendors providing materials, services, and databases value staff who thoroughly understand library issues and can communicate effectively with librarians about their needs. Librarian-trained vendor representatives speak their customers’ language, correctly using and interpreting library jargon. Library science graduates bring their unique knowledge and skill set to influencing, designing, and marketing products and services. In the vendor representative role, MLS-trained employees can thoroughly understand and anticipate customer needs: librarians can naturally create better solutions for other librarians. Here, librarians become the patrons: the representative addresses their needs and provide appropriate services.

Moving beyond the library sphere, the nonprofit world can also prove welcoming. Many nonprofit institutions perform fundraising incorporating prospect research. Prospect researchers work in private educational institutions, universities, hospitals, and nonprofit organizations. They analyze institutional constituents to identify prospective major donors. Researchers use proprietary online databases and complex Internet and deep-web searches to locate prospects’ professional and philanthropic details. This information is then aggregated and condensed into profiles, which fundraisers use to prepare for prospect meetings and donation solicitations. The fundraisers and the institutions act as the prospect researcher’s patrons, receiving the crafted analysis products.

While it may seem more natural to transition into nonprofit or governmental work, library science graduates can also succeed within the private sector. In knowledge management positions, librarians’ classification skills prepare them to create useful taxonomies to organize business information in meaningful ways for retrieval and analysis. Knowledge managers organize existing organizational information so that it can be used and shared by their “patrons” within the company to inform key business decisions. This work can even involve designing business-specific classification, storage, and retrieval architecture from the ground up.

Similarly, librarians’ analytical skills make them well-suited for analyst positions. Market analysts compile and synthesize information from numerous sources to best position their companies to market products. They channel their curiosity to glean insights about why things are the way they are in a business sector. Analysts use the quantitative and qualitative skills honed in graduate study to gather and analyze market data and trends and present colleagues with their findings to position the business strategically.

In today’s information-rich environments, facility and comfort with data are significant advantages. MLS grads not only have the ability to competently manage data, but tend to have a genuine enjoyment (and dare I say love?) of data as well. This personality trait, coupled with the librarian skill set, broaden the range of available career opportunities. In non-library settings, Ranganathan’s five laws of library science expand beyond books and libraries to incorporate all information and services, including users and organizations of all kinds. Today, these reimagined laws guide MLS professionals both within and beyond libraries:

1. Information is for use.
2. Each user his/her information.
3. Each piece of information has its user.
4. Save the time of the user.
5. The organization is a growing organism.

Rather than limiting jobs, the degree expands opportunities when the unique skills are understood and marketed as transferrable within the ever-expanding information economy. Don’t be afraid to think outside the library walls – and beyond the MLS.

Ms. Kim Braun is the Associate Director of Prospect Research at Widener University. She can be reached via phone at 610-499-4199 or kdbraun@widener.edu