It's Academic

The Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) is seeking a dynamic Executive Director with strong organizational and interpersonal skills who can work openly and effectively with diverse groups of people, and who is comfortable working with complex policy processes and political dynamics. Successful candidates will demonstrate excellent communication skills, and effectiveness in advocating for organizational programs with government policy-makers.

Additionally, applicants must be able to present a history of skill in fiscal management and budgetary practice. Individuals should have a forward-looking mindset, direct experience in developing strategic initiatives, and experience in delivering on programmatic goals. We are seeking a person of honesty and integrity, who instills trust and can create an organizational climate that engages people, motivates them to do their best, and inspires leadership among association members.

The Executive Director is responsible for the implementation of the Association’s strategic initiatives, the administration and oversight of budgeting, planning, evaluation, management, and executing the Association programs as directed by the Board of Directors in accordance with the Bylaws and policies established by the Association.

For additional information, please consult the PaLA website for a position description and additional details on qualifications and the application process.

The deadline for applications is January 25, 2016.

Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice (PaLRaP) is accepting submissions for research, practice, feature and commentary articles and for news items for the Spring 2016 issue (vol. 4, no. 1).

Research, practice, feature, and commentary manuscripts are welcomed at any time; however, for full consideration for the spring issue, please submit your manuscripts by February 26, 2016.

News item submissions are also welcome at any time, too. For full consideration for the spring issue, however, please submit your news items here by March 18, 2016.

See the submission guidelines and section policies at palrap.org for more information.

PaLRaP is a peer reviewed, online, open access publication of the Pennsylvania Library Association’s College & Research Division. This journal provides an opportunity for librarians in Pennsylvania to share their knowledge and experience with practicing librarians across the Commonwealth and beyond. It includes articles from all areas of librarianship. Contributions from all types of libraries and library personnel in the Commonwealth are welcome.

If you would like to comment on articles and/or receive individual email announcements for new issues, please register as a user at www.palrap.org.

PaLRaP is an open access, peer reviewed publication sharing information about the research and practices at or of interest to Pennsylvania’s academic libraries. PaLRaP is run by a volunteer staff of CRD members, each with two year terms in various journal management positions, and it is published by the University Library System (ULS), University of Pittsburgh, through its E-Journal Publishing Program.

Published biannually: March and October

Editors: Anne Behler, Penn State University; Tom Reinsfelder, Penn State University

Peer reviewers: Members of the Pennsylvania library community

I recently had to focus on year-end data and usage statistics for the noble, if tedious, annual reporting process, and among the myriad comparators and web portal visitor behavior I found something interesting. Okay, perhaps an oversell, but still, learning that 2015-2016 was the first year in which our mobile device access more than doubled our desktop access AND that there was a near even split between the six mobile platforms users by visitors was an eye opener for me. Six platforms which each bring changes, both severe and nuanced, with how our digital interface is presented to users.

Once upon a time, one only need concern themselves with the small rendering differences between AOL, AltaVista, or Netscape. Now, the number of available paths to your library’s digital front door seems to grow every day. Ensuring that the graphics stay where you put them…that the results lists render without wrapping…that your users discover and view the digital objects in the manner and orientation in which they were intended…has become a job for a small IT army, or at least an over caffeinated librarian. Sisyphus knows what I’m talkin’ about.

The answer to this new millennial conundrum is a movement called responsive design. The notion, ridiculously oversimplified, is that the overall UI of any digital site—especially the resource-heavy digital footprint of libraries and cultural heritage institution sites—should be one which minimizes the need for screen manipulation or image display for users, regardless of the device through which they access your site. I am not so naïve as to expect that all of us present digital information in ways similar enough as to suggest universal application of any one given responsive design strategy, though current trends in universal design from the big data suppliers may cumulatively affect the outcome of the responsive design best practices in days to come, but there are a number of strategies and tools available to help you begin normalizing your digital library user’s experience in large and small ways. To that end, check out the following resources to guide your understanding and first steps:

• 50 Useful Libraries and Resources for Responsive Web Design – Helpful collection of links to (often free) tools to guide your revitalization efforts
• WW3 Schools Responsive Design Guide – Another great DIY guide for optimizing your resource portal
• Google Developers Responsive Design Basics – Get the basic know-how from the corporate giant who will most likely end up showing us how to do this better than we could even approach ourselves.

In 2015, the CRD maintained a strong presence in the academic library community and provided numerous professional development and networking opportunities for PA librarians. In case you missed out, here is a brief summary of the CRD’s involvement in 2015:

PaLRaP – The CRD’s open access journal, Pennsylvania Libraries Research and Practice (PaLRaP) had two issues published, one in spring and one in fall. All issues of the journal can be viewed on the Archives page of palrap.org.

Connect & Communicate – The CRD’s free webinar series, Connect & Communicate, hosted six virtual sessions covering a variety of topics including library security, the ACRL framework for information literacy, interactive technology tools, and using elevator speeches and PA Forward for academic libraries.

LSTA funds – The CRD used LSTA funds to support several programs including regional meetings, PaLA chapter workshops, and PA Forward initiatives. For more information, visit the LSTA page.

CRD Spring Workshop – The annual CRD Spring Workshop entitled, “The Times They Are A-Changin’…Again: Exploring the New Roles of Libraries in Higher Education,” was held on May 29, 2015 at Milllersville University. Speakers included Melissa Bowles-Terry (University of Nevada Las Vegas), Nancy Kranich and Megan Lotts (Rutgers University), and a panel of PA librarians. Approximately 70 people attended. See the blog recap for a full summary or view the Past Events page to view the original workshop flyer.

PALS Sponsorship – The CRD sponsored two early-career librarians, Melissa Correll (Lycoming) and Elizabeth Kavanaugh (Misericordia) to attend the PA Academy of Leadership Studies (PALS) workshop held annually in June. Melissa and Elizabeth were also welcomed as members-at-large to the 2016 CRD Board.

PaLA Annual Conference and CRD luncheon – At the PaLA Annual Conference, the CRD hosted its annual luncheon with Maria Accardi (Indiana University Southeast) as the featured keynote speaker. Maria spoke about library instruction burnout, which is the focus of her own personal blog, librarianburnout.com. For a summary of her presentation, visit our blog recap or see Accardi’s own blog post at bit.ly/1X3sZj8. In addition, the CRD sponsored ten regular conference sessions.

CRD blog contributors – In 2015, the CRD formed a new blog team of PA academic librarians with a variety of backgrounds and interests (view the full list of contributors on the About page). Our bloggers play a large role in keeping the PaLA community up-to-date on current trends in technology, instruction, management, and outreach in academic libraries. The CRD will be looking for several new bloggers in 2016, so if you’re interested in contributing, stay tuned at crdpala.org for announcements!

Division membership – As of 2016, there are 238 registered members of the CRD, thirty-eight of which are new personal regular members.

For more information on all of the CRD’s initiatives, visit the Get Involved page and subscribe to crdpala.org for all of the latest news and commentary from the PA academic library community. We look forward to meeting new members and providing even more opportunities for involvement in 2016!