It's Academic

CRD Election Results

August 31, 2012

tags: CRD Board, elections

by Bonnie Oldham

I’m pleased to announce the results of the election of officers for the 2013 CRD Board:

Vice Chair – Valerie Ann Lynn, Head Librarian, Penn State Hazleton

Secretary – Jennifer Luksa, Head of Collection Resource Management, Bevevino Library, Misericordia University

Congratulations Val and Jenn!

Call for Nominations: PaLA-CRD Sponsorship for PALS 2012

August 31, 2012

by serendipiTina

The PaLA College & Research Division (CRD) is sponsoring one academic librarian to attend the PaLA Academy of Leadership Studies (PALS) 2012, to be held November 7-10 at the Park Inn by Radisson Harrisburg West. CRD sponsorship will cover the costs of the program, lodging, and meals (transportation not included). This year the target audience for PALS is academic librarians with 7-12 experience, rather than new librarians as in previous years.

Academic librarians who are interested in developing their leadership potential as part of the Pennsylvania academic library community are encouraged to apply. In addition to selecting and sponsoring an academic librarian to attend PALS 2012, the CRD will work closely with that person on their continued professional development. Service to the sponsoring division (CRD) and PaLA as a whole is expected of all PALS participants. Possible service opportunities may include: service on the CRD Board or assisting with new CRD initiatives, but creative ideas for how you can best serve the organization are welcome!

Nominees must meet the following requirements:

Degreed librarian (must have the degree completed before attending program)
7‐12 years experience (must be working in an academic library at time of application)
Demonstrate leadership potential
Has leadership “spark”
Must be willing to provide service to PaLA and the profession after completing the program
PaLA membership is not required to apply or attend, but will be required upon graduation from the program

To nominate a librarian or to self-nominate, please submit the following to Linda Neyer, CRD Chair, crdpala@gmail.com, no later than September 7, 2012:

a letter of interest from the nominee indicating why they feel they would be a good candidate for PALS and how they would like to serve PaLA
a current resume from the nominee
a letter of support from a supervisor or colleague indicating why they feel their nominee has leadership potential and should attend PALS

Information on the PALS 2012 nomination process: http://palibraries.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=569
General information about PALS: http://palibraries.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=101

Any questions about PALS or CRD’s sponsorship may be directed at Tina Hertel: tina.hertel@muhlenberg.edu.

Evaluating Library Instructors

August 27, 2012

by laralu510

While this recent article from the Christian Science Monitor is about teacher evaluation in primary and secondary education, librarians can still learn from the article, as it addresses an important topic: how are instructors evaluated in a way that will help them to consciously work to improve their teaching? One possible method mentioned by the article which has relevance to us is evaluation through outside observation and constructive feedback. However, the article notes that any evaluation must be completed in an environment where the Instructors feel safe and not threatened by the initiative. Involving Instruction Librarians in the formulation of an evaluation program is likely essential to seeing that any evaluation program is carried out in a fair and objective manner. I’m sure there are plenty of articles about librarian literature about this topic, and for those institutions with a large number of library instructors, some searching would be appropriate. However, sometimes it is nice to delve outside of our discipline, to see how others face and overcome similar challenges.

Recap: Technology in the Classroom Discussion

August 17, 2012

by Amy Deuink

We are so pleased to see and hear that there is quite a bit of interest in the new Connect & Communicate Series of online programming! There were approximately 45* in attendance at Wednesday’s “Technology in the Classroom” discussion, which, frankly, is even more than we hoped! We wanted to share the discussion notes (PDF) with all who were interested in a recap or links to some of the sites recommended, as well as share a few things we learned from this initial foray into hosting an online discussion:

Organize smaller groups to help facilitate discussion, either simultaneous breakouts reconvening at the end or offer multiple small group sessions at different times.
Narrow the focus–we probably had enough possible avenues for a semester’s worth of discussion, so continuing this discussion theme is a distinct possibility.
Enough with the niceties, get to the discussion! I hear you.

On Tuesday, September 11 from 11am-12pm, Kristen Yarmey will present on “Information Literacy in an Age of Algorithms.” We want to experiment with different kinds of online programs to achieve our goals, so Kristen’s presentation will be delivered in more of a traditional lecture format, with some time for comments and questions. Stay tuned for more, including program description and instructions for joining the session.

If you would like to be emailed directly about this and other upcoming Connect & Communicate Series events, you may provide us with your name and email address here: http://goo.gl/4urXl . (If you submitted previously, you are still on our list.)

Please continue to share your ideas for programming topics, speakers, or formats with us! We’re getting some great suggestions and themes are starting to emerge, but we could also use some more speaker names. If you or someone you know is doing something great in Pennsylvania’s academic libraries, tell us about it!

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*Adobe Connect logins and calls were counted separately in the attendance that displayed on the screen, so individuals were counted twice in that total, but some locations also had groups sharing one connection.

CRD Membership Survey – Professional Development

August 17, 2012

tags: crd membership survey 2012

by Bonnie Oldham

Note: Not everyone who responded to the CRD Membership Survey added comments.

Does your institution cover the cost of membership in professional organizations?

Only 23 people commented on this question. Half of them said yes with qualifications (membership in one organization only, MLS librarians only) or said either sometimes or partially. Three said no with qualifications (not for PaLA, may do so in the future); five were either not sure or didn’t know; and two had no Institutional affiliation (student, retiree).

Question 23 – Does your institution cover the cost of professional development such as conferences, workshops, and webinars, etc.?

There were 100 people who added a comment to this question, and 91% of them said that costs are covered…sometimes or in a limited amount. For a number of people the amount was only $100 or $200 per year–very small indeed! Some people noted that reimbursement for attendance was qualified, for example, only tenured faculty. One person said that at her library there is “competitive bidding for a fixed amount awarded from a capped professional development budget.” Many commented that the amount of money available currently is less than was available in previous years. One person said, “Only my time off is covered.”

Question 24 – How often do you attend programs, workshops or conferences arranged by PaLA, College & Research Division or any other PaLA units?

Only 33 people added a comment to this question and 70% (23) said that they have attended PaLA events. There were 4 new members plus 3 others who said that they plan to attend events in the future. One person said that she “used to” attend PaLA events, but “now attend other meetings instead.” One person complained that “there are not many programs on Tech Services topics.”