It's Academic

PA Forward Resources for Academic Libraries

June 21, 2020

by elm43

If you are interested in learning more about PA Forward and how your academic library can get involved, see the resources below from the Pennsylvania Library Association and Academic Gold Star PA Forward Libraries. Feel free to reach out to the librarians from these libraries for more information about their programs and resources.

Academic PA Forward Gold Star Libraries Showcase

General PA Forward Resources

Academic Library Resources

Pennsylvania College of Technology PA Forward LibGuide

Gold Star Libraries and Librarian Contacts

Pennsylvania College of Technology
Joann Eichenlaub

Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences
Amy Snyder

Penn State Harrisburg
Emily Mross

Shippensburg University
Aaron Dobbs

Announcing WPWVC-ACRL Professional Development Video Series

June 18, 2020

by clarewithers

Consider attending the inaugural event in the Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia ACRL Chapter’s Professional Development Video Series. Registration is free and open to all colleagues regardless of geographical location or professional status.

WPWVC-ACRL Professional Development Video Series

Friday, June 19, 2020, 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm (EST)
Working From Home With Your Partner or Children – Tips and Tricks

Description: Not home alone? Join two colleagues who share their tips and suggestions to make the work from home experience better. Whether you share space with a partner or children, this session covers things that should be settled sooner rather than later and other recommendations.
Register via Zoom Link (Registration is required and free):

https://sru.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMud-ypqjovHtDEqX4rFi_NHnoRSXRakIEg
Presenters:

Martin Dunlap–Engineering Librarian,West Virginia University

Rocco Cremonese—Business, User Experience and Outreach Librarian, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

Do you have ideas for a presentation? Membership in WPWVC-ACRL is not required and we would love to consider you as a presenter. Please review our FAQ and fill out our Presentation Submission Form:(https://forms.gle/kPELzDBBJeejQuM66)
(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dhZGNloF50SuJYgW-NV_LCOM9qkueqbqdOe0s8QC1Nk/edit?usp=sharing)

Do you want to know more about the series? Please contact Rocco Cremonese (rocco.cremonese@sru.edu) or the committee (profdev.wpwv.chapter@gmail.com).

How I learned to stop planning

June 5, 2020

tags: COVID19, ethics, faculty, leadership, students, transparency

by Bret Stiffler

There have been many uncertainties during this COVID19 crisis. As a matter of fact, it often feels like the only certainty we have any more is uncertainty!

Many of us have spent our professional careers, and possibly even moved up the professional ladder, by developing solid planning and organizational skills. In short, we have always been rewarded for having plans. A plan for this, a plan for that. Often we are asked “okay but what is your plan?” So we had this instilled in us that the pathway to success is having a solid, actionable plan. I know that has been my experience.

COVID19 has really challenged this tendency in me, as a librarian, as a campus administrator, and as a director. As soon as it became clear that we were going to have to change our daily lives, my first thought was, “I need to put a plan together.” But I think we all discovered very quickly that this was a pointless endeavor. We would spend Monday putting a comprehensive plan together that, by Tuesday, was irrelevant. As things changed on a daily, and oftentimes even hourly basis, planning became a moot point. All of those skills I developed and honed as a leader, organizer, and planner were suddenly not serving me or my team.

I quickly discovered, as I’m sure many of you have discovered as well, that in times of crisis trying to pretend that we as leaders have all of the answers was a waste. I don’t know about you, but at my University our students, staff, and faculty were looking to us for answers, and I simply didn’t have any answers to give them. At that point, communicating a “plan” was probably the worst thing we could have done when plans were changing so regularly. Trying to pretend we had a plan was misleading to our stakeholders.

This is a time to develop and hone new skills: vulnerability, honesty, and ethical transparency. The ability to stand in front of a group of people (figuratively, and virtually of course) and say “look, things are changing so fast, we simply can’t plan for the future right now” required skills I hadn’t yet developed, and I found myself deeply uncomfortable doing so. However, being ethically transparent was the best solution for everyone. Sometimes our students and stakeholders may think they need certainty and a plan, but really what they need is empathy from the administration. They were looking for leadership, and sometimes leadership means showing vulnerability. And that’s okay.

I had to develop a new way to communicate and lead during this crisis, and that has been “listen, I hear you, I am looking out for your best interests, and we will make decisions based on certain criteria while keeping everyone as safe as we can. Here is the criteria that will affect our decision making.” This has proven to be a much more effective way to lead during this crisis than “here’s my plan.” And at the end of the day, being vulnerable, ethically transparent, and empathetic with one another is what people need in uncertain times.

New Issue – Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice (Spring 2020)

June 5, 2020

by Andrea Pritt

The latest issue of Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice is now available at palrap.org

Articles include:

Changes to PaLRaP Editorial Team: Welcoming Two New Co-Editors
In the PaLRaP Spotlight: Tim Mulholland
Phenomena of Cultural Intelligence in Pennsylvania Libraries: A Research Study
Redefining the Pedagogy: Service-Learning in Libraries and Archives
Connecting with Faculty and Students through Course-Related LibGuides
Academic Integrity: Developing an Approach Students Can Own!
Librarian Fascination and Student Confusion with “RE” words: Research, Reference, Resources, and Reserves
Playing as Argument Architects: Bridging a Learning Gap in the Research Process
Noteworthy: News Briefs from PA Libraries

Tom Reinsfelder & Larissa Gordon, Co-Editors

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Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice (PaLRaP) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal, sponsored by the College and Research Division of the Pennsylvania Library Association. PaLRaP provides an opportunity for librarians in Pennsylvania to share their knowledge and experience with practicing librarians across Pennsylvania and beyond. The journal includes articles from all areas of librarianship, and from all types of libraries within Pennsylvania.

Beyond Stir-Crazy, Beware Traumatic Stress

June 1, 2020

by Darren G. Poley

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Many news sources have been offering advice over the last few months on how to cope with the stress of working from home, social distancing, and generally sheltering in place. With large parts of Pennsylvania moving into green or yellow status–for up to date information, see the Process to Reopen Pennsylvania website–we should be prepared for a new wave of anxiety, because the move is not without controversy and people remain fearful despite measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Agnostic of political persuasion and where you stand on the issues, such as masks, there is one very real challenge that we should all acknowledge: quarantine fatigue.

There is of course crisis fatigue, pandemic fatigue, philanthropy fatigue, moral fatigue, compassion fatigue and even Zoom fatigue, but what is meant here by quarantine fatigue is the general erosion of mental health as a result of being in the midst of the pandemic even if you are not a health care worker or someone dealing with the disease directly. A blog post by the Cleveland Clinic states:

If you’ve felt any of these, you’re most likely feeling the effects of quarantine fatigue:

Irritable.
Stressed.
Anxious.
Eating more.
Eating less.
Unable to sleep.
Unmotivated or less productive.
Having racing thoughts.
Or just on edge in general.

A recent feature from a local newspaper in Delaware, ‘Battle Fatigue’: Counselor offers advice on dealing with virus-related stress, mentions “sources for mental health assistance.” In Pennsylvania, there is also 2-1-1, a free 24/7 phone helpline which provides information and makes referrals to a wide range of health and human services (www.pa211.org), and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services has an extensive resource website Mental Health in PA.