It's Academic

Call for Co-Editors, Pennsylvania Libraries: Research and Practice (PaLRaP) due 3/31

March 3, 2020

by elm43

Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice (PaLRaP) Seeks a Co-Editor

This is a two-year renewable-term volunteer opportunity, beginning in mid-2020.

Responsibilities

Work in close collaboration with a co-editor to manage all aspects of Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice, producing 2 issues each year.
Oversee all submissions moving through the publication process from initial submission to peer review, revision, layout, and final proofreading.
Work closely with a volunteer editorial team including news editors, copy editors, and layout editors.
Recruit and communicate with peer-reviewers as needed.
Communicate and work with authors to provide feedback on submissions as well as strong editorial guidance as needed.
Prepare updates and editorials as appropriate.
Oversee use of Online Journal System (OJS) software platform by authors, reviewers, and editorial staff, answering questions about its functionality and recommending best practices
Conduct or assist with training of new editorial staff
Remain in close communication with the journal publisher, the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh and the journal sponsor, the College & Research Division (CRD) of the Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA).
Solicit submissions for all types of articles.

Required Qualifications

Experience writing for professional publications.
Significant experience working in Pennsylvania libraries.
Current member of the Pennsylvania Library Association and the College & Research Division.
Excellent communication skills required. Co-Editor must be willing and able to respond to numerous email messages in a timely manner.

Preferred Qualifications

Editorial experience.
Knowledge of issues related to open access scholarly publishing.

Submit a letter of interest and a resume to Emily Mross, PaLA College & Research Division Chair, at ELM43@psu.edu by March 31.

OER Webinars from Millersville University

March 2, 2020

by Alex K.

Millersville University will be hosting a series of free webinars about OER all this week. Several webinars focus on case studies of using OER for a specific class, which should lead to useful real-world advice. Here are some of the topics they’ll be covering.

BUILDING OER INITIATIVES AS PART OF THE OPENSTAX INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
K-12 OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES
CASE STUDY: BIOLOGY ADOPTION AND DESIGN
CASE STUDY: ART HISTORY OPEN ADOPTION
CASE STUDY: ENGLISH COMPOSITION ADOPTION

To see the full details and times of each webinar visit their website here: https://www.millersville.edu/cae/open-education/index1.php

C&CS Presents: Academic Freedom for Academic Librarians: Do We Have It, and How Do We Know? Scheduled for March 13 at 1pm EST, Noon CST

March 2, 2020

by Erin B.

C&CS Presents

Academic Freedom for Academic Librarians:

Do We Have It, and How Do We Know?

Presented by Danya Leebaw and Alexis Logsdon

March 13 at 1pm EST, noon central

Click here for Zoom Registration link

In this session, Danya Leebaw and Alexis Logsdon will discuss the landscape of academic freedom for academic librarians. Many academic librarians think that we are protected by academic freedom policies, but is that really true? We conducted a survey in 2018, collecting information from hundreds of librarians on their experiences with academic freedom. In this session, we will highlight key findings, including how academic freedom experiences correlate to socioeconomic identities and job status. We will also offer concrete suggestions for exploring your own existing academic freedom protections and ways to advocate for stronger ones.

Danya Leebaw

Danya Leebaw is the Social Sciences & Professional Programs Director at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Prior to this position, she was a social sciences librarian at Carleton College and a business librarian at Emory University. She earned her MLIS at the University of Pittsburgh and her BA in History from Grinnell College.

Alexis Logsdon

Alexis Logsdon is the Humanities Research and Digital Scholarship Librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Before Minnesota, she served as a research and instruction librarian at Macalester College, and in a variety of adjunct and temporary librarian positions prior to that. She holds an MLIS from UW Milwaukee, an MA in English from UC Berkeley, and a BA in English from the City College of New York (CUNY).

C&CS would like to thank the CRD and PaLA for continued support of our initiative, which is paid for in part by membership dues. If you are not a PaLA member but are a student or active librarian in Pennsylvania, consider joining PaLA!

Survey Opportunity: Effective Meetings in Libraries

February 28, 2020

by elm43

We go to a lot of meetings as academic librarians. Please consider taking this survey from fellow academic librarians about effective meetings.

Researchers at the University of North Texas are looking for survey respondents in order to study meetings in academic libraries. Meeting science is a relatively new phenomenon with growing empirical research. There is nothing relating to libraries in this literature. Researchers hope to determine:

What are the predictors of success for productive meetings in academic libraries?
What are academic librarian perceptions of effective meeting leadership?
What are “best practices” for meeting participation and leadership?

You may participate if you work for an academic library. The survey is expected to take less than 15 minutes to complete. Participation is voluntary and you may stop at any time without penalty. By completing the survey you are giving consent to participate and confirming that you are at least 18 years old.

If you have any questions regarding this study, please contact Julie Leuzinger (principal investigator), University of North Texas Libraries, julie.leuzinger@unt.edu or 940-891-6750.

This project has been reviewed and approved by the University of North Texas Institutional Review Board (940) 565-3940. Please contact the UNT IRB with any questions regarding your rights as a research subject.

To take the survey (click link or copy/paste into your browser): https://unt.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e8ow5n2BuNYB2dL

Affordable Learning PA Central PA Regional Open Textbook Workshop

February 28, 2020

tags: OER, open educational resources, open textbooks

by Jill Hallam-Miller

Affordable Learning PA is offering the Central PA Regional Open Textbook Workshop on Wednesday, March 11th at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA.

The workshop will feature speakers from community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and a state system university, who will share their experiences–what worked, what didn’t work, where they are now, and where they’re going next–implementing open textbook initiatives on their campuses.

It will also offer opportunities for networking and round table discussion, and an activity designed to help you move your own open textbook initiative forward.

The preliminary agenda is attached.

Registration is free and light refreshments and lunch will be provided.

Please register at https://forms.gle/96eHHukZRv43BMCZ8 by March 4th.

AND PLEASE SHARE with your colleagues who may be interested in attending!

Looking forward to seeing you at Bucknell!

Questions may be sent to Jill Hallam-Miller at jbhm001@bucknell.edu.

This event is hosted by Bucknell University’s Bertrand Library with support from the Affordable Learning PA project.

The Affordable Learning PA project is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Governor.