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December 2000 Newsletter Highlights(from vol. 18, no. 4, Dec. 2000) Contents
PAT WALKER! Jerome Conley, Past President, Miami University Patricia Walker (Wright State University) was named the 2000 Jay Ladd Distinguished Service recipient at the Annual Conference. One nomination read: "Pat's involvement with the ALAO Government Relations Team seems non-stop and ever increasing. She keeps ALAO's members informed of state and federal legislation that affects libraries through her reports to the Executive Board and her articles in the newsletter. Pat has been a tireless advocate for libraries in Ohio by organizing the State House Connect Day." On the national level as coordinator of the ACRL Legislative Network, Pat has brought Ohio to the attention of the national library community as a model to emulate. Pat currently serves two roles on the ALAO Board; she is a member of the Government Relations Team and serves as our ACRL Liaison. Her warmth and good humor contribute to her success in these roles, and she is as a role model for many librarians in Ohio. Pat is an alumna of the University of California at Berkley. She received her MA in English from Miami University and her MLS from Kent State University. She has been employed at Wright State University for 27 years where she has worked in a variety of positions, including Assistant Reference Librarian, Business Manager, and Assistant and Associate University Librarian. Currently, she is the Associate University Librarian for the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library at Wright State. She enjoys world travel and looks forward to becoming a grandmother for the first time very soon. Well-deserved congratulations are extended to you, Pat! 2000 ANNUAL CONFERENCE REPORT Carolyn Radcliff, President, Kent State Univ. The 26th Annual ALAO Conference was held November 3 at Ashland University. Two hundred and fifty people attended the conference, including 59 presenters. There were 26 presentations, 9 vendor exhibits, 7 poster sessions, and 5 officer reports. John Berry's keynote speech and the Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award presentation to Pat Walker were just two of the highlights of this very successful conference. According to the evaluation forms, everyone who marked the item thought the conference was well-organized, and nearly everyone (120 out of 123) felt the conference meet their expectations. Moving the conference out of Columbus was a difficult choice. Ashland University, 80 miles north of Columbus, proved to be an excellent conference facility. The Program Committee was impressed with Ashland from its first visit many months ago. Although the food, meeting rooms, service, and technical support were first-class, costs were minimal, allowing the conference registration fee to be lower than last year's. This is in keeping with ALAO's objective to provide affordable professional development opportunities. Attendees liked Ashland, too. The facilities were uniformly rated very high, and the location was generally acceptable. Comments included: "It's a little longer drive, but a
great site." Not all comments about Ashland were positive, of course. Parking, directions, and signs provoked the most complaints. And, of course, presumably there were people who did not attend the conference because of its location. Conference location will continue to be a challenge for ALAO. This year, Ashland worked very well indeed. If only we could move it to Columbus and add a huge parking lot, we'd have the perfect solution! Although the facility is important, the heart of the conference is the presentations. Thanks to all the wonderful presenters who earned very high marks from attendees. For example, one person had this to say about Danielle Clarke's presentation on faculty-library team teaching: "Wonderful presentation, very practical, helpful suggestions. Lots of good ideas to take back to work." Rob Withers, Lisa Santucci, and Aaron Shrimplin also received many positive comments about their session on partnering with K-12 instructors, including this one: "Wonderful ideas, inspiring program, well presented. Gave me some great ideas for possible partnerships in my area." Some presenters were from out of state. Special thanks go to these people, particularly as ALAO does not provide any travel support. These presenters had responded to calls for proposals that were posted to several listservs. Stephanie Michel and Caroline Gilson, from Radford University, presented a session on getting faculty to give effective library assignments. One attendee noted: "Fabulous job! I'm walking away excited to try their suggestions at my campus. Thanks!" Keynote speaker John Berry also received positive remarks. One listener commented that his speech was "inspiring." The listener went on to note, "I like to hear about the values behind the work. This is important for true fulfillment in any profession." These comments are the merest sampling of praise for presenters. One attendee summed up the conference experience by noting, "I'm brimming with ideas." An ALAO conference would not be what it is without continued vendor support and presence. Bell & Howell, EBSCO Information Services, Elsevier Science, OHIONET, Wanner & Associates for Sauder, and Yankee Book Peddler all provided support for the conference beyond the normal vendor registration fees. We are grateful for their support. The success of the conference is due in large part to the hard work and dedication of the 2000 Program Committee. Members are: Raida Bahhur, Kent State University LOOKING AHEAD: THE 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE Thriving on Chaos,
Leading Change Planning is under way for next year's 27th ALAO Annual Conference. The 2001 Program Committee has adopted the conference theme of "Thriving on Chaos, Leading Change." Our theme revolves around the separate but intertwined concepts of chaos, change, and leadership. The committee hopes to generate many timely and thought-provoking presentations to explore the numerous innovations, coping behaviors, and adaptations necessitated by the chaotic world of libraries and academia. We librarians often lead the way on our campuses in innovating technology, information literacy, distance education, and many other areas. We want to hear how you and your colleagues manage the chaos and provide leadership at your institutions. The Call for Presentations is enclosed in this issue of the Newsletter. Please consider offering a lecture, paper, demonstration, workshop, or panel discussion. Poster session proposals are also invited. Many outside of the library profession have thought deeply and spoken or written eloquently about chaos, change, and leadership. Here are just a few examples of the great minds that have weighed in on these concepts: "If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living." Gail Sheehy, American writer and journalist "I have a great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift." Septima Poinsette Clark in I Dream a World, 1989. "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality." Warren G. Bennis, American writer, educator, University of Southern California sociologist. And, this final thought, not so profound but nonetheless germane: "Change is inevitable, except from vending machines." Anon. The Program Committee eagerly awaits your conference proposals. Email your questions and comments to Marcia Suter at msuter@utoledo.edu. LEGISLATIVE NEWS Pat Walker, Government
Relations Team, Susan Collins, Government
Relations Team, Copyright and Fair Use "The Copyright Office has issued a misguided ruling taking away from students, researchers, teachers and librarians the longstanding basic right of 'fair use' to our nation's digital resources. All library users will be impacted." -- Nancy Kranich, ALA President News out of Washington at the end of October spelled a serious setback for fair use, that doctrine in the copyright law that, under certain conditions, allows for the use of copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright owner. Many of the services that academic libraries routinely offer their users are possible under the provisions of fair use. In the implementation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), new rulings recommended by the Register of Copyrights and endorsed by the Librarian of Congress seriously threaten the ability to exercise fair use rights with digital resources. According to ALA's Washington Office (ALAWON, Volume 9, Number 85), the library community and many others, including members of Congress and the U.S. Department of Commerce, have argued forcefully for the longstanding principle that fair use must continue in the digital era: "Because of this decision users of digital information will have fewer rights and opportunities than users of print information." In fact, many fear that the pay-for-use scenario has arrived with this latest development. During the hearings leading up to this ruling, ALA and other higher education and professional library organizations argued that there should be exceptions from the DMCA's new restrictions against accessing copyrighted works that are protected by technological measures. The controversial Copyright Office ruling on the matter allowed only two narrow exceptions, however, provoking this strong reaction from the library community. Currently, ALA is in the process of studying the ruling very closely before deciding on the next step. For more information about this important issue, see the ALA Issue Brief: http://www.ala.org/washoff/Rulemaking.pdf ALAO Legislative Advocates Network Welcome to our new advocate, Kevin Smith from the Methodist Theological School of Ohio! The ALAO Legislative Advocates Network still needs more volunteers, especially in congressional districts where we have no one. If you're from any of the following districts and would like to join the network, please contact Susan Collins (phillis1@ohiou.edu): 1st (University of Cincinnati) We welcome you to join us in our advocacy efforts if you are from any congressional district! ALAO Legislative Advocate Travel Award Each year the ALAO Board of Directors funds a travel award for a current member of the ALAO Legislative Advocate Network to attend ALA's Legislative Day in Washington, D.C. The purpose of attending this event is to raise the profile of academic libraries in the national political arena and to educate legislators on the issues facing academic libraries and academic librarians. As a member of the official Ohio delegation, the winner of this award, along with a member of the Government Relations Team, attends a meeting of the delegation from Ohio and also an issues briefing from the ALA Washington Office staff. The day culminates in a meeting with the ALAO member's legislator and staff. This year's award is $500 to attend ALA's Legislative Day on April 30 and May 1, 2001. To apply, send a letter of interest (email is fine) to Susan Collins (phillis1@ohio.edu). Include in your letter a brief description of why you are interested in attending and of your advocacy activity and issue involvement through ALAO or other civic organizations. Those interested in getting more involved in advocacy efforts are urged to apply. The deadline for applying is January 31, 2001. The winner will be named in February. CE GRANTS AWARDED Susan Scott, Professional Development Committee, Denison University ALAO awarded two continuing education grants this fall, to Pat Wood (The Ohio State University - Marion) and Kelly Broughton (Bowling Green State University). Pat used her grant to pay for a Web-based library technology class she is currently taking through the University of Cincinnati's Raymond Walters College. In the class, Pat has learned about technology plans, servers, Internet filtering, digital projectors, and other library equipment. She expressed many thanks to ALAO for the support and plans to continue her education by taking another class from Raymond Walters College this winter. Kelly Broughton also thanked ALAO for her grant. She used the funds to attend the RUSA National Institute, "Reference Assessment Programs: Evaluating Current & Future Reference Services," held in Baltimore in October. Kelly had the opportunity to listen to librarians Marie Redford, Jo Bell Whitlatch, Michael Havener and Matthew Saxton speak on general and specific issues related to the evaluation of various reference processes. Taking a close look at three popular methods of evaluation, observation, surveys and interview/focus groups, Kelly now has some concrete ideas on how to more fully integrate evaluation into the reference process. Our congratulations go to Pat and Kelly for putting their grants to such good use! RESEARCH GRANT FUNDING AVAILABLE John Burke, Research & Publications Committee, University of Cincinnati The Research and Publications Committee is seeking interested researchers to apply for its 2001 ALAO Research Grant. ALAO members are encouraged to submit an application by April 27, 2001. Projects involving any subject related to libraries and librarianship are eligible for the award. Up to $500 will be awarded to the grant recipient. If you are preparing a book, conducting a survey, writing an article, or developing a scholarly Web site, you may be eligible for this grant. Please contact Committee Chair John Burke if you have any questions or wish to discuss your project ideas (513) 745-5710). The Committee is also still gathering publications by ALAO members. We are now asking members to submit Web sites to us that they have developed. Please contact John Burke with your Web site information. FAREWELL TO SHERRI EDWARDS Phyllis O'Conner, Board Member, Univ. of Akron On December 1, 2000, Sherri Edwards started her new position as Head of the Life Science Library at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. (Yes, The Notre Dame!) Sherri had been Head of the Science and Technology Library at The University of Akron since June 1996. She came to Akron from OSU's Mansfield Campus, where she was Director of the library. Sherri received tenure at Ohio State, and was granted early tenure and academic promotion at The University of Akron. Before her career as a librarian, Sherri spent 11 years as a middle and high school science teacher in Dayton, Ohio. She received her undergraduate degree from Marshall University in Huntington, WV, where she grew up and where her parents still live. Sherri has left her mark both in Ohio and on ALAO. She has been an ALAO member since 1988, serving ALAO actively and productively in many roles, including Program Committee member (1990-92), ALAO Secretary (1994-1996), and Vice President/President/Past President (1996-1999). She has also served on the ACRL Chapters Council since 1996 and was elected Secretary in 1999 and 2000. Sherri is a hard-working colleague, a respected professional, and a trusted friend who will be sorely missed by many of us throughout the state. However, she won't be without old friends at Notre Dame. The Director of Notre Dame Libraries is Jennifer Younger, who was Sherri's supervisor when they both worked at Ohio State. Gay Dannelly, who recently retired from OSU, is also at ND these days, as is Carol Richter who used to work at UC. Sherri won't need that ND Leprechaun to lead her to success. She knows already knows the way! INTEREST GROUP NEWS Betsy Blankenship, BIIG
Co-Chair Colleen Boff, BIIG
Co-Chair, The BIIG held a panel discussion at the Annual Conference in November titled "Ohio Immersion: A Reflection." Six panelists who attended the June 2000 "ACRL Institute for Information Literacy" shared their experiences gained at the Institute. New information literacy initiatives developed as a direct result of attending the Institute were also explained by each panelist. A brief business meeting followed. All sixteen people attending agreed to change the name of the BIIG to the Instruction Interest Group. Changing the name to Information Literacy Interest Group was also explored, and was voted down based on agreement that while most members are involved with instruction, not all have formal information literacy programs at their institutions. Instruction Interest Group was both more inclusive and echoes the name of the ACRL Instruction Section. This recommended name change will be voted on at the December 2000 ALAO board meeting. Lisa Santucci (Miami University) was also recommended to be next year's successor to Betsy Blankenship as the BIIG co-chair. The BIIG now has an active Web page located at http://www.alaoweb.org/comsigs/biig/. Look for information about the upcoming spring 2001 workshop and peruse a list of past workshops. The page also provides access to the Instruction Clearinghouse, the latest collaboration between OhioLINK and ALAO's BIIG. The Clearinghouse provides links to tutorials, database instruction and exercises, pathfinders, orientation materials, instruction and reference pages, distance learning materials, information literacy statements and programs, and assessment materials. If you would like to contribute materials to the Instruction Clearinghouse, please send URLs to Kathy Webb (webb@udayton.edu). The Instruction Clearinghouse is also available from the ostaff portion of OhioLINK's Web site. Visit the Instruction Clearninghouse Collection
Management "The library collection is the heart of the university," according to University of Akron Professor of Education Dr. Stephen Thompson. A panel consisting of Thompson, Dr. Kasee Laster, Assistant Professor of English at Ashland University, and Professor Scott Walter, Collection Manager for Education at the Ohio State University, shared their views on "What Faculty Expect from Library Collections" at the CMIG workshop at the recent Annual Conference. The panelists provided insight into the role of teaching faculty related to library collection issues, as well as the obstacles that can prevent productive faculty participation. The program concluded with a discussion that allowed attendees to share challenges and successes from their own institutions. ÄThe CMIG spring workshop will be held on Thursday, May 24, 2001, at the Ohio State University Prior Health Sciences Library. Sessions will address the concept of "quality collections" from a variety of perspectives. Support
Staff The Support Staff Interest Group had a very successful Pre-Conference on November 2 in Ashland with approximately 50 attendees. Thank you to our speaker, Marcia King-Blandford for a wonderful workshop on "Seeing the Library through the Patron's Eyes." I hope that everyone took a good look at his or her library to see if it is easy for our patrons to use. I know that I did. I would also like to thank the planning committee members who were wonderful and worked very hard to make the day successful. Now after a few days of rest, we are working on our spring workshops. The April 5 workshop will be held at Kent State; on April 6 we will move south to Southern State Community College (South Campus). Our speaker will be Linda Dobb from Bowling Green. The theme will be "Continuing Education for Support Staff". Mark these dates on your calendar. We will also hold a business meeting at the spring workshops. One very important topic will be electing a Secretary/Chair Elect for 2001-02. If anyone is interested in placing his or her name on the ballot, please let me know. E-mail me (mayres@soucc.southern.cc.oh.us) to have your name put on the ballot or if you have any questions about the position or the organization itself. If you would like to get involved with the Support Staff Interest Group, you would have a great group with which to work. Karen Wilhoit, TSIG
Co-Chair, The Technical Services Interest Group sponsored a program on OCLC's CORC service at the Annual Conference in November. Bill Carney, who has worked extensively with CORC at OCLC, described the CORC service and its development. CORC is a new OCLC service that aims to help catalogers catalog Web and other electronic resources more efficiently. Carney demonstrated how the CORC system works and showed some examples of how libraries are using the system. A brief business meeting followed Carney's presentation. The Technical Services Interest Group is seeking volunteers to form a coordinating committee for the group. We also need a co-chair to take office in June 2001, serving a two-year term. If anyone is interested in volunteering, please contact Karen Wilhoit (karen.wilhoit@wright.edu) or Anne Gilliland (anne@ohiolink.edu). PEOPLE AND LIBRARY NEWS Miami University Rob Withers, Rob Casson, Aaron Shrimplin, and Katherine C. Adams published "Information Architecture: Information: Internet Resources for Web Developers," College & Research Libraries News, v. 61, no. 9 (October 2000): p. 784. Oberlin College An Oberlin College Library program to attract undergraduate students from diverse cultural backgrounds to the field of librarianship has received a $139,732 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. Six Oberlin students have been recruited for the one-year undergraduate internships, which will begin with spring semester 2001 and continue through the next fall. For more information see the Oberlin College press release: www.oberlin.edu/newserv/library_grant_release.html. or contact Haipeng.Li@oberlin.edu. Ohio State University Gerald S. Greenberg, Reference Librarian and Bibliographer, has edited a new reference book: Historical Encyclopedia of U.S. Independent Counsel Investigations (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2000). Ohio University Nancy Rue has been promoted to the newly created position of associate dean for public services at Ohio University Libraries. In her new role Rue will have administrative responsibility for six departments, including Circulation, Government Documents, Reference, the Music/Dance Library, the Fine Arts Library, the Center for International Collections, and Microforms/Maps. She will also supervise the Interlibrary Loan unit, which had formerly reported to the Reference Department. Ursuline College Carol Shisler published "Positive Image and High Profile Gets Results in a Hospital Library," BMLA Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, v. 88, no. 3 (July 2000): pp. 251-53. Wright State University WSU welcomes new staff member Brett Powers as Reference and Instruction Librarian in the Fordham Health Sciences Library. Lake Campus library staff recently received the Outstanding Unit Award as part of WSU's Excellence 2000 awards program. MEMBERSHIP UPDATE Betsy Blankenship,
Membership Chair, It was great to meet many of you at the Annual Conference. Many thanks to those who renewed ALAO memberships and who clarified ACRL membership issues. I hope those who stopped by the Membership table enjoyed the munchies! Our membership currently stands at 586 members, with 198 members also belonging to ACRL. I am still tallying registrations from the annual conference. Don't forget to renew your ALAO membership if you did not renew it with your conference registration. A membership year is January 1 to December 31. Dues are $20; student membership is $10. A renewal form is printed below. Or you can go to the ALAO Web site and print the membership form and send it in. Please make checks payable to ALAO. I also have membership forms for ACRL, so let me know if you would like one. ACRL membership also requires membership in ALA. Welcome to Heidi Beke-Harrigan, who graciously volunteered at the annual conference to be the ALAO liaison for Malone College. Liaison volunteers are still needed from the following institutions: Baldwin-Wallace College, Cincinnati State Technical & Community College, Cleveland State University, Franklin University, Hocking College, Kenyon College, and Lakeland Community College. If anyone is interested in volunteering, please contact me at: blankenship.5@osu.edu or 740-389-6786, ext. 6231. Lisa Santucci,
Treasurer, ALAO is a strong and financially
healthy organization not only because of
the recent increase in membership dues,
but because of continuous improvement in
budgeting and tracking expenditures. To
be consistent with IRS guidelines for
non-profit organizations, the budget will
have an income that does not exceed
expenses. To ensure that we better
monitor and plan our expenditures, I am
currently transferring the budget into
Microsoft Excelâ files, which can
automatically compute debts and balances.
Many thanks go to OCA and to Elys Kettling
for their help and assistance.
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