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2023 CONFERENCE Proposals
The Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) conference planning committee invites you to submit proposals for the 49th Annual Conference, Finding Balance - Hybrid Spaces, New Opportunities and Transformed Missions, Having spent the past few years radically adapting library services during the pandemic, library professionals are now actively exploring how to sustain a "new normal" for hybrid spaces, services, and collections where customer expectations have been transformed.
How do we sustain these new service modalities, and how will this shape our library and institutional missions? What new and exciting opportunities do these modalities present for each department and team in our libraries? We hope to facilitate robust discussions about how we can move forward, manage, and innovate in this new environment.
Conference Dates & Venues
Afternoon Virtual Mini-Conference (Friday, Oct 27, 2023) Location: Zoom
In-Person Conference (Friday, Nov 3, 2023) Location: Nationwide Hotel & Conference Center, Columbus, Ohio
Extended Submission Deadline: May 1, 2023
NOTE: We have two different proposal options/venues for this year’s conference. Please see additional details below.
We encourage thoughtful, timely proposals from all areas of library work. In response to past conference evaluations, we would especially also like to encourage proposals highlighting the expertise of Access Service, Technical Services, and Support Staff professionals.
Conference registration discounts for presenters will be announced at a later date.
Adherence to the conference theme is encouraged but not required. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Service changes, transitions and trends
- Emerging technology solutions
- DEI & Social Justice in libraries (ie Cataloging, Instruction, and Public services)
- Innovations in Instruction
- Library assessment (services, collections analysis, instruction)
- Value demonstration
- Forecasting
- Negotiation & Vendor collaboration
- Blended services & department collaborations (circulation/reference, etc.)
- Team building and professional development for staff and librarians
- Staffing and recruiting issues, challenges, successes across all library departments
- Reflective pedagogy
- Outreach & Programming
A full rubric of grading criteria is available here.
Proposal Guidelines
Choose which option or venue best fits your topic(s). Multiple submissions are allowed, but each must represent a different topic.
Option 1: In-Person Conference (Fri, Nov. 3, 2023) - Proposal Submissions
In-Person Conference Submission Form: https://tinyurl.com/2023proposalsALAO
- Proposals should appeal and be relevant to conferences themes or academic library work in any area, department, or specialty.
- Proposals should provide clear indication of actionable takeaways or practical applications
- Proposals should be concise, descriptive, and clearly written.
- Proposals are blind, peer-reviewed.
- Exclude the name of your institution, department, and any personal names in the title or abstract. If you include this identifying information, your proposal may not receive further consideration.
- Multiple submissions of presentation, poster, and lightning talk proposals are allowed
- No more than two (e.g. two presentations, two posters, one presentation and one poster, or one presentation/poster and lightning talk) will be included in the final program.
Proposal Types
- Presentation (or other 50-minute session)
- Poster Session (1 hour session where you engage with individuals or small groups for a few minutes at a time, uses visual format to give an overview of a topic)
- Lightning talk (7 minute live virtual session with a shared Q&A)
Proposal Components
- Title: 50 word limit
- Abstract: 200 word limit
- Exclude the name of your institution, department and any personal names. If you include this identifying information, your proposal may not receive further consideration.
- How the presentation/poster will engage with audience
- Keywords that describe the content
- Presenter bio(s)
- Learning Outcomes for Presentations, Panel Sessions & Breakout Sessions
- A well-written learning outcome will identify what participants will be able to do as a result of attending your program. How will your target audience’s skills, attitudes, knowledge, behavior, status, or life condition change or improve by participating in your program? Think about the intended impact of the program and how it fills a need or solves a problem.
- Tip: Consider using a verb or action phrase + “in order to” + an impact statement to design your outcomes. The first phrase describes the skill or task you want the learner to perform, and the second phrase describes its impact and why it is important. (Guidelines adopted from https://conference.acrl.org/conference-content/proposal-elements/)
- At least one outcome is required; no more than three can be submitted.
All conference presenters (session, talk, discussion, or a poster) are responsible for their own registration costs. Conference registration discounts for presenters will be announced at a later date. Please note also that grants are available for Students and Library Support Staff to attend or aid in presenting at the conference.
Option 2: Virtual Mini-Conference (Friday, Oct 27, 2023) - Proposal Submissions
NOTE: A separate ALAO-hosted ILS Migration Forum Discussion will take place in the morning. The mini-conference will take place in the afternoon.
NOTE: The afternoon mini-conference will focus special attention on the expertise of our colleagues in Access Service, Technical Services, and Support Staff. Proposals related to issues and activities in these areas will be given first priority consideration.
NOTE: There is a separate proposal form for Mini-Conference Proposal Submissions. Here is the form link: https://tinyurl.com/2023miniconference
- Proposals should appeal to Access Service/Technical Services/Support Staff professionals, and focus on relevant issues, practices or topics (including ILS Migrations)
- Suggested topics for ILS related proposals:
- Clean up projects
- Preparing staff for change
- Plans to adapt instruction after a migration
- Collaboration while preparing to migrate
- NOTE: Presentations and discussions will be held live online via Zoom
- No more than 2 presenters per submission
- Proposals should provide clear indication of actionable takeaways or practical applications
- Proposals should be concise, descriptive, and clearly written
- Proposals are blind, peer-reviewed
- Exclude the name of your institution, department, and any personal names in the title or abstract. If you include this identifying information, your proposal may not receive further consideration
- Multiple submissions of presentation proposals are allowed; no more than one of each will be included in the final program
Proposal Types
- Virtual Discussion (Leading a discussion group on a topic)
- Virtual Lightning talk (7 minute live virtual session with a shared Q&A)
Proposal Components
- Title: 50 word limit
- Abstract: 200 word limit
- Presenter Bio(s): 100 word limit
- Keywords to describe the content
- Note: For Virtual Discussion proposals, please include 3-5 questions that you will ask to help keep the discussion moving and on track
All conference presenters (lightning talk or discussion) are responsible for their own registration costs. Conference registration discounts for presenters will be announced at a later date.
Community Agreements
The conference planners seek to create a space for respectful dialogue and debate about critical issues. Upon registration, attendees will be asked to review and accept a list of community agreements. Conference planners will actively strive to create spaces in which multiple perspectives can be heard and no one voice dominates.
If you have questions, please contact Cara Calabrese, Stefanie Hilles, or Rob Withers at program@alaoweb.org
