2018 ALAO Conference: Featured Speakers

The keynote speaker for the 2018 conference is Dr. Megan Oakleaf.
Megan Oakleaf is an Associate Professor in the iSchool at Syracuse University where she teaches “Reference and Information Literacy Services” and “Planning, Marketing, and Assessing Library Services.”  Her research interests include library value and impact, outcomes assessment, evidence-based decision making, information literacy instruction, information services, and digital librarianship.  She is the author of theValue of Academic Libraries Comprehensive Report and Review and Academic Library Value: The Impact Starter Kit.  She also served on the faculty of the ACRL Immersion Program. Megan has presented at numerous conferences, including ALA, ACRL, AAC&U, and AALHE National Conferences, ARL Library Assessment Conferences, the IUPUI Assessment Institute, the NCSU Undergraduate Assessment Symposium, the Texas A&M Assessment Conference, and EDUCAUSE. Megan won the 2011 Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award, was named to the LIRT Top 20 Instruction Articles five times, was included on the 2010 Reference Research Review List, and was awarded “Best Paper” at the 2007 EBLIP Conference.  She has published articles in JASIST, College & Research Libraries, Journal of Documentation,Communications in Information Literacy, Library Quarterly, and Portal, among other journals.  Megan also has a recurring column on library assessment in the Journal of Academic Librarianship and serves on the editorial boards of Library and Information Science Research, Library Quarterly, and Journal of Academic Librarianship.

Previously, Megan was the Librarian for Instruction and Undergraduate Research at North Carolina State University.  In this role, she designed, implemented, coordinated, and assessed the library instruction program; she also trained fellow librarians in instructional theory and methods.  Megan completed her dissertation entitled, “Assessing Information Literacy Skills: A Rubric Approach,” at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.   She earned her MLS from Kent State University and also holds a BA in English and Spanish and a BS in English Education and Spanish Education from Miami University.  Prior to a career in librarianship, Megan taught language arts and advanced composition in Ohio public schools, grades 8-12.

Keynote: Act Now! Getting Started and Staying the Course in Pursuit of Creating, Capturing, and Communicating Library Value

Library “value” can seem difficult to define, discover, develop, and disseminate, but it need not be! All library employees know the value of academic libraries and recognize the ways in which libraries support students, enable success, enrich teaching, empower learning, and ultimately change lives. The key is to transform that knowledge and recognition into actions that connect the dots between the provision and enactment of library services, resources, and facilities and the results those services, resources, and facilities have on students, faculty, and their overarching institutions. Library employees at all levels can integrate value concepts into their regular workflows by articulating linkages between what libraries do and the positive outcomes they enable for students; innovating to increase and improve impactful library services, resources, and facilities; and sharing with students how they can engage with libraries for maximum personal, educational, and professional benefit. Join a lively, hands-on keynote session and take away ideas for getting started or staying the course in pursuit of library value!

The Afternoon Plenary will be provided by Debra Gilchrist.

Debra Gilchrist, PhD is Vice President for Learning and Student Success at Pierce College, a community college in Washington State. In addition to academic and student affairs, she leads campus efforts for regional accreditation. Her publications focus on outcomes assessment as a tool for change, demonstrating the contributions of academic libraries through assessment of both learning and program impact. She was the 2007 recipient of the ACRL Miriam Dudley award and the Pierce library received the ACRL Excellence Award in 2005. Degrees: MLS University of Denver, MS in Geography South Dakota State University, Ph.D. Educational Leadership Oregon State University.

Session Abstract:  Academic libraries can and do play a key role in their institutions meeting mission. Planning and assessment that considers those mission elements is a key step in building and supporting the college/university as a holistic community and building evidence of the library and librarians as full partners. Let's explore and improve those possibilities!