Author Archive: exchange2020

ORCID US Community: Libraries Leading the Way for Interoperability in Research & Scholarly Communication Workflows

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Presenter
Sheila Rabun
Description
Stakeholders across the research and scholarly communication landscape are increasingly recognizing the need for name disambiguation and system interoperability to measure impact, meet reporting requirements, and reduce administrative burden while ensuring that researchers’ contributions are accurately linked across institutions and workflows. Research libraries in the US are taking the lead in adopting ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor Identifier) as a solution for persistently linking researchers to their contributions and institutional affiliations over time while also serving as a mechanism for interoperability in sharing data across systems. In January of 2018, four consortia in the US – the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA), LYRASIS, and the NorthEast Research Libraries (NERL) – joined forces to form a nation-wide consortial approach to ORCID membership for research institutions in the US, known as the ORCID US Community. With LYRASIS serving as administrative lead, the primary goal of the ORCID US Community is to encourage ORCID adoption and foster a community of practice around ORCID in the US, as research institutions continue to join the growing circle of funders, publishers, and other stakeholders benefiting from research relationships and identity management in the ORCID ecosystem.

With this lightning presentation, participants will learn about the current trends, challenges, and opportunities of ORCID adoption at libraries and research institutions at large, featuring examples from across 125+ research libraries in the ORCID US Community.

Metadata Futures, UI, and Discovery Creativity

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Presenter
Jesse A. Lambertson is the Metadata / Digital Resources Librarian at University of Chicago’s Law Library, having arrived not too long ago from Georgetown’s Law Library. He is interested in metadata, of course, but also how systems process it, make it viewable, and enable its use. He is an active member of UChicago’s LD4P Sinopia team where he catalogues and tests workflows in linked-data cataloguing. He also plays guitar and is currently studying Koine Greek.
Description
For the subjects specific to day 3, Collaborations and Cooperative Endeavors, I am proposing a lightning round on the subject of metadata’s changing landscape, its relationship to how it looks to users, and what we might be able to do in Discovery in the near future. In this context, I hope to instigate a discussion about how BIBFRAME and linked-data could change discovery.

The idea here is to use my lightning session’s 7 minutes to draw out some of the modes by which metadata professionals, reference librarians, and sys admin folks can truly work together in order to not only prepare for metadata’s future, but also to share our specific expertise across the ‘aisle.’ This will bring folks from diverse areas of the libraries and backgrounds together to talk about the technical side of library technology in a transparent way.

I want to use my lightning session to deliberately engage in conversation about metadata in its current form, how it will change, and how those changes might look different to the user. As a result, my session will be, in part, a audience discussion between a range of folks from different libraries and contexts.

Changing Your Library’s Caustic Culture with Kindness (and Coffee)

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Presenter
Joyce Garczynski is the Assistant University Librarian for Development & Communications at Towson University’s Albert S. Cook Library. In this role she teaches journalism students about the research process, manages her library’s social media, and raises money for her library. She obtained her Master’s Degree in Library Science from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2009 and has a Master’s in Communication from the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania. She also authored a book titled, “Fundraising: How to Raise Money for Your Library Using Social Media” and co-authored “Fundraising for Academic Libraries: A Practical Guide for Librarians” which is being published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2020 .
Description
How would you describe your library’s staff culture? Would you use words like indifferent, unfriendly, or even hostile? With so much work to do and fewer staff members to do it, many libraries face challenges when it comes to information sharing. It’s easy for managers to miss what’s going on outside of their own departments and for front line staff to feel unrecognized for their accomplishments. This can create divides and resentment, which can destroy a library’s culture.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

In this lightning talk, the presenter will share how she sought to break down her library’s siloed culture by creating a Shining Star program. This inexpensive initiative rewards staff members not only for their going above and beyond, but also for recognizing the great work done by their colleagues. This session will begin with the audience sharing some of the cultural challenges that they face and then the presenter will discuss how she successfully developed and implemented this Shining Star program at her library.

Keynote: Sustainable Thinking for the Future of Libraries

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Session Description

Library leaders must mobilize to ensure libraries take an active, visible role in building sustainable and resilient communities. Our future depends on citizens who are able to work together with empathy, respect, and understanding to adapt to the many challenges facing society. In 2019, the American Library Association adopted sustainability as a core value of librarianship. We will explore the importance of infusing the new core value of sustainability into everything we do, and demonstrate how libraries that lead into the future using “sustainable thinking” fulfill our mission as libraries in new and innovative ways. “Sustainable Thinking” is a concept that aligns the core values of libraries with the “Triple Bottom Line” definition of sustainability (i.e. the intersection of economic feasibility, environmental stewardship and social equity) to inspire investment and build support for your library in the future.

Presenter(s)

Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, Executive Director, Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS)

Rebekkah Smith Aldrich
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, a powerful advocate for public libraries, is the executive director of the Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS) in Hudson, New York. In addition, she is a certified sustainable building advisor (CSBA) and is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP). Smith Aldrich holds an advanced certificate in Public Library Administration from the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at Long Island University, where she is also an adjunct professor. She is a founding member of ALA’s Sustainability Roundtable and helped to pass the ALA Resolution on the Importance of Sustainable Libraries in 2015. Smith Aldrich was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker in 2010 and writes a sustainability column for the journal. A prolific writer, Smith Aldrich is the author of Sustainable Thinking: Ensuring Your Library’s Future in an Uncertain World. She has also contributed chapters to Better Library Design (Rowman and Littlefield) and The Green Library (Library Juice Press). Like Drabinski, Smith Aldrich has given numerous presentations and keynote addresses at venues that include IFLA, the Association of Rural and Small Libraries Conference, the US Embassy in Peru, the American Library Association Annual Conference and the New York Library Association Conference.

Keynote: Making Power, Making Change

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Session Description

Librarians make the future every day: we select and acquire, catalog and classify, circulate and preserve, determining along the way what is worth accumulating, sharing, and keeping forever, and what is not. Every time we decide to purchase one book and not another, we use our power to shape the library of the future. But what happens when we want to use that power for transformative change and not just tinkering? How do we upend our own systems and structures in order to produce more just futures? How can librarians change the world? Drawing on lessons learned from the labor movement, this talk develops an analysis of power as something library workers can build with and for each other. Using tools and techniques we already have in our repertoire, we are well-positioned to make another world possible.

Presenter(s)

Emily Drabinski, Interim Chief Librarian at Mina Rees Library, Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY)

Emily Drabinski
Emily Drabinski is the Interim Chief Librarian at Mina Rees Library, Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). She is also the liaison to the School of Labor and Urban Studies and other CUNY masters and doctoral programs. Drabinski’s research includes critical approaches to information literacy instruction, gender and sexuality in librarianship and the intersections of power and library systems and structures. She currently serves as the series editor for Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies (Library Juice Press/Litwin Books). Additionally, Drabinski serves on the editorial boards of College & Research Libraries, The Journal of Critical Library & Information Studies and Radical Teacher, a socialist, feminist and anti-racist journal devoted to the theory and practice of teaching. Drabinski has given numerous keynote addresses and presentations at the Big XII Teaching and Learning Conference, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference and the Digital Library Federation.

Culturally Responsive Public Services

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Session Description
Libraries strive to welcome all members of their communities, but many fall short of their desire to truly reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. The work of diversity and inclusion requires deeper engagement than offering a few programs coinciding with special holidays and similar initiatives. This program will draw on the principles of Culturally Responsive Teaching — a pedagogical framework gaining traction in academic library instruction departments — to inspire librarians to transform how we provide library public services, such as access services, reference, and community outreach. The session will introduce key principles of cultural responsiveness, guide participants through self-reflection exercises, and encourage collaborative development of practices for building inclusive public services.
Presenter(s)

Sarah Copeland, Director, Desks and Patron Experience, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Sarah Copeland
Sarah Copeland is Assistant Professor and the Director of the Desks and Patron Experience team at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library. Her professional experience in academic libraries has included collections management, public services, instruction, assessment, and administration. Sarah draws on her varied experience to collaborate across departments in the pursuit of improving user experience.

Chapel Cowden, Health and Science Instruction Librarian, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Chapel Cowden
Chapel Cowden is the Health & Science Librarian and a UC Foundation Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where she also teaches Perspectives on Death and Dying for the University’s Honors College. Chapel is passionate about applying mechanisms to promote critical thinking and the construction of authentic learning environments into her instruction classroom, with the belief that we should strive to prepare students not only for “what’s now” but for “what’s next”. Her research interests include bibliometrics, culturally responsive teaching, and death positivity.

Lu Gao, Student, SUNY Albany

Lu Gao
Lu Gao is a postgraduate student at University at Albany (SUNY). She is working on her Information Science CAS certificate. She is from China. She has earned a B.A in International Trade and a Master of Science in Information Science (MSIS). Her educational and work experiences are cross-cultural and bring a diverse perspective to academic librarianship. She is passionate about applying Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) in library instructions to promote inclusivity for culturally diverse students. Her research interests include data analysis, culturally responsive teaching, and multimedia information sources.

Session Slides
Chat Transcripts
Chat transcripts are included as part of the recording.

Making Connections Through Campus Collections

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Session Description

This presentation will outline how one lone cataloger took steps to represent diverse University department collections in the library catalog and build bridges in the process. Taking the seed of an idea that had sprouted but not flourished, this presenter set about to gauge interest and gather feedback from staff who managed collections in University departments such as the LGBT Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. This process, from making contact to making changes will be unpacked during the course of this presentation.

Presenter(s)

Susan Ponischil, Metadata & Resource Discovery Librarian, Grand Valley State University

Susan Ponischil is the Metadata & Resource Discovery librarian at Grand Valley State University Libraries. She received her MLIS from Wayne State University and has worked in the Technical Services arena since 2006. Her research interests include critical librarianship and promoting the value of technical services.

Are We Ready? Including Organizational Readiness in Your Change Plan

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Session Description

Much attention is paid to how to manage the uncertainty throughout a change process, but often, it can be too late. This presentation will focus on the pre-work of a change initiative. Specifically, I will provide a holistic change model that extends Lewin’s three-stage (unfreeze, change, refreeze) model. The presentation will focus on a missing stage prior to unfreezing: readiness. Increasing readiness for organizational change will increase the effectiveness of a change initiative by reducing uncertainty, setting expectations, establishing clear expectations, and providing appropriate outlets for organizational pressure release.

Presenter(s)

Dr. Aaron Noland, Senior Strategist, Director of Planning and Assessment, James Madison University Libraries

Aaron Noland
Aaron Noland is the Senior Strategist and Director of Planning and Assessment at James Madison University Libraries. Aaron has a PhD in Strategic Leadership from JMU and an MA in Communication from Miami University (OH). Aaron’s focus is on aligning organizational strategies, activities, structures, and assessments. He has extensive experience facilitating training sessions for professional audiences. Aaron has over 10 years of consulting and training experience and has worked with large health care organizations, multinational corporations, educational departments (including Libraries), and nonprofits.

Recruiting From Retail: University of Chicago Library Acquisitions Department Experience

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Session Description

Over the past couple of years, the University of Chicago Library acquisitions department experienced a significant amount of clerical and supervisory staff turnover. This turnover was the result of retirements, career advancements, and career changes. We viewed this period of change as an opportunity to recruit a highly skilled and diverse staff which will help poise and sustain the department for the future. To accomplish this, we knew that we had to think differently about what skills we needed and what skills would be transferable from industries outside the library or academe into the library.

This talk will provide an outline of the potential benefits of non-library industry hiring by exploring the following topics:

  • What types of skills are needed for work in the department, not just currently, but in the future?
  • What types of non-industry candidates could be well-suited for a job in the library?
  • How to satisfy current departmental needs and anticipate future industry developments and changes through hiring, and why considering applicants new to the Library may address each of those challenges
  • Reframing requisitions and interviews to focus on transferable/soft skills, in the absence of relevant library experience
  • Casting a wider net can sometimes yield unexpected, but fruitful results in a job search
  • Initial training and development to acclimate new hires into library work

The session will be comprised of short panel sections focused on a targeted topic during which we will have interactive polls, a matching game, and take questions from the attendees. Panelists will include a mix of staff: librarians, supervisors, and clerical staff.

Presenter(s)

Susan Martin, Head, Acquisitions Services, University of Chicago

Susan Martin
Susan Martin is currently Associate Professor and the Chair of Collection Development and Management at the James E. Walker Library at Middle Tennessee State University. Until March 2020, she served as the Head of Acquisitions Services at The University of Chicago Library. Prior to this position, she served as the Acquisitions Librarian at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. Her other experience includes writing and editing for an internet start-up and working as a professional librarian in a variety of departments: acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, and reference.

Susan holds an A.B. in American Studies and French from Mount Holyoke College and an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Simmons College. In her spare time she enjoys traditional librarian pursuits, such as book collecting, knitting, and cats.

Tina Erikson, Receiving and Rapid Cataloging Supervisor, University of Chicago

Tina Erikson
Tina Erikson is the Supervisor for the Receiving and Rapid Cataloging unit in the Acquisitions department at The University of Chicago Library. Before coming to the library, she was general manager for Argo Tea, a Chicago-based tea company. Other experience includes teaching ESL in South Korea as well as teaching Spanish language and literature courses at the University of Chicago.

Tina holds a B.A. in Spanish and Religion from Ashland University and an M.A. in Romance Languages and Literature from The University of Chicago. She loves playing Dungeons and Dragons and spending time with her husband, 1 year old son, and 2 cats.

Jessica Glomb, Library Orders Supervisor, University of Chicago

Jessica Glomb
Jessica Glomb is the Monographic Orders Supervisor at the University of Chicago Library. Her first experience with the book industry was as a buyer in the Lifestyle Department for Whole Foods Market in Wheaton, IL, where she worked exclusively with Baker and Taylor to procure and sell books on all things health and foodie related, among other fantastic products. She is ecstatic to have the opportunity to expand her horizons in the book trade and serve the community in a library setting.

She holds a BA in Psychology from Indiana University. In her spare time she stays up far too late reading about world history, industry and politics, and paints and cooks a little. With a background in nutrition sales, she dabbles in fitness, too!

Max Maller, Principal Orders Assistant, University of Chicago

Max Maller
Max Maller is Principal Monographic Ordering Assistant at the University of Chicago Library. Prior to holding this position, he has worked as a translator, editor, and journalist with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Chicago Reader, Jewish Currents, Chicago Review, and other publications. For two years, he was a sales clerk and buying specialist at Powell’s Books Chicago.

Max holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chinese Literature and Language from Reed College and an MA from the University of Chicago.

Philip Stefani, Receiving Assistant, University of Chicago

Philip Stefani
Philip Stefani is a Receiving and Rapid Cataloging Assistant at the University of Chicago. He first worked in the Penrose Library at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington where he was a Circulation Assistant, worked in the archives, and was a student research assistant. He has also worked as an English teacher in China and a commercial fisherman in Alaska. Before coming to UChicago, Philip was a collection and circulation clerk at Odd Obsession Movies, one of the last video rental shops on the planet.

He earned a B.A. in Art History and Visual Culture Studies from Whitman College. Outside of work, Philip enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time in the sun.

Using Project Management Principles to Ensure Successful Collaborations

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Session Description

Want to foster consensus, collaboration and flexibility while keeping colleagues and staff focused on a common goal? Leaders at all levels can learn how to apply project management principles and best practices to projects, committees and other collaborative endeavors to ensure successful outcomes. Whether leading a project, chairing a committee, or trying to keep a meeting you attend on track, project management principles can be used to guide diverse groups and bring the focus back to a shared vision of success. Participants will be introduced to actionable techniques for improving the effectiveness of collaborative projects and for working better within and across diverse groups.

Presenter(s)
Jami Yazdani, Founder and Chief Strategist (former Library Director at Castleton University), Yazdani Consulting and Facilitation

Over more than 15 years working in academic libraries, Jami Yazdani managed complex projects and planning initiatives, facilitated meetings, and guided (sometimes reluctant) groups of diverse colleagues and stakeholders towards consensus and positive outcomes. She holds an MLIS from Louisiana State University, a Masters in Technology Management from University of Maryland University College, and a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification from the Project Management Institute. Ms. Yazdani currently serves as Founder and Chief Strategist for Yazdani Consulting and Facilitation.