Please read about our candidates for the 2024 Executive Board positions of Member at Large and Vice President/President-Elect! The election will be held November 7 – 14, 2023, via electronic ballot sent to each member’s email address. Once the election has ended we’ll announce results via the ILA ACRL mailing list and post to our website. If you have questions, or additional ‘from the floor’ nominations, please email Membership Committee Chair Lisa Martincik (lisa-martincik@uiowa.edu). Our thanks and gratitude to these members who have accepted their nominations to serve the organization.
Please find the candidate information below.
Vice President President-Elect 2024 Candidates
Jodie Morin
Hello! My name is Jodie Morin, and I am the director of the BVU Library at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. I am a native Iowan, raised in Columbus Junction, Iowa. I was offered my first library job at my hometown public library, working after school four afternoons a week. I didn’t realize then that this part-time job was pointing me in the direction of a life-long profession.
I am a graduate of ILA/ACRL institutions. I graduated with an undergraduate degree in history from Central College and received a Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of Iowa the following year. I was hired as the reference librarian at what was then Buena Vista College in 1985. After serving as Acting Director in 1990 and again in 2012-2014, I was named Library Director in 2014.
At the beginning of my career, I couldn’t have imagined that I’d be starting my 39th academic year at BV, but the work has been and continues to be varied and interesting. The nomination for Vice-President/President-Elect of ILA/ACRL is a challenge and a learning experience that will help cap off my career.
During the next few years, higher education will face many challenges: the “enrollment cliff” of 2025, concerns about artificial intelligence, ill-conceived legislation that cloaks censorship as “protection” and the effect that will have on our incoming students, and regretfully, perhaps additional closures among our ILA/ACRL members. This year has been tough in Iowa higher education; unfortunately, I expect this tough trend to continue.
The thing that sets librarians apart in academia is our willingness to cooperate beyond our institutions. I suppose this tradition is based on the same philosophy that brought us interlibrary loan—together, our collections are larger. As librarians, together WE are smarter and more resilient. Those of us working in small libraries need to be reminded that although our local staff is small and possibly dwindling, our state-wide library community is vibrant. State-wide organizations like ILA/ACRL provide a ready-made network of advisors and friends all over the state. I’ve drawn from that well of knowledge and experience many times myself.
These organizations run because there are willing volunteers who value our community and our collective action. I too value this community and want to do my part to ensure that Iowa academic librarians in the years ahead can profit from this resource as I have. If you ever get asked to serve in some capacity, whether it is for ILA/ACRL, IPAL, the Iowa Alliance, or any other library group, I hope
you’ll consider the value of the organization to your Iowa colleagues and say, “Yes!”
Sarah Voels
Sarah Voels (she/her) earned her BA in English at Wartburg College (Waverly, IA) before going on to the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA) for her Master of Library and Information Science. Following graduation, she stayed in Pittsburgh for a year of service with the AmeriCorps. She returned back home to Iowa and worked in public libraries in various positions supporting circulation, instruction, collection development, and events management. During that time, she conducted several collection diversity audits with Molly Garrett (currently Assistant Director at the Musser Public Library) that would morph into Auditing Diversity in Library Collections (2022), published with ABC-CLIO. Currently Voels is the Director of Vogel Library at Wartburg College as well as pursuing her PhD in Information Studies at Dominican University (River Forest, IL).
We live in an increasingly complicated information landscape embedded in our world of service. No where is this more evident than in libraries, and as librarians in academic settings, we are on the front lines to create a more information literate future. But this seemingly impossible task is made more possible by getting to do that work in compassionate and engaged work settings. It is a deeply rooted personal passion for Voels to advocate for library workers and do what it is possible to support and encourage them to fully engage in safe and nurturing spaces so that they are better equipped to nurture patrons, students, staff, and faculty to an information-rich relationship with the library. This work would only continue with ongoing and elevated connection to ILA/ACRL.
Member at large
Jenny Parker
Jenny Parker received her MILS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and her BA in Geography and Art from the University of Iowa. Raised in Dubuque, Iowa, she moved away for school, and then was drawn back. She has worked at Clarke University in different capacities for the last 11 years, most recently as a Resource and Metadata Librarian. She is currently completing a certificate in OER (Open Educational Resources) Librarianship with the Open Education Network at the University of Minnesota. She is a long-time ILA and ILA/ACRL member and served as Membership Chair in 2015, and Electronic Communications Committee Chair in 2022 and 2023.
“In my present capacity as ILA/ACRL Electronic Communications Committee Chair, I helped usher the migration from the old subdivision webpage to WordPress with the help of an excellent team. In addition, I moved executive board files from one Google Drive account to another due to cost savings. It’s been a joy and pleasure to serve ILA/ACRL. The organization has offered me many valuable opportunities for connection with other academic libraries across the state, as well as leadership opportunities. It would be an honor to continue service on the executive board in the position of At-Large Member. Thank you for considering my candidacy.”
Kristy Raine
Kristy Raine is the Director of Library Services at Mount Mercy University. In this capacity, she manages all aspects of library operations and leads open education efforts at the institution. Raine received her BA in English and History from Huntingdon College (Montgomery, AL), her MA in English from Iowa State University, and her MLIS from the University of Iowa. She completed the Certificate of OpenILA/ACRL Education Librarianship from the Open Education Network (OEN) and served as the Mount Mercy coordinator for the IPAL-GEER grant program. The campus also participated in the I-COER initiative, with Raine serving as a site liaison and the facilitator for general humanities participants.
She is an active member of the Iowa Private Academic Libraries (IPAL) organization, currently serving as vice-chair for the membership. Past roles in the ILA-ACRL organization have included secretary/treasurer for the executive board (two terms) and serving as an IPAL representative to the ILA-ACRL conference planning committee.
“ILA-ACRL’s advocacy and ongoing support of library professionals is vital during these challenging times in higher education. As we collectively find our library environments increasingly requiring more of their employees, ILA-ACRL’s energies sustain a commitment to each other and the good work occurring on our campuses. I have enjoyed past opportunities with the organization and welcome new energies to connect with our dynamic and talented members. I appreciate your consideration of my nomination.”
Hello and happy October ILA/ACRL members! Here are some professional development opportunities coming up this month.