January/February 2011 Newsletter

This issue of the ILA/ACRL Newsletter features a semi-annual President’s Piece submitted by sitting ILA/ACRL president, Ryan Gjerde, and news from academic libraries across the state.

President's Piece

On behalf of the ILA/ACRL Executive Board, I thank you for your membership in ILA/ACRL, and welcome you to 2011.  In Past-President Mary Iber’s Summer 2010 Newsletter update, she shared some of the planning the Exec. Board has done over the past year in the areas of outreach, technology and membership.  As we wrapped up 2010, we chose to focus on the issue of outreach, especially to our colleagues in Iowa’s school libraries.

ILA/ACRL is interested in pursuing avenues of collaboration and partnership with school librarians, and to kick this off we held an impromptu discussion at the end of the ILA planning day in November 2010 with representatives of  ILA/ACRL, IASL, and the Community College Roundtable.  Moving forward, we plan to keep the discussion open between these groups to see if there are objectives we can work toward jointly.  While we have a short list of members who have expressed interest in the topic, if you also would like to contribute to this conversation in some way, contact Vice President/President-Elect Rebecca Funke (rsfunke@dmacc.edu), who will be facilitating discussion as we get started.

We are also excited to report that our annual Spring Conference is near at hand!  We will be gathering Friday, March 18, at Central College in Pella with 12 presentations from our colleagues around the state, as well as a keynote presentation from Kenning Arlitsch, Associate Director for IT Services at Marriott Library, University of Utah, and a 2009 Library Journal Mover and Shaker.  Also, you are invited to join us for a dinner/social the night before (March 17) at the Royal Amsterdam Hotel.  The conference will be an excellent opportunity to break from our daily routines to reflect on the conference theme of “The Essentials: Rethinking, Refining, Reviving.” Thanks to Beth McMahon and the entire conference planning committee for the work they have done!

Finally, a reminder of a few of the other opportunities offered by ILA/ACRL.  The deadline for our Spring Conference Scholarship (http://www.iowaacrl.org/content/awards/iaacrl) is fast approaching.  If you have recently joined the Iowa academic library community, we encourage you to apply. Attending the Spring or Fall conference is a great way to network and get involved in the organization, take it from me - a 2001 Fall conference scholarship winner!  Also, we will soon be formally soliciting applications for our biennial PR/Marketing grant, due this summer and awarded at our Fall conference meeting.  We take seriously our mission of enhancing library service, user education and staff development in Iowa’s academic and research libraries.  If there are other ways ILA/ACRL can be an asset to the library community, please send me your suggestions and comments: gjerdery@luther.edu.

We’ll see you in Pella!

Ryan Gjerde