Winter 2011 Newsletter

This issue of the ILA/ACRL Newsletter features a semi-annual President’s Piece submitted by sitting ILA/ACRL president, Ryan Gjerde, results of the IA/ACRL fall elections,and reports from the fall ILA Conference.

President's Piece

The fall is a busy time of year for many ILA/ACRL committees; making final preparations for the ILA conference, laying the groundwork for the Spring ILA/ACRL conference, and finding willing and able volunteers to lead and work with our committees are just a few examples of the tasks keeping committee members occupied.

Following the ILA conference, we enter a time of transition and reflection, as we on the Executive Board prepare to hand over our duties to the in-coming chairs and officers. This month, I would like to reflect briefly upon the work accomplished by our ad hoc committees. Our bylaws require us to limit ad hoc committees to 2-year terms, and this Fall we had two such committees reaching the end of their term.

The Scholarly Communication committee, led by Kate Hess, has worked to survey membership on issues related to scholarly communication, and reviewed the materials posted on the ILA/ACRL website. The committee recommended, instead of duplicating effort on maintaining resources, to link to the University of Iowa Libraries’ guide on scholarly communication, which is routinely maintained.  

The Mentoring committee, led by Jen Rouse, has continued to work to connect “new” and “experienced” librarians across the state.  ILA/ACRL has sponsored mentoring activities for the past 4 years or so, led by a couple of ad hoc committees.  This July, the executive board reaffirmed the desire to continue our mentoring program, and sought to find a more permanent place for it within our committee structure.  With that in mind, the duties and responsibilities of mentoring have been added to those of the Membership committee, in support of that committee’s charge to encourage Chapter membership and activity.  

The executive board thanks all who have served on these committees over the past two years!

The July executive board meeting also saw the creation of a new ad hoc committee, focusing on collaboration between K-12 and Higher Education.  The new committee’s charge is to partner with IASL to develop and implement a framework and action plan for future collaboration.  This committee arises out of the informal meetings and discussions that began at the 2010 ILA planning day, and have continued throughout 2011.  Pam Rees will chair this committee.  We look forward to continuing this discussion and finding fruitful opportunities to partner with other librarians in the state.

Thanks to all who have participated in ILA/ACRL in the past year!

Ryan Gjerde
President, ILA/ACRL