All Sessions

Targeted at library directors, department heads and senior staff from public, academic and special libraries, this hands-on workshop will train participants in dialogue facilitation skills with proven success in strengthening partnerships, building effective teams across departments and organizations, and raising the profile of the library as a center for community life. Participants will leave with valuable facilitation skills that can immediately be put to use for their libraries and communities.

This full-day interactive workshop is designed for new business librarians; generalists who have assumed responsibility in business librarianship; or librarians who handle business reference-related inquiries in all types of libraries including academic, public and special libraries. This workshop will provide librarians with a broad conceptual understanding of business topics in four major business disciplines: Accounting, Finance, Marketing, and Management. This preconference will complement Business 101, which focuses on business reference, business resources, and collection development. This is a repeat and updated version of the 2009 preconference.

Do you belong in RUSA? Come learn more about this the Reference and User Services Association--a division of ALA. We represent librarians, library staff and leaders in readers' advisory, collection development, genealogy, reference services, adult services, business reference, archives, interlibrary loan and resource sharing, reference technologies and more. Current members looking for ways to get involved with the division are also welcome to attend.

Join us for a discussion of our experiences organizing, planning, and promoting a series of writing workshops for military veterans in the Washington, D.C. area. Our project builds upon the work of Amy Hartman and Holly Baumgartner that was featured in American Libraries in November 2011; as federal librarians, we were eager to extend such an excellent opportunity for education and lifelong learning to a greater number of veterans. Come learn about the importance of community programming for military veterans, the challenges that libraries may face in the process of developing programs for veterans, and the steps involved in designing our writing workshops! Attendees will gain an appreciation of the art of writing memoir, and will learn that memoir writing offers non-professional writers opportunities to enrich their lives by creating stories based on life experiences, as well as to contribute to the cultural and historical record. Presenters will also discuss marketing, outreach, and promotion of writing workshops, and strategies for overcoming the challenges associated with recruiting participants. We hope you will join us!

Speakers:
- Nancy Faget, Information Resources Branch Chief, Army Research Laboratory; Michelle Dunaway, MLIS Candidate, University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences, and ALA NMRT-FAFLRT Liaison, 2011-2012

The committee identifies collection development education needs; creates guidelines for improved training; and informs the library and information community on collection development education issues and practices.

The Executive Board is the governing body of Beta Phi Mu. It is empowered to set policy; authorize and dissolve chapters upon petition, review and adopt the annual budget, authorize expenditures for specific activities not included in the annual budget, provide leadership to the chapters through liaison with the Assembly, and initiate other activities to carry out the purposes of Beta Phi Mu.

The Santa Ana Public Library has developed a proven method of mentoring and professional guidance to recruit bilingual Spanish-speaking high school students, college-age youth, and MLIS students in a combined volunteer and paid internship program that provides exposure to the profession, hands-on experience, and mentored training in library-specific tasks. The presenters are all participants of the library's "Seeds to Trees" program at various stages of educational development: high school, community college, college, and LIS programs.

The Hack Library School Blog is for, by, and about library school students. Our guiding philosophy is based on the principle of crowd-sourcing information. We seek to create a collaborative environment where other library school students can come together and share information with one another to enrich their education. We hope to bring the virtual discussion to ALA and get people talking.

This conversation starter seeks to bring together students and professionals to talk about issues pertaining to our education and our field. It will be a moderated conversation with guiding questions such as: what aspects of library school curriculum prepare you for the job? What emerging technologies enrich your education? How do you “hack” library school? Hack Library School is about being the change that you want to see. What would you change?

Library school students, new and seasoned professionals are welcome and encouraged to attend and share information.

"Other Duties As Assigned": What a job description staple really means. Almost every job description includes the phrase "other duties as assigned" - a catch all for the diverse work librarians do. This session will present examples of what "other duties" can mean.

Institutional repositories are an integral part of open access; in 2005 BioMed Central, the pioneering open access publisher created its hosted repository service, Open Repository. This workshop will examine the role repositories serve in institutions and where they fit in the larger environment of scholarly communication. This forum will also provide a useful overview and practical tips for any institution thinking about establishing a repository.

Representation of diversity in LIS education and research is paramount to achieving our diversity recruitment goals. A panel featuring current doctoral students will be followed by an hour-long Options Fair with representatives from LIS doctoral programs. Don't miss this unique opportunity to explore PhD and funding options from schools across the country. All are welcome to join us!

Deborah Fritz of MARC of Quality will demonstrate RIMMF (RDA in Many Metadata Formats).

Recruiting librarians with diverse backgrounds remains a challenging task for the library community in the U.S. The ALA Diversity Counts Report in 2007 states that the field is not recruiting or graduating enough ethnic minority librarians to replace the number expected to retire in the next two decades, highlighting the need to recruit the next generation of librarians with diverse backgrounds. In responding to this call, the University Libraries and the Department of Library and Information Studies (LIS) at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro (UNCG), in collaboration with 10 academic libraries in North Carolina, have created the Academic and Cultural Enrichment (ACE) Scholars Program which was funded by an IMLS grant in June 2008 and June 2010 respectively. This collaborative project assists with recruitment of students with diverse backgrounds to the LIS Department at UNCG, provides the students with internship opportunities, connects the students with experienced academic librarians for mentoring, and offers them cultural enrichment activities during their two-year MLIS program. This session will present the implementation of the IMLS funded project and provide updates on the progress of the program since its beginning in 2008.

An interactive workshop, presented by GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) staff will focus on ways libraries can create safe, respectful and healthy environments for all youth, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. RSVP required - http://bit.ly/fabhavens

The Guide to Reference Editorial Review Board and Contributing Editors will discuss direction and evolving practices for the Guide. Those interested in becoming a Contributing Editor are invited to attend.

Business Meeting, Chapter Reports, New Member Initiation Ceremony, Election of Officers, Scholarship Recipients Announced, Face2Face Networking, Catered Reception

Do you still need to convince others of the value of using graphic novels in your libraries and schools? If so, this session will provide you with research, circulation data, and strategies for justifying the use of graphic novels with patrons and students. A panel of graphic novel gurus will provide the ammunition you need to convince others of the validity of having graphic novels in your collections.

Speakers:
- Robin Brenner, Young Adult Librarian, Brookline Public Library, MA
- Karen Gavigan, Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina
- Kat Kan, School Librarian, St. John's Catholic School, Panama City, FL
- Robin Moeller, Assistant Professor, School of Library Science, Leadership and Educational Studies, Appalachian State University
- John Shableski, President of 4ColorPerspective, Consultant, Wildcat Comic Con

Too Many Conferences, Too Little Money: While budgets tighten, the number of conferences is expanding. Conference attendance has traditionally been used to keep current with the skills and knowledge needed by library staff to effectively perform their duties. Should liaison librarians attend academic discipline conferences rather than a general conference? Should technical services staff attend a topical conference or a general conference? Discuss the many options and how you determine the best conference to attend to enhance your professional development.

With unprecedented attention on accountability and reform for how K-12 students learn, how are ALA-accredited and NCATE / AASL-approved programs that educate school librarians keeping pace? This program presents research funded by the 2011 American Association of School Librarian’s Research Grant, sponsored by Heinemann-Raintree. This session will support effective education of school librarians by identifying research findings on best practices for school library graduate programs and facilitating discussion on implementing these best practices.