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New or Aspiring Library Professional? Submit an Article to PNLA Quarterly.

Call for papers:

Are you a new or aspiring library professional? Are you a seasoned librarian who mentors new professionals? Please consider contributing to the next issue of PNLA Quarterly which will focus on the future of libraries and the profession in the region.

We invite you to submit papers of between 1,000 and 6,000 words to the Winter 2016 issue of PNLA Quarterly. The focus of this issue is “New Voices” and we are especially interested in work from students, newly minted librarians and library professionals, and those who work with them to voice their perspectives, concerns, ideas, hopes, and research interests. We are looking for content that reaches positively into the future, creates community, and shares vision for a vigorous future for libraries and librarians in the region.

Below you’ll find more details about submitting your work to the journal. The negotiable deadline for submissions for this issue is January 15, 2016. Please let us know if you have any questions, or would like to run ideas by us. We embrace creative content and hope to work with you on an exciting journal issue.

Sincerely,

Leila Sterman and Jan Zauha, co-editors of PNLA Quarterly (pqeditors@gmail.com)

PNLA Quarterly
The official journal of the Pacific Northwest Library Association

Call for Submissions and Author Instructions
Winter 2016 Issue

New Voices is the focus of the winter issue of PNLA Quarterly (80.2, Winter 2016). For this issue we invite LIS students, new professionals, and those who work closely with new librarians and library staff in the PNLA region (Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, and Washington) to submit content. Articles may be theoretical, research-based, or practice-focused. We especially encourage authors to draw on fresh perspectives, explore future visions, and pose wildly innovative ideas.
Deadline for submissions to pqeditors@gmail.com is January 15, 2016.
Authors are asked to:
Submit manuscripts of between 1,000-6,000 words electronically in Microsoft Word file format;
• Use Verdana 11 point font and 1.15 spacing;
• Include a 50-100 word biographical sketch and their preferred contact information;
• Adhere to guidelines in the 6th edition of the Manual of Style of the American Psychological Association (APA). This rule applies in terms of format and references;
• Obtain any necessary written permission to use copyrighted material, and to pay any and all relevant fees. Appropriate credit should be provided in the manuscript;
• Submit original work that has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication in another journal;
• Please indicate on the manuscript if you would like your article to be peer-reviewed;
• Contact the PQ editors at pqeditors@gmail.com with any questions regarding these instructions, the publication process, schedule, or the appropriateness of a proposed article topic.
PNLA Quarterly is an open access journal. In that spirit, PQ authors retain the copyright to their works. PQ facilitates the distribution of its authors’ intellectual property in a professional manner to enhance the process of scholarly communication, and to advance the sharing of information in and beyond the library profession and the PNLA region.
As PNLA Quarterly moves toward re-implementing the peer-review process for selected sections of its content, we invite library professionals in the region to serve as peer reviewers. Please contact the PQ editors at pqeditors@gmail.com if you are interested.

2015 PNLA Conference Report

Rebecca Moorman, Head of Technical Services at the UAA/APU Consortium Library, recently attended the 2015 Pacific Northwest Library Association Conference in Vancouver, WA. The following is a brief report that Rebecca wrote to share on the FLIP blog. Thanks Rebecca!

Pacific Northwest Library Association Conference report
Rebecca Moorman, August 24, 2015

From August 5-7, 2015, I attended the Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA) conference in Vancouver, Washington. This conference draws librarians from five northwestern states and two Canadian provinces for three days of conference programming, invited speakers, and networking opportunities.

Keynote speaker Josh Hanagarne, author of the memoir The World’s Strongest Librarian, was a fascinating and engaging speaker. He described the challenges of living with Tourette Syndrome, and told heartwarming and funny stories about his mother’s love for libraries and her insistence on only researching his condition at the library. It was librarians who pleaded with his mother to take him to a doctor, which she eventually did. He learned to control his tics through weightlifting, and his competition in strongman contests supplies the title to his book, since he became a librarian himself.

One session I attended described the 75-year history of PNLA Quarterly (PQ), a peer reviewed journal published by the organization. In recent years the journal has shifted to an online, open access format. PQ’s editors discussed the process and benefits of open access publishing, and encouraged conference attendees to contribute to the journal or serve as peer reviewers.

Another session I attended was led by two Reed College librarians, describing their Service Design project. Service Design is a user-centered methodology that originated in the industrial design industry, which can be used to analyze any service delivery. The presenters worked from the premise that everything we do in a library is a service. They engaged staff and users in the project, set up a student advisory group, and gathered data to assess and improve the whole library experience for their patrons. Their paper describing the project is available in Weave, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal for Library User Experience professionals, here: http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/weave.12535642.0001.201

In addition, I attended a session on leadership opportunities for librarians. The presenter made a distinction between leadership training (which is finite, defines what a leader is) and leadership development (which is an ongoing, personalized, continuous process), and suggested ideas for both. She offered numerous suggestions for gaining leadership experience by volunteering for community organizations that mesh with your extra-curricular interests. Additionally, she recommended formal leadership trainings, such as PNLA Leads and the ALA Emerging Leaders program.

My contribution to this conference was a poster presentation describing the Alaska Joint Library Catalog project, and its three catalog mergers in three years. In keeping with the conference theme Pushing the Boundaries, I titled the poster Merging Catalogs in Alaska: Navigating Shifting Boundaries. Using data and graphics, I described our ongoing effort to combine library catalogs in South Central and Southeast Alaska. The Joint Library Catalog, a network of 72 public, academic, special, and K-12 libraries that serves 65 percent of Alaska’s population, has conducted three catalog mergers in three years. As new libraries join the consortium, they face changes to OPAC design, lending procedures, and cataloging standards. Their patrons gain access to over 1.7 million titles (4.1 million items) located across the state, available to hold and send, plus reciprocal borrowing privileges.

Attendance at PNLA is a unique experience. The conference is small (under 200 attendees), and the binational character of the conference is different than any other I have attended. I had the opportunity to meet with and learn from librarians representing similar institutions in other remote western locations, and I strengthened ties with my cohort from the 2013 PNLA Leadership Institute. There is no substitute for these face-to-face interactions.

2015 Charleston Conference Scholarship

If you’re interested in attending the Charleston Conference, there is a $1000 scholarship for anyone currently working in a library who has never attended before. You do not need an MLIS degree to apply.

 

HARRASSOWITZ Accepting Applications for the 2015 Charleston Conference Scholarship

July 7, 2015, Wiesbaden, Germany – HARRASSOWITZ, international booksellers and subscription agents, is pleased to offer once again a $1,000 scholarship to attend the Annual Charleston Conference that takes place November 4-7, 2015 in Charleston, SC. The scholarship is to be awarded to a librarian or paraprofessional who is currently working in a library and who has not yet attended a Charleston Conference.

Pursuant to the 2015 Charleston Conference theme of “Where Do We Go From Here?”, applicants are asked to write an essay of no more than 1,000 words on the following topic:

What does “Where Do We Go From Here?” mean to libraries and vendors?

Essays should be sent to scholarship@harrassowitz.de by August 4, 2015 and should be accompanied by a one-page resume. HARRASSOWITZ will notify the winner of the scholarship on August 20, 2015.

All applications will be acknowledged and will be reviewed by a panel of librarians. The scholarship must be used for the 2015 conference. Only applications from first-time Charleston attendees will be accepted.

All applicants will be notified of the results.

For more information on the Charleston Conference, registration and this year’s program, please visit http://www.katina.info/conference/

About HARRASSOWITZ
Established in 1872, HARRASSOWITZ is a global full-service subscription agent and bookseller headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, specializing in the distribution of e-content, periodicals, books, and music scores to academic and research libraries.

Contact Information:
Tina Feick, Director of Sales and Marketing, North America
Email: tfeick@harrassowitz.de
Phone: (800) 348-6886 (US and Canada)
Fax: (800) 574-5732

Friedemann Weigel, Managing Partner – Director of Sales, Wiesbaden, Germany
Email: fweigel@harrassowitz.de
Telephone: +49 611 530 500
Fax: +49 611 530 560
In the US: (800) 348-6886 Fax (800) 574-5732

Continuing Education Webinars

Julie Niederhauser from the Alaska State Library recently sent out the following information about continuing education webinars. All of these webinars are free and open to anyone.

There is a wide variety of top-notch CE webinars scheduled during the month of April.  If you order books and materials for your library there are two webinars scheduled on April 14th will help you stay up-to-date on SF/Fantasy and Children’s literature.  Booklist is sponsoring Look to the Stars: New SF/Fantasy for Your Library at 10 am and InfoPeople is offering What’s New in Children’s Literature: 2015 Update at 11 am.

For librarians struggling with digital preservation issues, the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services is offering two timely webinars: Moving Image Preservation 101 on April 24th and Digital Preservation for Individuals and Small Groups on April 30th.

What to do when your library receives a challenge to library materials is the topic of this month’s Public Librarians’ Monthly Chat.  Our special guest presenter is Kristin Pekoll, Assistant Director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom.  Please join us on Tuesday, April 21st from 1:00-2:00 pm for a discussion will prepare you to calmly and coolly meet your next censorship challenge.

Don’t miss Daniel Cornwall’s webinar on Free Online Survey Tools on April 8th from 1:00-2:00 pm.   Learn how you can quickly and efficiently gather survey results without the need for paper.

To view all of the webinar options this month visit the Library Development Training & Continuing Education calendar

Julie Niederhauser
Public Library Coordinator
Alaska State Library
(907) 465-2916 or within Alaska, (888) 820-4525

 

 

NMRT Live Chat: Conference Proposals and Scholarships

The ALA New Members Round Table will be holding a Twitter chat on writing conference proposals and/or scholarship applications.

 

NMRT March Live Chat: Conference Proposals and Scholarships

When: Thursday March 26th 2015

Time: 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm, US/Eastern

Conference Proposals and Scholarships can be a very rewarding aspect to one’s career as a librarian. Join NMRT for a live chat to learn and share tips and tricks on writing a conference proposal and/or scholarship application. This can be very helpful whether you are a student, new librarian or someone with many years in the field with a lot of conference proposal and scholarship application experience that can be shared with all. Come chat and learn from one another!

This chat will be happening on Twitter. To join and follow the chat, follow Leigh Milligan at @INALJ_PA and/or follow the hashtag #nmrtchat You can follow the tweets by typing #nmrtchat into the search box or use something like TweetDeck or HootSuite to filter the tweets.

The most important thing is to include #nmrtchat in all of your tweets to make them visible for all participants.

When the chat starts, send a tweet to introduce yourself, it’s always helpful to know who everyone is.

Leigh, the chat moderator will be asking 4 questions in the Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 format, and followers will use the #nmrtchat and answer in the A1, A2, A3 and A4 format.

Feel free to retweet any comments you like or agree with, and share any articles or blogs of interest.

Look forward to seeing you all at #nmrtchat !

Follow-up from FLIP meeting last Friday 11/14

We had a lively discussion last Friday about searching for, applying and interviewing for jobs in the field of library science.

Thanks to those who attended!

Here are some resources that we referred to that may help you secure a job as an information professional:

Websites:

 

Books/ebooks:

  • Additional resources related to librarianship and vocational guidance are listed here

 

Mark your calendars for our next upcoming FLIP meeting on Friday December 12th from 12pm-1pm!

 

ACRL 2015 Conference Scholarship Due Nov. 7th

Scholarship opportunities to attend the Association of College and Research Libraries 2015 Annual Conference in Portland, OR this coming March are available to a number of qualified applicants in six different categories ranging from library school students to early and mid career academic librarians.  To find out more about how you can have the chance to have your registration fee waived and be awarded a stipend go to: http://conference.acrl.org/scholarships-pages-162.php