Volume 15, Number 3, November 2005

ILA/ACRL Spring Conference 2006
Co-Sponsored by the Iowa Association of School Libraries

Friday, April 21, 2006
Iowa Memorial Union, University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

High School to Higher Ed: Helping Learners Make the Leap

A few years ago, several academic and school librarians in Iowa began a dialogue about common concerns and issues related to students transitioning from high school to college.  Our activities have included several programs and meetings, and last year, focusing on the issues of the first-year experience, the ACRL Chapter of the Iowa Library Association sponsored Stuart Hunter from the Policy Center on the First Year of College as its primary speaker at the state conference in Sioux City.  

Continuing our dialogue about students transitioning from high school to college, the ACRL Chapter of the Iowa Library Association and the Iowa Association of School Librarians are planning a one-day conference to be held on Friday, April 21, 2006, at the Iowa Memorial Union on the campus of the University of Iowa.  We will have a notable keynote speaker at the beginning of the conference, followed by several concurrent sessions and a variety of programs.  A call for proposals will be extended in January 2006, and registration details will follow shortly afterward.

Please plan on joining your colleagues at this important event!

Marketing Spotlight Introduction for March 2006 Newsletter

Marketing 101:
Tapping into the ACRL Marketing Toolkit for Academic and Research Libraries
Amy Paulus, Ellen Neuhaus, Jan Dellinger, Ryan Gjerde
Members of the Marketing and Public Relations Subcommittee of the ILA/ACRL ad hoc Advocacy Committee

Library marketing and public relations programs have become increasingly important in assisting libraries thrive in their highly competitive online and academic environments. In fact, librarians can no longer take for granted that their stakeholders will have positive – or even benign – regard for library collections, services, staff and facilities. Libraries that want to manage their image and effectively reach out to their target audiences can take advantage of the collective wisdom found on the ACRL’s “@ your library ®” web site. (http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/marketingyourlib/marketingyour.htm)

ACRL developed the @ your library® Toolkit for Academic and Research Libraries during 2002-2003, basing it on the American Library Association (ALA) “@ your library ®” multi-year campaign launched in 2001. According to the introduction, the toolkit is intended to help librarians 1) promote awareness of the unique role and contributions of the academic or research library; 2) increase visibility and support of the library and its librarians; 3) better market library services; and 4) present academic and research librarianship as a desirable career.

The toolkit and accompanying materials on the ACRL web site provide a wealth of valuable ideas and promotional materials both for libraries in the early stages of creating a marketing plan and for libraries that want to improve the effectiveness of current marketing programs. Sections of the toolkit address “telling your story;” strategies for reaching students, administrators and faculty; creating a marketing communication plan; using the “@ your library ®” brand; and how to work with the media.

Other wonderful resources are available on the ACRL marketing web page. Interested librarians should plan on taking some time to explore this rich repository of practical and inspirational material. For example, the Outreach link provides access to online documents on “100 Ways to Reach Your Faculty” and “Multicultural Outreach in Academic Libraries.” The Graphics link provides access to the @ your library ® logo for downloading in both color and black and white and templates for creating ads, bookmarks, brochures, flyers and more. In addition the web site provides statistics and studies about the academic library community and access to additional marketing/public relations publications.

Additionally librarians can review the “best practices in marketing” materials from the American University and Illinois State University libraries, the 2005 Best Practices in Marketing Academic and Research Libraries @your library ® Award winners. Those planning on attending the January 2006 ALA Midwinter Meeting may be interested in the registration information for the ACRL “ Creating a Marketing Plan for Your Academic and Research Library” one-day workshop that will take place during Midwinter. Those interested in participating in an ongoing conversation about marketing/public relations can join the Academic PR Discussion List.

Few Iowa academic and research libraries have the luxury of staffing a full-time marketing and public relations department. No matter what size a library may be, however, this web site can assist the library staff in brainstorming, planning, implementing and assessing its marketing and public relations program.

Challenges, Practices and Questions for March 2005 “Spotlight on Marketing” feature in the ILA/ACRL Newsletter

Describe the components of your library’s marketing/public relations program.

1. How do you reach niche markets, such as students, faculty, administrative staff, the general public?
2. How do you evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing/pr program?
3. What resources have you found useful in creating and evaluating your program?
4. In what ways does the library participate in your college/university’s marketing/pr program?
5. Does your library participate in consortium, regional or other library marketing/pr programs?
6. Have you found the ACRL “Marketing @ Your Library™” web resources to be useful? How have you used them?

 

ILA/ACRL Annual Committee Reports

Awards Committee

Ellen Neuhaus (Chair), University of Northern Iowa, 2005
Jan Dellinger, Hawkeye Community College, 2005
Sandra Keist, Grand View College, 2006
Kent Snowden, University of Northern Iowa, 2005
Carlette Washington-Hoagland, University of Iowa, 2006

Two scholarships were awarded to individuals to attend the ILA/ACRL Spring Conference at the Gateway Center in Ames, Iowa on May 20. The scholarships covered the registration fee and up to $100 in travel, hotel, and meal expenses. The scholarship recipients were

1. Jim Kapoun, Library Director, Voss Memorial Library, Waldorf College.
2. Clint Wrede, Catalog Librarian and Bibliographer, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa.

Two scholarships were awarded to individuals to attend the ILA Annual Conference at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa in October. The second award was donated by the ILA/ACRL sponsored conference speaker, David Tyckoson, who donated $250 of his honorarium to be awarded to a library support personnel working in an Iowa academic library or a library science student. The scholarships covered the registration fee and up to $150 in travel, hotel, and meal expenses. The scholarship winners were

1. Jennifer Turner, Technical Services Coordinator, Luise V. Hanson Library, Waldorf College.
2. Aileen Chang-Matus, Serials Assistant, Cole Library, Cornell College.

The committee drafted a document outlining the conference scholarship awards given each year by ILA/ACRL. The document included a description of each award and its criteria and method of selection. The document will be submitted to the ILA Awards Committee.

Report Submitted by Ellen Neuhaus, 2005 Chair

Directory Committee

Kris Stacy-Bates (Chair), Iowa State University, 2005
Dave Baldwin, Iowa State University, 2006
Liga Briedis, Drake University, 2005
Molly Galm, Northwest Iowa Community College, 2005
Chris Neuhaus, University of Northern Iowa, 2006
Linda Scarth, Mount Mercy College, 2006
Duncan Stewart, University of Iowa, 2005

The committee sent the files for the web directory and personal name index page to Ryan Gjerde as chair of the Electronic Communications Committee. The Directory Committee received timely responses from every library. Unless we receive additional updates or Ryan has further questions for us during the process of readying the pages for the Web, this concludes the Directory Committee's work for 2005.

Report Submitted by Kris Stacy-Bates, 2005 Chair

Electronic Communications Committee

Ryan Gjerde (Chair), Luther College, 2005
Leo Clougherty, University of Iowa, 2006
Rebecca Funke, Des Moines Area Community College, Boone Campus, 2006
Michelle Holschuh Simmons, University of Iowa, 2006
Steve Ostrem (ex officio), University of Iowa, Listserv coordinator

The Electronic Communications Committee continues to collect and post information from all ILA/ACRL committees for posting on the website.

Report Submitted by Ryan Gjerde, 2005 Chair

Fall Program Committee

Becky Lutkenhaus (Chair), University of Northern Iowa, 2005
Pali Kuruppu, Iowa State University, 2006
James O'Gorman, St. Ambrose University, 2006
Barb Robb, Kirkwood Community College - Iowa City, 2005*

Along with the Special Libraries Roundtable, we co-sponsored a pre-conference entitled “Introduction to Digital Imaging,” at ILA Annual Conference. Jill Koelling from the Bibliographical Center for Research discussed many aspects associated with converting printed resources into a digital format. On Thursday, Dave Tyckoson from Fresno State University presented two sessions reference services and on Friday a panel discussion on “Assessing Services in Academic Libraries” was given.

Report Submitted by Becky Lutkenhaus, 2005 Chair

Membership Committee

Susan Knippel (Chair), Iowa State University, 2005
Tim Bryant, University of Northern Iowa. 2006
Barb Corson, State Library of Iowa, 2006
Stephen Dew, University of Iowa, 2005
Victoria Maloy, Mount Mercy College, 2005*
Linda Nelson, Scott Community College, 2005*
Lorrie Pellack, Iowa State University, 2006
Randy Roeder, Coe College, 2006

As of September 2005, we have 194 members. This is down from 203 members a year ago. But, at least it is up from the 159 members we had as of April of this year. We, also, had an exhibit booth at the Fall Conference.

Report Submitted by Susan Knippel, 2005 Chair

Newsletter Committee

Amy Paulus, University of Iowa, 2006 (Chair)
Sandra Ballasch, University of Iowa, 2005
Andrea Dinkelman, Iowa State University, 2006
Mary Anne Knefel, University of Dubuque, 2005
Elly S. Lensch, Luther College, 2006
Veronica McAsey, Briar Cliff University, 2006
Lisa Stock, Des Moines Area Community College, 2005
Barb Weeg, University of Northern Iowa, 2006

The Newsletter Committee produced three issues of the ILA/ACRL Newsletter in 2005, including the issue you are reading now. A special thanks to Andrea Dinkelman who suggested focusing on a specific topic for each newsletter issue. We were very successful in gathering information from many ILA/ACRL libraries about instructional activities for the March issue. July focused on the Spring ILA/ACRL Conference held in Ames and the November issue focused on the ILA Annual Conference. I look forward to continuing this practice of spotlighting different areas in 2006 and everyone will be able to enjoy reading about public relations and marketing activities in the March 2006 issue. The format of the newsletter changed with the July newsletter and now has a much different style with multiple pages and multiple columns.

The time commitment and contribution by each committee member was tremendous: gathering information about instructional activities, attending sessions at both ILA/ACRL and ILA conferences and writing up reviews on these sessions, and collecting news from Iowa’s academic libraries! My greatest thanks go to them as well as to those who contributed their library’s news and other information.

Reported Submitted by Amy Paulus, 2005 Chair

Nominating Committee

Rebecca Stuhr (Chair), Grinnell College, 2005
Leo Clougherty, University of Iowa, 2005
Jean Donham, Cornell College, 2005
Kathy Magarrell, University of Iowa, 2006
Arron Wings, Kirkwood Community College, 2006

 The 2005 nominating committee members included Leo Clougherty, Jean Donham, Kathy Maggarell, and Arron Wings. Arron Wings resigned during the fall because of commitments at work. Each nominating committee member was responsible for finding members for one committee and I took on the rest of the committees and the final hard to find members. As of October 15, 2005, we are still short one committee member on the nominating committee otherwise, all committee slots are filled. I made a special effort to get community college librarians on the committees, and we have many more such librarians on the committees for next year--including membership, directory, newsletter, and nominating committees. Stephen Dew took on the chair responsibilities for Spring Conference Planning Committee in September and he and 2005 and the new 2006 committee members are hard at work making plans for the 2006 spring conference. This particular committee needs to be formed and active well before January. The executive board may want to look at the definition and make up of this committee for the future. The early start is informal at this point, but we may want to make this a formal arrangement. We also had a full slate of candidates for the executive board for 2006.  Ballots are in the mail as of this date and are in the process of being filled in and returned. The deadline is Monday, October 24. Thank you to Leo, Jean, Kathy, and Arron for their efforts in filling the committees and to all those who have volunteered to serve during 2006 and 2007.

Report Submitted by Rebecca Stuhr, 2005 Chair

Spring Conference Committee

Ed Goedeken (Chair), Iowa State University, 2006
Leanne Alexander, Iowa State University, 2006
Claudia Frazer, Drake University, 2005
Kate Hess, Kirkwood Community College, 2006
Mary McInroy, University of Iowa, 2006
Mary Peterson, Simpson College, 2005
Janet Pine, Iowa State University, 2006
Jennifer Stewart, William Penn College, 2005

 The ILA/ACRL Spring 2005 Conference met on May 20, 2005 at the Gateway Center in Ames, Iowa. The conference theme was “Academic Libraries: Cornerstones for Communities.” The featured speaker was Dr. David Carr, who teaches the School of Library and Information Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The title of his presentation was: “An Academic Library Beyond an Academic Community.”

Approximately 100 people attended the conference from both the academic library community and also from the Iowa School Library Association. After Dr. Carr’s presentation, the rest of the conference was filled with numerous presentations dealing with a variety of topics ranging from National History Day to collection development issues relating to cookbooks.

The 2005 Spring Conference Program committee consisted of: Ed Goedeken (Chair), Iowa State University; Leanne Alexander, Iowa State University; Claudia Frazer, Drake University; Kate Hess, Kirkwood Community College; Mary McInroy, University of Iowa; Mary Peterson, Simpson College; Janet Pine, Iowa State University; and Jennifer Stewart, William Penn College. Janet Pine and Leanne Alexander provided significant assistance in preparing for the conference. Jennifer Stewart also assisted with the program proposal evaluation process. Other members of the committee were exceedingly helpful serving as session moderators and making sure that the conference proceeded smoothly. Special mention should also be made of the valuable technical assistance provided by Susan Knippel and Norma Dowell of Iowa State University. Kathy Parsons was instrumental in procuring our meeting site and negotiating with the Gateway Center, as well as assisting with many of the conference details. Thanks also go to Laurie Hews, from the ILA office, for her assistance with registration.

Net receipts for the conference was $6130. Final expenses were $7254

Report Submitted by Ed Goedeken, 2005 Chair

Treasurer's Report

Balance in account as of 09/30/05: $2439.62

Report Submitted by Steve Ostrem, 2005 Treasurer

Ad Hoc Advocacy Committee

1. Subcommittee on Public Relations and Marketing

Members: Jan Dellinger (chair), Ryan Gjerde, Ellen Neuhaus, Amy Paulus

Action Plan

• Review the ACRL “@ your library” toolkit.
• Promote the use of the ACRL “@ your library” toolkit in ILA/ACRL newsletter and by other means.
• Survey Iowa academic libraries to identify current advocacy projects and marketing plans.
• Work with the ILA/ACRL Electronic Communications Committee to post information from the advocacy/marketing survey on the ILA/ACRL web site.
• Develop and present a proposal to the ILA/ACRL Executive Board for an award for the “best” marketing/public relations project at an Iowa academic library.

 2. Subcommittee on Serials-Open Access and Scholarly Communication

Members: Mary Iber (chair), Mandy Swygart-Hobaugh, Ellen Neuhaus, Michelle Holschuh Simmons

Action plan: To create a website that can be linked to from the ILA homepage and encourage libraries in the state to link to it. There are many excellent sites already with good info and strategies on them for the scholarly communication issue. We intend to bring them under one page and share it.

3. Subcommittee on Mentoring/Professional Development

Members: Mandy Swygart-Hobaugh (chair), Jan Dellinger, Kate Hess, Mary Iber

Action Plan: The Mentoring/Professional Development Subcommittee will develop an action plan for implementing a state-wide mentoring program for newly-hired college/university librarians.  At this juncture, we envision the action plan containing the following components:

• Information gained by researching existing mentoring programs that will inform our program development.
• The established program parameters, such as expectations for participants, an application/pairing system for mentees and mentors, training of mentors, etc.
• A plan for launching a pilot project
• Materials for publicizing the program (website, brochure, ILA/ACRL newsletter, informing newly-hired IA academic librarians through e-mail, endorsements from participants, etc.)
• Plans for handing off the program administration after our subcommittee’s term  

4. Subcommittee on Intellectual Freedom/Equity of Access

Members: Amy Paulus (chair), Kate Hess, Ryan Gjerde, Michelle Holschuh Simmons

Action Plan: To develop a survey to distribute to academic libraries in the state of Iowa on issues relating to the USA Patriot Act and Homeland Security.  The survey will be designed to collect practices and concerns about these issues.  These findings may be presented at the following ILA/ACRL Spring Conference and/or the ILA Conference along with a panel session and/or experts in this field.

Report Submitted by Michelle Holschuh Simmons, 2005 Chair

Ad Hoc Education Committee

Jane Campagna (Chair), Scott Community College
Cheryl Taylor, Dordt College
Susan Moore, University of Northern Iowa
Linda Nelson, Scott Community College

The Education Task Force is developing a survey that will be sent to ILA/ACRL members on the ILA/ACRL listserve in January, 2006. This survey will help to determine the educational opportunities for academic librarians in Iowa and what is needed. Please take the time to complete the survey when it reaches your email.

Report Submitted by Jane Campagna, 2005 Chair

Ad Hoc Research Committee

Kathy Magarrell (Chair), University of Iowa
Leo Clougherty, University of Iowa
Janet Pine, Iowa State University
Rachel Crowley, Briar Cliff University
Jeff Kushkowski, Iowa State University
Kris Stacy-Bates, Iowa State University

The Ad Hoc Research Committee has been discussing how to best support the research and professional development needs of Iowa librarians.  Some of the ideas included offering cash rewards for research (publications, presentations, and so forth), especially to new librarians, as well as offering more financial support for attending conferences.  The committee thought it might be more practical for the Research committee to merge with the Awards committee. This will be discussed at the next Executive Board meeting.

Report Submitted by Kathy Magarrell, 2005 Chair