NMRT Notes

Congratulations to the newly elected officers of the ALA New Member Round Table:

• Emily Anne Prathers-Rodgers, VICE PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT-ELECT (2012-2013)
• Jonathan Lu, TREASURER (2012-2015)
• Jessica Paulette Pryde, SECRETARY (2012-2013)
• Barbara Lewis, NETWORKING DIRECTOR (2012-2014)
• Bohyun Kim, OUTREACH DIRECTOR (2012-2014)

The newly elected board members will join continuing board members serving two and three year terms.  The complete NMRT Executive Board for 2012-2013, officially taking office at the end of the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA, is:

• Janel White, PRESIDENT
• Emily Anne Prathers-Rodgers, VICE PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT-ELECT
• Linda Crook, PAST PRESIDENT
• Jonathan Lu, TREASURER
• Jessica Paulette Pryde, SECRETARY
• Barbara Lewis, NETWORKING DIRECTOR
• Bohyun Kim, OUTREACH DIRECTOR
• Megan Hodge, LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
• Coral Sheldon-Hess, MEMBER SERVICES DIRECTOR
• Susan L. Jennings, COUNCILOR
• Curtis Brundy, FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR

You can read about the responsibilities, duties, and privileges of serving on the NMRT Executive Board in the NMRT Handbook.

Outgoing board members who will complete their terms of service during the 2012 ALA Annual Conference include:

• Deana Groves, PAST PRESIDENT
• Rebecca Kate Miller, SECRETARY
• Julie Kane, NETWORKING DIRECTOR
• Cory Lambert, OUTREACH DIRECTOR

For all board members, both incoming and outgoing, we thank you for your service and contributions to NMRT and the American Library Association.  Your commitment to the profession and to NMRT’s mission to support new and emerging information professionals is to be commended.  We look forward to continuing to work with all of the outgoing board members as they take on new and exciting roles within other divisions, sections, and round tables within the American Library Association.

The New Members Round Table (NMRT) and the American Library Association (ALA) Membership Committee wish to congratulate the American Library Association Student Chapter at Florida State University as the winner of the 2012 ALA Student Chapter of the Year Award. The runner-up of this year’s award is the ALA Student Chapter at Indiana University.

The Student Chapter of the Year Award is presented in recognition of a chapter’s outstanding contributions to ALA, its school, and the profession. The purpose of the award is to increase student involvement in ALA through student chapters and to recognize its leaders. Official ALA Student Chapters are organizations formed by students at schools offering accredited programs of library and information studies. The winning student chapter receives a $1,000 travel grant to help with the cost of ALA conference attendance.

This year’s Student Chapter of the Year Award Committee praises the Florida State University ALA student chapter for its accomplishments in each of the six categories related to the Student Chapter of the Year Award. The committee was impressed with the chapter’s use of technology to recruit, retain, and communicate with members, especially PhD candidates, and the variety of activities for both local and distance students. The chapter leadership also demonstrated a strong commitment to future growth by drafting a strategic plan to solidify the long-term prosperity of the chapter.

Dr. Christie Koontz, Faculty Advisor to the Florida State University student chapter, stated, “We are an old established school (1947) and the roots of LIS are strong here. Many of today’s leaders built this chapter over and over. The recent groups have struggled to blend a once largely face to face student chapter into one membered by students primarily online. They have succeeded. It is time-consuming for those who are on campus yet they recognize their responsibility. It is also time-consuming to advise and encourage them each semester– but over and over– they make it so rewarding. Our profession is driven by service and it shows at this early stage of development.”

The runner-up of this year’s award, the ALA Student Chapter at Indiana University, is recognized for their wealth of events and collaborations with other student groups. We also applaud their chapter’s leadership, mentoring efforts, and excellent use of numerous communication methods.

The members of the SCOTYA Committee, NMRT, and the ALA Membership Committee appreciate the time and effort put in by all of the nominated ALA student chapters this year, and encourage all to keep up the great work!

The NMRT Footnotes Committee is seeking articles and reviews for the May 2012 issue of Footnotes, the official newsletter of the ALA New Members Round Table. Please email Rekesha Spellman (rjspellman @ hotmail.com) if you are interested in writing an article, book review, or Web site review by Monday, April 2, 2012.

Articles and reviews will be due by Monday, April 30, 2012.

The NMRT Executive Board have been drafting a 3 year strategic plan for NMRT based off the ALA 2015 Strategic Plan

The draft plan outlines core values for the first time as well as set goals with key objectives. This strategic plan will guide the current and future roundtable activities.

The NMRT Executive Board seeks your feedback on the draft strategic plan by Friday, April 20th. Please send your thoughts to Janel Kinlaw via email (jkinlaw@npr.org).

Previous discussion can be found here -> http://connect.ala.org/node/158732 

Thanks!

New Members Roundtable Strategic Plan 2012 – 2015 

Purpose:

New Members Roundtable (NMRT) is a training ground to promote a greater feeling of responsibility for the development of library service and librarianship. NMRT was established as a discussion group to get the young librarians to join ALA and help orient them to their profession.

Mission:

NMRT’s mission is to help those who have been association members less than ten years become actively involved in the association and the profession by:

1. Providing formal opportunities for involvement and/or training for professional association committee experiences on the national, state and local levels

2. Providing a wide variety of programs to assist, encourage, and educate those new to the association and the profession

3. Offering a variety of leadership training and opportunities to help those approaching the end of their NMRT eligibility make the transition to future positions in the association and the profession

4. Developing and implementing ongoing programs for library school students which encourage professional involvement and networking.

Core Values:

Advocacy & Empowerment 

The roundtable serves as the unified voice for library students and 21st century librarians in the profession, advocating their value, promoting best practices, and empowering members to become critical assets within their organizations.

Education & Lifelong Learning 

The roundtable provides opportunities to its members to discover and master emerging technologies, develop leadership skills, and achieve professional success.

Knowledge Sharing & Collaboration 

The roundtable leverages global networking opportunities to promote knowledge sharing and the exchange of information, innovative ideas, insights and trends among its members.

Organizational Excellence 

The roundtable is inclusive, effective and responsive to the needs of its members.

Goals:

Advocacy & Empowerment 

1. Increase resources and training for members seeking to secure increased funding and support for all libraries.

2. Provide resources and training for members on crucial library issues such as literacy, intellectual freedom, privacy, fair use, and information literacy.

3. Increase public awareness of the value and impact of 21st century librarians as well as Library and Information Science students.

Education & Lifelong Learning

1. Increase leadership and career development opportunities for 21st century librarians as well as Library and Information Science students.

2. Increase the availability for continuing education, career development and certification opportunities for members.

3. Increase roundtable activities in recruiting, developing and retaining a high-quality, diverse library workforce.

Knowledge Sharing & Collaboration 

1. Increase leadership development and training opportunities designed to support the ongoing transformation of libraries

2. Increase opportunities to share innovative practices and concepts across the membership.

3. Increase recognition of and support for experimentation with innovative and transformational ideas.

Member Engagement 

1. Increase member innovation and experimentation in the creation of new opportunities for face to face and virtual engagement.

2. Increase member engagement by identifying and eliminating barriers to participation and through technological innovation.

3. Develop new models to recognize member contributions within the roundtable.

Organizational Excellence 

1. Develop and sustain the resources required to ensure the vitality of the roundtable, its programs and services.

2. Enhance the roundtable’s organizational structure to meet the changing needs of its members.

3. Assess and continuously improve products and services to better serve current members and to attract new members.

It is election time at ALA and the NMRT Nominating Committee would like to share with you NMRT members and alumni who are running for ALA Councilor-At-large. If you are a candidate and your name is not included, please speak up and let us know!

• Melissa Brisbin
• Kate Kosturski
• Aaron W. Dobbs
• Gina Persichini
• Courtney L. Young
• John M. Jackson
• Alys Jordan
• Vicky Schmarr 

ALA has created a wonderful guide to the 2012 election, found here: http://tiny.cc/cq35aw

Voting begins on March 19th; this is your association, so let your voice be heard and VOTE!

Good luck to our NMRT members and alumni, and thanks to ALA NMRT Past President Deana Groves for compiling this list!  

Please join us on Wednesday, March 14 (tomorrow!) at 7 p.m. EST for our first-ever NMRT elections nominee chat!  The event will take place in ALA Connect; a special chat space has been set up in the NMRT group space on Connect:  http://connect.ala.org/node/171658.

During this event, nominees for elected positions on the NMRT Executive Board will be answering questions put forth to them by the NMRT membership.  For a bit of background on the candidates, check out the video that each candidate created for the NMRT YouTube channel and read the bio that each candidate has written.  Questions or comments about this event?  Please contact Natalie Clewell (nclewell @ nvcc.edu), the current chair of the NMRT Nominating Committee.

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow night!

Earlier this month, we posted the slate for the 2012 NMRT Executive Board.   Before you vote on March 19, though, be sure to check out the candidate videos, now posted on the ALA NMRT YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/NewMembersRT

Here, candidates discuss their relationship with NMRT and their reasons for running.  Our next big election-related event will take place on March 14 at 7 p.m. when we hold the NMRT Nominee Chat.  More details to follow!