NMRT Notes

On March 19, ALA will hold elections for next year’s board members. Below you will find the names of our nominees, the positions they are running for, and a brief bio that will allow you to learn more about candidates. In the coming weeks we will also be posting candidate videos on the NMRT YouTube Channel, as well as hosting a live chat session. More information on these events will follow.

The NMRT Nominating Committee is pleased to present to you our nominees for the election:

Vice-President/President-Elect:

Emily Prather-Rodgers

I graduated from the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science in December 2005. After working as a cataloger at a public university in Georgia for several years, I moved to suburban Chicago to take the position of Technical Services Coordinator at North Central College, a private liberal arts college. I’ve been a member of ALA and NMRT since 2005. I have served on NMRT committees since 2007, and I’m currently serving as the chair of the Annual Conference Professional Development Attendance Award Committee (formerly the Marshall Cavendish Award Committee). I am also a member of the ALCTS/CMDS Publications Committee. My local committee work includes the I- Share Cataloging and Authority Control Team for the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois and the LIBRAS Collection Management Special Interest Group.

I originally joined NMRT because of what I wanted the organization to do for me. Over the past several years, however, I have enjoyed having the opportunity to discover what I can do for the organization and for the new members who join each year. I am running for the position of Vice President/President-Elect so that I can play a bigger part in the continued work of the organization to achieve its mission of helping other librarians to become more actively involved in both ALA and the profession at large.

Secretary:

Jessica Pryde

Jessica Pryde has been the Librarian and Media Specialist at Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, DC since August of 2010, after earning her MLIS in December 2009 from San Jose State University. As the sole librarian, she conducts all collection development, instruction, and library functions. She is currently an Intern for the ALA Committee on Education and a member of the AASL Publications Advisory Group. She also writes for YALSA’s literature blog, The Hub, and acts as the NMRT Liaison to AASL.

Easter DiGangi

Easter DiGangi is originally from Southwestern Ohio. She did her undergraduate work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Major in Political Science with a Minor in Chemistry). Easter earned her MLS at Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison in December of 2010. She has over five year’s experience combined working in academic (3 years) and public libraries (4 years). Easter was honored with membership in Beta Phi Mu and the 2011 ALA Class of Emerging Leaders. She is currently working at Demco.

In Easter’s spare time, she enjoys genealogy, scrapbooking, collecting bookmarks, knitting, and enjoying nature.

Asst. Treasurer/Treasurer:

Jonathan Lu

Jonathan Lu graduated from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Science with a MLIS in 2005. He has also received his B.S. in International Affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2004. Jonathan is currently the Adult Services Librarian at the Bartow County Library in Cartersville, GA. He previously worked at Kennesaw State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Erie County Library. Prior to coming to the library world, Jonathan worked for the Canadian Government as an International Marketing Coordinator at the Canadian Consulate in Atlanta.

For fun, Jonathan is the Video Game Director for the Bartow County Library System which hosts 3 tournaments with prizes per year. Also he is Director and MC of Animecon, a library anime festival.

Jonathan is currently a member of ALA, PLA, NMRT, and GLA. Jonathan was the only Georgia representative at American Library Association Emerging Leader Class 2011 where he served on team G, Video Game Collection Development. He has also served on the GOLD/GALILEO User Advisory Committee 2010 (Small/Med Libraries) and Bartow County Library Goodwill Committee (2007).

Networking Director:

Barbara Lewis

Barbara received her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from General Motors Institute and her M.A. in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida. After working 25 years as an Industrial Engineer and Information Systems Analyst for companies such as General Motors, Corning, and Nortel Networks, she began her graduate studies in academic librarianship. Barbara worked as a graduate assistant at the USF Tampa Library, gaining practical experience in her new career field. She joined the USF faculty as Outreach Librarian for the Tampa Library in 2005. In her current position of Coordinator for Digital Collections, Barbara is responsible for project management and scheduling of the Library’s Digital Collections and Services group. Her goals include improving the productivity and capacity of digitization operations and enhancing the visibility and accessibility of digital collections. Her research interests include information seeking behavior and collection assessment and she hopes to soon begin graduate studies in Cultural Anthropology.

Outreach Director:

Bohyun Kim

Bohyun Kim is the Digital Access Librarian at Florida International University Medical Library in Miami, FL. As a new librarian, she attended her first ALA conference in 2009. And since then, she has been a member of NMRT and had great interests in the challenges that new librarians encounter when they go through the transition from a library assistant/LIS student to a librarian.

She interviewed a few successful new librarians in her blog, Library Hat (http://www.bohyunkim.net/blog/archives/tag/interview-with-brand-new-librarians), and started the New and Veteran Librarian Tweet-up at the ALA Midwinter in 2010, which is a great place for new librarians to meet one another and is being still continued at every ALA Annual and Midwinter. She has also served for the NMRT Annual Programming committee (2010-2011) and put together the first NMRT video contest to provide tips and advice for new librarians who cannot attend the ALA conference in person.

As the NMRT Outreach director, she hopes to meet more new librarians and to help them to connect and learn about many networking and career development opportunities and resources available at NMRt and ALA. She can be easily found at Twitter (http://twitter.com/bohyunkim) and welcomes all conversations and ideas about new librarians and librarianship.

Thank you,

NMRT Nominating Committee

NMRT is  looking for volunteers to appoint to NMRT Committees for 2012-2013!  Committee members will begin serving as of July 1, 2012 and will continue through the 2013 Annual meeting in Chicago. You must be a dues paying member of NMRT to serve on a committee.

Many NMRT committees do not require conference attendance, but please note that, for some committees, attendance at the Midwinter and/or Annual Conferences is expected.

As some committees fill up quickly, we recommend selecting all committees you are interested in being appointed to. If you are interested in multiple committees, please rank the committees in order of your preference. Committee information can be found here: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm and detailed descriptions of committee work and responsibilities can be found here: http://wikis.ala.org/nmrt/index.php/Section_4:_Committees

If you are interested in serving, please complete the NMRT volunteer form: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/nmrt-committee-volunteer-form

Offers to serve as member or chair of committees will not go out until late April/early May. Many thanks in advance for your patience.

Please contact Janel Kinlaw directly (jkinlaw@npr.org) if you have any questions. Thank you for your interest in and support of NMRT!

–Janel
NMRT Vice President/President-Elect 2011-2012

In the spirit of ALA‘s NMRT, the Student Chapter of the Year Award is presented in recognition of a chapter’s outstanding contributions to the American Library Association, their school, and the profession. The purpose of the award is to increase student involvement in ALA through student chapters, and to recognize future leaders in the profession.

AWARD AND AWARD CRITERIA

The Student Chapter winner will receive $1,000 to help defray travel expenses to ALA Annual; the winning chapter and the runner up will each receive a certificate. Both will be recognized at the NMRT Student Reception at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA.

The six categories of Student Chapter of the Year Award criteria include:

• Membership Engagement and Programs
• Communications
• Leadership
• Financial
• Awards and Honors
• Student Chapter Advisor Statement

ELIGIBILITY

All ALA Student Chapters in good standing are eligible to receive the ALA Student Chapter of the Year Award. There is no limit on the number of times a student chapter may win the award. Any ALA Student Chapter advisor, Student Chapter officer or member, or ALAmember may nominate a Student Chapter, and self-nominations are encouraged.

For more information, contact the committee chair, Michelle Chronister at michelle.chronister@gmail.com.

NOMINATION FORM

Please e-mail the completed form and any supporting documents in either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format to the committee chair, Michelle Chronister at michelle.chronister @ gmail.com. Completed nomination forms must be received by March 2, 2012 at 11:59pm Eastern for consideration. All nominations will be acknowledged upon receipt.

Download the 2012 Student Chapter of the Year Award nomination form (PDF format)

Past Student Chapter of the Year Award winners and runners-up include the 2011 winners:  the ALA student chapter at Indiana University and the ALA student chapter at San Jose State University (respectively).

For more information, view the the full call for nominations on ALA Connect: http://connect.ala.org/node/66305

Have you been a librarian for 5 years or more?

Do you like to help others and want to give back to your profession?

The New Members Round Table (NMRT) Career Mentoring Program offers you the chance to meet a new librarian and guide them as they learn the ins and outs of librarianship!

The Career Mentoring Program focuses on long term mentoring. We will pair up “newbie librarians” with “seasoned vets” as part of a year-long mentoring program that will last from  February 2012 to July 2012. Conference attendance is not required. Membership in ALA is required, and NMRT membership is encouraged.

Applications are due January 27, 2012 with the goal of notifying the matching pairs by the middle of February.

For more information and to apply, visit:

http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/mentoringcommittee

Application: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/careerMentorApp

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions after visiting the site.

Sincerely,

The New Member Round Table Mentoring Committee

The November 2011 issue of NMRT Footnotes is now available:  http://www.ala.org/nmrt/news/footnotes/november2011

In this issue, you will find:

• How I Became the Master of My Own Destiny, by Sarah Travis
• App Reviews, by Caralyn Champa
• Headliners, by Heidi Steiner
• And more, such as the President’s Column and NMRT award announcements!

The purpose of Footnotes is to disseminate information and news to NMRT members; to alert members to developments of interest in ALA and in the library world; and to inform members of NMRT Board actions, state and regional events, and NMRTconference programs and committee activities.  Read more about Footnotes, and the committee behind it, here!