Academic Library Symposium 2011

On November 11, 2011 Library Journal and Temple University are co-sponsoring the LJ/Temple Academic Symposium: Bridging the Gaps.

I'm excited to be facilitating Segment 2 - People: Strengthening the Culture.

“Why can’t my colleagues tolerate change?” Don’t these new librarians realize how we do things here?” “How come the deadwood always rejects my great ideas?” “Technology? That’s the new librarian’s job.” Our academic libraries can become fraught with misunderstanding and stereotypes about our colleagues, and when the gaps grow wide they lead to organizational dysfunction. To build better libraries we must confront these gaps. Doing so requires that we engage in authentic conversation focused on creating a better understanding of each other. Once we learn to appreciate our differences, and how our organizations thrive from the mix of skills we bring to it, we can begin to bridge the culture gap.”

The segment panelists are Andy Burkhart, Valeda Dent, Erin Dorney, and Diane Skorina. I'm looking forward to a rich discussion for this segment, not to mention the rest of the event. Consider registering (it's free!) and joining us in Philly.

ALA BARC fall meeting 2011

This was my third trip to Chicago this year. I was able to kick it off by having dinner with Peter Hepburn at Yoshi’s Café. Peter is more than a regular at Yoshi’s. If you’ve followed his food and travel blog and photos on Flickr, then you more than likely have experienced some food envy.


Me with my Wagyu Beef Berger with Wasabi Blue cheese

I attended the ALA BARC fall meeting. This is my second year on BARC, and with these fiscal oversight matters also in the purview of the Executive Board, I work with this information a lot. It means that I am really starting to feel like I know what is going on and how the ALA budget and budget process work.

There is always an orientation for new BARC members on the first day before the committee begins its work. I decided it would be a good idea for me to attend that meeting. I felt it would be helpful in reinforcing my knowledge and I knew I would learn something new. I want to do my best to be engaged fully in the process.

Our meeting agenda included a fiscal year 2011 budget review, a final fiscal year 2012 budget review, a new business development update (closed session), and ALA Council referrals. We also discussed and assigned liaison assignments. I'm pleased to be the liaison to the new Games and Gaming Round Table. We met for about forty-five minutes as ALA-APA BARC, now under the leadership of Lorelle Swader, to discuss the budget.

We also discussed moving forward with four BARC webinars. These will be available by the end of the year. I hope these create opportunities for increased member engagement around the ALA budget process. They are a step in the right direction for what I proposed at our spring 2011 meeting.

I had the good fortune to eat breakfast one morning with Trevor Dawes. He was at ALA HQ as a member of a search committee. Trevor is also becoming well known as Mr. August from the Men of the Stacks calendar. All proceeds for the sale of the calendar go towards the It Gets Better Project™ project.

Quiche recipe

I've had several requests from librarians on Twitter for a few recipes. One of them is my quiche recipe. I was able to tweet it, but I thought I would also post the full recipe here for librarians and non-librarians alike. Enjoy this any day of the week.



Spinach or Broccoli Quiche

Ingredients
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk (or heavy whipping cream for a a richer quiche)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 box frozen spinach or broccoli
2 cups cheese, shredded (mozzerella, any white Italian cheese blend)
1 pie shell

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Open and remove frozen spinach or broccoli from box, place in a microwave safe mixing bowl and cook for 4-5 minutes. Drain to remove excess water.

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk or heavy whipping cream, and black pepper. Stir in 1 cup cheese. Stir in drained veggies . Stir in remaining cup of cheese

Pour spinach mixture into pie shell. Place filled pie shell on a cookie sheet. Bake 45-55 minutes until golden brown. Allow quiche to cool before slicing. Slices well with a pizza cutter.

Enjoy!

Remember you can be as creative as you'd like with your quiche.


spinach with bacon, broccoli with pepperoni, broccoli with shrimp

*Tweet version: mix 3 eggs, 3/4c milk, 1pkg froz spinach (micro 4.5 min), 1.5c shred cheese, 1/8tsp blk pepper. Pour in pie shell, bake 50 min 375 degrees.

Teaching International 2011-2012

Greater Allegheny has been doing the Teaching International program since 2004, and their library has played an active role in supporting this initiative. While I was a reference librarian at Beaver I had the opportunity to work with a faculty member to develop a resource website for Penn State faculty interested in Internationalization of the Curriculum.

This year's regional focus is the Middle East and the issue focus is the Millennium Development Goals. Today the library hosted an event for faculty and staff highlighting the University Libraries' resources. This includes the rich website I developed in collaboration with last year's LIS intern.

This afternoon during common hour, a no-conflict time from 12:15-1:35 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I hosted an event for campus faculty. They were able to view some of the materials from our print collection related to this year's Program, talk about upcoming events and assignment strategies, as well as enjoy a small selection of regional foods prepared by Housing & Food Service.

This year's LIS Intern did the layout for the cork board display.

RNC IV Denver

I attended the REFORMA National Convention IV in Denver, Colorado. I arrived on the second day of the conference. It was my first time attending REFORMA. I've really enjoyed the opportunity to be a first time attendee at a few conferences over the past year. It helps me particularly in the context of ALA to understand what it means to be new and how important it is to reach out and welcome everyone who attends. While I knew even more attendees than I expected, there was still that new attendee feeling.



A session I got the most out of was "Why Libraries Matter: Empowering Community Voices" presented by Camila Alire, Molly Raphael, and Patty Wong. The program highlighted Alire's Libraries: The Hear of All Communities frontline advocacy initiative from her 2009-2010 ALA Presidential year and Raphael's Empowering Voices: Communities Speak Out for Libraries 2011-2012 ALA Presidential initiative co-chaired by Wong. There was a lot of audience participation for this session. While the focus was on Latino and Spanish speaking communities, the questions and strategies around community advocacy are applicable in any library setting and community.


Folder of materials from the session.

Friday night a reception was held at a branch of Denver Public Library. It was a really nice facility and the food was amazing. I spent the majority of that time talking with Loida Garcia-Febo. She was REFORMA president the same year I was NMRT President and we collaborated on an excellent program, The New Professional Paradigm: Redefining the New Librarian", at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. She gets the majority of the kudos because she approached me about collaborating. I also spent time talking with Alex Villagran with whom I have the pleasure of serving on ALA BARC. I get to see him again in a few weeks for our fall meeting.

Saturday's highlights included delicious Mexican food at a lovely restaurant Alfredo took Em Claire Knowles, Patty Wong, and me. We also drove around the Denver area a bit to see the mountains.


Saturday night was the Banquet and Dance. We celebrated 40 years of REFORMA.




With Camila Alire attending, I knew there would be lots of dancing.

Professional Travel for Fall 2011

It's that time again. This fall I'm heading to the following conferences and meetings.

REFORMA - Denver, CO
ALA BARC Fall Meeting - Chicago, IL
Internet Librarian 2011 - Monterey, CA
ALA Fall Executive Board Meeting - Chicago, IL
LJ/Temple University Academic Library Summit - Philadelphia, PA
Penn State Forum on Black Affairs event - State College, PA
Penn State University Libraries Faculty Retreat - State College, PA (canceled twice)

I'm excited to attend REFORMA and Internet Librarian. I'll be a first time attendee at both.

Class is in session

The 2011-2012 school year started August 22, so my fall semester is in full swing. I'm starting the semester short staffed, but we finally received approval in August to advertise for a reference librarian. I'll be working with the search committee on that process. I'm looking forward to welcoming a new colleague later in the semester.

With decreasing federal funding, our work study student employee pool continues to decrease. I'm excited we've recruited a few great first year students. I think this is one of the best jobs on campus for a student. I'm also biased because I worked at the college library for four years.

Once again my library is participating in the Pitt Partners program and hosting an LIS intern. Allison Gallaspy has joined us for the next three semesters. She has a B.A. in History from Tulane. Her primary interest is in technical services and is looking forward to developing her reference skills and networking.