NMRT President (so far)

I've started my term as NMRT President. The committee appointments are pretty much done. I have written my first short article for the August issue of Footnotes. I've even started working with the chair of the President's Program committee about my program idea for the 2010 Annual Conference. The term is up at the end of June (a short year compared to 2008-2009) and I know it will fly by.

Speaking of the 2008-2009 president, Laurel Bliss noted that AL Direct highlighted a resume review service video featuring Sarah Johnson. Johnson was one of the speakers at the NMRT President's Program on July 11.

We're trying something new this year and hosting our orientation sessions for new board members and new committee members online. I'm almost done capturing the content from previous orientations in the session slides I'm creating. We'll do the training using Opal, the software ALA has made available for this type of work. Fingers crossed!

ALA Chicago 2009

This was my longest and busiest ALA ever. I arrived in Chicago on July 9 and did not return home until July 16. Here are some of the highlights of my week.

I answered a total of four reference questions on the streets of Chicago. Three of them were directional. Only one required a reference interview. I was actually able to answer all of them. Correctly. Definitely a highlight of my conference.

ALA Meetings: I attended all of the Council meetings (I, II, and III), ALA-APA Council, and the Council Forum on July 13. I attended the second ALA Membership Meeting on July 13. I staffed the Resolutions table in the (surprisingly conveniently located) ALA Office area on July 10, and attended the committee meeting on July 11.

NMRT Meetings: I attended part of the TOLD committee meeting the morning of July 10 before running to the other end of McCormick Place to attend the Round Table Coordinating Assembly meeting. I attended the Orientation bright and early (8-10am) on Saturday, July 11. That afternoon, Laurel Bliss and Amanda Roberts, and I represented the round table at the "Conference for a Day" luncheon. Tracie Hall was the featured speaker and is always a treat to listen to and hear. The Conference for a Day was one of Jim Rettig's wonderful Presidential initiatives. On Sunday evening, I attended the NMRT Awards Reception and took several photos. July 13 at 8am I finally arrived at the NMRT Board meeting (despite leaving my hotel and hour before due to some shuttle bus traffic) where I posted about the meeting from the NMRT Twitter.

Executive Board Events and Meetings: I was introduced as a new board member at the Inaugural Banquet on July 14. I was officially seated on the board at their third meeting the afternoon on July 15. We were scheduled to meet from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. We did not adjourn until 5:30pm, but it was an enjoyable meeting.

When I was not or running between meetings, there was time (although not enough of it) to connect with friends and colleagues. I also made some new friends. After the Scholarship Bash, Amanda and I wandered around Millennium Park. I'm glad she dragged me along.

Road Scholars Tour

Penn State offers a really great program at the end of the semester for new and recently tenured faculty called the Road Scholar Tour. It alternates between the eastern side and western side of the state and gives faculty an opportunity to learn more about what the University is doing in different parts of the commonwealth either through agricultural extension, outreach, the campuses, or by alumni. I took advantage of the bus tour again as a recently tenured faculty member. We worked our way around the western part of the state May 11-13, 2009. The agenda was full and included the Johnstown Flood National Memorial, U.S. Steel Corporation Mon Valley Works, and the H. J. Heinz Global Innovation and Quality Center.

Here are some photos of places we went (where cameras were allowed).

Penn State Altoona


South Fork Dam, origin of the Johnstown Flood


The "World Famous" Horseshoe Curve

Horseshoe Curve museum


A train going around the Horseshoe Curve

ALA HQ: NMRT and Executive Board Observer

The great thing about being onsite in Chicago is the opportunity for face time with the people I know and work with at ALA. I used my post orientation time to meet with staff in HRDR on New Members Round Table (NMRT) work. This included selecting and placing orders for NMRT ribbons to be available at Annual, get an update on our fund raising efforts for the 2009 Awards Reception, and preparing for my work as President for 2009-2010. Much to my surprise I spent a lot of time working!

When I was not in an ALA staff member’s office generating a to do list to execute when I returned to Pittsburgh, I was observing the Executive Board 2009 Spring Meeting. The current Board met on Friday morning to hear a presentation by Jenny Levine on ALA Connect. The presentation got me excited about using Connect more to do just that, connect with members in the association. It has a great deal of upside particularly for committee work. I hope NMRT will use it, especially those committees currently working with googlegroups and yahoogroups. I also learned about new developments with the at your library Web site.

Saturday's agenda very full. This included a membership update, development office report, research survey results, several reports related to finances, and closed executive session (I could not observe). There's a lot going on at ALA. The meeting agenda and documents are available from the Executive Board page.

ALA Executive Board Orientation highlights

Patricia Hogan, Steven Mathews, I spent April 22 and 23 at the ALA Headquarters for our new ALA Executive Board member orientation. The three of us will be seated on the board at the end of the Annual Conference and serve a three-year term for 2009-2012. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of information we need to know as future board members. Check out the robust itinerary.

April 22
8:15 - 8:45 Welcome and Governance Office Overview
8:45 - 9:20 Budgeting Process
9:30 - 11:00 Memorial service to honor Judith Krug
11:15 - 12:00 Public Information Office / Campaign for America's Libraries
12:15 - 1:30 Open House Lunch with ALA Unit Managers
1:40 - 1:55 Member Programs and Services Overview
2:00 - 3:15 Division Update (with Division Executive Directors)
3:15 - 4:30 Offices and What They Do
4:30 - 5:00 Strategic Planning / Organizational Culture and Change

April 23
8:30 - 9:00 Board Operation and Logistics
9:00 - 9:30 Development Office
9:30 - 10:00 Information Technology & Telecommunication Services
10:00 - 10:15 Break
10:15 - 11:15 Communications and Member Relations
11:15 - 11:45 ALA-Allied Professional Association
11:45 - 1:15 Lunch with Executive Director
1:15 - 1:45 Publications
1:45 - 2:15 Conference Planning
2:15 - 2:45 Washington Office
2:45 - 3:00 Division Update
3:00 - 3:45 Building Tour

I loved every minute of it. It was definitely more information than I could handle, but I took good notes, met so many wonderful people, and am thankful for the nomination to run and my Council colleagues electing me to this position. It will be a lot of work, and at times hard work, but worth it. It is also a reminder that our Association is all about the people.

Library Bar

I was invited to attend Pitt's ALA Student Chapter networking night. It was an evening of "library themed food, fun, and networking" held appropriate at the Library Bar. It was a lot of fun. I did not get to meet everyone, but I stayed for the entire event. It was even more fun to have someone I'd never met before, upon learning my name, be thrilled to meet me because of my roles in NMRT and ALA.

I wonder if I'll win something from their raffle.

ACRL Seattle

As you can see, ACRL ended on a sweet note. These delicious conference themed cookies were served at the All Conference Reception. The venue was Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. I saw lots of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia, a documentary, AND danced.

It wasn't all cookies, music, and dancing. As a member of the Scholarships Committee (despite the fact that all the printed material at the conference did not have me listed as a committee member), I attended the Scholarship Breakfast on Friday morning. The room was on the 35th floor of the Sheraton and had an amazing view. The keynote speaker, Richard Sweeney, led an interesting discussion about the millennial library generation. For me it was a thought-provoking way to begin the conference.



I also attended a colleague's Round Table Discussion on Saturday. "Social Technology Lessons Learned From The Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign" was facilitated by Alexia Hudson, Penn State Abington Library.



I would be remiss if I didn't mention the ACRL Chair's Reception at the Columbia Tower Club. We were lucky enough to have a clear night, so the city view from the 76th floor was breathtaking. It was also an opportunity to check out what is probably the coolest ladies room in the Pacific Northwest, if not the time zone or the country.