News from the Field

David Free

Transitions and new leadership at ACRL

ACRL has announced key leadership changes as it progresses towards the beginning of the next fiscal year. Current executive director, Robert (Jay) Malone, who came to ACRL in September 2021 after previously helming an academic society for over twenty years, departed the association on Friday, June 9. During his time at ACRL, Malone supported the repositioning and improved profitability of Choice, a publishing unit of ACRL and worked with ALA’s Development Office to raise the association’s GuideStar (Candid) nonprofit ranking to “platinum,” the reviewer’s highest level.

Malone will be succeeded by interim ACRL executive director Allison Payne, who stepped into her new leadership role on Monday, June 11. Payne joined ACRL in 2013 and has since served in governance (among other duties) by supporting the work of the ACRL Board of Directors and ACRL Budget and Finance Committee. Prior to her new appointment, Payne served as ACRL Program Manager for Strategic Initiatives, leading equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives and helping shepherd various projects—including the creation of the joint ALA/ACRL/ARL/PLA Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity: A Framework and the assessment and redevelopment of the ACRL Diversity Alliance program.

On June 16, Senior Strategist for Special Initiatives Kara Malenfant also departed the association. Since joining ACRL staff in September 2005, Malenfant has coordinated the division’s government relations advocacy, scholarly communication activities, and Value of Academic Libraries initiative and co-developed and managed ACRL’s Consulting Services Program. She also served as ACRL’s interim executive director from April 2020 to September 2021. Among her many accomplishments at ACRL, Malenfant facilitated the creation of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, several white papers and research agendas, and led the 3-year IMLS-funded program Assessment in Action.

Complete details are available at https://acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/ala-announces-transitions-and-new-leadership-at-acrl/.

University of Nevada, Reno University Libraries join Greater Western Library Alliance

The University of Nevada, Reno University Libraries has been invited to join the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA). The GWLA membership approved this action through a ballot proposal conducted during March 2023. GWLA is a dynamic, effective, project‐oriented consortium of research libraries headquartered in Missouri. Its member institutions are predominantly in the central and western United States. GWLA is recognized nationally as a leader in the transformation of scholarly communications and a facilitator in the application of new information technologies. GWLA membership will bring University of Nevada, Reno faculty, researchers, and students faster access to research collections complementing and helping to enhance the libraries’ own collections.

ARLIS/NA announces new mission, vision, values

The Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA), the leading organization for arts information workers, recently announced new mission, vision, and values statements that will guide its work and direction for the future. ARLIS/NA’s new vision reflects the society’s hope to create a better world by advancing the arts and cultural heritage through the work of arts information workers. The mission emphasizes the society’s leadership role in advocating for the arts information profession and setting best practices and standards that sustain the profession into the future. The new values of ARLIS/NA reflect a commitment to supporting and empowering its members; promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion; and building strong communities of practice. For more information about ARLIS/NA and its new mission, vision, and values, please visit https://www.arlisna.org.

New from ACRL—Instructional Identities and Information Literacy

ACRL announces the publication of Instructional Identities and Information Literacy, edited by Amanda Nichols Hess, a three-volume set that uses transformative learning theory to examine how we think about and can develop our teaching, programs, institutions, and student learning and experiences.

Are librarians teachers? Many academic librarians enter teaching roles with limited experience or education in instruction, discovering how to engage students in learning from their own observations, trial-and-error, or professional learning opportunities.

Grappling with this potentially unexpected identity comes amid a time of significant transition for higher education itself. Academic librarians must figure out how to counter mis-, dis-, and malinformation, address shrinking funding for collections while costs increase, and establish meaningful partnerships in diverse, data-driven environments. And writ large, librarianship as a profession continues to grapple with its responsibility to challenge information illiteracy across contexts, its support of systems of oppression under the guise of neutrality, and its value to a society flooded with information.

Instructional Identities and Information Literacy uses transformative learning theory—a way of understanding adult learning and ourselves—to explore the ways librarians can meaningfully advance how we think about our identities, instructional work, and learning as transformation. Three volume explore:

• Transforming Ourselves
• Transforming Our Programs, Institutions, and Profession
• Transforming Student Learning, Information Seeking, and Experiences

Chapters include transforming a critical, feminist pedagogy with antiracist pedagogy; becoming an advocate for library instruction to promote student success; the intersection of reluctant professionals and the academy; transforming STEM learning and information-seeking experiences; using the Framework to reshape student responses to media narratives; and much more. Instructional Identities and Information Literacy contains many ways to consider the programming, dispositions, behaviors, and attitudes we can use as we continue to advance information literacy instruction and reshape our profession.

Instructional Identities and Information Literacy is available for purchase in print and as ebooks through the ALA Online Store, individually or as a set; in print through Amazon.com; and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the United States or (770) 442-8633 for international customers.

ACRL releases Managing Crises in the Academic Library: Past, Present, and Future

ACRL announces the publication of Managing Crises in the Academic Library: Past, Present, and Future, edited by Doris Van Kampen-Breit, a collection of experiences, strategies, and tactics that can help you plan for and lead through crises.

When a crisis occurs, it is the employees who determine an organization’s resiliency and effectiveness. It is their response, ability to plan for contingencies, and capacity for creating solutions that means the difference between organizational success and failure.

In 29 chapters from authors in all institution types and sizes, Managing Crises in the Academic Library can help library workers learn from the crises of the past and prepare for the next unexpected event. Chapters cover lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, perpetual budget uncertainty, dealing with downsizing, merging departments, mold mitigation, and mental health issues, but also offer strategies applicable during any crisis, including:

• responsive decision-making in academic library collections
• managing stakeholder expectations
• effective communication strategies
• continuity of operations planning
• utilizing library storage facilities
• documentation and cross-training
• mediating student technology needs
• setting boundaries

Chapters include workflow charts, bibliographies, and concrete strategies that can be easily adopted into your crisis planning.

Libraries and library workers are deeply sustaining lifelines for many students and faculty. Managing Crises in the Academic Library collects stories that demonstrate the tenacity, creativity, and ingenuity of academic library workers as they maintain this vital community lifeline. It also offers actionable ideas and approaches for planning for and sustaining the resources, services, and people in the library during difficult times.

Managing Crises in the Academic Library: Past, Present, and Future is available for purchase in print and as an ebook through the ALA Online Store; in print through Amazon.com; and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the United States or (770) 442-8633 for international customers.

UNC Charlotte names 2023 Atkins Fellows

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library has named four fellows in the seventh year of the Atkins Fellows summer program. This program offers paid, full-time work experience for MLIS students at the midpoint in their library, archives, or information science degree programs, and graduates who completed their programs in the last year. Participation in the program includes an additional stipend to help fellows with housing and transportation costs. Each Atkins Fellow works on a project throughout the summer, participates in workshops, tours and panel discussions, and engages in department and library committee meetings. The purpose of the program is to prepare MLIS students and recent graduates to work in academic libraries, archives, and other institutions, while supporting the mission, goals, and initiatives of Atkins Library. The 2023 Atkins Fellows are Amanda Janke of University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Claire Macomson of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Brigid McCreery of University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Charlotte Peterson of St. Catherine University. Projects include work with textbook affordability, digital media literacy, open access and collections assessment. To learn more about the current Fellows, Fellows alumni, and the program and projects, please visit https://library.charlotte.edu/about/jobs-and-internships/atkins-fellows.

Choice’s The Authority File podcast wins 2023 Publisher Podcast Award

Choice has received a Publisher Podcast Award in the Best B2B podcast category for its flagship podcast, The Authority File. More than 200 entries from myriad publishing organizations competed for the awards. Other award winners included the Financial Times, The Telegraph, BBC, Vox Media, and The New Statesman. The Authority File, which recently celebrated its 300th episode, is hosted by Choice Editorial Director Bill Mickey and provides insight on the academic library market through conversations with representatives of some of the biggest and most innovative companies influencing it, as well as authors of insightful books, librarians who are transforming their field, and academics whose research is laying the groundwork for the future. Learn more and listen to the latest episodes of The Authority File podcast at https://www.choice360.org/podcasts/category/the-authority-file/.