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2015 program, preconference, institute proposals: due date extension to June 1, 2014

We are extending the deadline for submitting proposals for 2015 institutes (Midwinter/Chicago), preconferences and programs (Annual/San Francisco) to June 1, 2014.

PROGRAM proposals must be submitted by this date using this online form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ascla2015progrproposals

PRECONFERENCE/INSTITUTE proposals must be submitted by this date using this online form: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ascla_preconfinst_proposal

We have posted a Word document version of both of these forms at the ASCLA website under Our Association >ASCLA Forms. The Word document should be used to help prepare submissions, however all final proposals should be sent via the online forms provided above.

Any problems with the forms or website should be sent to Andrea Hill, ASCLA web manager (ahill@ala.org).

We look forward to receiving your proposals!

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Your ASCLA ALA Annual Conference Guide!

  • ASCLA 101: Saturday, June 28, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. Participants will be able to chat with colleagues and hear more about how they can get involved. Refreshments, Raffle and Fun Prizes!
  • ASCLA / COSLA Reception and Award Presentation: Saturday, June 28, from 5:45 – 7:00 p.m. Bring a friend!
  • ASCLA President’s Program: Sunday, June 29, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Connected Learning and Libraries: At the Intersection of the Arts, Media, New Technologies and Informal Learning. 
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2014 ASCLA Election Winners!

Vice-President / President–Elect – Rhonda Puntney Gould
Secretary (two-year term) – Tracy Rochow Byerly
Director-At-Large (one-year term) – Tiffany Lanette Bradford-Oldham
Director-At-Large (two-year term) – Raye Oldham
Designated Director, Library Cooperatives and Networks (two-year term) – Greg Pronevitz
Designated Director, Special Populations Constituency (two-year term) – Lily Sacharow
Designated Director, State Library Agencies (two-year term) – Shannon O’Grady

Thank you to all the candidates for standing for election!

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ASCLA members have approved a petition to create the new Interest group: Consortial eBooks.

The purpose of ASCLA’s Consortial eBooks Interest Group is to provide a regular forum for consortial discussion and to meet at Annual Conferences and Midwinter Meetings. ASCLA believes that consortia represents a large segment of libraries and that by acting as consortia, ASCLA can be influential with publishers and vendors to benefit libraries and library users as the e-book landscape evolves. ASCLA welcomes any type of library or library agency as well as consortias.

The Consortial eBooks Interest Group leadership team for 2014-2015 is: Deirdre Brennan, Executive Director of the RAILS Reaching Across Illinois Library System and Veronda Pitchford, Director of Membership Development and Resource Sharing, RAILS Reaching Across Illinois Library System. To join this new interest group, complete the form here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/con_ebooks.

Online discussion groups are open to all. To subscribe, send an email to sympa@ala.org with the following subject: subscribe ascla- first name last name. Please do not put anything in the body of the message.

Online discussion groups or listservs are a great way to connect with others, share experiences, network and get advice. Only subscribers may post to the lists. The lists are open to all, as well as interest group members, so members can invite colleagues in the field or with that special interest to join the listserv. Listservs are also helpful for making announcements, such as for conferences, workshops, new publications and position openings appropriate to the lists. All messages should relate to the general topic of the list and all postings must be free of copyright restrictions that limit distribution.

See the complete list of ASCLA interest groups and their leaders here. Learn more about ASCLA’s core interests on the ASCLA website

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ASCLA presents its first ASCLA 101!

The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) will host ASCLA 101, a networking and orientation event for interested, new and current members from 10:30 a.m. -11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, at the Las Vegas Hotel in conjunction with the 2014 ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas.

ASCLA, a division of ALA, represents librarians serving special populations; independent librarians and consultants; state library agencies; and library networks, cooperatives and consortia. Conference attendees involved or interested in these areas of librarianship are encouraged to attend ASCLA 101 where they can learn more about the division activities and special interest sections representing each of these topics. ASCLA member leaders will be on hand to answer questions about the division and help attendees best identify how they can be involved with ASCLA projects and activities.

“ASCLA 101 is an incredibly valuable event that supports member involvement and engagement,” said ASCLA President Sara Laughlin, “We’re excited for our first ASCLA 101 program. It’s a great opportunity to meet colleagues, find a home within ASCLA’s special interest groups and connect with other members. Any new, longtime or potential members of ASCLA should make ASCLA 101 the first official event of their conference experience.”

The event agenda includes a brief presentation about ASCLA, a raffle for fun prizes and significant time for networking. RSVPs are not required, however interested attendees are encouraged to add ASCLA101 to their schedule.

 

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Book Club Enthusiasts!

Outreach Books Clubs: Venturing Outside the Library Walls

This webinar is for librarians in various library settings looking to expand the reach of current book clubs or where the traditional book club format has proven unsuccessful. Attendees will learn how to coordinate groups that meet outside of the library setting, but are still coordinated by a librarian or library staff member. Outreach book clubs may require additional coordination and travel time, but can result in new community and campus partnerships and the development of relationships with potential new library patrons.

The webinar will assist librarians and support staff in academic, school, or public library settings in understanding the pros and cons of incorporating outreach book clubs into their existing programming. Participants will learn how to evaluate if such a book club would work well for their library community. Logistics, such as group membership, location selection, and basic title selection will be discussed. The webinar will also address the decision to incorporate non-patrons in an outreach book club, including the administrative challenges and possible benefits of doing so. Attendees will have access to sample documents to use to easily track their groups. Participants will discover practical details and flexible strategies that any library can tweak to quickly begin the process of creating an outreach book club.

Presenter

Kim Braun is the past Head of Reference and Adult Services at the J. Lewis Crozer (Public) Library in Chester, PA. Her experience includes community outreach, collection development, readers advisory, adult programming development, virtual and face-to-face reference services, and patron computer and bibliographic instruction. She is past Secretary of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Library Association and attended the inaugural Pennsylvania Library Association Academy of Leadership Studies in 2009. She earned a Masters in Library and Information Science from Drexel University. Her undergraduate degrees are in History and French from Widener University. She is currently using her research skills as Prospect Researcher in the Widener University development office in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Kim just finished reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and is currently enjoying Burial Rites by Hannah Kent; she thinks both titles have good book club discussability potential.

Date(s) & Time(s)

Thursday, April 17, 2014 – 2:00 p.m. Central Time

Fee

Number of seats: 90 max

Registration fees:

$40 for RUSA/ASCLA members

$50 for ALA members

$65 for non-ALA members

$35 for ALA student members and retired members

Group Rates

$99 single login

$38/person multiple logins. (min. 2 people)

Technical Requirements

This webinar will be offered using Adobe Connect. Please ensure that you have Adobe Flash Player Version 10.1 or later on your computer. Audio for this webinar will be streamed over computer speakers and via a teleconference line. You will be able to ask questions and interact with the presenter and other webinar participants via chat.

You can test your settings to verify that your computer is configured properly to participate in this webinar.

You will receive access instructions from Andrea no later than 24 hours before the webinar is to be held.

How to Register

Contact

Questions about your registration should be directed to registration@ala.org. Technical questions about the webinar should be directed to Andrea Hill, RUSA/ASCLA Web Manager, at ahill@ala.org.

Thank you and we look forward to your participation!

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Deadline extended! Submit your program, preconference or institute proposal for 2014 by July 31

Now that the 2013 Annual Conference is over, it’s time to start looking ahead to 2014!

The ASCLA Conference Programming Committee is accepting proposals until July 31, 2013 for the following types of programming:

  • Institutes for the 2014 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia
  • Preconferences for the 2014 Annual Conference in Las Vegas
  • Programs for the 2014 Annual Conference in Las Vegas

Institutes and preconferences are ticketed events held on the Friday of the conference. Programs are held throughout the Annual Conference and are included as a part of conference registration.

You can access the online program proposal form here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ascla2014progpreconproposal

You can also download a PDF of the form in preparation for submitting the online form. Only online submissions will be accepted! (If you run into accessibility challenges with either version of the form, please contact us so we can help you out!)

The revised deadline for submissions is Wednesday, July 31!

We have a limited number of slots available for each type of event, so put your best foot forward when submitting a proposal.

Who can propose a program, institute or preconference? Any current ASCLA member can propose one of these events, however we strongly encourage support and sponsorship from one of our interest groups! If you’re not an interest group member, consider joining one and using the group as a springboard for your conference event ideas. Check out the list of our interest groups, contact information for interest group leaders and instructions on how to join.

What sorts of topics are of interest? The best topics represent ASCLA’s core member areas–state library agencies, special populations librarians, independent librarians and library consultants, and resource-sharing librarians at networks and cooperatives–but are also of interest to librarians throughout the profession from all types of libraries. Keep in mind that topics should still be relevant in January and June 2014 when they are finally presented! You can browse our interest group list here for inspiration.

If my event is accepted and approved by ASCLA, what will I be responsible for? You will be responsible for recruiting and serving as a liaison to the event speakers, as well as being on-site the day of the event to help coordinate event details. You will work with the ASCLA office to set up the event details with ALA Conference Services. The ASCLA office will promote your event, and will give you the tools to help spread the word.

I’m not an ASCLA member, but I’d like to get involved with program planning. The best way to do this is to join ASCLA, and then join one of our many interest groups.

Anything else I should know? If you’re going to go through the trouble of planning an in-person event, we want to maximize the reach of that information! Consider offering a webinar or other online learning opportunity in conjunction with the in-person event that will enhance the learning experience! So for example, you might offer a webinar in early May as a teaser for the content that will be covered at your conference program in June. In late July, you might host a follow-up discussion using a tool like ALA Connect, Google Hangout or Blackboard Collaborate that brings program attendees together to continue the conversation about what you’ve discussed at the previous two events.

Questions about the program planning process? Please contact Rosario Garza, committee chair at rgarza@socallibraries.org and Liz Markel, ASCLA marketing & programs manager at lmarkel@ala.org.

We look forward to receiving your proposals!