I am so excited to be working with and for all of you in this coming year. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and managed to rest, recharge, and refocus for 2018. The new year always brings the chance for us to dedicate ourselves to what we think is important -- what will we resolve to do that will improve our lives and the lives of those in our communities and organizations? How can we “be better” while also maintaining balance?
One thing that I resolve to do this year -- both personally and professionally -- is to couple “self care” with real effort into making structural changes that will help me and my organization in the long term. Within our working lives, let’s question our actions to ensure that we’re not putting bandaids on a situation rather than fixing it for good. If you’re a manager, how can you address low morale both in the short term (e.g. delicious cookies) and the long term (e.g. advocating for higher salaries, providing flexible schedule)? As a colleague, how can you address your desire to run away from your inbox? Instead of ignoring those emails, perhaps you could step off of certain committees, block off time in your schedule where you can work uninterrupted, or say “no” to meetings where you are not an essential participant. Sometimes the best self care is identifying what is essential in your life so that you can stop doing what isn’t and follow through on what is.
I would never, ever tell someone to cancel a massage, but let’s endeavor to not become so overwhelmed that taking care of ourselves turns into yet another overwhelming “to do list”. Instead, have that glass of wine, and then also identify something you can do that will help you to change your situation in the long term. So much “self care” puts the responsibility for wellbeing on the individual -- let’s work collectively to make our organizations more healthy.
As CARL president, I resolve to try to embody this idea of “organizational care” (for lack of a better term -- I’m open to suggestions). What structural issues can I and the board address in this year that will set up our organization for sustainability? How can we engage CARL members in a meaningful way that benefits us all? If you have ideas, please let us know. My door (virtual) is always open and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Talitha Matlin
Listening: The “It’s a real mother” series from The Longest Shortest Time podcast, about how discrimination against working moms is an “everybody problem” and steps we can take to fix it.
Reading:Harry Potter audiobooks, read by Jim Dale. So good! Check them out from your local library.
Watching:Outlander (dare I say I like it more than the books??)
Following: @cauchycomplete on instagram -- quilting as a political act
CARL 2018 Conference Update
We are well on our way to the conference! The program is almost finished (posters and round tables still to come), and the schedule is set. If you haven't been by the conference website, yet, I encourage you to take a look and start planning your conference: http://conf2018.carl-acrl.org/
There were some amazing proposals submitted for Preconferences, Engaging in Practice and Research into Practice sessions, and Panel Presentations. It's so exciting to see the work everyone is doing! In addition, we have some great plenary sessions: A keynote by Miguel Figueroa, from ALA's Center on the Future of Libraries; and invited presentations by Charlotte Roh, University of San Francisco, and Zoe Fisher, Southern Utah University. We're also continuing the Interest Group Showcase where some of CARL's Interest Groups present on the work of their groups and members.
Don't forget that early bird registration ends March 2 (Early Bird for CARL members is $325). Once you've registered, call the hotel to book your room at the conference rate of $139 per night. Staying at the conference hotel gives you more time for networking and socializing with colleagues, and helps us keep the conference costs to a minimum.
Are you interested in helping to select the next location for the CARL conference? Please consider joining the conference long range planning committee. We are searching for 3 CARL members who will scout locations for the 2022 and 2024 conferences.
Work on this committee entails:
Visiting potential conference locations in the days following the CARL conferences in 2018 and 2020.
Making a recommendation to the CARL board for the next conference location.
Working with an outside conference planning contractor to make all site visit arrangements and contract negotiations.
One of the 3 committee members will be a conference site manager, which will require being the main contact for the hotel and being aware of any contractual requirements.
CARL will reimburse members for their associated travel costs.
If you are interested, please submit a CV, statement of interest, and any relevant skills or experience you would bring to this role (including those outside of libraries). Contact Talitha Matlin, CARL President, with any questions.
Interest Groups
ALIGN (Academic Librarians Interest Group - North)
Summer Field Trip
Last month, ALIGN sponsored its first summer field trip, and a double-header at that. Attendees met in the morning at the Presidio of San Francisco to tour the Park Archives and Records Center (PARC) of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). We were hosted at PARC by curator Amanda Williford who gave us an overview of the Archive’s holdings and shared some of the more unique materials including historic photographs, military records, and archaeological and natural-history artefacts from across the 241-year history of the Presidio, as well as a map of the Nike missile site that was once underneath the installation, right in the midst of San Francisco.
After lunch at the Inner Richmond’s Lime Tree Southeast Asian Kitchen, we ventured a couple of block to the Internet Archive, home of the Wayback Machine historical repository of the world’s websites. We met Roger Macdonald, director of the Television Archive, who led us in conversation about the Archive’s electronic holdings; its book, audio, video, and software collecting and digitisation efforts; and its non-= profit mission of providing ‘universal access to all knowledge’—a commitment very much in support of an open Web in a similar vein to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose co-founder John Gilmore was also along for the discussion. Housed in a grand former Christian Science church, the Great Room of the Internet Archive hosts the Archive’s massive array of servers, as well as over 120 ceramic archivists representing individuals who have given three or more years of service to the Archive.
All told, an informative, thought-provoking, and enjoyable outing, evidenced by the enthusiasm and comments of attendees. ALIGN is in the process of planning our next event, most likely an issue-oriented workshop or panel. Stay tuned!
People and Places News
Publications, Presentations & Awards
Susan Boyd, Jackie Hendricks, Dan Lewis, and Jack Cooper gave a presentation at the Colloquium on Libraries & Service Learning at Santa Clara University on August 8, 2017, on "Google, High School Programmers, a Team from SCU, and Catholic Charities: Service Learning in Silicon Valley."
Jennifer Merritt, Barbara Burns, Laura Nichols, Laura Chyu, Nicole Branch, Irene Cermeno, and Maria Elizabeth Ramirez gave a presentation at the conference on Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education at Seattle University on August 12, 2017. The topic of the presentation was "Santa Clara University's Thriving Neighbors Initiative Community Assessment."
Leanna Goodwater, Hugh Burkhart, and John Redford published a review of "Drama Online" on September 20, 2017, in ccAdvisor. This is the new review database recently launched by Choice and the Charleston Advisor.
Jenny Yap, Berkeley City College, was selected as an Emerging Leader and is sponsored by the ACRL Instruction Section
Appointments
Jeff Corrigan the new Science Librarian in August at California State University Monterey Bay.
UC Santa Cruz reference and Undergraduate Experience Team librarian Ken Lyons was
promoted from associate to full librarian in July. He is a sixteen-year veteran of UCSC’s
McHenry Library and acting chair of CARL’s northern interest group, ALIGN.
Executive Board Meeting Notes
Friday, December 8, 2017, 10:00am-3:00pm
Teleconference
Attendees:
Pearl Ly (President), Talitha Matlin (VP-South/Pres Elect), Maryann Hight (CSU-DAL), Jenny Yap (Secretary), Elizabeth Galoozis (incoming Private Institutions-DAL), Lindsay Shivley (Newsletter Editor), Crystal Goldman (UC-DAL), Lee Adams (VP-North), Ellen Carey (Community Colleges-DAL), Yen Tran (incoming Treasurer), Nicole Branch (Private Institutions-DAL)
Absent by notification:
Kelly Janousek (Interest Group Coordinator/Incoming VP-South)
Joseph Aubele (Membership Director)
Cynthia Orozco (ACRL Chapters Council Delegate)
Shana Higgins (Past President)
David Drexler (Web Coordinator)
Welcome
Amend/Approve Minutes from September meeting
Introduce new officers
Overview of CARL mission, CARL activities, and board responsibilities
- Our mission is professional growth (for example through the bi-annual conference and interest group activities) so that will really frame our activities this year.
- Members have expressed that they want to do more and people want us to do more. We need to review standing rules for our positions and think of more things we can do that are tied to our mission.
Action items: Everyone: re-read the description of your position and CARL Bylaws. Pearl and Talitha: Set another in-person meeting to discuss board roles
CARL Conference Report (Allie et al)
Proposals:
- We received 61 proposals for preconferences, Engaging in Practice, Research into Practice, and panel sessions. Of those, we accepted 25.
- We also have 5 IG Showcase sessions scheduled.
- The proposals for posters and round table sessions are due Jan. 15.
- The next step is to build the schedule, which will be completed and posted to the website before the break.
- Sponsorships: As of 11/20/17 we had $7,750 in sponsorships, and Adolfo has been working to secure additional ones since then.
- Discussion about how someone didn’t receive notice about their conference submission. Please report issues like that to the board.
- Conference is on track despite the late start.
President Updates (Pearl)
- Pearl was asked to be on an advisory board for CLA. They are developing a leadership training program and they want to reach out to academic librarians.
- ACRL 2027 Conference Portland needs letters of support from state chapters that touch Oregon.
Action items: Pearl will submit a letter of support to ACRL for the future Portland conference
WASC ARC Panel organization (Pearl)
- Last year we had a panel presentation with UC, CSU, and Private college librarians and how they used the framework in assessment and accreditation. The audience was from a wide range of disciplines and roles.
- April 25-27 in Burlingame
- Talitha will help with logistics, Yen, and maybe Nicole will help since she spoke in the past. Pearl and Crystal will be resources
Action items: Talitha and Yen come up with the theme and find speakers (usually information literacy based in the past but related to accreditation and assessment). Pearl will forward to Talitha and Yen the relevant documents.
ACRL Webinar
- Board members were interested in hosting ACRL webinars. We get 6 log-ins for remote viewing for 2 webcasts a year (Oct to Aug)
- We will put calls out to IGs and Board first to host and it’ll be first come first serve. Then it will go out to general membership. We will ensure that hosts will be from different regions in California.
Action items: Board: watch the schedule for upcoming webinars
Membership Report (Joseph)
- Email receipt notification change
- In the last membership report there were a lot of inactive members who weren’t purged from the system. This report is more accurate.
Treasurer Report (Jordan)
- New treasurer: Jordan moved to a new state and is helping Yen transition into the new role.
- Backup treasurer (standing rules) Pearl might be a back-up Treasurer as well
IG Coordinator Report (Kelly)
- Kelly is the new incoming VP-South so we will need a new IG Coordinator
- Some IGs want money for non-program funding. We need to create documentation process for the Finance Committee to approve. New language to add to the IG manual: “Interest Groups that need funding not associated with planning a program will create a plan in consultation with Interest Group Coordinator. The plan will be reviewed by the CARL Finance Committee.” Talitha proposes under $200 goes to Finance Committee, over that goes to the board
Action items: Talitha: agenda item for the next board meeting: new language to IG manual Pearl: check with Kelly about special projects clause in IG manual
Outstanding Appointed Board Positions
- Three positions open right now: IG Coordinator, Advocacy Liaison, Archivist.
- IG Coordinator -- soliciting recommendations
- Do we want to continue the Advocacy Liaison position? We can discuss that. Feedback from April Cunningham. Nicole is interested in the advocacy liaison position. We are a 501c3 so we can’t take a political position but we can disseminate information.
- Archivist: Rand Boyd resigned. Difficult to find a home for CARL paperwork. Maybe UCLA and SJSU since they have a library school? Pearl says Pasadena CC has a digitization certificate so maybe that could be a project for a library school student.
Action items: Talitha will fill 3 positions as the President. Pearl: reach out to PCC to see if someone would digitize the CARL archives. Talitha find a permanent home for the CARL archives. Nicole and Talitha will look at the advocacy liaison position and shape it.
Awards Liaison Updates (Nicole and Lee)
- Nicole was tasked with communicating with the awards committees.
- The Rockman committee chair resigned and Daniel Ransom stepped in
- Research Award committee didn’t have a clear process for the award. The last chair said after the last CFP they didn’t grant any awards and we haven’t given any out in a while.
- Lee: for Outstanding Member Award, a member asked if they could nominate a current board member. Standing rules don’t say yes or no but because the board votes to approve it wouldn’t be appropriate. We need to add language to standing rules to exclude board members.
- The board approves of the Rockman Committee’s two nominations for the conference scholarship.
Action items: Talitha: appoint chairs to Rockman and Research Award committees (Elizabeth volunteers to chair the Research Award Committee). Talitha and Elizabeth: work on revising the Research Award Committee webpage. Lee: write proposed language about Outstanding Member Award and Executive board will vote on it. Board: contact David Drexler or Pearl if you need to be added to Google site. Jenny: communicate with the Rockman Committee that we approve of their nominees. Get clarification about award presentation and dinner at conference (loop in Nicole)
Mentorship Committee Update (Shana)
- Recommend issuing a call for additional members
- Lindsey Shively, Susan Jackson, and Kathlene Hanson (current chair) are willing to continue
- Recommendations from current chair: Composition: 4 members; one each from UC, CC, CSU, private; elect/appoint chair from this group
- Joseph (Membership Director) has initiated sending monthly report of those indicating interest in program
- Mentorship Committee matches mentors and mentees in CARL. Committee recruits people into the program and matches based on interest.
- Exit Interview is to see what they got out of it and how to improve it. What should we do with the information from the exit interview?
- DALs can help find mentors from that area? Been difficult to find mentors from CCs so it’s important to find a committee member from a CC.
- Lindsey: The committee hasn’t met yet. A smaller committee is probably fine- use DALs.
Action items: Talitha will work with current 3 members and see if they can take on the committee or decide to lean on the DALs.
Lunch Cancelled. The in-person meeting today was canceled due to wildfires near CSU San Marcos.
2018 December Meeting Location
- Berkeley City College will host again in December.
Talitha will work on setting the date.
Review actions
- Set 2018 meeting dates/times (Talitha)
- Confirm CARL Conference Awards Dinner date/time and invite board (Nicole)
- Appoint IG Coordinator, Archivist, and Advocacy Liaison (Talitha)
- WASC ARC Panel
- February meeting will be online.
- During the CARL conference we will meet as a board and review our roles and standing rules and discuss them then.
- Everyone: read through reports on the agenda
Deadlines for submissions: March 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15. Newsletter submissions, corrections, questions, and comments should be sent to carlnewsletter@gmail.com.
Our mailing address is: |carlall@listserv.carl-acrl.org|
