Greetings from 2013 ACRL/NY Symposium Chair

Save the Date!

The members of the 2013 Symposium Planning Committee are already hard at work planning and organizing another thought-provoking and informative symposium, to take place on December 6, 2013 at Baruch College, Vertical Campus.

Our symposium is titled: “The Library as Knowledge Laboratory.” Makerspaces, mashups and big data are bringing radical change to higher education. Academic libraries are meeting the challenge of this new landscape with a culture of participation, innovation and collaboration. As librarians’ roles shift from a traditional service-and-support model to that of active project participant in support of digital scholarship, a new ethos of experimentation, learning, disruption, and creativity is evolving.

At ACRL/NY’s 2013 day-long annual symposium we will explore the opportunities and challenges facing academic librarians in light of scholars’ increased demands for new formats, open-source tools, digital repositories, and innovative research methods in the new knowledge laboratory.

The ACRL/NY annual symposium is a day to engage with leading trends and topics in the profession as well as an opportunity to network with colleagues from around the greater metropolitan area, exchange ideas, and meet new people.

Stay tuned to the ACRL/NY web site for further information and updates on speakers, a call for poster proposals and other announcements. We look forward to seeing you on December 6, 2013!

Anice Mills
2013 ACRL/NY Symposium Chair
Undergraduate Services Librarian
Columbia University
am447@columbia.edu

This article was originally published in ACRL/NY Connections Vol.31, No.1, Spring 2013.

Like many of our members, I am just returned from the ACRL national conference in Indianapolis, “Imagine, Innovate, Inspire.” The conference is always a good source for fresh ideas and compelling speakers for our own chapter’s annual symposium, and we are looking forward to hearing from some exciting new voices at our next symposium on December 6^th, 2013, at Baruch College Vertical Campus.

ACRL/NY ended 2012 with its 31^st annual symposium, “Cultivating Entrepreneurship in Academic Libraries,” where five outstanding speakers presented on a variety of related topics:

• Stephen Bell, ACRL president, “Want a More Entrepreneurial Academic Library? First Escape Your Culture”
• Naomi House, founder of INALJ, “I”dentity: building a brand by bucking the crowdsourcing trend”
• Stephanie Walker, Chief Librarian at Brooklyn College Library, presented a case study, “Library Entrepreneurialism at Brooklyn College, CUNY”
• Lisa Carlucci Thomas, founder of Design Think Do, “Designing the Imperative: Transformative Culture”
• Maureen Sullivan, ALA President, “Creating a Culture of Innovation”

This year, the symposium planning committee is in the capable hands of Anice Mills. We are looking forward to a terrific program. Be on the lookout for details this spring and summer.

ACRL/NY recently launched a Professional Development Committee and extended the work of the Mentoring Program, in conjunction with the New Librarians Discussion Group. We also have a new First Year Experience discussion group led by our Immediate Past President, Caroline Fuchs. We continue to collaborate with METRO on developing webcasts, and thank them for their support of the forthcoming joint publication, The Global Librarian.  Follow all of our activities on our web site – and while you’re there, don’t forget to renew your membership!

A special thanks to Monica Berger, Web Services Advisor, Danielle Becker, Maureen Weicher, John Pell on our Blogteam, Caroline Fuchs, Legislative Liaison, and Winifred King, and our 2012 Discussion Group Chairs:

• Kathryn G. Shaughnessy, Distance Learning

• Caroline Fuchs and Natalia Gelber, First Year Experience
• Amy Ballmer, Graduate Services
• Fiona Grady and Dianne Conyers, Information Literacy/Instructional Services
• Maureen Weicher, Resource Sharing
• Keith Muchowski, Special Collections and Archives
• Linda Miles, New Librarians
• Mark Aaron Polger and Albert Tablante, User Experience (UX)

As always, I encourage all members to actively participate in our sponsored events and programs.

Carrie Netzer Wajda, 2013 ACRL/NY President
cnetzerwajda@gmail.com

This article was originally published in ACRL/NY Connections Vol.31, No.1, Spring 2013.