Saturday, May 20, 2017
2:30 – 4:30 pm — Registration, Main Lobby
4:30 – 6:30 pm — Opening Reception, Raven’s Nest
6:30 – 8:00 pm — Dinner, Barlow Room
Sunday, May 21, 2017
8:00 – 9:00 am — Breakfast, Raven’s Nest
9:00 – 10:15 am — Welcome and Keynote Address
- Great Library Leaders Unleash Potential: In Our Staffs, Organizations, and Ourselves
DeEtta Jones, DeEtta Jones and Associates
We live in a fast-paced and rapidly changing environment, where most of us find ourselves feeling stretched thin and striving to find ways to keep up with changing expectations and competing demands. More than ever we need to nurture the capacity for strategic thinking and innovating approaches to achieving our goals. In light of these needs, we are often limited by legacy practices and risk-adverse behaviors. So what can we do to effect change?In this keynote, DeEtta will share, based on her expertise in human and organizational behavior, coupled with two decades of working with libraries around the world, some ways to reframe our roles as leaders, managers, and practitioners that will unleash potential. She will encourage conference participants to think about shifts in mental models and behaviors, based on practical experience in libraries, which may yield new results.
This session will leave conference participants feeling inspired and equipped with some practical steps for having an immediate impact on the health of their organizations, colleagues and personal practice.
10:15 – 10:30 am — Break
10:30 – 11:30 am — Keynote Discussion
11:30 am – 12:15 pm — Presentation
- Age Diversity in the Library: Maximizing our Multi-generational Workforce
Carla Arbagey, University of California Riverside
The library workforce is growing more diverse in many ways, including age. There are now four generations represented in most libraries, from baby boomers to Gen Xers and, increasingly, the post-Millennial generation. Our multigenerational workforce presents both a challenge and an opportunity as we seek to boost the benefits of diversity. We may fall victim to age stereotyping, or take advantage of the experience and ideas of each generation to create a better working environment and more productive teams. This presentation will cover the characteristics of the four generations, with insight into how each generation approaches work and interpersonal relationships in the workplace. It will explore some of the pitfalls that can arise from age differences among library workers, and give a model of how libraries can work effectively to maximize their generational diversity. Particular attention will be paid to the opportunities and challenges of working in library technical services, including acquisitions. Attendees will gain a better understanding of how the generations interact, be able to recognize how age differences impact our work, and learn specific tools and solutions to help create a collegial and happy work environment.
12:15 – 1:45 pm — Lunch
1:45 – 2:30 pm — Presentation
- Meeting Patron Demand With Streaming Video
Angela Dresselhaus, East Carolina University
Lisa Barricella, East Carolina University
Demand for streaming video for use in classrooms is growing at East Carolina University. To meet this demand the library offers a variety of options, from Demand Driven Acquisitions to access to vendor-curated collections. Each purchase method requires expertise to successfully navigate acquisitions, licensing, and access issues. Once collections are established, evaluating current models and the use of streaming media is important to ensure collections meet patron needs. This talk will delve into acquisitions methods, licensing, cross training, assessment, and collection development considerations for growing and maintaining streaming video collections.
2:30 – 3:15 pm — Presentation
- Using a Data Visualization Tool to Evaluate an Approval Plan
Karen Kohn, Temple University Libraries
Because approval plans rely on broad criteria such as publisher or price, reviewing an approval plan usually involves looking for patterns across a year’s worth of data or more. This presentation will show how visualizations can make it relatively simple to identify patterns at a granular level and can therefore help libraries make decisions about changes. Visualizations can answer questions such as how much the library has spent on each publisher over several years, how each publisher’s prices have changed, and whether certain subjects would be affected disproportionately if the library lowered its price cap. The presenter will demonstrate how she used the Power BI software, a free download from Microsoft, to compile five years’ worth of vendor reports and create visualizations based on this data, primarily in familiar, easy-to-read formats such as bar graphs. She has also been compiling reports that show selectors what the library is receiving on a specific subject profile. While noting some benefits of the software, the presenter will focus mainly on the graphs themselves as a tool and will show how her library plans to use the analysis to manage spending on approvals.
3:15 – 3:30 pm — Break
3:30 – 4:15 pm — Presentation
- How Are Digital Primary Sources Being Used? Exploring Usage Data and Case Studies
Michael Levine-Clark, University of Denver Libraries
How are Humanities students and scholars using digital primary source materials? We have mined usage data from all Adam Matthew resources to explore user trends, popular subjects, topics, and tools in digital primary source research and teaching. We have analyzed patterns and visualized usage data from Adam Matthew’s global customer base to assess how students get to the primary sources they need or how students use the digital platform to enhance their primary source research. This is coupled with a series of interview case studies from users at universities across the world to understand the motivations and environment primary sources reside in for humanities and social science scholars. We hope to provide a study that not only reflects on the independent student and faculty research but digital primary sources in the HE teaching environment as well.
4:15 – 5:00 pm — Presentation
- Library Collections, Programs, and Services in an Era of Change: The Concept of Professional Neutrality and Its Intersection with Library Values of Democracy, Diversity, Intellectual Freedom
Adriene Lim, University of Oregon
The ALA Code of Ethics, Article VII, states: “We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources.” Most if not all of us in libraries would support this statement, but others would argue it is within the boundaries of our professional ethics — to the extent possible in our nonpartisan, institutional roles — to promote and defend users’ human rights when they are threatened or curtailed in our institutional settings. If this is the case, how do we advance our library values and ethics in an era of change, and how do we best apply them to our collections, services, and programs? The ACRL Professional Values Committee asserts that our core library values of democracy, diversity, intellectual freedom, and social responsibility compel us to speak out and take other actions on behalf of vulnerable members of our communities when they are intimidated, harassed, or attacked, as there can be no true intellectual freedom or free expression in an environment tainted with fear and intimidation. This interactive presentation will examine the complex issues involved in this intersection of values and real-world situations, and will explore ideas by which we can constructively respond as library professionals to promote and protect library users’ rights in our communities.
5:30 – 6:30 pm — Lodge Tour
7:00 – 8:30 pm — Dinner, Raven’s Nest
8:30 – 10:00 pm — Favorite Readings, The Blue Ox
Monday, May 22, 2017
8:00 – 9:00 am — Breakfast
9:00 – 9:45 am — Presentation
- Putting the “T” in AcquisiTions: Why Theory is More Fun Than You Think
Jesse Holden, Instructor, ALCTS FERA Online Course; Librarian, Ebsco
Acquisitions may be one of the most obvious functions within the library, yet it is often taken for granted. Within the context of the larger library endeavor, this keystone role is not well understood. Over the last two decades, the traditional roles and responsibilities of acquisitions – including workflow and personnel management, vendor relations, and budget stewardship – have evolved to meet the ever-changing opportunities and challenges in the information environment. So how does one pull it all together and approach acquisitions work in a structured, conceptual way? Librarianship is more than a set of practices; it is also very much a profession. Like any profession, the formal education and specialized skills that define it are synthesized through a set of organizing principles: that is, a theory. Acquisitions, known for its practicality, is no less structured by theory (whether implicit or explicit) than any other discipline within the library profession. Drawing from my years of professional experience, research, and teaching in both academic and business environments, I have developed a model that provides an overarching approach for strategic acquisitions work. This presentation will address the defining concepts of our field and facilitate a discussion of the future of acquisitions librarianship.
9:45 – 10:30 am — Presentation
- Requests for Proposals: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Amanda Echterling, Virginia Commonwealth University
Having recently been responsible for some terrific and hideous RFPs, the presenter will talk about lessons learned. The good, a consortia RFP for eBooks put consortia values front and center. The bad, a cooperative RFP for serials subscription agents highlights how not all services are cut out for group negotiations. The ugly, a local RFP for a medical monographic services supplier shows how language over time has changed in RFPs and how to negotiate priorities with your partners within the university.
10:30 – 10:45 am — Break
10:45 – 11:30 am — Presentation
- Future-Proofing Acquisition Costs: A Case for Resource Segmentation
Linda Van Keuren, Dahlgren Memorial Library
Dahlgren Memorial Library (DML) is the graduate health and life sciences research library at the Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). DML is a 99% online library and traditionally has purchased resources for access by the immediate population of 6,500 FTE and just-in-case access for another 10,000 FTE users in the larger University community. This acquisitions model has been followed not only by DML but by all three library systems on campus and has been facilitated by using IP authentication for access. In 2016, Dahlgren Memorial Library began a multi-year project to segment the online health sciences resources for ubiquitous access by the GUMC community only and provide walk in access (24/7/365 days per year) for the rest of the University patrons. The goals of the project are to ensure the rest of the campus community is not impacted from future potential increases in Medical Center user numbers, secure demographics-based usage statistics to inform purchase decisions and budget allocations, allow for better identity management, and implement more secure resource access. This presentation will describe the initial process used to implement segmentation, current benefits, and future plans.
11:30 am – 12:15 pm — Table Talks
Facilitated by The Acquisitions Institute Planning Committee
Table Talks are a new feature this year, during which we’ll break into groups to discuss topics you requested and that we think will interest you. We’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts on these topics and this new feature itself.
- Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice in Staff and Collections
What are you doing, or what would you like to be doing, to promote diversity in these areas? - Negotiation Skills
What are you doing to hone these skills at your institution? Have you found any particularly valuable resources (e.g., reading, webinars, workshops)? - Mentoring, Coaching, and Supporting
What successes and challenges have you had in these areas, both with support and professional staff? - Acquisitions as Activists
How have you used your collections budget to do good in the world? Or, how would you *like* to do so? If you haven’t done so yet, what’s holding you back? - Budgets Gone Awry
What happens when you don’t control your own budget (because the state legislature or government does, as at Illinois, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Canada; or the Sweet Briar situation)? What lessons can we all learn from those situations, and how do we continue to work? What effect do they have on the scholarly communications landscape as a whole? - Approval Plans of the Future
What might they, or should they, or do you want them to, look like? How do ebooks change things, or not? - Research and Projects in Progress
What are we all working on in our home institutions? Do you have any budget stories, collection stories, staff successes to share? - Moral Dilemmas in Acquisitions Practice
What happens when your personal values conflict with what your job requires you to do?
12:15 – 1:45 pm — Lunch
1:45 – 3:00 pm — Presentation
- Different Strokes for Different Folks
Becky Imamoto, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Emilee Mathews, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Keith Powell, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Scott Stone, University of California, Irvine Libraries
At the UCI Libraries, we have a diverse workforce of individuals with a variety of backgrounds, life experiences, and career trajectories. Each of us brings a unique perspective to what we do, reflecting our own passions for our work and the legacies, impacts, and outcomes we would like to deliver. Such diversity lends itself to an assortment of creative endeavors that reflect the distinctive and complimentary talents of each person, as well as delivering valuable results to our users. Our panel will discuss how 4 librarians use different approaches to analyze and collect content. Collection analysis has traditionally relied upon extensive spreadsheets requiring an item by item approach; however, data visualization programs can facilitate the discovery of overall use patterns to aid collection development decisions. Pushed further, they can become outreach tools and talking points for integrating user input into the process. User input is certainly a factor for Demand Driven Acquisition (DDA). An assessment of DDA provides a snapshot of the future of electronic and print collecting in the humanities. While many might advocate for technology as an ever more efficient solution, we need the flexibility to return to the analog “vinyl record” as required. Our panelists will share how the tension of diverse needs can result in a synthesis approach to collection strategy.
3:00 – 3:15 pm — Break
3:15 – 4:15 pm — Presentation
- Culture Clash in the Collision Space
Kerry Scott, University of California, Santa Cruz Libraries
Sarah Troy, University of California, Santa Cruz Libraries
M. Elizabeth Cowell, University of California, Santa Cruz Libraries
In the late spring of 2016, the UC Santa Cruz University Librarian announced an opportunity for the University Library to contribute to a campus priority: creating space to support student success. The Science & Engineering Library was re-envisioned as a collision space – a place for students, faculty, and researchers to gather, share ideas, create scholarly content, and promote an academic community of inquiry and belonging.Space-making required a significant reduction in collection size. As a member of the University of California Libraries, UC Santa Cruz was particularly well-positioned to reduce the collection footprint without reducing access to content. A deep dive into the collection’s usage revealed that the library was essentially a print archive and that faculty and students were engaging primarily with online content. Armed with our data and an exciting vision, we shared our plan with the Academic Senate Committee on Libraries and Scholarly Communication (CoLaSC), Deans, Department Heads, and campus leadership. Hearing only positive feedback, we proceeded with the project. Triumph turned to turbulence when several faculty expressed distress about the reduction of the collection.
We will discuss the issues the project surfaced: collection reduction criteria, the role of shared print, distributed archives, e-resources, and multi-generational perspectives on print and the future of library collections.
4:15 – 5:00 pm — Presentation
- Stories and Metaphors: Creative Ways to Convey Data
Rebecca Schroeder, Brigham Young University
Rebecca Boughan, Brigham Young University
Gathering the numbers and statistics may be the easy part in preparing to talk to your administrators. Communicating that data in a memorable way to those who need to know or to those who make decisions can be more challenging. Using metaphors and a meaningful story are probably the most creative ways to convey the data. This presentation will first address the benefits and elements of telling a good story with your data, the importance of understanding one’s audience, and different ways to present the facts and figures. It will then illustrate those principles with some actual presentations and ask audience members to identify the key elements of the story and discuss the merits of these presentations.
5:00 – 6:30 pm — Wine Tasting
7:00 – 8:30 pm — Dinner, Market Café, Wy’East Day Lodge
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
8:00 – 9:00 am — Breakfast, Raven’s Nest
9:00 – 10:30 am — Wrap-up, Evaluations, and Planning for Next Year