The Lehigh Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Library Association invites proposals for posters to be displayed at the Chapter's annual conference, which will be held on Thursday, May 20, 2010 at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA.

The theme of this year's conference is A Library Slice of Life. Share a slice of your library's life with a poster highlighting those programs and best practices that make your library special.

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS
Don't miss the opportunity to play an active part in 2010 ACRL/LLAMA Spring Virtual Institute, "Doing Well by Doing Good": Entrepreneurial Leadership for Librarians.  Submit a proposal now for an interactive webcast or online poster session.  Submissions will be accepted through November 16, 2009.

CONFERENCE THEME
The ACRL/LLAMA Spring Virtual Institute will offer a forum for an energizing exchange of ideas focusing on leading and managing libraries and staff in libraries. The conference theme,  "Doing Well by Doing Good": Entrepreneurial Leadership for Librarians, will explore different models and aspects of leadership and management and their impact on academic librarianship in today's challenged and flat economic environments.

Leadership of academic and research libraries is always challenging, but it is harder than ever to offer effective, excellent patron services when funds for staff, programs, resources, and services are no longer available. Rather than the overly ambitious challenge of "doing more with less" librarians instead are faced with having to make hard decisions that ensure services, resources, and staff can continue the library's mission.  How do we not only keep up, but also lead the way in an economy in flux?  What contribution can new technologies make to effective management in challenging times? How can we continue to serve as effective mentors and develop leaders for libraries of the future?  What can an entrepreneurial attitude contribute to library leaders' skills?

As ACRL looks ahead to the ACRL 2011 National Conference in Philadelphia, the ACRL Professional Development Coordinating Committee invites you to take a cue from a famous Philadelphian* known 1) for his love of libraries, and 2) from his reputation for practical (and thrifty!) solutions as you consider the issues and topics suggested for proposals.

1. Benjamin Franklin* was ambitious, hardworking, and trustworthy: Effective strategies for dealing with staff frustrations and stresses

2. Benjamin Franklin was image conscious: Advocacy for the academic library within the academy

3. Benjamin Franklin knew the value of networking: Creative professional development activities

4. Benjamin Franklin took risks, but only very calculated risks: Core competencies for effective risk taking managers

5. Benjamin Franklin came up with solutions that turned potential problems into silver linings: Travel-free and/or inexpensive opportunities for professional growth, or ways to find support for travel

6. Benjamin Franklin looked at the whole picture, guaranteeing supply, quality product, and distribution: Fostering mutually beneficial vendor relationships

7. Benjamin Franklin was inventive: - he thought "out of the box": Applying new inexpensive technologies and products to creative programming and problem solving

8. Benjamin Franklin identified unmet demands, created an awareness of them, and then often stepped forward to fill them: Coping with today's leadership challenges for effective long range/strategic planning

CONFERENCE FORMAT
The conference will be held April 21-22, 2010, and will take place in an online conference community.  The online community provides an environment in which groups of participants, both small and large, can gather electronically to learn, collaborate, and network.  The conference will offer both synchronous and asynchronous sessions and programs will be archived for viewing on-demand.

PRESENTATION FORMATS
Webcasts (Synchronous): An interactive webcast allows you to give a presentation in real-time, while also showing visuals, such as PowerPoint slides and desktop applications. You may also conduct polls, which can be loaded in advance or created on the fly.  Participants can interact with webcast presenters by talking with live audio or typing in questions and comments.  Webcasts may last up to 60 minutes each, and should include time for Q&A with the online audience. Webcasts should include an active learning element(s) in order to engage the online audience.  Interactive Webcasts will be offered on either April 21 or 22, 2010.
 
Online Poster Sessions (Asynchronous): The online poster session is a PowerPoint presentation that includes your voice recorded along with each slide.  Because the audio is recorded in advance, you do not need to be present when participants are listening to and watching the presentation.  In order to keep poster sessions targeted and focused, posters should be no longer than 10 minutes and are limited to 20 slides.  Information should be presented in bullet point format with no more than five points per slide.  Narration should be used to expand upon concepts/ideas on the slides.

All tools used in the Virtual Conference community area are designed to work with both PC and Macintosh computers, at dial-up Internet connections or higher. 

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL
Proposals should be submitted via the online proposal form.

The deadline for submissions is 11:00 p.m. CST, November 16, 2009.  You will need to have the following prepared before you begin your online proposal as you will not be able to save your proposal and edit later:

• Presentation title
• Presentation format
• Presentation  description.  The description should be approximately 500 words, should outline the main points of the program, its relevance to attendees, and ways you will engage the online audience.
• Short presentation description.  (100 words)
• At least three learning outcomes
• Complete contact information for all speakers.  Please note that the person submitting a group proposal will be considered the program organizer and the main contact for the presentation. 

SELECTION CRITERIA
Proposals will be evaluated for relevance to the conference theme, clarity, originality, and timeliness.  Special attention will be given to proposals that incorporate one or more of these characteristics:

• Demonstrates innovative thinking
• Presents strategies for effectively implementing new ideas and technology
• Contributes ideas for positioning academic and research librarians to be leaders both on and off campus
• Makes effective use of technology in relation to the content presented

NOTIFICATIONS
Notifications will be issued in January 2010.

QUESTIONS
Contact Margot Conahan at mconahan@ala.org or call 312-280-2522.
 

Public Services Quarterly is currently soliciting manuscripts to be considered for upcoming issues. The journal's goal is to keep academic librarians in a variety of public service roles up to date with developments in the field. Public Services Quarterly covers the areas of reference and research assistance, information literacy and instruction, and access and delivery services, and examines creative ways to use technology to provide your students and faculty with the support they need. Combining research findings and case studies with authoritative articles, the journal tracks the changing patterns in organizational and managerial structures to present new initiatives for expanding and improving library services. Each issue includes a number of columns filled with practical ideas and important resources. The columns are Technology, Marketing, Best of the Literature, Professional Reading, Future Voices in Public Services, Internet Resources, and Special Libraries, Special Challenges. More details about the journal can be found at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/WPSQ

I hope that you will consider PSQ when you are writing an article related to public services in academic libraries. Submissions to PSQ are peer-reviewed, and instructions for authors are available through a link on the PSQ page.  Please don't hesitate to contact the editor if you have questions.  Initial queries about an article topic are welcome. Please note that the article, when completed, is still subject to a complete editorial review.  Please include a cover page listing only the article title, as well as a second title page with the full information that is specified on the Instructions for Authors web page (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=1522-8959&linktype=44).

Trudi E. Jacobson, Editor, Public Services Quarterly, University Libraries, University at Albany, 1400 Washington Ave, Albany NY 12222; tjacobson@uamail.albany.edu; 518/442-3581.

ACRL invites presentations for 2010 professional development programs

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) invites proposal submissions for half- or full-day professional development programs to be held prior to the 2010 ALA Midwinter Meeting or the 2010 ALA Annual Conference. ACRL workshops at the 2010 ALA Midwinter meeting will be held on Friday, Jan. 15, in Boston. Preconferences at the 2010 ALA Annual Conference will be held on Friday, June 25, in Washington D.C. Submissions will be accepted online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=iU2AmiQZRvchslVkKWGSTg_3d_3d through May 4, 2009.

Programs should allow participants to develop skills related to a specific topic and should focus on interactive learning using a variety of presentation styles. Programs that offer practical tips and cutting-edge techniques are especially encouraged. Proposals should explicitly outline activities that will be incorporated during the session to enable attendees to achieve the session's learning outcomes.  Programs can either be half-day or full-day sessions. 
Proposals must include the following information:

• Complete contact information for all speakers. Please note that the person submitting a group proposal will be considered the Program Organizer and the main contact for the presentation. 
• Presentation title.
• Presentation description. The description should be approximately 500 words, should outline the main points of the program, its relevance to attendees and how you would incorporate at least one active learning exercise in your session.
• Short presentation description. This description should be approximately 100 words. If your proposal is accepted, this description will be used in promotional materials.
• Support of ACRL Strategic Plan. Outline how your program would support the ACRL Strategic Plan (http://www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/about/whatisacrl/strategicplan/index.cfm ). 
• At least three learning outcomes and how they will be achieved.
• Indicate whether you have offered this program before for ACRL.
• Indicate whether program will be held at the 2010 Midwinter Meeting or Annual Conference.

Proposals will be evaluated by the ACRL Professional Development Coordinating Committee for clarity, originality and timeliness. Special attention will be given to proposals that incorporate one or more of the following characteristics:

• Generates ideas or reports research that contribute to ongoing discussion about the future of academic and research libraries.
• Demonstrates innovative thinking and/or new perspectives.
• Contributes ideas for positioning academic and research librarians to be leaders both on and off campus.
• Presents strategies for effectively implementing new ideas and technology.
• Incorporates at least one active learning exercise.
• Explicitly includes specific activities that will meet the learning style preferences of a variety of learners.
• Demonstrates how learning outcomes would be achieved.
• Supports the ACRL strategic plan.

Notifications will be issued by July 2009. The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. PDT, Monday, May 4, 2009. Visit http://www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/events/2009call.cfm for complete details.