ARL News

ARL Diversity Scholars 2011-2013, photo by Holly KuperARL is now accepting applications for the ARL/Music Library Association (MLA) Diversity and Inclusion Initiative (ARL/MLA DII). This scholarship program, funded by a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and by ARL member libraries, offers minority candidates an opportunity to pursue the master’s in library and information science (MLIS) degree while gaining valuable “hands-on” experience in a large academic music library environment. The initiative’s goal is to increase the number of underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities within academic music librarianship by providing support for the graduate education and the practical experience critical for successful entrance into the profession.

In this webcast to be held Tuesday, March 5, 1:00–2:00 p.m. EST, Martha Kyrillidou and Shaneka Morris of ARL’s Statistics and Assessment program will describe how to effectively use data from the ARL Annual Salary Survey to promote higher salaries for library professionals.

Boston College, Burns LibraryARL executive director Elliott Shore has embarked on a "listening tour" of ARL member libraries. This is the second in a series of informal reports from his visits.

I continue to visit ARL member libraries to meet and talk with staff and directors. During the first week of February, I had the pleasure of visiting the five ARL libraries that are located in the Boston area: Boston College, Boston Public, Boston University, Harvard, and MIT. I was able to spend at least half a day at each institution, meeting with all five directors as well as AULs at each library.

image © John SchniebelRegistration is now open for a workshop on library value, to be hosted by ARL on Monday, July 1, 2013, in conjunction with the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago. Megan Oakleaf, associate professor in the iSchool at Syracuse University, will lead the half-day event, “Library Value: Conceptualizing, Capturing & Communicating Impact.”

image © Tom Lohdan Today, the Obama administration issued a historic Policy Memorandum that opens up access to the results of publicly funded research. ARL applauds the Obama administration for this critically important action. The memorandum calls upon federal agencies with annual research and development budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with free and unlimited online access to the results of that research.

ARL is now offering a series of four webcasts illustrating effective uses of data from the ARL Annual Salary Survey. The webcasts will address what data are available through ARL, how these data can be used locally to make a case for better salaries, how to develop equitable salary structures, and how to analyze demographic information and trends about aging and other characteristics.

Photo of Jack Kerouac manuscript, image © Thomas HawkARL and Ithaka S+R today released Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries, a report on findings from an ARL-Ithaka S+R survey of ARL libraries on the range of activities and expenses that libraries undertake to support their digitized special collections.

LibQUAL+ is pleased to announce that three libraries have been selected to receive in-kind grants in 2013. The selection of grantees was based on financial need, contribution to the growth of LibQUAL+, and potential for surfacing best practices in the area of library service improvements.

Dale Askey's
Bibliobrary blogARL and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) share a commitment to freedom of opinion and expression of ideas and are strongly opposed to any effort to intimidate individuals in order to suppress information or censor ideas. We further share the belief that a librarian must be able to offer his or her assessment of a publisher’s products or practices free from such intimidation.

ARL is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 Library Assessment Conference poster session. The awards were presented on October 29, 2012, at the conference in Charlottesville, Virginia. The winning posters, along with all poster session submissions, are now available on the conference website.