Tag: IRDW

Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce Call for Applications Deadline April 28

2010 ARL Leadership Symposium

Below is the call for applicants for ARL’s IRDW. I highly recommend that you apply if you are eligible. You can read about my experiences with IRDW and feel free to ask me questions about my experiences with the program.

ARL is accepting applications for the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (IRDW), a program designed to recruit master of library and information science (MLIS) students from traditionally underrepresented ethnic and racial minority groups into careers in research libraries and archives. The IRDW includes a stipend in support of MLIS education of up to $10,000 over two years, leadership and career development training, a site visit to the Purdue University Libraries, financial support for skills development, and a formal mentorship program.

The IRDW is funded by ARL member libraries. This program reflects the commitment of ARL members to create a diverse research library workforce that will better meet the challenges of changing demographics in higher education and the emphasis of global perspectives in the academy.

Program Goal and Objectives

The ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce seeks to:

  • Attract MLIS students from underrepresented groups to careers in research libraries and archives
  • Strengthen participants’ leadership and job searching skills via a Leadership Symposium held during the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting
  • Develop a network of peers and mentors who will guide and nurture the career development of the participants

Candidates from all academic disciplines are encouraged to apply.

Applicant Criteria

Successful applicants will meet the following criteria:

  • Identify as an underrepresented racial or ethnic minority, based on the categories outlined by the US Census Bureau or Statistics Canada
  • Be a citizen or permanent resident of the US, Canada, or Puerto Rico
  • Be accepted into an ALA-accredited MLIS program
  • Have a strong interest in pursuing a career in a research library or archive

To Apply

All applicants are required to submit the following materials by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Monday, April 28, 2014:

  • Online application form
  • Resume
  • A 400-word (maximum) essay describing what attracts you to a career in a research library
  • Two letters of reference
  • Official undergraduate and graduate school transcripts including your last academic semester completed
  • Copy of an official letter of acceptance from an ALA-accredited library/information science program

For more information about the program, visit the IRDW website.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 125 research libraries in the US and Canada. ARL’s mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the web at http://www.arl.org/.

East Coast Adventures AKA The Road to ALA 2010

Image with fireworks in the background reading DC 2010 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition June 24-29 2010.
ALA 2010

Greetings and salutations!

I hope that everyone reading this is doing well, and that my fellow attendees all made it home without incident.

So, what have I been up to?

June 12, 2010 I attended graduation at Drexel University and got to meet some of my fellow students, hurrah!

I also spent several days exploring Philadelphia with my husband, guided by my aunt and cousins before visiting Missy Harvey, the Computer Science Librarian for the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries in Pittsburgh. We moved on to Harrisburg to visit the National Civil War Museum, which I highly recommend seeing, and Gettysburg.? After that we moved on to New York, NY to visit my step-son and one of my oldest friends, and then turned south to Delaware. I realized from the signage that I was near the University of Delaware and gave myself an impromptu campus and library tour, they have an awesome audio/video center in their library! We spent a few days in Maryland relaxing with some friends, and then moved on to D.C. for ALA 2010.

A Few Washington, D.C. Highlights

Revisiting Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum (Twice!)

What can I say, you can’t take the science out of the girl and I always adore seeing the new takes on the NASA display and all the other changes, it really did take two visits to see all the new stuff and I still didn’t have time to see one of their IMAX presentations!

Spectrum Professional Options Fair

This event is part of the Spectrum Leadership Institute, I was there as a representative of ACRL’s Residency Interest Group. The purpose of the event is for Spectrum Scholars to learn about various career paths and professional groups, and to provide general networking for them as well. My group passed out flyers, business cards, pointed people toward other groups of interest at the institute and generally had a good time promoting Residencies, scholarship and mentoring opportunities, and librarianship.

ARL’s 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Intitative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce

As an ARL Diversity Scholar I was asked to attend this lunch celebration of the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce. I showed up early to help setup with my husband and we helped out and generally had a good time. Not only was the food excellent, but the speakers were as well. I was particularly proud of my fellow 2009-2011 Diversity Scholar Jeff Cruz’s speech. Jeff also challenged us to see which of us would become the first ARL director. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a multi-way tie in the end, good luck to us all!

Sunday – Best day! I’ll do a separate post on this next week :-)

Privacy –

Monday as I wandered in tired and without a plan and only 2 hours to spare, I had the good fortune to run into Brian Leaf who suggested I go to a session with him on privacy issues. I’m not sure what the name of the session was but I really enjoyed one of the speakers analogy for privacy issues, a black box sitting on a rotting net with a flag.

Exhibits Report

As per usual there was the usual assortment of people watching and free books. I was especially impressed by the determination of the woman who brought her daughter to sit with bags and had 8 bags of books within about 30 minutes of the exhibits opening. I myself snagged 8 which looked interesting, and even managed to snag a free copy of a book being sold Saturday by staring rather wistfully at a book as they were closing the signing and mentioning that I had the first book at which point the vendor gave it to me for free and I was the last person to have their book signed.

I was disappointed in the selection of science related vendors, even the vendors with science products were not nearly as helpful as I had met at midwinter. To that I say, science people want convention attention too! If I ask about your science products and you are a representative for your vendor telling me you don’t have any handouts and only know that name of the products makes me wonder if you really want me to buy them.

In contrast I was very pleased to speak with the people from the Oxford University Press they were very helpful, interesting, and I learned about new products which were in my area of interest. I was also very happy to meet up with Dave, Ryan, and the rest of the Mango Languages crew, if you haven’t tried their product yet see if you have access through your library and check them out! I really love how they not only have lessons for English speakers to learn foreign languages, but also English as a second language lessons. (No I am not affiliated with them, I just like their product and want it to continue succeeding so I can continue using it!)

Poster Sessions

I really enjoyed the chance to see what people were doing to improve their libraries and their services. I really enjoyed the opportunity to connect with other librarians and discover people with similar interest and specialties who I hope to collaborate with in the future. Talks and presentations are useful, but if you don’t drop by the poster sessions when you can you’re missing a fun and highly useful opportunity to connect with your peers/future colleagues/future bosses. Most interesting poster has to go to the librarians that created a virtual tour using adapted dolls, some model props, and photos to simulate a library tour for online students in a video clip. I also loved hearing about successful scavenger hunt strategies and brain storming for overnight mystery events in libraries.

All in all I had a great time, met great people, and learned a lot, if you have a chance to attend a convention I highly encourage you to go.

Attended ALA 2010 in D.C.? What were your highlights?