I have a couple new lines on the service section of my CV that I thought might interesting to share with you as well as an update on what’s currently underway.  Service is a third of how I will be reviewed for tenure, though under our current norms it will not be part of the packet that is sent to the external reviewers as anything other than lines on said CV.

Service can include both internal university committees and external regional or national level committees.

If you see me in other places online, you know I’m in the middle of several search committees (Yay! We’re hiring!).  Two are winding down; two are midstream and these are taking a fair amount of time.  For each position there are resumes to read and evaluate,  phone interviews, in person interviews, conversations with colleagues, and search committee meetings.  Add the usual thought disruption of meetings that aren’t part of my ‘regular’ work and the amount of time dedicated to finding a new colleague can  be significant.

I’ve also just signed onto a campus level committee to be thinking about and discussing research data management on that level. This committee is chaired by my Assistant University Librarian for Information Technology.  I’m not entirely sure what all our charge will entail but I’m looking forward to broadening the conversation.

I have also just been elected to the University Library FDAC Committee for work: the Faculty Development Allocation Committee. Each faculty member is allocated a certain amount of money that can be used towards research, continuing education, technology, etc at the beginning of the fiscal year. When I want to use some of that money, I send a request with an amount, relevant details, and a short (1-2 sentence) justification to the committee. They verify that it sounds reasonable and email me back with a “okay, go ahead” which I include in my request to the business office.  I haven’t had anything turned down so I’m not sure about the process for that. I’m interested to see how other people are spending their money, I’m always looking for new continuing education  ideas.

Externally to the University I have a new LITA Committee and one other entirely new venture.

For LITA, I’ve accepted a year long appointment on the Nominating Committee.  Our work, nominating candidates to run for the LITA Board and President (if I understand everything correctly) starts immediately and runs through elections opening next spring. Having the opportunity to be so closely connected to the next round of leadership for my division is very exciting! I heard from our chair a while back but I am not sure who all is on the committee. I hope to learn a lot from them very quickly. If you have any process questions that I can answer, please let me know and I will try to shed as much light as I can.

Newest and shiniest though is that I have accepted appointment as a Reviews Editor for the Journal of Collaborative Librarianship. I, with Barb Losoff, now have the responsibility to find items for review, recruit authors, edit the reviews and get them submitted in a timely fashion further up the editorial chain.

I’m thrilled to be working with JCL. It’s a Gold OA peer reviewed journal, no author fees if you’re curious.  I sat in on my first editorial meeting recently and the enthusiasm in the room and excitement about working with authors and getting things published was palpable-something that can be difficult to sustain five years into a project, as they are.

I hope this will prove an opportunity for my readers here as well. I need suggestions, ideas and I wouldn’t mind a few more people in my pocket to call on for reviews. We have the freedom to review whatever seems relevant: white papers, journal articles, books, videos, databases etc, all under the umbrella of how it provides collaboration opportunities. I know we’d like to see more from those not the usual suspects: small academic libs, public librarians*, school librarians.  I have initially suggested a couple of books that I would like to see reviewed and I’ll admit some selfishness in wanting to know how good the books are (I expect great) before I commit several hours to reading.

If you have thoughts, please let me know.

 

 

*<Ahem> Paging Madame Storyteller. Two words: Case Study. </Ahem>