Conferences

Four New Inductees to the PALNI Hall of Fame

August 14, 2020 by PALNIDCM

The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana Inc. (PALNI) inducted four library staff into the PALNI Hall of Fame at the virtual OPAL/PALNI all-staff meeting, August 7th, 2020. Awardees have had long-standing service or broad investment in advancing PALNI as a whole or a major impact on a PALNI initiative over multiple years. The “Hall of Fame” award is given to those who have helped to create the collaborative environment, strategic direction, and success PALNI has achieved and embody the PALNI culture of respect and innovation. This year’s awardees include:

Laura Vogler, Wabash College

Laura Vogler has had a longstanding and active involvement with PALNI. Her contributions to the PALNI community conversation and shared knowledge have spanned the gamut from technical system functions and configurations, to identifying areas to improve workflow efficiencies, to providing keen insight on strategy and trends in academic librarianship. Laura’s approach to issues is strongly evidence based and she is never afraid to ask “Now, why are we doing it that way?” Laura has been an important member of the leadership of the PALNI Fulfillment steering committee and the Digital Lending task force. She has been a key addition to the PALNI community to challenge us to always look to improve and to do so collaboratively and by leveraging our collective expertise. She was also recently honored by OCLC as a leading contributor to the OCLC community site.

Erin Milanese, Goshen College

Erin’s knowledge and contributions to the PALNI, the PALSave program and the instructional technology advisory group have been vital to its strong success. She has served as the coordinator of the PALSave program, and has served on the steering committee of the instructional technology advisory group. Erin is being honored for the work she has done to develop meetings and summits, and for her key contributions to the creation of the instructional Tech Tools website. Erin’s consistent efforts to share her knowledge and engage with others in PALNI has advanced collaboration in many avenues, between librarians, between instructional technologists, and faculty. Her knowledge and dedication to these projects are exceptional.

Vanessa French, Butler University

Vanessa French has served on the KnowledgeBase/License Manager group on the steering committee and on the Collection Management Policy Team. She is one of PALNI’s liaisons to the ALI Resource Advisory Committee. Vanessa is another one with a strong voice and vision to find a way to improve. She won’t be bullied by vendors and serves as a powerful partner in negotiations. She is a data whizz, is constantly exploring new tools and resources, and steps up to support the analytics needs of PALNI as we try to improve our current deals and prospective collection collaboration. Her knowledge and expertise have been invaluable to our renewals and strategy development. She works extremely smart on behalf of Butler and shares what she has learned with others in PALNI. She almost always presents a new way of handling a situation that benefits us all.

Jeff Siemon, Anderson University

Jeff has provided significant contributions to the PALNI and wider body of knowledge through presentations, thought provoking and insightful written pieces in the PALNI and OCLC communities, identifying and advocating for collaborative solutions, and offering librarians assistance and advice on individual issues. Jeff has also served on the KnowledgeBase/License Manager group and on the Collection Management Policy Team. He has been a major contributor to OCLC knowledgebase accuracy. He served as one of the two liaisons to the INSPIRE advisory group. State Librarian Jake Speer commended him on his knowledge, expertise, and dedication to libraries of all types in the state of Indiana. Jeff not only prepared detailed analysis of the proposals, but also developed strategy for review and negotiation. The members of the PALNI Collection Management Team commended him for his work and also for the work he has put in to improve the next RFP cycle for INSPIRE. Jeff’s work has been full of challenges. Data cleanup and statewide government bureaucracy. But he continues on, makes headway, and benefits people worldwide.

Many congratulations to the awardees and thank you for your exemplary service.

Charleston Session about Emerging PALNI Collaborations Draws Significant Outside Interest

February 28, 2019 by PALNIDCM

“Thank you for coming… Our goal is to share our passion for community-owned solutions and motivate you to invest in them as well.”

Librarians nationwide pack the Charleston Conference presentation room so that no seat is left empty and eager attendees fill the side aisles to hear the rest of the presentation, “Cultivating agency through emerging community-owned solutions.” Set up as a presentation followed by a panel discussion facilitated by Jason Price from SCELC, co-presenters PALCI Executive Director Jill Morris, PALNI Executive Director Kirsten Leonard, and Index Data LLC CEO Sebastian Hammer shared their community-owned solutions and why the library world needs to cultivate agency.

The session panelists assert that: “Despite the increasing need for efficiency and widespread availability of technology, there seems to be less choice in the library marketplace, and libraries are finding themselves with much less leverage to secure the options they need. Do we buy it from a vendor with increasingly limited choices, build it ourselves, or something in-between?” The topic hit a chord with many attendees who filled the room to hear what PALNI, PALCI, and Index Data LLC have done to grow this “community-owned” movement in their organization and the widespread impact.

PALNI’s role in the panel was to discuss the partnership with PALCI to develop a community-owned solution that addresses the need for a consortial ultra-low cost, open access, collaborative institutional repository (IR). Commercial IR software and hosting services have failed to provide the ability to control costs, support smaller institutions, and provide workflows to enable institutions to work together effectively to leverage expertise and reduce the duplication of work. To address this need, the PALNI/PALCI project has four levels of community agency, engagement, and ownership:

Sharing open access materials
Using open-source, community-owned and developed tools
Partnering with other consortia and developers to setup and maintain the tools
Developing models for the collaborative use of the developed tools

The attendees were encouraged to not only be aware of these community-owned projects but to take action by transforming the way they work within their own sphere of influence. Rather than working in isolation and duplicating efforts, the presenters urged them to help develop business model analysis and product sustainability skills, efficient communication across libraries, structures/framework to support deep collaboration, and partner with departments and other organizations outside the library with similar needs.

Challenges in higher education not only tighten already strapped library budgets but also the time available to fully understand and reflect on the development needs of systems and tools. These initiatives are work-intensive, but by working together at scale, libraries can regain the driver-seat in developing the tools to meet user needs while controlling costs and decision-making.

The speakers have been invited to contribute an article on the session for the Charleston Voices series to expand on the discussion.

A video recording of the session can be viewed on the Charleston Conference’s Youtube page: https://youtu.be/M6j0np1mUIA

PALNI Honors Extraordinary Library and Consortial Staff at All-Staff Conference

July 17, 2018 by PALNIDCM

Keynote Barbara Fister opening the conference.

The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana Inc. (PALNI) recognized library and consortia staff by presenting twenty-eight awards on June 12th, 2018 at their annual all-staff conference. PALNI, a non-profit organization supporting the libraries of its twenty-four supported institutions, inspires innovation, fosters learning, and reduces costs for all PALNI institutions. The event provided opportunity for the supported institutions’ library and instructional technology staff to collaborate and share in person, learn from keynote Barbara Fister, and celebrate the success experienced over the past year.

The Executive Director, Kirsten Leonard,recognized accomplishments in five categories of awards during the event:

The “Hall of Fame” award was bestowed to library staff who’ve volunteered long-standing service and invested above and beyond in PALNI initiatives.
The “Outstanding Service 2018” was awarded to those who were active facilitators in driving action items and advancing projects during the annual year.
Outstanding Service 2018 awards were also given to recognition of those who supported the WMS Implementation of Bethel College and Saint Mary’s College who have recently joined PALNI.
The “Outstanding Achievement Award for Leadership in Deep Collaboration” was given to select library senior leaders who have led the way in working together more deliberately and effectively.
The “Heart of PALNI Award” was given to staff who embody PALNI’s deep collaboration, and supportive culture.

PALNI Hall of Fame

Lauren Magnuson accepting “Heart of PALNI” award at the 2018 All-Staff Conference.

Heather Myers, Anderson University

Outstanding Service 2018

Julie Miller, Butler University

Olivia MacIsaac, Butler University

Vanessa French, Butler University

Erin Milanese, Goshen College

Tonya Fawcett, Grace College

Rebecca Johnson, Manchester University

Suzanne Hinnefeld, Saint Mary’s College

Andrea Cohn, University of Saint Francis

Laura Vogler, Wabash College

Support of Bethel and Saint Mary’s WMS Implementation

Brandon Board, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Karl Stutzman, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Heather Myers, Anderson University

Richard Lammert, Concordia Theological Seminary

Roger Peters, Concordia Theological Seminary

Brooke Cox, DePauw University

Edward Mandity, Marian College

Shawn Denny, Taylor University

Outstanding Achievement Award for Leadership in Deep Collaboration – 2018

Jill Lichtsinn, Manchester University

Noah Brubaker, PALNI

Diane Randall, University of Saint Francis

Heart of PALNI Award

Heather Loehr, PALNI/Hanover College

Eric Bradley, PALNI/Goshen College

Ruth Szpunar, PALNI/DePauw

Barb Chen, PALNI/University of Saint Francis

Lisa Gonzalez, PALNI

Amanda Hurford, PALNI

Lauren Magnuson, PALNI

Recent Fort Wayne Teaching Conference presentation highlights consortial Scholarly Communications, Affordable Education, and Instructional Technology at PALNI

March 6, 2018 by PALNIDCM

PALNI is engaging with faculty to create affordable and effective learning opportunities that draw upon the newest technologies and reduce costs for private colleges in Indiana at the same time. The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) has launched collaborative Scholarly Communications and Instructional Technology programs to incorporate the best of today’s technology, open access materials, and services to directly support teaching and learning by sharing expertise and deduplicating effort across the twenty-four PALNI colleges, seminaries, and universities. To introduce these projects, PALNI Scholarly Communications Director Amanda Hurford and University of Saint Francis Teaching and Learning Services Team Coordinator Andrea Cohn presented in person, while Manchester University Virtual Instruction and Emerging Tech Librarian Rebecca Johnson joined virtually to deliver a session at the Fort Wayne Teaching Conference.

Within this conference talk, Ms. Cohn, Ms. Hurford, and Ms. Johnson presented a call to action to faculty which invites direct engagement with PALNI’s resources and in PALNI’s newest advisory groups and task forces. The corresponding groups – Scholarly Communications and Instructional Technology Advisory Groups and the Affordable Education Initiatives Task Force – will help faculty and instructional designers achieve goals around classroom tech, course design, open educational resources, open access publishing, and digital scholarship across the consortium.

“Using a method of “deep collaboration” among the consortium’s members, we are able to draw on each other’s strengths to advance these ideas,” remarks presenter and PALNI Scholarly Communications Director Amanda Hurford. “These efforts evidence an evolution in strategy for PALNI, into programs that extend impact beyond the library and out onto campus.”

All three groups are open to join by anyone at a PALNI institution. They meet monthly to quarterly in order to advance action items as directed by PALNI’s 2017-2020 strategic plan. PALNI invites faculty involvement at the Advisory Group level, and also on more targeted task forces like Affordable Education, which require a time commitment to create impactful outputs to share across the PALNI audience.

Ms. Hurford has been pleased with the current campus-wide responses to the programs, “We have solid buy-in from library administrators, we are completing action items with good momentum, and we’ve had significant interest in our programs across PALNI campuses.”

For those in a PALNI institution who would like more information about joining one of these groups, please contact Amanda Hurford (amanda@palni.edu) for Scholarly Communications/Affordable Education Initiatives or Rebecca Johnson (rejohnson@manchester.edu) for Instructional Technology.

For more information about the presentation:

Presentation Slides: https://drive.google.com/a/palni.edu/file/d/1hr3ULW5wn9JUKbT3oqkh6Sent5wv5Duv/view?usp=sharing

instructionaltech.palni.org

scholcomm.palni.org

libguides.palni.edu/scholcomm

libguides.palni.edu/affordable_education

About the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI): www.palni.edu

PALNI is a non-profit organization supporting collaboration for library and information services to the libraries of its twenty-four supported institutions. PALNI provides everything from resource management systems to sharing expertise in many areas including strategic planning, reference, information fluency, outreach, data management and configuration, and has identified greater collaboration in acquisitions as a key goal.

Four New Inductees to the PALNI Hall of Fame

Charleston Session about Emerging PALNI Collaborations Draws Significant Outside Interest

PALNI Honors Extraordinary Library and Consortial Staff at All-Staff Conference

Recent Fort Wayne Teaching Conference presentation highlights consortial Scholarly Communications, Affordable Education, and Instructional Technology at PALNI

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