Colorado Academic Library Association (CoALA): Summit 2014
CoALA Summit 2014
MEET CAMILA ALIRE
Through her professional positions, professional service, and scholarship, Dr. Camila Alire is recognized as a library leader. She is Dean Emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University. Her doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Northern Colorado and her MLS from the University of Denver helped prepare her for leadership in the library profession.
She has served the profession well as president of ALA (2009), president of the Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL 2005), and president of national REFORMA (1993). Camila has co-authored books on management basics, academic librarianship, emotionally intelligent leadership, library services to Latino communities; and disaster planning/recovery. She has also written and presented on various aspects of diversity, on library advocacy, and library marketing.
Because of her leadership and scholarship abilities, Camila was honored with the ALA/Lippincott Award for Distinguished Service; the CALA Presidential Recognition Award, and the ALA Achievement in Library Diversity Research Award. She also received the first ALA Elizabeth Futas’ Catalyst for Change Award and the National REFORMA’s Librarian of the Year Award. Camila was named Scholar-in-Residence for the Chicago Public Library System and was honored one year by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the U.S. Camila was recently appointed by President Obama to sit on the National Endowment of the Humanities Council.
MEET CARRIE DONOVAN
Carrie Donovan is Head of Teaching & Learning for the Indiana University Libraries, where she works with students, faculty, and instructors to connect the Libraries to student learning. Carrie’s contribution to information literacy and learning assessment is made evident through her publications and presentations on the topic, as well as her engagement in professional organizations. One of her recent publications is a chapter co-authored with Sara O’Donnell entitled The Tyranny of Tradition: How Information Paradigms Limit Librarians’ Teaching and Student Scholarship in the book Information Literacy and Social Justice: Radical Professional Praxis edited by Shana Higgins & Lua Gregory (Library Juice Press, Spring 2013). She currently serves as a facilitator and curriculum designer for ACRL’s Assessment in Action initiative. At IU, Carrie advocates for information literacy assessment across the curriculum to ensure the libraries’ centrality to disciplinary discourse and student learning. Carrie’s own research areas of interest include the review and reward of librarians’ teaching, student-centered learning for library instruction, and critical information literacy. Carrie received her Master of Library Science degree from Indiana University.
MEET CANDICE BENJES-SMALL
Candice Benjes-Small is Professor, Head of Information Literacy and Outreach and University Information Literacy Coordinator at Radford University in Radford, VA. As Head of Information Literacy she oversees a team of five instruction librarians who teach 400+ library sessions each academic year. Since 2009, she has also been an instructor of record every semester for two critical thinking courses that are required as part of general education. Last year, she was awarded the Virginia Library Association’s Presidential Citation for revitalizing the Virginia chapter of ACRL, which included increasing programming across the Commonwealth and developing a peer-reviewed track at the annual VLA conference. She has presented and written about information literacy extensively, and is lead author of an article about teaching Web evaluation which has been selected as a 2013 Top 20 Article by ALA’s Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT). With Rebecca K. Miller, she is co-authoring the book “Training for New Instruction Librarians,” which Neal-Schuman will publish in August 2015. Candice received her MLIS from the University of Texas at Austin and her BA in history from Haverford College in Pennsylvania.
MEET LAUREN PRESSLEY
Lauren Pressley is Associate Director of Learning and Outreach and Associate Professor and at Virginia Tech University Libraries. In this job she helps align the library within the teaching mission of the university focusing on emerging pedagogies and literacies. Her professional interests include formal and informal learning, design in library services, the evolving information environment, organizational change, and the future of libraries. She is the author of So You Want to Be a Librarian and Wikis for Libraries and holds elected positions on the American Library Association Council and the Library Information Technology Association Board of Directors.
Previously, Lauren served as Head of Instruction and Instructional Design Librarian at Wake Forest University. In these roles, she managed the instruction program of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, consulted with librarians and other faculty members of the design of their instruction and emerging technology use, and implemented new programs such as designing and teaching the college’s first undergraduate fully online course.
Lauren earned her Master of Library and Information Studies degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and BAs in Communication and Philosophy at North Carolina State University. She has been recognized as a Library Journal Mover and Shaker, an American Library Association Emerging Leader, and with a Distinguished Alumni Early Career Award from the UNC-G School of Education.
