Jasmine Woodson

by Jasmine Woodson,
Education & Learning Design Librarian,
Library and Technology Services
Lehigh University

In June of this year, 15 librarians gathered in a Harrisburg conference center over three and a half days as participants in PaLA’s Pennsylvania Academy of Leadership Studies (PALS).   We laughed. We cried. We played Quizzo (Fact: Librarians are excellent trivia players).  We ate a lot of cake (Another fact: Librarians like cake).  But most importantly, we enacted the PALS mission to “help librarians identify their potential as leaders.” Aided by presentations, discussion, and self reflection, we honed our leadership skills, networked and developed community, and carved out plans of action for cultivating our best and most effective professional selves.

Over the course of this next year, from July 2016 to June 2017, the 2016 PALS cohort will have an opportunity to put our newfound knowledge into practice and further strengthen our ties to each other and our respective library communities through our involvement in several different projects:

Movers and Shakers of PA Podcasts: Designed to be an extension of the PaLA Membership Moments blog, this project will use podcasting to spotlight work being done by librarian leaders throughout the state. Aside from turning librarians into virtual radio stars, the podcasts will give our PA ‘Movers and Shakers’ a platform to better share their stories with the PaLA community. (Team members: Natalie Dickinson, Mina Edmondson, Brian Fulton, Jill Hallam-Miller)

PaLA Member Mentor Program:  Taking the first step toward getting involved with professional organizations can be difficult, and this program is created with the intention to help demystify that process by pairing enterprising PaLA members with librarian mentors who have experience within the organization. In addition to creating the member mentor program, this PALS team will market and maintain it, and establish means by which to sustain the initiative. (Team members: Adam Haigh, Matt McNeils, Joyce Platfoot, Emily Reed)

PA Forward Newsletter: In support of the new PA Forward initiative, this PALS group will develop a newsletter designed to share PA Forward-oriented articles and resources with librarians and other community stakeholders. (Team members: Kate Cummings, Jamie Hansell, Alison Trautmann)

PA Forward-related articles // Compendium and PA Bulletin:  In further support of PA Forward, this PALS group will highlight projects by Pennsylvania libraries that make use of one or more of the PA Forward Literacies in both the PaLA Compendium Blog and in the quarterly PaLA Bulletin. The intention is to both share innovative programming via blog posts and to invite other libraries to contribute to a repository of programs in the PA Forward Commons . (Team members: Elizabeth Hess, Michelle Muro, Susan Sentz, Jasmine Woodson)

As members of the Compendium team, we’ll be sure to relay any PALS-related news here. Stay tuned for updates!

For  more ideas on how to promote PA Forward Literacies in your library, visit the PA Forward Commons and be sure to add your programs to the database by completing the PA Forward Commons Submission Form!