Could you benefit from the advice and wisdom of a more experienced librarian? Are you looking for a chance to pass along what you’ve learned to someone just entering the field?
The goal of the ACRL DVC Mentorship Program is to match up library school students, new librarians, and librarians considering a job change with an experienced librarian mentor who will provide advice, guidance, and act as a sounding board. Visit our Mentorship Program webpage to learn more and sign up now!
As professionals whose work is centered in access, librarians across departmental domains have opportunities to use our expertise to facilitate reflection, dialogue, and action around diversity and inclusion in striving toward not just cultural competence, but cultural humility.
The fall program from the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Beyond Diversity Speak: Practicing cultural Humility in Your Library will be centered on the work being done in this area in the Delaware Valley Region.
In correlation with this event, the organization is seeking to support the library studies of an individual that is focused on helping to create a more equitable society. a $1000 scholarship will be awarded to a student enrolled in an ALA-accredited program to help offset the cost of educational expenses.
To apply, please submit your resume and a 250-500 word essay describing your interest in cultural humility in librarianship. Eligible applicants must reside in, work, or attend school in the chapter’s service area.
Deadline: Monday, October 14, 2019
Please send your submission to: dvcmentoring@gmail.com
ACRL DVC offers a resume review service in the spring. The service is open to students and practicing librarians and there is no need to be members. Two volunteers will review each resume and cover letter for participant and respond with feedback. Please send your documents to dvcmentoring@gmail.com by May 20, 2019. Feel free to share this information with all those you think might benefit.
Librarians have the opportunity and responsibility to use their institutional membership to advocate for their communities. In an attempt to inspire local academic librarians our fall program is centered on the advocacy work already being down in the Delaware Valley Region. Every year, the Delaware Valley Chapter of the ACRL awards a stipend to support future academic librarians. This year the organization would like to help support the library studies of an individual that is focused on helping to create a more
equitable society. A $1000 scholarship will be awarded to a student enrolled in an ALA-accredited program to help offset the cost of educational expenses.
To apply, please submit a 250 word essay describing your interest in advocacy and activism in librarianship. Eligible applicants must attend school, work, or reside in the chapter’s service area.
Word Count: 250
Deadline: Monday, October 16, 2018
Please send submission to dvcmentoring@gmail.com
Thanks to the active participation of many of our members, our chapter held a student resume review during the month of March. Our reviewers were insightful, detail-oriented, and thoughtful, and generated a lot of good advice for individuals hoping to get jobs in libraries. The primary piece of advice that came out of their review was that students should include a variety of information and not overlook the specifics of their identity, opportunities, and activities, as all of these may set them apart from other candidates.
Our reviewers recommended including an Objective or Qualifications Statement at the beginning of a resume. An Objective Statement ties career goals to qualifications and prior experience while a Qualifications Statement allows job seekers to feature soft skills and discuss passion and philosophy. In addition to including your passions or philosophies on service or teaching, include language that directly relates to the job description.
Resumes are often bulleted statements that outline activities. However, it’s alright to elaborate on portions of your experience that correlate with the position for which you are applying. Our reviewers frequently wanted more information about the candidate. Cover letters give you a one-page opportunity, but your resume can continue emphasizing the statements of your cover letter. One reviewer suggested, “If you’re applying to a business librarian position, pull apart what ‘business information literacy’ means in practice. If you’re applying to an instruction-heavy position, emphasize the teaching and learning activities you’ve been a part of — for example, what kinds of instructional sessions have you led?” Your resume is your first opportunity to share your skills and inspire your future team!
One other common suggestion was to include experiences that may seem non-traditional, not passing over descriptions of service, communication strengths, academic studies, and professional development activities. One reviewer stated, “Academic librarianship has become so multifaceted…;” you can take advantage of the variety in library work. Including even brief work in scholarly communication, data analysis and management, faculty-oriented programming, instructional technology, active learning, software development, etc. might set you apart and demonstrates your awareness of the field into which you hope to enter.
Thank you to each individual who participated in the March resume review! We think that resume review is such a useful service to our community that we would like to extend it to librarians who would like peer review and responses. So feel free to email your resume to dvcmentoring@gmail.com, it will be distributed to two librarians and returned to you in a timely manner. Together we can support each other’s career progress and be a professional organization that challenges, encourages, and emboldens one another to be unique and passionate librarians.
Attention MLIS students in the Delaware Valley region – ACRL DVC has more opportunities for you this spring! Once again, we hope to bolster your professional development and, consequently, available opportunities following graduation. In addition to our ongoing mentorship program, we are providing two opportunities for you to spruce up your resume:
Resume Review
Anytime this March, submit your resume to dvcmentoring@gmail.com, and we will have two librarians read and respond to your resume with helpful tips to make your experience and skills stand out to employers. Timely, since many of you will graduate and begin job searching this spring!
Presentation Opportunity
We would love if you share some of your practicum, internship, or fellowship experiences through a poster presentation at our April 20th Spring Program. Submitting a poster proposal is easy! Simply email dvcmentoring@gmail.com by March 23, providing the following information:
Full Name
Email
MLIS Program
Poster Title
Poster Brief Description
Librarians of the Delaware Valley are excited to support you in your professional development and to make the transition from student to professional smooth. Whether you are updating your resume or reflecting on your past experiences, we are looking forward to hearing from you in the near future!
Congratulations to Abigail Shelton, an MLIS graduate student at Drexel University, for winning this year’s $1,000.00 ACRL DVC stipend! Ms. Shelton is interested in digital libraries, archives, and reference and instruction. She has an M.A. in Early American history from Binghamton University, SUNY and works at the American Philosophical Society Library in Philadelphia.
Each year applicants for the stipend must respond to an essay prompt. This year’s prompt required students to consider how the IL framework could be used to address the challenges of a post-truth society. Ms. Shelton’s response included emphasis on library partnerships and student exposure to diverse perspectives in library instruction.
Ms. Shelton’s full response to the essay prompt is included below. Continue reading “Abigail Shelton, MLSIS student, Receives $1,000 Award from ACRL DVC”
Now is a great time for MLIS students who live, work, or go to school in the Delaware Valley to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the ACRL.
A mentoring program is in place with mentors waiting to provide support and advice. Our mentors work in a variety of roles in higher education. Sign up to be matched with a mentor and receive the invaluable support of an experienced colleague.
Additionally, DVC is currently accepting applications for a $1000 stipend to help offset the cost of educational expenses for an ALA-accredited program. Applicants must write an essay on news literacy, which is also the topic of the upcoming Fall program – Fact, False, or Just Flawed: Critically Examining News in the Age of Truthiness. Interested in attending the Fall program? Students receive a discounted price on program registration and a one-year free membership, so getting involved as a student is a great idea!
The Delaware Valley Chapter is committed to helping future librarians. If you have any questions, please contact dvcmentoring@gmail.com.
Every year, the Delaware Valley Chapter of the ACRL awards a stipend to support future academic librarians. A $1000 stipend will be awarded to a student enrolled in an ALA-accredited program to help offset the cost of educational expenses. Eligible applicants also must work or reside in the Chapter’s service area. To apply, please submit an essay on the following topic:
Using the ACRL’s Framework to Teach News Literacy Continue reading “Now Accepting Student Applications for $1000 Stipend – Deadline October 16”
Hello Delaware Valley Chapter! This is Jess Denke, Public Services Librarian at DeSales University and Chapter Vice President. Thank you for electing me to serve you! I have already connected with the rest of the Chapter Board. They are a very enjoyable and industrious bunch. We are going to have a great year and I am looking forward to connecting with you personally.
One of my new responsibilities is to communicate to you the value of our programming and to encourage you to participate. ACRL/DVC connects librarians throughout the Delaware Valley and beyond. But, more than that, we seek to embolden our members and future members through connections that inspire and inform. We do this, in part, through a mentorship program.
We hope to expand the ACRL/DVC mentorship program, but we can’t do it without individuals who are willing to dedicate a few hours of their time to talk to aspiring librarians, early-career librarians, or librarians who are changing course. To make it even easier for you to sign up, we added a checkbox to the DVC membership form – please check if you would like to be a mentor! If you click “Edit Profile,” you’ll also see an option to become part of ACRL/DVC’s mentorship program. Please take this opportunity to get involved!
I know you can think of at least one person who has provided you with invaluable feedback and informed your professional practice. I think you can be that person for someone else. If you have any questions, concerns, or want to give me some advice for my time on the board please contact me at Jessica.Denke@desales.edu. I would love to hear from you. You can also read about and respond to my work on my blog: https://missjessmlis.wordpress.com/.
