LibGuides: Science and Technology Section (STS): About Our Committees: Committees Home

How to use this guide

Much of the work of STS is carried on by committees. Except for the Executive Committee, which has been described previously and whose members are elected by the section membership, all committee members and chairs are appointed by the vice-chair/chair-elect of the section and serve for either one, two, or three year terms. All committee chairs serve on the STS Council, a forum for reporting committee activities, sharing ideas and developing policies for the section.

To serve on any committee within the Association of College and Research Libraries, you must be a member of the Association. It is American Library Association policy that no member of ALA may serve simultaneously on more than three committees, including division and section committees, unless membership is ex-officio. It is also ALA policy that committee members are to attend the meetings of the committee at both the Midwinter and Annual conferences of the Association. Neither ALA nor ACRL provides funds for committee members to attend these meetings.

All committee meetings, except meetings of the Nominating Committee, Research Committee, and some meetings of the Oberly Award, are open to all members of ALA.

Several committees are discussed in-depth in this manual due to the nature of their responsibilities and need to meet many ACRL deadlines in order to accomplish their work. The STS Organizational Chart provides the charge, composition and membership requirements and/or terms.

A Year in the Life 2024

What is your name?
Paula C. Johnson

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?
University of Arizona Libraries, Associate Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?
Awards Committee, Co-Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.
This committee solicits, collects and reviews applications for awards sponsored by the ACRL Science & Technology Section (STS), and identifies and recommends the most qualified individual(s) for these awards to the STS Executive Committee.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?
While ACRL has been retooling the awards program, the Awards Committee's work has been effectively paused. The committee has met several times in the last couple years to discuss changes and/or additions to the awards currently in place and to refine workflows, but this work has been minimal. The committee conducts its work virtually and via email.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?
Committee members will be exposed to the nominated librarians' work, and will explore where it fits into the bigger context of relevant scholarship. There is also the gain a member receives from interacting with colleagues on the committee.

What is your name?
Mark Chalmers

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?
University of Cincinnati, Science & Engineering Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?
College Science Librarians Committee, Co-Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.
To provide a forum for discussion of issues of concern to college science librarians.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?
1-2 hours per month.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?
Our fall discussion event centered on the economics of science librarianship and the topics we discussed included collection development, outreach and communication, instructional resources, collaborations and partnerships, and LIS student and new/early-career librarians.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?
We plan to host another discussion group in Spring 2023.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?
Meeting and networking with fellow science librarians and learning how STS functions as an organizing body through being a co-chair.

What is your name?
Tessa Withorn

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?
University of Louisville, Science Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?
Conference Planning Committee 2024, Co-Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.
The conference planning committee meets as a group to discuss ideas for programming at ALA annual that would be relevant to STS members, submits the proposal, and coordinates the presentation if selected.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?
This is a relatively low commitment committee that entails 2-3 hours of meetings with committee members for the year and 2-3 hours on developing the program proposal and submitting the proposal. If the proposal is accepted, more work is involved in communicating with speakers or panelists and arranging for honorariums using STS funds.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?
I've gotten a broader sense of topics in current trends in librarianship of interest to STS members and modalities they are interested in for professional development and networking.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?
We submitted a proposal for a panel at ALA annual on AI, librarianship, and social change that we hope to invite panelists from multiple ACRL sections to share their perspectives on this emerging technology.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?
Our initial brainstorming session on prospective topics was really fun to see what people were interested in.

What is your name?
Kristen Adams

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?
Miami University Libraries; Science and Engineering Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?
Data Curation and Assessment, Co-Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.
We help STS committees have a place to store data collected in studies or surveys and provide advice on best practices.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?
It's not something that requires work every week, but every month it's about an hour and a half to two hours - that includes meetings.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?
Before serving on this committee I hadn't used OSF (Open Science Framework). We use OSF a lot in our committee work and I'm much more comfortable with it now.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?
We are preparing a webinar for spring 2024.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?
In the somewhat recent past the committee underwent a name change, and it was fun to be part of that, and help pick out the new name, as it doesn't happen all that often.

What is your name?
Jodi Coalter

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?
Michigan State University, Life Sciences Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?
Development Committee, Co-Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.
We build relationships with a variety of vendors that allow us to help fund STS events.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?
We spend probably 2 hours a month on committee work. We mostly work through email with a few meetings throughout the year. We mostly connect with vendors, meet with them at conferences we may attend, and then send requests for funding if requested by another STS committee.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?
Mostly how funding through ACRL and vendors works, but also how to talk to vendors and how budgeting works. I've also been able to understand what vendors hope to gain from donating, how we can help facilitate better communications across the different parties involved in funding, and how to talk about funding with those parties.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?
The Development Committee is a very new committee, so there's a lot of foundational work that needs to be done. For example, STS has had one (awesome) contact for vendors for years. Now we have to re-establish these connections with new people.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?
Learning about funding opportunities has proved fascinating. It's an aspect of librarianship that I haven't had a chance to explore, so it's been interesting to see how it works. Also, my committee colleagues are really a wonderful group of people to work with.

Share a link to a LibGuide, project website, or other link that gives additional information about your committee or examples of its recent work, and tell us about it.
If you need funding from the Development Committee, there's a process that you need to follow to ensure we don't step on ACRL's toes. To learn more about this process, visit this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QqKexMrB2QE9ThvixepFZCTrgfZspN4GEOu-NWQiGGM/edit?usp=sharing

What is your name?
Aditi Gupta and Jeanne Hoover

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?
Engineering & Science Librarian, University of Victoria Libraries; Head, Scholarly Communication, Academic Library Services, East Carolina University

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, Co-Chairs

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.
Maintain current awareness of the EDI environment, establish formal and informal relationships with EDI working groups external to the Section, and assist other STS committees and discussion groups with best practices to implement STS' EDI values.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?
Approximately 0.5 hrs/week; 2-3 hours/month; 10-15 hours/year.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?
Networking, working with STS Executive Committee, EDI issues in STEM librarianship, and management and communication skills.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?
Creating a list of resources on EDI in STEM librarianship; hosting a webinar panel and couple of different events during the year to bring STEM librarians together.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?
Updated an extensive list of past initiatives.

What is your name?
Dan Broadbent

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?
Brigham Young University. Physical & Computer Sciences Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?
Government Information Committee. Co-Chair.

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.
To provide an opportunity for STS members to be involved with issues related to science and technology and government policies and activities.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?
3 hours per month.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?
Science and technology are some of the most exciting areas of the work we do in libraries. I have learned a lot about the important overlap between those areas and government policies and actions.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?
We are organizing our annual update to discuss current events related to two possible topics: Government involvement in Hawaii related to indigenous rights and astronomy facilities; and Artificial Intelligence issues and how government laws and regulations are responding to current concerns.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?
I have enjoyed the opportunity to get to know others on the committee, what they do for their work, and what their opinions are about current science and technology topics.

What is your name?
Sandy Avila

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?
SPIE, Digital Library Sales Manager

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?
Hot Topics Committee, Co-Chair.

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.
Our official committee charge is as follows: "To provide a forum for and facilitate a discussion of current issues of concern to science and technology librarians." We work to develop two discussion forums per year.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?
Our committee workload is not too bad. We typically work more the few months leading up to a Hot Topics discussion program. We have two programs per year. We meet to discuss program ideas and who we should ask to share their insights at the discussions, and we work to set up the program and to invite participants to join us. We usually work two or less hours per month at least four months per year, which includes committee meetings and seminar discussion events.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?
I have learned how to manage a group, how to set up agendas, and how to keep a team moving forward on shared goals. I have also learned how easy it really is to ask others to participate and share their expertise by being a speaker for an event.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?
We are currently working on the Winter Hot Topics program, and are in the process of finding our speakers. We have an excellent program planned, so stay tuned for more details. (Ed. note: Since this survey response was submitted, the Winter Hot Topics program has been announced for February 20.)

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?
It is super fun to investigate interesting speakers for the Hot Topics Discussion programs. You never know who you will end up meeting and the relationships usually keep developing over time, which is great!

Share a link to a LibGuide, project website, or other link that gives additional information about your committee or examples of its recent work, and tell us about it.
https://acrl.libguides.com/c.php?g=1086820&p=7924327 -- This LibGuide link provides details about our committee's programs the past few years. We have created some great content and facilitated excellent current topic discussions for our STS community.

What is your name?

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?

Share a link to a LibGuide, project website, or other link that gives additional information about your committee or examples of its recent work, and tell us about it.

What is your name?
Janet Hughes

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?
Penn State, Biological Sciences Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?
Liaisons, Co-Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.
We assign STS members to act as Liaisons to other Sci-Tech associations, and hold an annual forum for Liaisons to report back on their assigned associations' events and accomplishments.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?
The workload is light, most time is spent on the annual forum. The process to select candidates for the ACRL level liaisons (AAAS & IFLA) can be intensive, but fortunately, those positions are 4-year stints with renewals allowed.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?
Zoom expertise.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?
Trying to find ways to entice more volunteers by finding funding or reduced fee opportunities to encourage STS Members to join or attend conferences of STEM associations.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?
The Annual Forum is interesting and educational.

Share a link to a LibGuide, project website, or other link that gives additional information about your committee or examples of its recent work, and tell us about it.
https://connect.ala.org/acrl/viewdocument/annual-sts-liaisons-forum-2023?CommunityKey=ebb1bcee-f566-454a-9272-57ffb081d9bf&tab=librarydocuments

What is your name?
Sheena Campbell

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?

University of California Davis, STEM Student Services Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?

Membership & Recruitment, Co-Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.

Organizing outreach and programming to recruit and celebrate STS members.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?

Workload varies across the year but never more than 5 hours per month.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?

Coordinating and leading meetings; designing marketing materials; and networking.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?

Guidelines for hosting membership networking events.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?

Recruiting new library professionals is the most rewarding aspect of this role! I love to connect new librarians with a support network of colleagues.

What is your name?

Hannah Rempel

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?

Oregon State University, Research & Learning department head (and College of Agricultural Sciences liaison librarian)

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?

Nominating Committee, Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.

We solicit and identify candidate options for STS officer roles, contact the candidates to see if they're willing to run, and form the nomination slate for STS membership to vote on.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?

The work primarily happens in the summer, with a little bit of work taking place again in late winter closer to the election. During the summer, if multiple committee members are engaged in connecting with potential candidates, the workload is only about 1-2 hours total (unless we have to contact many more candidates to find willing participants), plus 1-2 hours of meetings to discuss procedures and to make decisions as a group.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?

Delegating, networking, and organizational skills.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?

Getting to meet the committee members and learning more about them!

Share a link to a LibGuide, project website, or other link that gives additional information about your committee or examples of its recent work, and tell us about it.

Stay tuned for the 2024 election guide -https://acrl.libguides.com/STS/STS2023Elections

What is your name?

Christina Chan-Park and Greg Nelson

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?

Christina: Baylor University, STEM Librarian

Greg: Brigham Young University, Science and Engineering, Chemical and Life Sciences Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?

Organization & Planning, Co-Chairs

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.

Christina: OrgPlan serves as an administrative arm for the STS exec/council and other STS committees to ensure that institutional knowledge is collected and passed on.

Greg: The committee assesses implementation of the Section's strategic plan activities, reviews suggestions from the membership, and proposes new activities for the section.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?

Christina: Some years we have special projects that we're working on and the time spent depends on the nature of those projects. Our regular year work for members is about 2 hours in the fall and perhaps 6 in the late spring/early summer. About double that amount for chairs.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?

Learning how ALA Connect works and liaising with multiple STS committees.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?

We are working with other STS committees on long-term organization of their files to assist committees in saving important files and providing a central location for committee business that persists through multiple changes in co-chairs.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?

Greg: The fun is in working with people who like to accomplish something. We have a pretty good committee vibe.

Share a link to a LibGuide, project website, or other link that gives additional information about your committee or examples of its recent work, and tell us about it.

https://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/sts/acr-stsorgplan?year=2023

What is your name?

Irina Holden

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?

University at Albany, SUNY, Information Literacy Librarian and Subject Librarian for Engineering and Russian Studies

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?

Professional Development committee, Co-Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.

The committee offers programs and resources to help STS members in their professional development, such as a mentoring program and a LibGuide for science and technology conference opportunities. Last year the committee started a calendar of professional events, meetings, and conferences of interest to science and technology librarians.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?

There are three subcommittees: mentoring program, LibGuide, and calendar of events and virtual best practices. The whole committee as well as each subcommittee usually meet every six weeks. Members can choose one or two subcommittees and in a typical month commit to 2-3 hours of work.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?

I met with many enthusiastic and professionally-driven librarians, committed to the improvement of their own as well as their fellow librarians’ professional skills. Science and technology librarians might feel a special need to seek help from outside of their workplaces, especially those new to science librarianship. I gained a great deal of knowledge about such resources and events. It is my first time co-chairing the committee, and both the past and current co-chair, have been extremely helpful with documentation and professional advice.

What special projects or events is your committee currently working on?

The committee is continuing the mentorship program. We are also looking for better ways to promote and make visible the calendar of events and conferences LibGuide. Another big project is the improvement of our LibGuide to current best practices.

What is the most fun or interesting thing you've done as part of this committee?

Definitely working on the mentoring subcommittee. I served on it through the pandemic when we revamped our practices and created a new model for the mentorship program. It allowed us to reach out to each of the participants individually. I learned a lot about the people who are part of the STS group. Great folks!

Share a link to a LibGuide, project website, or other link that gives additional information about your committee or examples of its recent work, and tell us about it.

https://acrl.libguides.com/sts_professional_development_cm

What is your name?

Elizabeth Sterner

What institution or company do you work for, and what is your job title?

Northern Illinois University, Health Sciences Librarian

What is the name of the STS committee that you'll be telling us about today, and what is your role on the committee?

Publications, Co-Chair

Please give us a one sentence summary of what the main work of your committee entails.

The committee helps to manage the Section's web presence and to serve as a resource for the publishing needs of STS committees and the STS Signal newsletter.

Describe the typical workload of your STS committee. How many hours do you spend on committee work each week/month/year?

Our committee’s workload varies depending on whether you are working on a project or not. Currently, we meet twice a semester, but this fluctuates depending on projects.

What skills or knowledge have you gained from serving on this STS committee?

I've learned a great deal about ACRL and STS publications of all types.