Forums - Discussion

Mid-Atlantic Library Alliance (MALIA)

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 21:09:38 +0000

The Mid-Atlantic Library Alliance (MALIA, formerly SWING), has a new website: https://mlo22.wildapricot.org/.

One of the chief advantages of becoming a member of this consortium of academic, public, school, and special libraries is that they negotiate with library vendors for discounts and formalize these discounts in Virginia state contracts. As state agencies, all community college libraries could benefit from membership.

Membership rates are rising from $150.00 to $175.00 per year starting in August, but the lower rates are still in effect, and those who join now can get in for half price with renewal by August.

Some of the vendor discounts I rely on are with:
Demco
Brodart
EBSCO
GOBI
Ingram
Jupiter Associates - this micro vendor doesn't offer much in the way of discounts but will special order almost anything. The contracts through MALIA are for library materials, library supplies, and serials. However, the vendor will cheerfully order not-library-specific products with reasonable markups. Those won't be on state contract but eVA approval is simplified by the micro vendor SWAM certification.

Please note that eVA requisitions based on state contracts should reference the contract in the quote and on the invoice, so it is helpful to have these state contract numbers handy when requesting pricing:

Library Supplies Contract LVA-SUP-21-004/CTR005717-1
Library Materials Contract LVA-MAT-22-007/CTR005837-1
Serials Contract LVA-SER-21-003/CTR005713-1

If you go to these listings in the eVA contracts page you may only find summaries, but the full contacts are published on the MALIA website. Pro tip: if you don't discover a quote with the vendor name, just search for 'MALIA.'

I have recently been appointed to the MALIA Board as the community college representative, so if you have any questions I will be happy to try to find answers.

Lisa Bishop

Records Retention?

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 16:09:26 +0000

Hi, everyone!

I'm working on cleaning out our filing cabinets, and although I've gone through the Library of Virginia guidelines, I don't see anything regarding Code of Conduct agreements. Does anyone know how long they are to be retained? We usually treat them as active for a year, and they only apply to Community Patrons.

Thanks in advance!
Cirrus Gundlach
Coordinator of Library Services
Paul D. Camp Community College
cgundlach@pdc.edu

Survey for VLACRL Panel on Search Advocates in Academic Libraries

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:55:42 +0000

Greetings colleagues!

I will be on a panel for VLACRL about Search Advocates in the academic library hiring process. I know for a fact that search advocates are implemented differently at different colleges.

Would you please consider completing this 8 question survey? I would also appreciate it if you could share it with the other library staff at your college.

https://pdc.libwizard.com/f/Library_Search_Advocates

Thank you for considering it!
Cirrus Gundlach
Coordinator of Library Services
Paul D. Camp Community College
cgundlach@pdc.edu

Reynolds Job Opening - Lead Digital Services Librarian

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 13:37:10 +0000

Reynolds Community College has a job opening for a Lead Digital Services Librarian:
https://www.jobs.virginia.gov/jobs/lead-...ted-states

Closing date is July 5. Please share with your networks!

Zoom links for peer group

Tue, 28 May 2024 18:36:30 +0000

Hi, did anyone record their sessions for Peer Group? I was out last week and couldn't attend, but would love to review if there are recordings.

New Horizons

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 16:08:36 +0000

Who's going to New Horizons? It would be great to have a VCCS Libraries get together while we're there!

Cirrus Gundlach
Coordinator of Library Services
Paul D. Camp Community College
cgundlach@pdc.edu

VWCC seeking 2 full-time librarians

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 14:01:16 +0000

Virginia Western Community College is accepting applications for 2 full-time positions.
1. Coordinator of Library Services
2. Access Services Librarian

Please share with your networks!

Door/Gate Counters

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 15:16:45 +0000

As part of our renovation, we plan to remove our 3M/Biblioteca security gates at our entrance. We're drastically reducing the size of our print collection and students have commented that the gates don't make them feel welcome. The gates have a built-in traffic counter and we would like to retain that function. What standalone counters do you use if you're not using security gates? Pros/cons, etc.

Thank you!

Weeding/Disposal/Discarding

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 18:26:41 +0000

This question has been raised in other threads, but with limited results: what is the most appropriate way for VCCS colleges to dispose of outdated library materials?

The most frequent answer is Better World Books, which has a limited scope of what they will accept, and which needs some administrative approval and a waiver from the state surplus system or something.

But here is the current VCCS policy, and I think it may need to be updated, because the Duplicate Exchange League and U.S. Book Exchange no longer appear to exist (per Google):

VCCS Policy 4.4:
4.4.1 Disposal of Surplus Library Books and Periodicals (SG and SB)

In the case of library books and periodicals that are surplus to the needs of an institution, since this type of item is quite difficult to sell or transfer through our normal surplus procedures, disposition should be made to the best interest of the Commonwealth in one of the following approved ways:
a. Exchange with other State-supported institutions;

b. Exchange with other non-supported State institutions;

Dispose of through the "Duplicate Exchange League;"

c. Dispose of through the "U.S. Book Exchange" in Washington, D.C.;

d. Sell locally intact or as wastepaper, depositing any monies to the State Treasurer, giving credit to the institution's surplus property code. This would require reporting dollar amount received and certificate of deposit number to the System Office Purchasing Division;

e. Donate, only after the above methods have been explored and with written authority from the System Office Purchasing Division, since the Code of Virginia requires donations to be reported by us to the Auditor of Public Accounts; or

f. Dispose of all other library items through the normal surplus property procedure as set forth in the Code of Virginia.

---
The Code of Virginia is fairly reticent on the matter. Chapter 12 of the DPS Agency Procurement and Surplus Property Manual (APSPM) (https://dgs.virginia.gov/procurement/pol...ew/policy/) does have some information.

I know there is a Discard Forum in this discussion group where we can post lists of discards and offer to share them. But I think we are seeing limited views and dwindling interest in participating.

At Reynolds we haven't done a major weeding project since before COVID, but we realize we need to resume the process. We would like to feel secure in our disposal processes.

Thoughts on options:
We can donate library materials within our own agency for agency purposes (i.e., not personal use.). Or we can donate to other state agencies, or to certain 501C charitable organizations.
--But mostly the material we discard is old enough that nobody wants them.
--Do we need to post discard lists on the forum just for the sake of documenting a lack of interest?

We can sell as surplus through the state surplus program.
--But we can't get our severely understaffed college asset manager to accept them for surplus, and don't have the expertise or perhaps the administrative rights to manage on our own. Likewise, we haven't been listing our discards as surplus with our asset manager. Selling and the documentation involved sounds like a nightmare.
-[-Is there some sort of document somewhere that delegates to state or VCCS higher education libraries the right to decide that discarding/recycling is the most appropriate option?

We do realize that we have to keep lists of withdrawals permanently as our records retention responsibility. That isn't the problem.

What we have been doing, mostly, is discarding books, boxed and labeled as trash, after withdrawing from Alma. I believe we also remove the page with the barcode, and of course stamp everything as discarded. But if we ought not, we need to know so we can do the right thing. If I'm interpreting the VCCS policy and APSPM Manual correctly, trash/recycling is an option but the least favored one.

I'm pretty sure there are a variety of practices among our libraries. Ideally, we should understand our responsibilities.

Digitization of Files

Fri, 19 May 2023 18:30:22 +0000

Hello,

We’re wondering if anyone has already undertaken the digitization of their patron obligation records. If so, it would be beneficial if you could share your experience, including the challenges they encountered and the benefits they have observed due to the digitization process.

Our Circulation Team had a discussion about using Alma to upload files to patron's accounts, but I’m afraid that will take up space in Alma because some accounts may have a lot of paperwork that must be attached to the records.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to your response.

Terri Ruffin
Tidewater Community College

Student ID Cards

Mon, 01 May 2023 17:11:23 +0000

For those libraries that are charged with issuing ID cards for the campus...
VA SB1044 was brought to my attention today. It was mentioned during a VCCS campus safety/police meeting last week and goes into effect July 1, 2023 from what I can tell.

Our campus police chief mentioned possibly including the VA 211 number as an additional contact, along with the mandated national 988 number. Is anyone else doing this? Is there a better VA number to use, rather than 211?

This is only mandated for student ID cards. Will you be including it on others, or just the student cards?

I welcome any and all feedback...templates...samples...

Pre-processing from GOBI

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 14:35:46 +0000

Hello all,
Sorry if this is a duplicate posting. We do not have a cataloger so we are looking into pre-processing. I asked Gobi for a price list, and there are so many choices. I want to ask how others are dealing with this and what options you decided to go with. I've attached the pricing list for reference.
Any advice is appreciated!

VLA Conference

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 16:32:50 +0000

Hi All,

Let me know if you're going to VLA next week (in Norfolk). I won't be attending the actual conference (except for the VIVA forum), but I work and live in Norfolk. If you'd like to go to lunch, or just want some recommendations, let me know. I'm also a jogger if you'd like to meet for a jog.

Mary.

VLA Programming on Book Bans in Virginia - Sep. 2022

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 14:06:01 +0000

"There are two more upcoming sessions in the VLA Series on Book Bans in Virginia that may be of interest:

1. Protecting the Freedom to Read: More than “Beloved”: A Brief History of Book Banning in Virginia

September 14, 12pm-1pm

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register...UTayPSUnfP

Presenters:

Keith Weimer, Librarian for History and Religious Studies, University of Virginia

Lisa Varga, Executive Director, Virginia Library Association

Shari Henry, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Urban Libraries Council

2. Protecting the Freedom to Read: How to Keep Up: Tracking Legislation and Elected Officials

October 12, 12pm-1pm

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register...yzLQoyVP0-

Special Guest: Senator Ghazala Hashmi, Ph.D., serves in the Virginia General Assembly, representing the 10th Senatorial District which includes parts of Richmond City, Chesterfield County, and all of Powhatan County. She sits on the following Senate committees: Education and Health; Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources; General Laws and Technology; and Local Government. Senator Hashmi also chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Public Education. Before her election in November 2019, Senator Hashmi had a long career in higher education in Virginia.

Presenters:

Christina Harris, Outreach & Instruction Librarian, Mary Baldwin University

Shari Henry, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Urban Libraries Council

-VIVA ANNOUNCE "

Job Opening - Director of Learning Resources

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 15:05:25 +0000

Thomas Nelson has an opening for a new Director of Learning Resources. This position will oversee the libraries, tutoring services, and e-campus coordination on both campuses. See the attached link for a full job description.

https://jobs.vccs.edu/postings/43941

We're looking at a quick turnaround for this search, review of applications will begin April 3