NMRT (New Members Round Table)

Hello NMRT Members!

Each month, the Online Programs Committee will be posting a discussion thread here in the NMRT community to spark conversation, share ideas, and learn from one another. We're excited to use these threads as a space for connection and professional exchange throughout the year.

This month, we're talking about professional development resources.
Where are your go-to spots for staying up to date on what's happening in librarianship or for learning new best practices? These could be websites, journals, podcasts, social media accounts, or other great resources.

I'll start the ball rolling with a couple of my favorite podcasts. Both are rooted in education, but their ideas easily cross into library spaces:

🎧 Cult of Pedagogy: A great listen for anyone interested in instructional best practices and pedagogy.
🎧 The House of EdTech: Focused on technology tools and trends in education, with lots of crossover into library instruction and outreach.

Now it's your turn! What resources do you rely on to stay inspired and informed?

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Melissa Herzberg
Instructional Design Librarian
University of Alabama
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Since I'm an elementary school librarian, former secondary reading/English/creative writing teacher (also retired U.S. Marine/court stenographer), I have an eclectic taste, but here are my go-to's:

curmudgucation: Peter Greene, trying to make sense of what's happening in education.  He has strong opinions, a lot of experience, and all the interesting links on Sundays.

P. L. Thomas:  is the go-to guy for understanding reading instruction, education reform, and teaching writing (and some occasional interesting poetry).

Audrey Watters: she wrote the book on education technology, and she has their number too.  If you look up "ed tech's cassandra," there she is.

School Librarian's United: A podcast where Amy Hermon talks to everyone, about all the cool school library ideas.

And the National Education Policy Center, for trying to understand public policy, ed reform, school privatization, etc.  They have white papers, research reviews, and a blog.

Cotton Quilts Edi: best way to get lists and reviews of good new MG and YA books by BIPOC authors.

Also, Cory Doctorow, for trying to understand technology in general.  He invented the word "enshittification" to describe how pretty much all of the internet has gotten worse, and then he wrote a book about it.

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Andrew Evans
School Librarian
Douglass Elementary School, KCKPS
He/Him/His
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Emily McQuade
Public Services Librarian
Winter Park Library
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As an early career academic librarian (year 2!) whose focus is teaching, pedagogy, and spotlighting information literacy in the curriculum, the following are a few examples of how I dive into professional development.  

For PD, I'm super close to wrapping up Ohio State's Teaching Information Literacy Certificate (non-credit-bearing, and has been $0 to date). For me, their workshops have been essential in helping to build my confidence and see areas that I can continue to explore as an educator.

Likewise, I attended the LOEX conference this past Spring, and highly recommend it for all new instruction/outreach librarians. I learned so much from peers! (In case you are wondering, what is LOEX ?  It was originally "Library Orientation Exchange".)

ACRL's journal College & Research Libraries (CRL) is another place that I look to for trends. There's other journals of course, but this one stood out to me since Grad School as a place to gather insight into this segment of librarianship.

Lastly, all my ALA Connect communities :) have proven to be an AMAZING wealth of intel for PD opportunities.   Shout out to NMRT, Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT), ACRL's Politics, Policy & International Section (PPIRS), and BRASS (Business Reference and Services Section)... and there are many more awesome communities and vibrant discussion groups that regularly tap into my current and future career interests. Too many to list today!! <3 

My point is, fellow new librarians, I highly suggest (and sincerely applaud you if you already do this) - take time in your week to connect with your ALA peers. 

I'm eager to learn from more of you about your go to PD resources!

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Janina Besa Siebert
Learning & Curricular Services Librarian
Texas A&M University Libraries
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