About Us
Who are we?
The ACRL Residency Interest Group is an assembly of library residents, residency program coordinators, library Deans, administrators, diversity officers, and human resources professionals from over 20 different library systems across the country. For a listing of current and former residents, see our People page.
What is an “Interest Group”?
An Interest Group is a network of individuals who have come together to share their knowledge and expertise with one another, and to help solve problems across organizational boundaries with those who may face similar challenges. This Group was founded to encourage interested parties to more broadly share their expertise regarding residency programs, to capture this expertise, and to make it both available and accessible for future residents and coordinators. It was also founded as a resource for newer members, particularly library school students, who may be considering a residency program upon graduation.
In this community, all members are encouraged to express opinions freely, discuss challenges they may be facing, and to involve their peers. We aim to support mutual problem solving and sharing amongst one another in a nonhierarchical manner, and we believe it is important for us to contribute our time and energy in support of the larger Group’s purpose.
What do we do?
We have several goals:
- To centralize information regarding residency program availability
- To maintain a directory of past and present program participants
- To garner interest and support for the Group’s activities through the production of research projects related to residency programs
- To serve as an information clearinghouse and resource for institutions planning, managing, or researching residency programs
For 2009, we have identified a series of tasks, assignments, and action items to guide our actions in pursuit of these goals. These items include the further development of our Group’s infrastructure, a newsletter, and an individual award in recognition of significant contributions to our Group’s purpose.
Follow the discussion
We have a listserv hosted by ALA. It is open to anyone who is interested in following our work. You need not be a member of ACRL or ALA to join. Here is a link to some instructions for subscribing.
If you have a question about our Group or our activities, just contact us.
