News

Hello everyone!

This past year marked the 30th anniversary of USAIN (June 1, 2018 – May 31, 2019). It was a busy year that included continuing initiatives as well as new projects such as an oral history special project to document the history of USAIN and the changing landscape of agricultural librarianship. For more information please check out the complete presidents report here USAIN President's Report 2019.pdf.

The review committee received a number of intriguing proposals for the 2nd USAIN Research Fellows Award. The committee recommended two proposals to support this year: 

• Inga Haugen received an award to support her project, "Virginia Agriculture Publications Inventory" 
• Emily Lin received an award to support her project, "Agricultural State and Local Literature: Where are the Gaps in Preservation and Access?" 

Congratulations to Inga and Emily! We look forward to hopefully hearing more about their research projects at USAIN 2020!

- USAIN Research Fellows Award committee members: 

Kiri DeBose, Britt Foster, Allison Level, and Becky Miller 

I am excited for the future of USAIN by the number of members that were interested in running for a position on the Executive Council. The USAIN Election results have been tallied and our new officers will be:

President-Elect (2019-2022), Jessica Page has been elected

Treasurer (2019-2021), Valrie Minson has been elected

Director(2019-2021), Megan Kocher has been elected  

Director(2019-2021), Stephanie Ritchie has been elected 

Director(2019-2021), Suzanne Stapleton has been elected  

I want to thank them for their commitment to service and to the other USAIN members who stood for election. Thank you also to the USAIN Nominations and Elections Committee (Noel Kopriva, Melody Royster, Leslie Delserone), as it takes a lot of time and energy to ensure that we have a slate for elections. Please join me in congratulating our new officers.

In addition, we will soon be appointing committee and interest group membership and leadership. If you have any interest in serving please contact Kristen Mastel (meye0539 AT umn DOT edu). 

The President's proposed FY 2020 budget eliminates funding for libraries by eliminating the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and millions of dollars dedicated to America’s libraries through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Funding through IMLS and LSTA make our communities stronger through programs and services.  We encourage all USAIN members to send a letter to their representative to preserve federal funding for libraries. One opportunity is through the ALA form. One letter asks members of the House Appropriations Committee to fully fund the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the other asks the Committee to fully fund the Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) program. 

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Respectfully,

Kristen Mastel

USAIN President 

Hello everyone!

Planning has begun in earnest for the 2020 USAIN conference  to take place at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Please save the date April 25^th – 30^th, 2020 with Theme: Smart Agriculture in the era of Climate Change. In order to continue the planning of the conference, we are looking for volunteers to be part of any of the following committees below:-

Sponsors & Exhibits Committee (Chair Kristel Mastel )

The primary responsibility of this committee is to identify sponsors and exhibitors to financially support the 2020 USAIN Conference (raise a minimum of $15,000). Secondarily, this committee will work with members of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC)[Grant Gerlich is LOC liaison and member of the committee] to secure conference materials, local sponsorship, and door prizes.

Contributed Papers & Poster Selection Committee ( Chair Scott Marsalis)

The primary responsibility of this committee is to plan and organize the contributed papers and posters session for the 2020 USAIN Conference. Secondarily, the committee will work with Interest Group Conveners to organize their sessions. It will be important to have a member of the LOC in this committee.

Preconference Committee (Chair Britt Forster)

The primary responsibility of this committee is to plan and organize the pre-conference session(s) for the 2020 USAIN Conference. The Conference Planners would like to offer a variety of programming types, to provide member speaking opportunities as well as unique sessions.

Invited Speakers Committee ( Co Chairs Jack Becker and Peter Fernandez)

The primary responsibility of this committee is to plan and organize the keynote and plenary speakers invited to present at the 2020 USAIN Conference.

USAIN depends on us volunteering for when we do, we have opportunities to learn, serve, share, grow, and  lead.  I encourage members to sign up and volunteer to be part of any of the committees. It is a really fun experience. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact conference co-chairs Innocent Awasom Afuh (awasom.afuh@ttu.edu) and Jack Becker (jack.berker@ttu.edu) with either specific interests or a general willingness to serve where needed. We will try to accommodate everyone’s preferences  and have committee roasters set by March15th, 2019. Thereafter the various committee chairs/co-chairs would set the ball rolling in their committees.

Thank you all for stepping up to help in the planning towards and putting into place  a fantastic USAIN 2020 conference.

Sincerely,

Innocent Awasom (awasom.afuh@ttu.edu)  and Jack Becker (jack.becker@ttu.edu) USAIN 2020 Co-chairs

The Nominations and Elections Committee (Noel Kopriva, Melody Royster, Leslie Delserone) presents the slate of candidates for the positions of President-Elect, Treasurer, and Directors, USAIN Executive Council.

USAIN_EC_Candidates_2019.pdf

The results of the 2018 USAIN Member Survey are now available.  The document includes the response charts provided by SurveyMonkey and summaries of the individual responses to make the document more readable and to help de-identify the responses.

USAIN Membership Survey 2018 FINAL.pdf

• Since it is about mid-point in my term as president, I would like to take the time to provide a brief overview of what the Executive Council has been up to the past seven months. We have continued the practice of monthly conference calls, during which we have:

• Finalized the appointments of USAIN committee chairs and interest group conveners, at a time of great turnover since many committee chairs and members had reached their limit of 4 consecutive years on one committee.

• Hosted a USAIN virtual meeting of Interest Group conveners and Committee chairs to review our Action Plan and encourage activity during non-conference years

• Followed-up on issues and questions that have been raised as EC liaisons reach out to their committees and interest groups on a quarterly basis

•  Transitioned business management service providers

• Monitored USAIN’s finances every month and approved the 2019 budget

•  In the process of transitioning our banking service in order to allow for better transparency and investment options for USAIN  

• Organized the USAIN Membership Survey 2018

• Reviewed the 16^th Biennial Conference Report from the Washington State University

• Created a USAIN conference timeline document

• The USAIN Professional Development Committee posted a call for this year’s USAIN Research Fellow Award applications (Apply Today)!

Hopefully, this gives you a sense of what the USAIN EC has been working on over the past 6 months.  If you have any questions about or suggestions for the EC, feel free to contact me or any other EC member.

Respectfully,

Kristen Mastel

Attention USAIN Members:

The USAIN Professional Development Committee is pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the 2019 USAIN Research Fellows Award. We look forward to hearing from you!

A total of $2,000 in funding will be available to one or more USAIN members for financial support for conducting research on agricultural information. Examples of costs that could be covered by the award include (but are not limited to): transcription, travel to an institution for research, student worker support, etc. The funding is not to be used for professional development activities.

To apply, please complete the attached form to:

• outline your proposed research or project 
  
• describe what support is needed 
  
• provide a research support justification demonstrating how this award will benefit your research objectives (and possibly USAIN and the profession)
  
• give preliminary ideas of where you plan to disseminate the outcome or results of your project
  

Applications will be judged on the applicability of research to the USAIN mission, and adherence to application guidelines.

Deadline is Friday, March 15, 2019.

Award recipients will be notified by May 1, 2019.

Questions can be directed to rcmiller@berkeley.edu

Send the completed application via email to: usain-research-fellows-g@vt.edu

Thank you for your interest in the USAIN Research Fellows Award!

USAIN_Fellows_Application_2019.docx

This year the Executive Committee sponsored the 1st USAIN Research Fellows Award. The review committee received a number of great proposals, and at this time we are happy to announce that Jeanne Pfander is the award recipient for her project to provide georeferenced and enhanced indexing for Rangelands West/Global Rangelands databases. Congratulations and best wishes on your project!