Leading the way in statewide organizations
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Our team has been driving library organizations and initiatives forward, offering leadership and collaborating with colleagues from across Michigan.
Michigan Academic Library Association
The Michigan Academic Library Association (MiALA), a chapter of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), is the professional association of academic library staff and libraries in Michigan. Our faculty and staff have been actively involved with MiALA, continuing our long-standing commitment to providing strong leadership within the organization.
In March, we hosted the MiALA 2024 Annual Conference at WMU’s Fetzer Center. Associate Dean Mary O’Kelly led the charge as the Conference Committee chair, organizing a three-day event with engaging sessions. Julie Garrison, dean of University Libraries, Dr. Kate Langan, engagement librarian, and Marianne Swierenga, cataloging and metadata librarian, also served on the committee. Several of our faculty and staff contributed by presenting breakout sessions and posters at the event. Looking ahead, O’Kelly will continue her involvement as the past chair of the 2025 Conference Committee.
Dean Garrison was elected vice president/president-elect of MiALA in 2024. She’s embarking on a three-year leadership journey—serving as vice president for the first year, president in the second, and past president in the third. Her term as president will run from July 2025 to August 2026. Garrison is carrying on the work of Langan and Associate Dean Paul Gallagher, both of whom previously served as president of MiALA.
Garrison, O’Kelly and Gallagher are also contributing to MiALA’s future by serving on the Strategic Planning Committee.
“This group has been hard at work gathering input from members through conversations, surveys, focus groups, and retreats,” says O’Kelly. “The plan is to unveil a refreshed strategic plan in 2025.”
Additionally, several other WMU Libraries faculty and staff hold various roles within MiALA, showcasing the depth of our involvement in this vital organization.
| Name | MiALA Role | WMU Title |
|---|---|---|
| Angela Brcka | Vice chair of Web/UX Interest Group | Web developer content strategist |
| Mike Duffy | Co-chair of Fine Arts Interest Group | Fine arts librarian |
| Edward Eckel | Board member—publicly funded university reps | Scholarly communications, copyright, and licensing librarian |
| Dylan McGlothlin | Vice chair of Instruction and Information Literacy Interest Group and secretary of Librarian Scholarly and Creative Activity Interest Group | Humanities librarian |
| Dianna Sachs | Vice chair of Health Services Interest Group | Health and human services librarian |
| Jonathan Scherger | Vice chair of Interest Group Coordination Council | User services librarian |
| Marianne Swierenga | Co-chair of Cataloguing and Metadata Interest Group | Cataloging and metadata librarian |
Michigan Digital Preservation Network
The Michigan Digital Preservation Network (MDPN) is a member-governed, collaborative organization focused on preserving Michigan's digital cultural heritage and making digital preservation accessible for institutions of all sizes. Western Michigan University is one of MDPN's founding members and hosts an MDPN LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe) node, a server that acts as a digital archive.
Gallagher, associate dean for resources and digital strategies, plays a key role in MDPN, serving on the Advisory Committee and co-chairing the Technical Committee. Alex Dark, senior network administrator, also serves on the Technical Committee, providing valuable support to other members as they troubleshoot their setups.
Over the past year, MDPN has worked hard to get the necessary hardware in place, enabling member organizations to host nodes. With the network now ready to move from development to production, these nodes are prepared for users to add content.
Gallagher relied on his former role as a software development librarian to create new importing software for adding items into the network.
“We had to innovate,” says Gallagher. “Our core technology is based on preserving journals, and MDPN is working more with cultural legacy materials such as photographs and videos.”
Based on a similar system developed by the Alabama Digital Preservation Network, the new MDPN software tool provides both the ability to add archival items, as well as track the contents of the network over time and plan for its future. The new importing tool is open source and publicly hosted via GitHub.
Gallagher adds, "This is grassroots development at its best; simple, reproducible. We've already had interest from other networks to adopt the tool we're using in Michigan."
Michigan Service Hub
The Michigan Service Hub is all about showcasing and enriching Michigan’s many digital cultural resources through the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). By bringing together content from regional hubs across the state, it creates a central access point called Michigan Memories. These regional hubs gather metadata from local libraries, archives, historical societies and museums and share it with the DPLA.
In 2024, the Michigan Service Hub kicked off a project to redesign the Michigan Memories portal to make it more user-friendly. WMU Libraries will host the updated portal and provide technical support.
Dark collaborated with the software company building the new site and the Service Hub coordinator to set up the server and provide access for installing the software.
“The current code base is very old and the application frustratingly slow,” says Dark. “It needed a ground-up rebuild to take advantage of new technologies.”
Dark has been helping out with testing the new site and noted that it’s much faster now.
Along with Dark, Gallagher has also been a key player in the Michigan Service Hub from the start. He currently serves as the alternate for the Network Council Rep.
With testing nearly finished, the team is gearing up to switch over from the old system to the new portal in early 2025.
For more WMU news, arts and events, visit WMU News online.