Jason Battles, 2013 Candidate for LITA Director-at-large

Statement:

Having worked in a variety of library technology roles, I have had the opportunity to closely interact with catalogers, reference librarians, and archivists.  I realize the shared technical challenges we all face.   Technology has become an essential part of most every area of librarianship, but many of our colleagues do not think of themselves as technologists and, therefore, do not always consider what LITA can do to help inform and support their efforts to plan, implement, and manage technology solutions in their respective jobs.  As a LITA member for the last eight years, I know what a welcoming group we are.  Showing our value to those librarians outside LITA is very important to me.  Expanding collaborative efforts with other ALA divisions, mentoring new members, and taking a more personal approach to reaching out to colleagues are opportunities I would like to pursue as a member of the LITA Board.

Current Position

Associate Dean, Library Technology Planning and Policy; University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

Previous Positions:

Director, Office of Library Technology, University of Alabama, 2011-2012; Head, Web Services Department, University of Alabama, 2007-2011; Systems Librarian, Vanderbilt University, 2005-2007

Degrees and Certificates:

University of Alabama, MLS, 1995; University of Alabama, MA History, 1993; Jacksonville State University, BA History/Political Science, 1991.

ALA and/or ALA-APA Activities:

LITA International Relations Committee, Chair, 2011-present; LITA Technology and Access Committee, Member, 2010-2012; Frederick G. Kilgour Award Committee, Member, 2011-2012; LITA Top Tech Trends Committee, Member, 2006-2010.

Offices held in state/regional library associations, and other associations:    

Alabama Digital Preservation Network, Member, Technology Policy Committee, 2008-present; Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, Co-Chair, Information Technology and Digital Initiatives Interest Group (ITDIIG), 2010-2012; Alabama Association of College and Research Libraries, Webmaster, 2008-2012.

Honors and Awards:

ALA Library Instruction Round Table Top 20 Article of 2011 for "Rethinking the Library Game: Creating an Alternate Reality with Social Media" in Journal of Web Librarianship; 2009 Library Leadership Board Faculty Award, University of Alabama.

Major Accomplishments:

Extensive professional involvement with over two dozen state, regional, and national presentations and publications including five LITA National Forum presentations; Tenured Associate Professor elected twice to the University of Alabama’s Faculty Senate (2010, 2012) and current member of the UA Faculty Senate Steering Committee; First Head of Web Services Department at the University of Alabama Libraries (2007) and subsequently directed the growth of the department from 1.5 to 5 FTE; Rebuilt the University of Alabama Libraries’ web infrastructure and moved all sites to the Drupal content management system (2009); Chaired committees to select and then manage the implementation and administration of two search discovery interfaces (AquaBrowser in 2009 and EBSCO Discovery Service in 2011); Chaired committee and directed technical work on alternate reality game produced by the University of Alabama Libraries (2009); Chaired committee to create the University of Alabama Libraries’ strategic plan (2008).

Publications:

Jason J. Battles, Lindley C. Shedd, and Valerie D. Glenn: "Rethinking the Library Game: Creating an Alternate Reality with Social Media," Journal of Web Librarianship, Volume 5, Number 2, 2011.; Jason J. Battles: "Designing and Building a Collaborative Intranet for All," Journal of Web Librarianship, Volume 4, Numbers 2-3, 2010.; Jason J. Battles and Joseph (Jody) D. Combs: "Building a Web-Based Laboratory so Users Can Experiment with New Services," Computers in Libraries, January 2008.