Holly Yu, 2013 Candidate for LITA Councilor

Statement:

My role as library web, electronic resources, instruction and reference librarian in both academic and public libraries has provided me with a solid understanding of the challenges and lapses in the use of technology to serve user needs, and a well-informed perspective that would be particularly useful to an LITA Councilor. If elected, I will continue to advance LITA’s vision in exploring and enabling new technologies to empower libraries. LITA’s Strategic Plan calls for transforming libraries through innovation, education, collaboration, outreach, and advocacy. To that end, I will work hard to leverage the expertise of LITA members to benefit all libraries, work with LITA leadership to streamline educational opportunities and make them affordable, and facilitate sustained communication with membership and other ALA divisions so that together, we can tackle challenges and harness the exciting opportunities presented by technology, social media and mobile applications to serve libraries and our users. 

Current Position:

Electronic Resource Coordinator & Instruction Librarian, University Library, California State University, Los Angeles, CA

Previous Positions:

Library Web Team Leader and Instruction Librarian, California State University, Los Angeles, 2001-2007; Library Web Principal Developer and Reference Librarian, Pasadena Public Library, 1997-2000; Reference Librarian, Burnaby Public Library, BC, Canada, 1996-1997

Degrees and Certificates: 

University of Western Ontario, Canada. MLIS, 1995; Nanjing University, China, BA in History; Developing Web Sites with JavaScript, Certificate, Extended Education, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, 2001

ALA and/or ALA-APA Activities:   

ALA Digital Content and Libraries Working Group (DCWG), member, 2011-present; DCWG SubGroup 1 -- Business models, license agreements, trends in publishing and the information industry, member; DCWG SubGroup 5 -- Transforming Libraries website, educational products and training sessions, member; ALA Web Advisory Committee, member, 2007-2009; ALA Information Technology Policy Advisory Committee, member, 2005-2007; ALA Library Instruction Round Table, member, 2004-present; ALA International Relations Round Table, member, 2004-present; Coordinator of LITA Committee Chairs, 2009-2011; Coordinator of LITA Interest Group Chairs, 2007-2009; LITA Internet Resources Interest Group, Chair, 2003-2004, 2005-2007; LITA Web Coordinating Committee, member, 2003-2005, 2005-2007, 2007-2009; LITA Technology and Access Committee, member, 2005-2007

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

Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Web Committee, Chair, 2004-2010; APALA Web Master, 2004-2010; Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) Membership Committee, Chair, 2003-2004; CALA Scholarship Committee, Chair, 2005-2006; CALA Web Advisory Committee, Co-Chair, 2004-2006; CALA Board of Directors, 2004-2007. California State University (CSU) System-wide Technology Initiatives Management Committee, member, 2010-2014, 2007-2009; CSU Electronic Resources Management Sub-committee, 2012-present; CSU Library Information Technology Sub-Committee, member, 2009-present 

Honors and Awards:   

LSTA Local History Digital Resources Project Grant, co-recipient, 2007; Innovative Instruction Award CSULA - Incorporating Information Competency Requirements to History Capstone Courses, principal investigator and co-recipient, 2004; Innovative Instruction Award CSULA - Library Web Redesign–Implementation of the Usability Study Results, principal investigator and co-recipient, 2002; Innovative Instruction Award CSULA - Web-based Tutorial–Supporting the Library Research Component of Instruction to Higher Education, principal investigator and co-recipient, 2001; Innovative Instruction Award CSULA - Usability Testing–Testing CSULA Library Web for Library Web2 Project, principal investigator and co-recipient, 2001 

Major Accomplishments:

Utilizing technology to provide user-centered services is at the heart of my approach to being a librarian. Under my leadership, the CSULA library web team successfully re-designed web applications based on our analysis of the results of usability studies, accessibility assessments, usage statistics, and navigation issues. Our team was twice invited by LITA to present these experiences at annual conferences. I have been active on ALA and LITA committees and IGs, including ALA Digital Content and Libraries Working Group (DCWG), which is charged with advising the Association on opportunities and issues related to digital content, and the provision of equitable access to digital content. I have contributed to developing ebook business models that are essential in the library’s ability to provide ebook offerings. As chair of LITA Internet Resources IG, I collaborated with my co-chair and successfully launched the “Ultimate Debate” series. While serving as coordinator for committee chairs and IG chairs and through working with LITA leadership, I was able to streamline procedures for the joint meetings of IG and committee chairs. 

Publications:

Yu, Holly; Co- Editor. Electronic Resource Management in Libraries: Research and Practice. Hershey, PA, IGI Global Publishing, 2008.; Yu, Holly, Editor. Content and Workflow Management for Library Web Sites: Case Studies. Hershey, PA, Information Science Publishing, 2005.; Yu, Holly; Young, Margo. "The Impact of Web Search Engines on Subject Searching in the OPAC". Information Technology and Libraries, 23:4. December 2004

Links for further information:

For more information about my professional activities and contributions, go to http://calstatela.libguides.com/aecontent.php?pid=128798&sid=1105242