Ganski named ACRL visiting program officer

CHICAGO - The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is pleased to announce the 10-month appointment of Kate L. Ganski of the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee (UWM) as visiting program officer in support of the association’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education Task Force. Ganski will create a communication plan that will help the task force, charged with revising the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, reach a wide variety of constituents outside the library profession and across the higher education community. Working with members of the task force and ACRL staff, she will identify key communication channels and draft ancillary materials to communicate the task force’s revisions of the widely cited standards.

“We are delighted to have Kate join ACRL in its efforts to engage stakeholders in higher education in the revision of these important standards,” said ACRL Executive Director Mary Ellen K. Davis, “Her expertise in this arena will help ACRL further its goal of transforming student learning, pedagogy and instructional practices through creative and innovative collaborations. We are grateful to our colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for supporting Kate as she works with ACRL in such a substantial way.”

“I am certain Kate will do a great job,” added ACRL President Trevor A. Dawes, associate university librarian at Washington University in St. Louis. “I am very enthusiastic about her new role with ACRL. I’m pleased we were able to provide this opportunity and it is my sincere hope that we are able to engage other talented, motivated librarians in this way.”

Ganski, library instruction coordinator at UWM, has more than five years experience working with the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in curriculum design, assessment and professional presentations. She developed a tiered model of information literacy integration in support of a campus initiative to incorporate the essential learning outcomes from the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) Liberal Education and America’s Promise. Ganski also brings project management skills to this position, as demonstrated by her work on the creation and integration of UWM Libraries Information Literacy Tutorial. In addition to her work with information literacy issues, Ganski has served on many library, campus and professional committees, including serving a term as president of the Chicago Area Theological Library Association. She holds a BS from University of Central Florida and MLS from Southern Connecticut State University.

“I am very pleased that one of our outstanding librarians, Kate Ganski, was selected by ACRL to work on these vital Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education,” said Ewa Barczyk, associate provost and director of UWM Libraries upon hearing the news of Ganski’s appointment. “Kate has extensive knowledge of the standards and has utilized them across our instruction program and she has also been part of our marketing team which will serve her well as she assists with the development of a communication plan for the standards. It is an honor for Kate and for the UWM Libraries to be an active participant in this important initiative.”

Ganski began working part time with ACRL in early September 2013.

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The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the higher education association for librarians. Representing more than 12,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals, ACRL (a division of the American Library Association) is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to help academic and research librarians learn, innovate and lead within the academic community. Founded in 1940, ACRL is committed to advancing learning and transforming scholarship. ACRL is on the Web at http://www.acrl.org/, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ala.acrl and Twitter at @ala_acrl.