Charleston Seminar: Acquisitions Bootcamp

Presented in conjunction with UNC Chapel Hill School of Library and Information Science. 

This seminar will offer an intensive one and one-half day boot camp on acquisitions from three different perspectives: public services, technical services, and the vendor side.  The major emphasis is on the nuts and bolts of the acquisitions process from selecting materials, especially e-books, to assessing collections and articulating the return on investment to the parent organization (academic/special/public libraries).  Using an interactive hands-on approach, with case studies, small group discussion, and best practices attendees will gain pragmatic knowledge they can apply in their home institutions. This class is ideally suited for librarians new to selection and acquisitions workflows.

Instructors:

• Rebecca Vargha, Head, Information and Library Science Library, School of Information and Library Science, UNC Chapel Hill

Rebecca Vargha is Librarian, School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill since 2001. Her responsibilities as head of this library include collection development, staff supervision, liaison with departmental faculty and the central library, reference and research assistance, and facilities management. She is Faculty Advisor for the SLA Student Group at SILS, Chair-Elect of the Museums, ARts and Humanities Division of SLA and Archivist for the North Carolina SLA Chapter.  Additionally, she is  a Past President of the Special Libraries Association.

Before SILS she worked as Senior Research Specialist at Nortel Networks, where she partnered with clients globally to develop and deliver enhanced, value-added strategic information solutions through training, demonstrations and presentations. Prior to Nortel, she was an information analyst for SAS (a software company). Her career began as an assistant librarian at the National Humanities Center.  Vargha holds a bachelor's degree in English from UNC-Chapel Hill and a master's degree in library science from North Carolina Central University. She is a member of Beta Phi Mu and won the Meritorious Achievement Award (1994) from the North Carolina SLA Chapter for making outstanding contributions to the profession and chapter. On October 31, 2008 she was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award from North Carolina Central University. In May of 2012, she received UNC's Deborah Barreau Award for Teaching Excellence.  The award recognizes faculty members (one full-time faculty member and one who teaches on a part-time basis), who are nominated by students within the school, for outstanding teaching. 

• Megan Kilb,E-Resources Librarian, UNC Chapel Hill