Two Moraine Valley Community College Library employees were elected to major positions in different Illinois library organizations.
Sam Suber, electronic resources coordinator, was elected to Member-at-Large for a two-year term with the Network of Illinois Learning Resources in Community Colleges (NILRC). Dan Matthews, cataloging/digital services librarian, was elected vice president/president-elect of the Illinois Association of College and Research Libraries (IARCL), with 50% of the statewide vote.
The NILRC represents, connects, advances and advocates for community college library interests in Illinois. Many of its board members tend to be directors or deans. Suber has been involved with the group for the last 2.5 years, serving on several committees, currently as chair of the NILRC professional development committee. His new role entails more responsibility, voting on budgets, working on agreements for membership resources and more development opportunities, and helping create a new strategic plan for the year.
“Board membership provides opportunities for networking, leadership and a deeper understanding of the trends and challenges in learning resources in community college libraries,” Suber said. “This role means a new challenge. I like challenges because they force me to think differently about situations. With a new perspective, I hope to see my work in a different light and apply lessons learned from the board to my job.”
Matthews has been involved with the IARCL since 2018. His new role includes appointing chairs to standing committees, reporting activities of the association, and chairing the conference and continuing education committee.
“I appreciate all the work IACRL does to support academic librarians across the state, and I’m looking forward to helping move that work forward, and supporting and uplifting the ideas and needs of the association,” Matthews said. “There are a lot of really great librarians within the organization who I can learn from. I’ll be working with people who will strengthen my skills around open educational resources, information literacy instruction and digital media literacy.”
