The Library Collective - Redefining Librarian Professional Development

2014 - 2021

Role: Co-Founder & Program Director

Geared towards librarians at academic libraries, The Library Collective operated as an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit with an all-volunteer staff under my direction from 2014-2021, bringing together a cross-section of next-generation practitioners who wished to learn, create, and collaborate to keep our profession vibrant.

Born out of frustration by the high cost and the lack of tangible skills and takeaways at many traditional conferences, she created professional development experiences that were affordable, useful, and fantastically fun with an amazing team of volunteers. An annual conference was a cornerstone of our programming: each year, we hosted around 300 librarians from North America and the globe. For example, in 2020, participants hailed from 40 states, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Africa, representing more than 190 organizations.

We believe our ideas and model can continue to be adapted throughout the profession so that professional development moves away from tired, expensive models into new modes of scholarly communication and learning. That’s why we documented and shared our conference creation ideas in open access articles available here:

Maynor, Ashley R., and Corey S. Halaychik. “The Collective Approach: Reinventing Affordable, Useful, and Fun Professional Development." In the Library with the Lead Pipe (2016): n. pag. 23 Sept. 2016. <http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2016/the-collective/>

Halaychik, Corey and Maynor, Ashley. ”What Collaboration Means to Me: How We Do & Don’t Collaborate at The Library Collective.” Collaborative Librarianship (2018): Vol. 10 : Iss. 3 , Article 2. <https://digitalcommons.du.edu/collaborativelibrarianship/vol10/iss3/2>

Awards & Press:

2018 Association of College & Research Libraries University Library Section Award for Outstanding Professional Development

“ULS Outstanding Professional Development Award Interview: Corey Halaychik & Ashley Maynor.” ACRL ULS. Jennifer Sharkey. April 11, 2018. <http://www.acrl.ala.org/ULS/uls-outstanding-professional-development-award-interview-halaychik-maynor>.

“Halaychik and Maynor receive 2018 ACRL ULS Outstanding Professional Development Award.” American Library Association News. Chase Ollis. April 10, 2018. <http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2018/04/halaychik-and-maynor-receive-2018-acrl-uls-outstanding-professional-development>.