Meet your new ACRL-OR president (2018-19)

Hi! I’m Meredith Farkas and I’m ACRL-Oregon’s president from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2019. In even years, ACRL-Oregon presidents hit the ground running as our Joint Conference at Menucha is in October, though my predecessor, Steve Silver, has been tremendously helpful in bringing me up to speed. Now that I’m settling into the role, I wanted to tell you a bit about myself.

I’m a librarian at Portland Community College (PCC) where I work at our Sylvania Campus. I’m currently the Library’s SAC (Subject Area Committee) Chair, which means that I basically lead work involving our curriculum and our yearly assessment expectations from the College. I love teaching and am a notorious assessment geek, so it’s a good role for me. I just finished working with a team that spent the last year redeveloping our LIB 101 (credit course) online shell, shifting the class to focus on the ACRL Framework – particularly the frames Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as a Process, and Information Has Value – and social justice issues in information/infolit. I am extremely fond of my colleagues and feel very lucky to work in a community college environment where there is a laser-focus on student success and supporting the whole student.

Photograph of Meredith Farkas with her family

I’ve lived in Oregon for close to eight years and really hope that it will be my forever home. Prior to coming to PCC in 2014, I worked at the Portland State University Library and before that I worked at a small private university in rural Vermont. I received my MLIS from Florida State University in 2004. I live with my fantastic husband and nine-year-old son (who I’m pleased has become an avid reader like his mother). Last year my son’s team won his school’s Oregon Battle of the Books and went on to Regionals! Coaching his team to victory was one of my proudest accomplishments, and so fun for a non-athletic person who is not likely to coach anything else. The best books I’ve read so far this year are There There and The Bright Hour (which are both heartbreaking, sorry!).

Prior to joining the ACRL-Oregon Board, I was a member and then Chair of the OLA Membership Committee where I helped start and administer the OLA Mentoring Program. Getting involved in OLA service when I moved to Oregon helped me get to know so many inspiring librarians throughout the state and I can’t recommend that path enough to other library staff or people new to the area or the profession.

In addition to the things ACRL-Oregon always does for its membership, the thing I came into this role most passionate about was creating ways for Oregon academic library staff to learn from each other without having to travel or pay to attend a conference. We’ll be piloting our online professional development offerings this winter and we hope you’ll participate and share your feedback.

I’m so thrilled to be a member of the Oregon academic library community and am proud to have been elected into this role. Please do get in touch if you have any feedback about how we can make ACRL-Oregon better – this organization is nothing without its members. You can reach me at acrlor@olaweb.org.

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