The head librarian of Elizabethtown College’s High Library BethAnn Zambella has been elected to represent the College on the Board of Trustees for the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium Inc. (PALCI).
Zambella’s new position on the Board of Trustees within PALCI opens Etown to larger databases and more resources both electronically and paper-based and also “puts Elizabethtown College on the map.” PALCI offers the College discounts for prescriptions to large databases for thousands of dollars less than that offered to non-PALCI members. PALCI also offers more services and rates to staff and faculty.
PALCI is run and organized by a nine-member Board of Directors. Zambella’s term on the Board of Trustees starts in January of 2013 and lasts for three years before she can run for reelection. Once a position opened up on the PALCI’s Board of Trustees, Zambella held no hesitations toward volunteering to run for the opening and after a 48-hour online ballot, Zambella was elected. “Of course I was excited to be elected,” Zambella said. “To represent Elizabethtown in this way, it’s like we’re putting Elizabethtown’s High Library on the map.” Now that she is involved with PALCI, Zambella still works with the Membership Committee, the Resource Sharing Policy Task Force and the Cooperate Print Collections Committee.
Zambella has considered the High Library home since August 2005. Zambella serves as the director of Etown’s High Library presently, but previously she has held positions in public services at Wesley College, Harvard University, Rutgers University, Farleigh Dickinson University and Barnard College. Because of her extensive editorial experience from working in publishing, Zambella’s curiosity compels her to look at challenges that cut across traditional organizational boundaries.
“I serve as vice-president of the Elizabethtown Public Library Board of Trustees and have been active in regional library consortia such as the Associated College Libraries of Central Pennsylvania, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Library System of Lancaster County, the Boston Library Consortium and most recently, PALCI,” said Zambella.
The director of the High Library said she is always broadening her interests and visions. She’s recently captured an interest in the way humans construct mental models as they learn and how they utilize metaphor.
PALCI was formed in 1996 as a public alliance of 35 public and private libraries. The purpose of PALCI is to strengthen the development of library cooperation within the Commonwealth and adjacent regions. Presently, PALCI consists of 71 college and university libraries within Pennsylvania, New Jersey and West Virginia. The organization has plans to expand to Delaware in the next few years. PALCI is a non-profit organization that operates on membership fees.
Zambella said she enjoyed her service on the PALCI Membership Committee and is pleased and honored to represent the membership as a board member.
“I believe collaboration is vital to all libraries’ success and see PALCI as a key to leveraging our collective strengths,” Zambella said. “For example, I turn to organizations like PALCI to help libraries consider their options for replacing legacy catalogs with open-source solutions. I look forward to our fruitful consortia conversations.”