2023 Joint ACRL NEC /NELIG Annual Conference

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  • Publication
    Design Thinking for Library Instruction
    (2023-06-05) Benzing, Matthew
    Design focused learning activities can increase student engagement and participation and retention of information literacy skills. Design thinking is focused on empathy, on understanding the needs of the user. This is followed by defining the essential problem and brainstorming solutions that address that problem, which in turn leads to prototyping and testing and modification. By presenting library research as a creative iterative process rather than a series of routines for following set patterns of database searching librarians can tap into students innate curiosity. Even when instruction is limited to a one shot classroom visit the principles can still be internalized by students and can encourage them to learn more on their own. This session is based on work being done by DIAD, the Design Initiative at Dartmouth, which seeks to bring design thinking practices to all aspects of instruction. Through action-oriented learning, scholarship, and impactful projects, DIAD seeks to create a system for human-centered design creativity accessible to everyone. This session will present several examples of how design thinking can be applied to instruction in general and the ACRL Framework in particular. Participants engage in activities that will stimulate their innovation lateral thinking. They will take away knowledge in creating design experiences in the library classroom, an understanding of the principles involved, and a plan for bringing these concepts into their own instruction sessions.
  • Publication
    Building Knowledge Across the Curriculum: Utilizing the Learning Community Model to Maximize Relevant Information Literacy Instruction
    (2023-06-05) Hogan, Laura; Brown, Emily
    This session will focus on the collaborative efforts of the librarians at this Community College and their proposed course in information literacy designed to teach research methods within specific majors. The course was created to act as a sort of foundational course in the disciplines that will focus on research methods utilized in those academic areas. For example, the course could be paired with a foundational sociology course and would focus on the research methods in that field. Or, it could be paired with a history course, where students would learn research methods in that field. The course would include bringing in the college writing center in order to teach students to write within their chosen field, as well as feature guest lecturers who have conducted research and can ask questions about interviewing, data collection, and other facets of research. The course is based on the High Impact Practice (HIP) of a learning community. The course will be offered as part of the required college first-year curriculum but will specifically be tailored to declared majors. The course, as a part of a learning community, would teach to the research assignments that are assigned in its partner course. In doing so, the students will be able to gain the research skills and support required to complete assigned research assignments.
  • Publication
    Engaging in Informal Leadership: Benefits, Challenges, and Strategies
    (2023-06-05) Miles, Linda; Markgren, Susanne
    Informal Leadership (IL) can be a "heavy lift," with varied challenges. Yet in certain organizations, IL may be the only way to gain specific skills, acquire necessary experience, and build crucial relationships. So how do you determine whether this (often undercompensated) labor is right for you? And if it is, how do you identify IL opportunities and develop strategies that can help prepare you for the challenge? In this interactive workshop, participants will learn from each other and discuss their experiences with, or nascent interest in, informal leadership. The presenters will provide definitions of IL, taken from the literature of various disciplines, and talk about how IL has affected, and driven, their respective career trajectories. They will also discuss the challenges of 'leading from amon' and 'leading from below,' and the importance of understanding organizational culture prior to taking on an IL role. During a knowledge-share exercise, individuals with varying levels of IL experience will work together in groups to develop questions and provide stories of successes and failures based on specific prompts related to IL opportunities, how to do IL, managing relationships, and difficult lessons learned. They will also work together to identify particular skills and strategies that are important to the success of IL, as well as ideas and strategies on how to avoid potential burnout. Finally, a larger discussion will tackle individual and organizational benefits, challenges, and where to find support. Participants will begin to develop their own proposals of how best to undertake or facilitate IL and how to inspire professional engagement in their own institutions and among their peers.
  • Publication
    Evolving library marketing & communications strategies with intention
    (2023-06-05) Pothier, Wendy; Dow, Donald; Fowler, Elizabeth; Sweetman, Kimberly
    Over the past decade, the UNH Library outreach efforts have evolved from a workplace add-on to a department headed by an experienced marketing and communications professional. Budget and staffing concerns precipitated by the global pandemic as well as a new organizational structure provided opportunities for the library to reassess their approach to communications, marketing, and outreach. By prioritizing these efforts, the UNH Library used strategic planning to re-envision our engagement with our campus community. This panel will provide insights from four participants who were instrumental in shifting the library's approach to a more centralized and intentional practice, which produced a more engaging strategy. Panel highlights will include developing the library's first marketing plan, launching new initiatives including library tours and orientation sessions, hiring brand ambassadors, including communications duties into existing position descriptions, standardizing practices for outreach and assessment, developing a social media strategy and hiring two newly created positions. Panelists will share individual and organizational strategies for this work that may be replicated or reframed for attendees to take back to their institutions. Conversation will include proactive next steps and areas for further growth, including measuring impact and developing programming, to continue engaging positively with our community. Key takeaways for the attendees include learning concrete, easy to implement approaches for developing and assessment of marketing, communications, and outreach initiatives that lean on utilizing in-house talent as well as approaching this work through a growth mindset. Participants can engage in the topic from a variety of distinct perspectives from panelists who work in areas of user engagement, library administration, communications & outreach, and information literacy.
  • Publication
    Emerging Technologies in the Library: From Test Pilots to High Flying Success
    (2023-06-05) Papini, Allison; Kohl, Laura
    How many of us have brought new technology into the library with high hopes only to have it crash and burn? Why do some tools become instant relics while others develop lives of their own? Like nearly everyone else, Laura and Allison have experienced every point on the spectrum between flop and success and want to share the lessons they've learned. Topics will include virtual reality, data visualization tools, ChatGPT, and more. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1. Identify best practices for engaging library staff in emerging technologies 2. Develop an outreach strategy to connect with hidden allies 3. Create a method of assessment to determine the effectiveness of a new technological tool
  • Publication
    Charting your Chat: Fostering Employee Engagement with Internal Communication
    (2023-06-05) Slingluff, Lauren; Cardinale, Jean
    The pivotal role effective internal communication plays in engaging staff is often underestimated and the hybrid working environment now happening across our institutions, where staff are spread across locations, has reaffirmed its importance. Communicating around strategic initiatives, daily work, and creating human connection requires a deliberate and active plan across the organization. This presentation will share the direct experiences of leadership and staff at the UConn Library and work done to increase engagement through effective internal communication strategies. Often as managers we hear critiques that communication is lacking or needs improvement. To make meaningful positive change, you need to know what elements or aspects of communication have the most significant impact on staff perceptions of communication quality. Over the past two years, UConn Library has engaged in a strategic initiative to explore our culture of communication. This work produced some tangible deliverables including definitions, norms, and audits, as well as sparked conversations about communication challenges within the organization and how they directly affect the culture we aspire to have. As we continue to build our knowledge base and focus our work, we have launched a survey to better understand staff preferences, practices, and perceptions as it relates to internal communication and engagement. This presentation will share all of our work to date, including the results of the survey, our next steps, as well as a framework for participants interested in improving internal communication within their own organizations. Learning Objectives: -Attendees will gain awareness of communication best practices and academic theories of communication -Attendees will develop a framework to improve internal communication within organizations
  • Publication
    A Way Forward: Embedding Sustainable Work Practices into Embedded Librarianship
    (2023-06-06) Rossetti, Olivia; Steckervetz, Lori; Fratantonio, Renee
    Embedded librarianship has developed over the past score of years to become a high-engagement, high-impact practice with the potential of meeting students where they are rather than expecting students to ask for help. When it is successful, it leads to meaningful faculty-librarian collaborations and higher student engagement with information literacy activities. In advance of assessing and redesigning the Embedded Librarian program at Fitchburg State University, the presenters conducted a literature review of recent publications on the practice of embedded librarianship. Based on the literature reviewed, it became clear that effective embedded librarianship demands massive commitment of time and energy on the part of librarians. Examples of this commitment may include but are not limited to departmental office hours in the academic department, assignment design and assessment with faculty, and creating content in a class learning management system (LMS), in addition to proactive outreach to faculty in order to build opportunities for further embedding. This raises the question of how librarians can develop and maintain a sustainable embedded librarianship program. In a work climate that requires academic librarians to fulfill multiple roles for the institution, it may be difficult or impossible to find the time to build out such embedded programs without contributing to rampant burnout within the field. During this session, we will interrogate the following and propose solutions: - How do we make practices like embedded librarianship that, by necessity, require a high time investment manageable alongside other workloads? - In a perfect world, what would a sustainable embedded librarianship program look like?
  • Publication
    Training Peer-to-Peer Research and Writing Tutors
    (2023-06-06) Dolinger, Elizabeth
    Since 2019, the Mason Library's Center for Research & Writing provides library research services and writing tutoring to undergraduate students and instructors across the curriculum. Staffed by twelve to fifteen undergraduate Research & Writing Tutors, they teach workshops in classes on library research and writing topics, meet one-on-one with students for consultations, staff the drop-in Research & Writing Help Desk, and participate in continuous professional development and training. With only three faculty librarians staffing our library serving 2700 undergraduates and over 300 instructors, the Research & Writing Tutors are essential to providing front-line library services. Adopting a peer-to-peer model has significantly altered the way library services are provided, service data is gathered, and the ways librarians work with students and faculty. In this presentation I'll answer the most commonly asked questions about our fully integrated service model. I'll share specifics about the curriculum in our training course, Tutoring Research & Writing, and our journey trying various models of training before we developed the course in 2019. Pulling from information and library science literature, writing center studies, information literacy, and composition studies students in the course are encouraged to consider the integration between research and writing processes and to develop their skills to help other students with research and writing. While concepts of privacy and confidentiality, and working with all learners has always been included in our training, increasingly, our curriculum focuses on developing skills such as boundary setting and assertiveness, supporting students in distress, and working with neurodiverse students and universal design principles. This presentation offers library administration, librarians, and writing center professionals ideas for beginning to integrate services and an example curriculum for training of undergraduate peer tutors of research and writing. Participants will consider pros and cons of the model and what may or may not work at their institution.
  • Publication
    Collection development: It's for everyone
    (2023-06-05) Pearman, Alice; Wixson, Christin
    Collection assessment is rising in importance in academic libraries. Identifying gaps in collections, determining which resources are no longer useful, and assessing for diversity, equity and inclusion are all topics of discussion at conferences and in the literature. But why wait to identify the gaps in our collections when we can prevent them now? Collection development is a skill practiced by most academic subject librarians. However, with many institutions shrinking the number of librarians available to do collection development, not to mention our shrinking materials budgets, this task often doesn't get the attention it deserves. We will also share how the development of Lamson Library's nascent collection assessment program is already informing collection development strategies. Assessment methods such as user surveys can identify teaching faculty who may have a strong interest in participating in collection development. Checking against authoritative lists can migrate from the librarian's assessment toolkit to the collection development toolkit. Identifying gaps in our collections is often the best way to learn strategies for filling them in the future. Attendees will learn: - Strategies for selecting resources that reflect the diversity of our world - How to identify books not on an approval plan or reviewed by CHOICE - How collection assessment initiatives can help inform collection development (with examples)
  • Publication
    The Fun-Sized Framework: Mini IL Lessons for When You Want to Do More Than Just Demos
    (2023-06-06) Hellyar, Diana
    After successfully improving on the number of library instruction classes in her various STEM liaison departments, STEM Librarian, Diana Hellyar, wanted to build on her instruction and do more than just a basic library session. The professors tend to request a traditional mode of library instruction including a library website and database demonstration. Hellyar wanted to improve these classes with more IL skills while still respecting the value of database demonstrations. She created short information literacy-based presentations that provide students with valuable information literacy knowledge while still offering plenty of instruction time for the traditional instruction class. These short, openly licensed presentations are based the topics off ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. She created a collection of science-focused presentations that could be easily adapted for any subject or discipline. For example, one presentation has two versions, one for an oceanography course and one for a chemistry course with appropriate examples. Each presentation also includes a short active learning component. These presentations, including the active learning component, are designed to be about 10-15 minutes to allow for the rest of the instruction session which typically includes a library demonstration and time for students to work on their own research. This session will describe how these presentations were created, explain how they were adjusted and used in various classes, and discuss how participants can adapt them in their own library instruction. Participants will: • Learn how these lessons were created and used in STEM courses. • Be able to adapt these presentations for their own library instruction including subjects beyond STEM topics.
  • Publication
    There and Back Again, or, The Never-Ending Quest to Balance the Personal and Scalable in Online Instruction
    (2023-06-06) Homol, Lindley
    Online learning librarians and liaison librarians to online programs must constantly balance the competing demands of providing in-depth, individualized instruction to online learners and reaching a majority of online students with library instruction. Librarians embedded in online courses know how difficult it is to scale meaningful instruction, and may feel forced to choose between reaching a majority of online learners with some form of library instruction or reaching fewer online learners through more targeted outreach. As a liaison to a predominantly-online graduate program in Education, I have worked through several iterations of instructional course support that have varied in their reach and personalization, including virtual consultations, asynchronous tutorials, course-based webinars and interactive online workshops. Through the action research cycle, I analyzed each new iteration to judge its relative success at balancing the competing demands of scale and personalization. In this session, I will discuss the technology and tools used to implement each of the online instructional offerings, as well as additional low-cost technology options for librarians looking to implement these programs at their own institutions. I will describe the pros and cons of each option as well as potential learner groups who might benefit most from that offering. I will also detail how effective each method was with students in the online graduate Education program and reasons for its relative success or failure. Finally, I will discuss the relative reach and time investment of each method so attendees can evaluate which blend of instructional offerings might be the best fit for their own learners or programs. By the end of this session, attendees will be able to... -Describe multiple instructional methods for balancing scale and personalization -Identify groups of learners at their own institutions who could benefit from each instructional method -List the necessary tools and technologies for each instructional method
  • Publication
    “I was pretty appalled by this.”: Teaching Students About the Exclusive and Exclusionary Scholarly Publishing Ecosystem
    (2023-06-06) Porter-Fyke, Emily
    This conference session is about the design and reception of a research lesson focusing on the importance of understanding biases that are inherent in the research and scholarly publication processes, and how students and faculty can be more intentional in their research process through inclusive language, asking questions about information, and thinking critically about research. The lesson provides foundational information about how the scholarly publishing ecosystem works and how it can (and does) exclude more diverse voices, encourages students to think more deeply about their own identities and how those identities can affect the research they do, and concludes with a discussion about citation justice and the importance of citing not just to avoid plagiarism but to give minoritized scholars credit for their work. It also provides students and their accompanying faculty with tools to help ensure that their research represents a more diverse field. By providing transparent information about how scholarly publishing works and how much and why the library pays for the information they are expected to use in their projects, students are trusted to understand how information has value and the world excludes those who cannot afford to engage. It also challenges them to consider their own identities and how they may have assumptions or biases that could affect the results they achieve when doing research. While more theoretical than most one-shot library instruction, this lesson (re)engaged both students and the librarians teaching it, and has been gaining popularity since its creation. The conference session will also discuss how the lesson was received by students, how it can be modified to work with any discipline, and how it will be utilized in the future. There will also be recommendations on how to do similar work with your own students.
  • Publication
    Using Data Visualization to Teach Research Methods
    (2023-06-06) Looney, Lori
    Data-centered courses can be successful in achieving important learning outcomes related to critical thinking. This workshop will demonstrate how data visualization can increase student engagement in the research process both as stand alone activities or as part of a semester long research project. We will discuss ways in which to apply data visualization in assignments and examine the outcomes and benefits of incorporating data visualization in the research process. This presentation demonstrates an opportunity to collaborate with faculty to incorporate technology into their teaching in order to increase student engagement in research methods, particularly with regard to critical thinking.
  • Publication
    Creating (and Updating) Learning Objects with Intention: Developing a Strategic Process for Tutorial Creation and Management
    (2023-06-06) Jones, Anaya; Homol, Lindley; Meky, Dina
    With the proliferation of online and hybrid programs, increasing numbers of librarians have created research tutorials to share with students and faculty, allowing them to give tough concepts a personal touch. However, many libraries use a decentralized approach to tutorial creation that makes ensuring accessibility, maintenance and strategic approaches difficult. Join us to talk through what our team did to increase the quality and accessibility of existing tutorials, while still providing room for autonomy and creativity from individual content creators. One member of the team will discuss how accessibility checks and best practices were incorporated into the tutorial creation, review, and publication processes and explain the tools and resources provided to content creators to aid them in making more accessible learning objects. Another team member will describe how a tutorial review process was created to ensure that existing tutorials receive a periodic refresh and how that process is managed among an ever-changing group of librarians. Lessons learned from the first tutorial review cycle will be shared, along with changes to the process for the current review cycle. The final team member will describe the documentation that was created to communicate processes, checkpoints, and creation pathways to ensure that content creators had the resources and support they needed to create tutorials independently if they wished. Takeaways: By the end of this session attendees will be able to: Articulate the common accessibility barriers in tutorials and approaches to eliminate them Describe a collaborative approach to tutorial maintenance and creation Identify documentation and personnel needs for managing a collaborative tutorial maintenance process
  • Publication
    Is there a recording? Can I get the slides?
    (2023-06-06) O'Grady, Karen
    Students, faculty, and even librarians eagerly sign up for all kinds workshops, but how many actually attend them if attendance is not required? Due to both the popularity and effectiveness of YouTube, and the seismic shift in higher education caused by Covid, today's learners prefer to digest lessons on their own time in their own way. Recorded lessons and online interactive tutorials are how today's learners prefer to learn. This librarian prepares, practices, and offers live workshops on Zoom and in-person throughout the semester. Many sign up, but workshop after workshop goes unattended. This is followed by apologies from those who missed it, and requests to send the information that was presented. Meanwhile the instructional videos posted on my LibGuides get hundreds of hits and receive rave reviews. This presentation will ask librarians to consider how they themselves prefer to learn. It will ask librarians to consider how much time they devote to preparing live lessons and PowerPoint slides for workshops in relation to how many attendees show up, how many pay attention, and how many even keep their cameras on during the lesson. The takeaways include how many more students we can reach with recorded lessons and interactive tutorials, and the higher quality of a lesson that can be practiced and re-recorded versus the one chance, one shot workshop, where many things can go wrong. Librarians know that students (and often faculty) are at very different levels in most information literacy instruction classes. This makes it difficult to deliver a lesson that does not go over one learner's head and bore another. Interactive online tutorials actually teach, and they can easily include assessment within the tutorial. Librarians should at least consider doing away with live workshops in lieu of recorded online learning.
  • Publication
    Creative Spaces in Academic Libraries: Engaging Users through the Studio Model
    (2023-06-05) Webb, Katy
    Makerspaces, digital humanities labs, scholar's labs, and other types of creative spaces in academic libraries envision a renovated room or space in the stacks, install technology, and open it to users. But so often, the librarians and administrators in charge of the renovation of these spaces think that if they build it, people will flock to their doors. Instead of conceiving these spaces as technology depots, engagement strategies and models for staffing must also be considered. The use of the library lab as a studio space will be investigated in this presentation, as well as other models that build toward the studio model. The presenter will review and define different types of creative spaces and labs in libraries, giving specific examples of successful labs. Attendees will also be introduced to the Lab Engagement Pyramid, which describes seven models of engagement and development for labs. Special focus will be placed on the model "Lab as Studio" and descriptions of specific engagement activities will be provided for attendees to consider applying at their own library lab.
  • Publication
    Voter Registration in the Library: Connecting Students and Civic Engagement
    (2023-06-05) Slater, Aimee
    Brandeis Library hosts several voter registration initiatives for its students in even numbered years and has since 2016 (four cycles!). What began as a tabling event one fall now includes widespread campus effort with students and other campus offices joining the library in a multi-prong approach to connect students, many first time voters, with the requirements of voting from registration to ballot box. I'll share pitfalls, process improvements, scalability efforts, challenges, and future considerations of this initiative. Participants will walk away with a blueprint of how to implement a similar initiative in their own libraries, and those who might already do this work can also share their insights.
  • Publication
    Make your cover letter as awesome as you are
    (2023-06-05) Faulkner, Kelly; Gouldin, Cary
    Do you hate writing cover letters? Wondering how to get noticed among the applicant pool for that dream job? In this interactive workshop we will explore together how to use a job ad as a blueprint for an effective cover letter that is tailored to the interests of the hiring committee. We will address the development of specific examples from your experiences to illustrate your qualifications, as well as strategies for making edits to your existing template for each new application. Participants are encouraged to bring their resume and cover letter long with a job ad to the session. Our workshop is designed for new and experienced librarians alike. Takeaways from this session include: 1) analyzing a job ad to determine what you should address in your letter 2) making your letter complement and enhance your resume 3) tips and tricks for writing a letter that will get you noticed. Let's make your cover letter stand out!
  • Publication
    Integrating the Framework into General Education Revision
    (2023-06-05) Barlow, Amy; Gill, Dragan
    Do you perceive an opportunity to incorporate the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy across a new or updated General Education curriculum? Whether your institution is in the process of revisiting or overhauling its General Education program and regardless of where you are in the process, join our presenters for a discussion of Framework integration during General Education revision. Our presenters will describe the steps that they took with campus stakeholders to: 1. Map the Framework's threshold concepts to the learning outcomes of two first year experience courses; 2. Pilot with faculty; 3. Pass a formal proposal through the Committee on General Education; 4. Participate in faculty professional development; 5. Co-develop a student self-assessment tool for use in all first year seminar courses; and 6. Teach selected threshold concepts from the Framework in first year seminar courses during the Fall 2022 semester. As key takeaways, attendees will be presented with a relatable plan for integrating the Framework during curricular revision and will be asked to consider actionable steps that might be taken at their own institutions. Our presenters care deeply about students and are committed to institutional change, including curricular revision, that supports an inclusive, diverse, and equitable College community. They work together at a public regional college serving approximately 5,700 undergraduate and graduate students as of Fall 2022. Over 85% of undergraduate students reside in state and nearly half are first generation and Pell eligible. Students identifying as BIPOC comprise about 45% of the student body. Hispanic and LatinX students are the largest and fastest growing demographic representing more than 25% of total students. The College recently received federal recognition as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).
  • Publication
    In the Interim: Let's Talk About Impermanent Library Leadership
    (2023-06-05) Diemand, Kelsey; Neal, Dan; Oliver, Kurt; Redmond, Malissa
    Acting Director of the Library. Visiting Librarian. Interim Associate Dean. Interim University Librarian. These are titles that we've seen versions of at all types of libraries and institutions. We define "interim, visiting, acting, or temporary" leadership roles as in-between, impermanent, or short-term, but oftentimes, these roles are held longer than a few short months (ALA, 2022). What does it mean to hold one of these positions in a library? This conference idea was born from the lived experiences of two interim library directors and one interim associate director. We, the librarians, quickly learned that these promotions came with their own limitations and challenges due to their temporary nature. We realized that there is no rule book for temporary leadership and while we could communicate and share with each other, upon reflection, we would have greatly benefited from additional knowledge, advice, and support. We propose a panel of the three librarians mentioned above, two of which now hold permanent leadership roles, and one who decided that their interim title was just that: interim. (We would ideally like to get a fourth person involved in this panel, someone who is *currently* in an interim leadership role; however, we only have the three folks listed on this form committed right now). We recognize that preparation for these types of leadership roles is not always feasible but having the support of like-minded library professionals in similar circumstances can be beneficial. We acknowledge that people from underrepresented or excluded groups, due to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, economic background, age, and/or disability, may have increased barriers or obstacles to leadership, or may find unwelcoming or marginalizing structures in those roles. We also recognize that our experiences and the experiences of our colleagues in the audience may be beneficial to learn from; however, the goal of this panel is not only for anecdotal sharing, but to provide attendees with resources, concrete questions to ask, and applicable takeaways, if ever faced with an interim leadership role. We hope that after attending our panel, attendees will engage in relationship building with other future library leaders, the folks who will look forward and help shape the future of our libraries. Participants will: 1) Articulate some of the challenges and opportunities interim leadership can provide. 2) Identify questions and considerations that pertain to their unique situation as an interim leader. 3) Engage in a professional dialogue with others in similar circumstances.