CARLI News January 31, 2024

If you need disability-related accommodations to participate in any of the events mentioned below, please email the . Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.

CARLI Counts Cohort 5

Congratulations to the CARLI Counts Cohort 5 participants! Their year-long journey begins in February with the first of their two in-person immersive sessions. As with the previous four cohorts, all three constituencies (public, community college, and private) are represented.

NC LIVE Website Service Webinar  

Would you like a sleek, easy-to-update library website that meets the latest accessibility standards and works on any patron device, but haven't the time or expertise to design one? We've got you covered!  Through a partnership with NC LIVE, North Carolina's library consortium, CARLI is excited to offer this easy to implement, low-cost library website service to CARLI member libraries. Join us on February 28 from 10:00–11:00 a.m. to find out more about how NC LIVE might help you achieve your library website goals. Please register if you would like to find out more.

CARLI New Directors Institute

Registration is now open for one of CARLI's most popular programs! Register now for the 2024 CARLI New Directors Institute (NDI) being held on May 22 and 23. 

The institute is designed to enhance the management and leadership skills of CARLI Governing Member library directors/interim directors who are new to their positions or those who feel new to their positions, but any director interested in the program is welcome to attend. 

CARLI will support the cost of the institute including lodging, meals, and programming. The agenda is currently being finalized and will be available on the registration page as soon as it is ready. Seats for the NDI are limited.

Survey: Libraries as Partners for Emergency Preparedness and Response in Times of Crisis

You are invited to participate in a survey, open through February 29, which is part of the project, Libraries as Partners for Emergency Preparedness and Response in Times of Crisis, a grant project funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grants for Libraries program, awarded to the Illinois Fire Service Institute with the University of Illinois iSchool and CARLI as partners.

This project investigates how libraries of all types can partner with emergency response groups (fire, EMS, local health, etc.) during community-wide emergencies from natural disasters such as severe weather or flooding, to public health crises, gun violence, and others. Our survey targets Illinois libraries to form an initial understanding of library partnerships during emergencies, and your response will help increase our knowledge of the libraries' role during emergencies and the safety and resiliency of the communities and emergency responders that libraries serve.

Please forward this survey link to other librarians and library staff as we welcome multiple respondents from the same library or if you are not the correct person to contact about this issue. We ask that respondents fully complete the survey.

For more information, please visit our project website and do not hesitate to contact with questions or concerns.

Illinois Course Materials Survey: Student Perspective

CARLI is pleased to report that 4,729 students attending 36 Illinois not-for-profit institutions participated in the "Illinois Course Materials Survey: Student Perspective" which closed on December 31, 2023. We look forward to sharing an aggregated, statewide report of the results in mid-February. Participating institutions who requested institution-specific responses and who have received director approval will receive their data by February 2. 

Please join us on March 5, 10:00-11:30 a.m. for a webinar "Key Findings and Student Reflections from the "Illinois Course Materials Survey: Student Perspective." CARLI staff will be joined by a student panel reflecting on these results. Please register to attend. 

MLA Wants Your Feedback 

If you are a subscriber to the MLA Handbook Plus, the MLA would like to hear your feedback about the product and any suggestions you have for improvements. In particular, they are interested in learning:

  • What would make the Handbook maximally useful?
  • What kinds of videos would be useful? On what topics?
  • What other MLA publications would be useful?

Send feedback to

If you were unable to join the recent webinar on the Handbook, you can view the recording (the recording will only be available through February 24).

CARLI OER Updates

Illinois Fund for Open Educational Resource Creation Grant Sessions

We have been given a sneak peek at the application for the Secretary of State/Illinois State Library OER funding application and the go ahead to offer informational sessions prior to the applications being officially released. If you are interested and have questions, please feel free to register for one or more of the sessions below.

OER Grants Weekly Office Hours

Do you have questions about the Illinois Support for the Creation of Open Educational Resources grant (SCOERs) or the OER funding from the Secretary of State/Illinois State Library? Do you need help filling out your application for the Illinois State Library grants? Or did you already receive a subaward and need guidance creating your OER or ancillary materials? 

If so, please feel free to join us on Wednesdays from 2:00–3:00 p.m. with all your OER related questions. Registration is not required.

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 842 4596 7645
Password: 271282

OER Community Chat – Dealing with Setbacks

Join the CARLI OER Committee for an informal discussion on Dealing with Setbacks on February 15, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. If you are working on local OER and affordable programs, please join to share your thoughts and experiences and learn from your Illinois library colleagues.
 
Please register to attend. OER Community Chats are not recorded; however, discussion points will be shared afterwards. 

Virtual Course: Understanding and Promoting Open Educational Resources

CARLI is pleased to offer a 3-week synchronous and asynchronous course on open educational resources in February 2024 with the live sessions on February 8, 15, and 22 from 1:00–2:30 p.m. The virtual program will contain both synchronous (three live 90-minute Zoom sessions) and asynchronous (readings, videos, etc.) to be completed before each live session. Attendees should plan to attend each live session.

Registration is available until February 1 or until the course is full. Course materials will be sent to registrants beginning on February 1. 

Two Opportunities to Attend the CARLI OER Faculty Workshop

The CARLI OER Committee invites members to share with their teaching faculty this opportunity to attend a workshop to learn about open educational resources and equitable course materials.

The workshop will include:

  • what are open educational resources (OER).
  • benefits and motivations for using OER.
  • how to find and evaluate OER.
  • how to integrate OER into your class.

After attending, CARLI member teaching faculty will be invited to write a brief review of an open textbook in the Open Textbook Library. 

If your institution plans to offer an incentive to your faculty for attendance at the workshop and writing a review of an open textbook, please email  so that CARLI staff can provide you the information you need about your faculty attendance/review status.

CARLI Open Pedagogy Workshop

The CARLI OER Committee invites members to share with their teaching faculty this opportunity to attend a workshop to learn about open pedagogy on March 8, 2:30-4:00 p.m.

When you use open pedagogy in your classroom, you are inviting students to be part of the teaching process, participating in the co-creation of knowledge. In this online workshop, you will learn the definition and context of Open Pedagogy, view innovative examples being applied in a variety of subjects and formats, and work with other attendees to create an assignment that you can use in your own class.

Please register to attend.

OER Continuing Education 

Did you know that CARLI shares continuing education opportunities on the CARLI website?

You will find information about upcoming CARLI OER programs, information about past programs and if available, links to recordings, and OER Programs from other institutions.

CARLI-OER Email List

CARLI has established an email list for CARLI members to discuss and learn more about Open Educational Resources. Any person from a CARLI institution may subscribe to the email list.

Professional Development Alliance Events

The following programs from the Professional Development Alliance are currently on the calendar. Programs are offered on a wide variety of subjects. Check out everything the alliance is making available to our libraries!

  • February 1: Unpacking Peace of Mind: A Librarian's Guide to Calming Relocation Jitters
  • February 2: Collection Development Policies in a Dynamic Collections Environment
  • February 6: Intercultural Awareness & Microaggressions: Keys to Understanding Power and Privilege
  • February 7: AI: The Challenges of Racial and Gender Bias
  • February 7: Benefits of Inclusion in the Workplace: Ways to Attract Job Seekers and Keep Them
  • February 7: Equity and Ethics in Cultural Heritage Preservation
  • February 14: Digital Humanities and Emerging Technologies: Collaboration, Vision, and the Future
  • February 15: Getting Started with Adobe Express
  • February 20: Crisis Communication: The Librarian's Guide to Clear Communication Under Pressure
  • February 21: CARLI OER Faculty Workshop: Supporting Academic Success: Open Educational Resources and Equitable Course Materials (Session 1)
  • February 22: Empowering Classroom Creativity with Generate AI in Adobe Express
  • February 26: Defending Diversity: The Challenges and Opportunities for DEIA Positions in Libraries (Part 1)
  • February 29: CARLI OER Faculty Workshop: Supporting Academic Success: Open Educational Resources and Equitable Course Materials (Session 2)
  • February 29: Adobe Express: Elevating Your Skills - Intermediate Level Workshop
     
  • March 5: Key Findings and Student Reflections from the "Illinois Course Materials Survey: Student Perspective"
  • March 7: Getting Started with Infographics
  • March 13: The Librarian's Guide to Licensing: How to Start Navigating the Complexities
     
  • April 30: Save the Date: Poison in the Stacks? Ongoing Research on Heavy Metals in 19th Century Books

To register, visit the CARLI Event Calendar. Recordings of past CARLI-sponsored PDA events are available on the Professional Development Alliance website when permitted by the presenter. 
 
Are you interested in presenting on a topic for CARLI members and the Professional Development Alliance? Or would you like to moderate a follow up discussion for an upcoming program? us to become more involved in CARLI's continuing education efforts!

Intercultural Awareness & Microaggressions: Keys to Understanding Power and Privilege 
February 6, 10:00-11:30 a.m.

Alejandro Gómez will introduce you to three especially important topics - intercultural competency, microaggressions, and power and privilege. As a participant, you will gain a better understanding and appreciation for your own experiences and how your own actions and words can have a profound impact on others. You will also learn how to create more open dialogue at work with co-workers and library patrons, and how to sustain a more inclusive environment.

Alejandro Gómez, MSW, LCSW, is the Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging in System Human Resource Services at the University of Illinois.

Preservation Tip

Staff Training on Disaster Preparedness
Gabriel Hamer, Conservation Technician, The Newberry Library

As faithful CARLI newsletter readers know, our Preservation Tips this year focus on disaster preparedness. Securing the resources and funding to prepare your institution for a disaster, writing a solid disaster plan, and the other topics we will cover this year are all crucial – but even the best-written disaster plan cannot do much without properly trained staff!
 
If your institution is just starting to think about disaster prep or, like mine, rebuilding preparedness after the pandemic and high staff turnover, it may be helpful to break staff training goals down into three categories: short-term, long-term, and institutional. It takes time to bring coworkers and information networks up to speed, so it helps to be realistic and spread tasks out along a rough timeline.
 
To learn more about staff training, please read the full article.

Other Library News

Mental Health in Library Settings Training Course

The School of Social Work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has created a training course for library staff on navigating mental health situations that patrons experience and how to interact with those patrons, Working with Mental Health Situations in Library Settings

The training course is intended to provide a basic overview of some of the mental health challenges, including different mental disorders and related symptoms, encountered in library settings. Since libraries are accessible spaces often utilized by individuals struggling with mental health challenges and related issues, the course strives to help build a working knowledge and awareness of mental illness for library staff, outlines some helpful approaches to assist library staff in supporting patrons struggling with mental health problems, and offers suggestions for developing self-care as a sustainable practice to combat compassion fatigue and burnout. 

Please contact  with any questions.

Rhea Ballard-Thrower, UIC Dean of Libraries Appointed ARL Vice-President/President-Elect 

Congratulations to Rhea Ballard-Thrower, University of Illinois Chicago's University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, who was appointed to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Executive Committee of the Board of Directors during the ARL's Fall Meeting in October 2023. Ballard-Thrower started a one-year term as Vice-President/President-elect on January 1, 2024 and will become ARL president January 1, 2025. 
 
The vice president serves on the ARL Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, along with the president, past president and treasurer.
 
At UIC, Dean Ballard-Thrower holds the rank of professor in the University Library and an affiliate faculty position at the UIC School of Law, where she teaches advanced legal research using the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program pedagogy. The program gives law students and incarcerated students the opportunity to take a course together at a correctional facility.
 
The Association of Research Libraries is a nonprofit organization of research libraries in Canada and the U.S. whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide.

Congratulations to CARLI Member Librarian; Ted Quiballo, Northwestern University

Please join us in congratulating Ted Quiballo, one of this year's I Love My Librarian Award honorees. Recipients were selected for their outstanding public service accomplishments. An instructional technologies librarian, Quiballo helps mold opportunities for vulnerable populations while building a mentorship model with students and interns. Quiballo also supports the university’s prison education program.

Call for Proposals: 22nd Annual Illinois Information Literacy Summit

The College of DuPage Library and the DePaul University Library are pleased to announce the call for proposals for the 22nd Annual Illinois Information Literacy Summit! The Summit will be held on Friday, April 19 at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL. 

This year's summit will feature keynote speaker Dr. Troy Swanson, Library Department Chair at Moraine Valley Community College and author of the new book, Knowledge as a Feeling: How Neuroscience and Psychology Impact Human Information Behavior (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023). 

Presenters will lead engaging and interactive discussions about media and information literacy, library instruction, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Of special interest are breakout sessions and panels related to this year's theme: Tuning In: Navigating Capacity, Collaboration, & Cognition in Information Literacy. The summit will explore our "bandwidth" for information literacy and considering the topic from a wide range of perspectives.

Priority deadline to submit proposals is February 1. 

Call for Papers/Presentations for Second Annual Conference on Northern Illinois History and Cultural Heritage 

The Regional History Center at NIU Libraries invites proposals for papers, sessions, panels, and multi-media presentations for a conference exploring transnational communities and global influences in and on the history and cultural heritage of Northern Illinois. Transnational communities consist of groups and individuals who maintain familial, social, and economic ties across national borders and political jurisdictions. This often includes migrants and diasporic communities, but also encompasses groupings with common or overlapping commercial, ideological, and cultural interests. The deadline for proposals is January 31, 2024. The conference will be held on April 20, on the NIU Campus in DeKalb, Illinois.

For more information, please see the full call.

Upcoming CARLI Events and Meetings

Consult the CARLI Calendar to view the current list of meeting times and locations.

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