CARLI News February 26, 2025

CARLI Committee Volunteer Application Opens March 12

If you have been considering volunteering for a CARLI committee, the application period will open on March 12 and remain open until May 2. Volunteers chosen will serve a three-year term. Faculty and staff from all CARLI member libraries are encouraged to apply! 

Service on CARLI committees and task forces affords individuals a unique opportunity to use their experience and expertise to help shape the future of the consortium and its services. You can find more information, including the charges for the various committees, from the committee directory.

We hope you will apply during the 2025 committee volunteer period.

CARLI Scholarship Application Period: March 12–June 1

The CARLI Scholarship provides financial assistance to current employees of CARLI Governing Member Libraries pursuing graduate studies leading to a Master′s Degree in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Scholarships may be awarded for both on-campus and/or distance education programs.
 
Applicants must be employed by a CARLI Governing Member Library at the time of application. Preference is given to full-time employees, but part-time and student employees may also apply. The applicant must also be enrolled or accepted and will be a student in a graduate school program during the academic year, semester, or academic quarter for which the scholarship is received. First-time recipients are given preference, but students may apply for and be awarded the scholarship more than once. Candidates awarded the scholarship must supply proof of admission or enrollment to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before the scholarship is disbursed. Applications are due on June 1, 2025.
 
Amount for the 2025–2026 academic year (August 2025–May 2026) will be a minimum of $1,000. Based on available funding and application review, CARLI reserves the right to increase or decrease the award amount, and/or award multiple scholarships or no scholarships for any academic year.
 
An individual will be selected by the CARLI Scholarship Committee based on the following criteria:

• An applicant′s response to a personal essay question regarding his/her professional goals and objectives in pursuing a library career that demonstrates a commitment to the profession.
• Strength of references. Three CARLI Scholarship Reference Forms are required, at least one of which must be from a librarian at the applicant’s library. References may include additional comments or letters.

Scholarship Committee members are appointed annually by the CARLI Senior Director.

Showcase your Experiences! Call for Proposals about Technical Services

Are you proud of a recent success in acquisitions, cataloging, or another area of Technical Services? Have you tackled a challenging problem and discovered a solution worth sharing? If so, the CARLI Technical Services Committee is excited to invite you to submit a proposal for an upcoming Technical Services program. We welcome proposals for both lightning talks and more in-depth presentations (up to one hour), which can be delivered virtually or in person (Fall 2025). Your topic does not need to focus on Alma—creativity and diverse perspectives are encouraged! 

Examples of past presentations include: 

• Cataloging Government Documents 
• Connexion Client Training 
• Getting Started with WorldShare Record Manager 
• Who Are You? An Introduction to Name Authorities 

Not sure if your idea is the right fit? Don′t hesitate to submit! The committee will provide feedback and support to help shape your proposal. We encourage submissions from all, whether you are new to Technical Services, new to librarianship, or just new to presenting! 

Please submit your proposal on the Technical Services Program Proposal Form by March 31. 

We look forward to hearing your ideas and showcasing your expertise! 

Calling all Systems Librarians!

There is a new CARLI Systems Librarians email list for any CARLI member library staff who oversees and maintains a library's computers and software. Job duties may include updating library databases, ensuring library software and hardware are working correctly, installation of new computers or update programs, and collaborating with IT professionals to develop applications that improve library services for patrons.

You can subscribe to this list at: https://lists.carli.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/systemslibrarians 

E-Resources Troubleshooting Webinar

The CARLI Electronic Resource Management Committee is pleased to invite you to an upcoming webinar, "Welcome to E-Resources Troubleshooting" on March 14, 1:30-2:30 p.m. The presenters will address common electronic resources troubleshooting methods and frequently asked questions.

The presentation and discussion will be led by:

• Sara Rizzo, Assistant Professor, Systems & Data Services Librarian at National Louis University 
• Jacob Del Rio, Electronic Resources Librarian and Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Please register for this event. Connection information will be sent prior to the meeting. The session will not be recorded.

Open House Hosted by CARLI Resource Sharing Committee 

Come join colleagues from across Illinois to talk about resource sharing!

The CARLI Resource Sharing Committee is pleased to announce an in-person open house and discussion event where you can meet other library workers, grab lunch together, and talk about topics related to library resource sharing. 

The event will be hosted on Friday, March 14 from 10 a.m.–2:45 p.m. at Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington (morning) and Heartland Community College, Normal (afternoon).

Please see the CARLI Calendar for more details including the agenda and registration link. Space is limited. Registration is free and will close on March 11.

Registration Available for CARLI AI Symposium

Join the CARLI Public Services Committee on April 15, 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., for an engaging AI Symposium exploring the evolving role of artificial intelligence in academic libraries. This webinar will feature 50-minute sessions led by several CARLI committees, including: Commercial Products; Discovery Primo VE; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI); Instruction; and Preservation.

Sessions will cover a range of topics, such as using AI for preservation, ethical considerations of AI tools, integrating AI into instruction, and more.

Attendees are invited to join for the entire day or for the sessions that interest them. You can view the full agenda and register on the event page.  

Questions? Contact the Public Services Committee Co-Chairs Kimberly Shotick and Lesley Wolfgang.

ACRL Assessment in Action Workshop

CARLI, Illinois State University, and Illinois Wesleyan University, are pleased to host ACRL Assessment in Action: Demonstrating and Communicating Library Contributions to Student Learning and Success. The roadshow will be held on Thursday, June 5, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., at the Illinois State University Alumni Center.
 
In this full-day interactive workshop on strategic and sustainable assessment, participants will identify institutional priorities and campus partners, design an assessment project grounded in action research, and prepare a plan for communicating the project results. Librarians, library staff, and library administrators will learn how to design and implement robust assessments, collaborate with key institutional partners, and communicate assessment activities in engaging and effective ways. Presented by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).
 
Designed for:

• All librarians, library staff, or library administrators that seek to design and implement a student success assessment project.
• Library staff or administrators who want to identify and improve relationships with campus partners and stakeholders.
• Library staff of administrators who want to align library assessments with institutional priorities.
• Library staff or administrators with little or no previous experience with the assessment cycle

Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Attendance is limited to 100. The non-refundable registration cost is $50, payable by credit card.
 
Register here: https://go.uillinois.edu/aia 

I-Share Resource Management Training Series

CARLI's I-Share Resource Management Training series focuses on how libraries may manage collections and metadata in Alma effectively, with an emphasis on Alma's functionalities for management of physical and electronic resources. This series will cover many topics that involve cataloging as well as the interaction of metadata with other library system functions, such as acquisitions, circulation, and discovery. Each session will highlight different processes and workflows for completing resource management tasks in both institutional and consortial perspectives.

Series content is aimed at those who are responsible for day-to-day work with MARC metadata and inventory data in an I-Share institution. Staff that are responsible for functions in acquisitions, fulfillment, discovery, or reporting may find the information useful as well. Primary emphasis will be on taking advantage of Alma functionality to complete tasks within resource management workflows. Limited discussion on broader cataloging practice and theory may be addressed as time allows.

Each 90-minute session will consist of 55-70 minutes of presentation, with periodic spaces for questions and exploration. Attendees will be encouraged to have examples ready for hands-on practice. 

Registration will be capped at 15 attendees per session, and sessions may be selected a la carte. Each session will be recorded and made available, and it is not necessary to register to receive access to the recording.
 

• March 4, 9:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m.: Adding New Bibliographic Records 
• March 11, 9:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m.: Managing Physical Inventory
• March 18, 9:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m.: Managing Electronic Inventory
• March 25, 9:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m.: Resource Management and Analytics 
• April 1, 9:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m.: Authority Control 
• April 8, 9:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m.: Batch Processes and Record Maintenance

Illinois Open Education Summit: Building an Open Future: Supporting and Expanding Open Education Across Illinois

The Illinois Open Education Summit, held April 7 at the Illinois State Alumni Center in Normal, will bring together people who want to create a shared vision for Open Education in Illinois and develop or expand their Open Education programs and initiatives. Whether you are from a small institution or a large university, are beginning your open educational resources journey or already have an established program, the Open Education Summit invites librarians, faculty, academic leadership, instructional designers, and distance education staff to join with partners across the state to build foundational knowledge and fashion a vision for the future of Open Education in Illinois. We are encouraging institutions to put together a team of up to three Open Education champions (both aspiring and active) to bring their diverse perspectives to the event.

Learn more and register your institution′s team to attend!

OER Updates

Open Education Week, March 3-7

CARLI and the Open Educational Resources Committee are celebrating Open Education Week, March 3–7 with the following programs!

Turning Data into Action: Responding to Illinois Students' Need for Equity of Course Materials

March 4, 1:00–2:30 p.m.

In this webinar, learn how a diverse group of institutions are responding to Illinois students′ course material experiences and preferences expressed in the 2023 Illinois Course Materials Survey: Student Perspective. 

Lauren Kosrow, College of DuPage; Scott Ebbing and Tammy Kuhn-Schnell, Lincoln Land Community College; Amanda Pippitt, Millikin University; Michelle Oh, Oakton College; and Amber Burtis, Southern Illinois University Carbondale will describe their institutional support and methods for distributing the statewide survey, their methods for analyzing and sharing the survey data, and what impacts and benefits have resulted.  

Please register to attend. 

Get to Know the New, Upcoming Illinois Secretary of State/State Library Funded OER Projects

Please join the CARLI Open Educational Resource Committee as we celebrate Open Education Week with the four-part series of discussions highlight the upcoming publication of Illinois Secretary of State/State Library Funded OER Projects. 

• Program 1: March 3, 2:00 p.m. - Trinity College and the Illinois Institute of Technology
• Program 2: March 4, 2025 11:00 a.m. -  Northern Illinois University
• Program 3: March 5, 11:20 a.m. - University of Illinois Springfield and Roosevelt University
• Program 4: March 6 10:00 a.m. - Concordia University Chicago will discuss their projects

Please select the program(s) you would like to attend to go to the registration page. Registration is required. 

These workshops are made possible through funding from the Illinois Secretary of State and the Illinois State Library.

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 list.

OEN Community Conversations

Because of our consortial Open Education Network membership, all CARLI members can attend and participate in the upcoming OEN Community Conversations:

• March 20, 12:00–12:55 p.m. - Operationalizing Accessibility Best Practices & ADA Title II
• April 10, 12:00–12:55 p.m. - Marketing and Promoting OER
• May 29, 12:00–12:55 p.m. - Celebrating Open Education Projects

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 27: CARLI Open Pedagogy Workshop

• March 4: Turning Data into Action: Responding to Illinois Students' Need for Equity of Course Materials
• March 4: Mastering Advanced Search Techniques in CINAHL For Nursing & Allied Health Programs
• March 11: Leadership Series Part 1: Leadership Strategies for Success
• March 12: NISO Webinar: Community Interventions
• March 27: "Are You a Bot?" Merging Technology and Human Interaction Through the Implementation of a Library Reference Chatbot

• April 9: NISO Webinar: The Future of Open Access Beyond the Nelson Memo
• April 9: Save the Date: Preservation Crafts
• April 10: Voices of the Catalog: A Digital and Oral History of Hennepin County Catalogers
• April 24: Working Together to Improve Disability and Medical Subject Headings

• May 2: AI Competencies for Library Workers
• May 8: Critical Cataloging and the American Library Association Subject Analysis Committee
• May 22: Reviving the Hennepin County Authority File

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 a topic for CARLI members and the Professional Development Alliance? Or would you like to moderate a follow up discussion for an upcoming program? Email us to become more involved in CARLI's continuing education efforts!

AI Competencies for Library Workers 

May 2, 1:00–2:30 p.m.

At the start of his term in June 2024, ACRL President Leo Lo established a task force to develop comprehensive AI competencies for library workers, aligning with the evolving needs of academic libraries. In this session, Dr. Lo and the co-chairs of the task force— Keven Jeffery and Jason Coleman—will present the most recent draft of the competencies, describe the processes used to create them, and discuss how they can be applied by library administrators, educators, faculty, and staff to help us and our patrons adapt to new ways of creating, consuming, analyzing, and describing information.

BLC Leadership Academy for Support Staff (BLASS)

Applications are now open for the BLC Leadership Academy for Support Staff! 

The Boston Library Consortium, in collaboration with the Professional Development Alliance of Library Consortia and supported by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), is excited to offer the BLC Leadership Academy for Support Staff (BLASS), a dynamic and highly interactive leadership development program designed to empower professionals in the library field through immersive workshops, hands-on activities, and opportunities to network with peers.

The BLC Leadership Academy for Support Staff is a three-day leadership retreat to be held from July 8-11, 2025, at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus in St. Petersburg, Florida. BLASS is an intensive, high-engagement experience that goes beyond traditional leadership training. Participants will engage in:

• Workshops – Interactive sessions designed to build leadership skills, foster collaboration, and develop strategic thinking.
• Hands-On Learning – Real-world applications of leadership principles in library and information settings with detailed case studies.
• Peer Networking & Wellness Programming – Opportunities to connect with like-minded professionals and mentors as well as time for reflection.

This program is open to those who are underrepresented and have been historically excluded in the library and information field who are (1) in supervisory roles, (2) do not possess an MLS degree, and (3) reside in the United States and/or its territories. Accepted participants will be awarded a travel stipend to attend. All other program costs, including meals and lodging, will be covered.

The deadline to apply for BLASS is Friday, March 21, 2025. Applications must be submitted via the form here. To assist in preparing application materials, a PDF version of the application form is available for download on the BLASS webpage. Please reach out to Cate Harriman, BLC Program Manager for Learning and Development if you have any questions or need assistance with your application.

This project was made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [IMLS grant number RE-256706-OLS-24]. Learn more about this grant here.

Preservation Tip

Presenting a Program about Preserving Family History Materials
Bonnie Parr, Historical Documents Conservator, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

"How can I display my old photographs?"
"I have a newspaper with a headline from World War II.  How do I preserve it?"
"I have a quilt my great-grandmother made – how do I care for it?" 

These are frequent questions asked by library visitors keen to preserve their family history. The preservation of artifacts is also a topic of great interest to organizations that have local history collections. Providing advice in response to preservation-related inquiries is part of my job as Historical Documents Conservator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. On occasion, I have been asked to speak to local historical societies, libraries, and other interested groups about preserving old documents, books, and photographs.

Read more about the experience of one CARLI member developing an in-person program for preserving family history materials with a focus on paper-based items – documents, books, and photographs.

Other Library News

Invitation to Join Community Engagement Roundtables

Libraries are invited to attend the virtual Community Engagement Roundtables of the project Libraries as Partners for Emergency Preparedness and Response in Times of Crisis, an Institute of Museum and Library Services funded initiative to study how libraries partner with emergency responders during community-wide emergencies.

One more roundtable is scheduled on March 4–5, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Registration is free and the event will occur via Zoom.

Participants will enjoy panel discussions by experts in the library and emergency response fields and engage with each other in breakout sessions to share their own insights and experiences. 

If you are interested in joining, please complete this Google Form. 

For more information about the Libraries as Partners project, please visit their website or contact lruan@illinois.edu with any questions.

ILA 2025 Annual Conference Call for Proposals

The ILA 2025 Annual Conference Program Committee is seeking proposals for this year′s conference. The deadline for submissions is Friday, April 4.
 
In 2025, we will celebrate inclusivity and belonging for patrons and library workers alike with the ILA Conference theme "You Belong Here". We will explore how libraries foster belonging within our spaces; how libraries build strong relationships with diverse communities and address their unique needs; how we as library workers hold space for each other within our profession; and examine how belonging fits in with diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility efforts within libraries.

The conference is October 14–16, in Rosemont, Illinois. More information, including guidance on how to submit a proposal, is available on the ILA website.

Academic Material Challenges Survey

Academic libraries are invited to complete a survey about material challenges and what preparations academic libraries have for this issue. In this instance, material challenges are defined as official or unofficial complaints or arguments against materials that are seen as inappropriate or offensive within the library collection.

The intention of this survey is to better understand processes, trainings, and procedures currently in place at academic libraries regarding material challenges. This project is being conducted by Kayla Reed, MLIS of Grinnell College.

This link leads to a consent form that describes what you can expect as a participant. Please feel free to share this link and the text above with any academic librarians! If you have any questions about this project, please contact Kayla Reed. Alternatively, you may contact Grinnell’s Institutional Review Board.

Upcoming CARLI Events and Meetings

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

Contact Us

Please direct all questions and comments about the e-newsletter to CARLI Support. 

Subscribe to CARLI email lists to receive the latest news on topics of interest to you. 

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