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Program & Conference Schedule

Conference Schedule

8:00-9:00 a.m.: Registration & Breakfast

8:45-9:00 a.m.: Business Meeting

9:00-9:50 a.m.: Keynote Speaker, Ione T. Damasco

10:00-10:50 a.m.: Concurrent Sessions 1

11:00-11:50 a.m.: Concurrent Sessions 2

12:00-1:00 p.m.: Lunch & Awards

1:00-2:00 p.m.: Exhibitors, Poster Sessions, and Interest Groups Session

1:30-4:30 p.m.: Afternoon Snack

2:10-3:00 p.m.: Concurrent Sessions 3

3:10-4:00 p.m.: Concurrent Sessions 4


Conference Program Grid (coming soon)

Concurrent Sessions 1

Accessibility in Digital Collections

Sidney Gao & Sean Crowe (University of Cincinnati)
Accessibility in Digital Collections

ABSTRACT

Accessibility workflows are a crucial step in the full lifecycle of digital collections work. Too often, however, these workflows are time consuming, tedious, and a significant burden on teams with limited resources. How can we lighten the workload of creating accessible collections, while ensuring the accuracy of the information provided? While it may not be the answer to every problem, artificial intelligence (combined with human quality control) can help teams improve the accessibility of their digital collections. This improved access to collections will enrich the teaching and learning of faculty, staff, and students across campus.

As AI engenders sweeping change across the modern world, libraries have the chance to explore the intersection of AI and various library disciplines. Presenters will speak to the intersection of AI, accessibility, and digitized special collections. By exploring image descriptions, transcriptions of hand-written materials, and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) for information retrieval, the team will share the ways in which AI has helped (or harmed) digital collections workflows.

Participants will:

  • Transform new knowledge into updated digital collections workflows. The presenters will share skills and tools that will empower the audience to create collections more accessible and inclusive to the library and campus community. 
  • Develop new ideas on how to use AI within the academic library setting; the audience will learn to use AI in helpful, not harmful, ways in their day-to-day work.

Launching Faculty Education to Create Better Research Assignments

Amelia Anderson-Wile, Bethany Spieth & Kathleen Baril (Ohio Northern University)
Launching Faculty Education to Create Better Research Assignments

ABSTRACT

Observing at times dated assignments that relied on former notions of how research is completed, two librarians teamed up with the director of their center for teaching and learning to create a week-long training for faculty looking to improve their specific research assignments. To cover all areas, experts from on and off campus were invited to share their expertise each day. The institute incorporated all areas needed to create effective assignments. Topics included were an overview of information literacy topics, backwards design, effective writing assignment creation in the era of AI, general overview of AI, and assessment. This presentation will provide an overview of the institute, best practices for faculty professional development, and lessons learned as well as future directions for professional development and collaboration with the center for teaching and learning. This presentation will incorporate Padlet exercises to engage the audience and encourage audience participation.

Participants will:

  • Be able to plan engaging professional development sessions in order to improve faculty’s understanding of information literacy.
  • Learn strategies in order to successfully collaborate with other departments on campus like teaching and learning centers and writing centers.

Intentional documentation for the win: Leadership as a mindset and an approach, regardless of position

Jenny Donley & Heather Crozier (Ohio Northern University)
Intentional documentation for the win: Leadership as a mindset and an approach, regardless of position

ABSTRACT

As a cataloging librarian and an e-resources librarian at a small-to-medium university, we can confirm that leadership is not just for managers and directors, and neither is large scale project management. Without official project management training, a systems librarian, or a technical services librarian in our law library, we successfully orchestrated an enormous withdrawal project while acting as co-leads for the OhioLINK system migration. An unanticipated renovation opportunity meant we were tasked in Fall 2024 with withdrawing 20,000+ volumes prior to Spring 2025, and we found ourselves juggling two massively complicated and daunting projects. We had already initiated a communication plan for the migration focused primarily on how to communicate effectively without overwhelming. As the migration progressed, we identified the increasing need to ensure deadlines were met, and that is where Google Drive became invaluable for the countless migration deadlines and withdrawal subproject tracking. We played to each other’s strengths throughout the year, and learned just how important it is to ask for help and to delegate. Google Drive utilization meant that all the moving parts of migration and weeding were documented and tracked, and could be readily shared. By the technical freeze in March, we looked back and could identify the key takeaways from our approach to leading and project management that had resulted in two successful projects.

Participants will:

  • Learn practical adaptation strategies to navigate change, manage uncertainty, and remain effective in constantly changing work environments.
  • Learn how to utilize tools already in their toolbox for project management strategies of seemingly impossible deadlines and endless subprojects.

NOTE: This is a Hybrid Session

Creating an Instructional Video Repository: Best Practices and Documentation for Online Learning Objects

Laura Sheets, Beth Fridrick & Meli Taylor (Bowling Green State University)
Creating an Instructional Video Repository: Best Practices and Documentation for Online Learning Objects

ABSTRACT

Frequently, the development of digital learning objects, such as asynchronous instruction videos or interactive learning modules, are developed on an as-needed basis to provide supplemental instruction support to students and faculty. This ad-hoc creation of digital learning objects proves challenging in the long-term maintenance of these resources, given the evolving landscape of digital resources. Thinking strategically about how online learning objects fit into an instruction program’s goals will better serve students regardless of their location or time of need.

In the academic year of 2024-2025, three librarians documented their program’s existing instructional videos, mapped them to the department’s learning outcomes, and created a video maintenance schedule. This project also tracked the videos that needed to be updated for the upcoming Alma/Primo Migration, the gaps in existing learning objects, and best practices for creating new instructional videos.

In this session, presenters will discuss the department’s documents that support the video planning and documentation project, the existing planning spreadsheet that inspired the work, and the design and implementation of the project.

Participants will work together to reflect on the current state of their instruction program’s learning objects and examine the presenter’s documentation materials for any elements they could implement at their libraries.

Participants will:

  • Be able to demonstrate how their online learning objects relate to their instruction program goals in order to reinforce the connection between the two
  • Select elements of the demonstrated instructional video documentation plan and instructional video best practices guidelines in order to implement them at their library
  • Adapt the materials provided in order to create an instructional video documentation plan for their library’s needs

Still Migrating After All These Years: Turning Long-Term Alma Cleanup into Strategic Opportunities

Martin Patrick (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Still Migrating After All These Years: Turning Long-Term Alma Cleanup into Strategic Opportunities

ABSTRACT

Years after migrating to Alma, many libraries continue grappling with legacy data and workflow issues. Rather than seeing this as a failure, this session reframes ongoing cleanup as a strategic opportunity for innovation and service enhancement. Drawing from two institutions—several years into distinct Alma implementations—this presentation will show how persistent migration challenges became launchpads for new standards, streamlined workflows, and improved user services. Attendees will gain practical strategies for prioritizing cleanup tasks, engaging staff in continuous improvement, and leveraging system knowledge to creatively solve problems. This session offers both cautionary lessons and inspiring possibilities for turning never-ending cleanup into mission-critical innovation.

Participants will:

  • Apply practical criteria to prioritize Alma cleanup tasks in order to focus efforts on changes that yield the highest impact for users and internal workflows.
  • Develop sustainable methods for tracking and managing cleanup backlogs for when new projects and initiatives take time away from the cleanup.
  • Hoe cleanup projects—such as metadata reconciliation—can help introduce new tools or services like OCLC’s DataSync in order to modernize workflows.
NOTE: This is a Hybrid Session

Projects beyond Paging: How Hands-On Work Facilitates Student Success in Archives & Special Collections and Digital Initiatives

Miriam Intrator, Erin Wilson, Aurora Charlow & Greta Kuriger Suiter (Ohio University)
Projects beyond Paging: How Hands-On Work Facilitates Student Success in Archives & Special Collections and Digital Initiatives

ABSTRACT

Our institution's Archives, Special Collections, and Digitization departments have a long history of offering multiple for-credit and paid opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students. As small departments we rely on student contributions for everything from processing and describing collections to imaging and transcribing materials to creating social media content to curating both physical and digital exhibits. Over the years we have honed our recruitment, application, and training processes, making the positions increasingly competitive and desirable to students from a wide variety of majors who want to learn real, professional skills and leave with a project they can point to as a concrete accomplishment. In this presentation, we will provide examples of the high level work our students engage in. We will also discuss evidence of positive impact and growth based on student-centered events and feedback, as well as student mobility between units in order to follow their ongoing projects or to expand their learning and experience. During breakouts we will ask participants to share the types of projects their own students work on and to brainstorm how to foster additional student engagement in their work.

Participants will:

  • Generate ideas about how to increase student engagement in paid or for-credit opportunities in order to expand their level of responsibility and sense of connection to and ownership over their work.
  • Participants will gain a greater understanding of the benefits to both students and archival collections when student workers are engaged and enthusiastic towards their projects.

I didn't know we had a librarian!: Intentional outreach to co-curricular campus programs

Maureen Barry (Bowling Green State University), Laura Birkenhauer (Miami University), Zachary Lewis (University of Dayton), & Rob Snyder (Bowling Green State University)
I didn't know we had a librarian!: Intentional outreach to co-curricular campus programs

ABSTRACT

Campus support programs and units are vital to college student success. Support services instill within students a sense of belonging, habits of engagement, and a model for help-seeking behaviors. Intentional outreach to these partners can create opportunities outside of the classroom for librarians to promote library services and resources to students, staff, and faculty. These collaborations both serve to inform campus partners of relevant services and functions of the academic library and to allow academic librarians to observe student needs in settings they may not otherwise have access to.

This moderated panel will explore a variety of successful outreach efforts and partnerships between librarians and student support units on three Ohio campuses. Panelists from private and public institutions will discuss how librarians approach relationship building, strategies for developing and sustaining partnerships, and navigating shifts in campus structures during times of change. Panelists will also facilitate small group conversations during which participants will make connections between existing curricular partnerships and opportunities for co-curricular collaboration.

Participants will:

  • Identify at least one new campus unit to contact at their own institution
  • Describe an outreach strategy to implement at their own institutions
  • Generate a list of co-curricular outreach opportunities related to participants' current curricular partnerships

The Ohio Digital Network and Digital Public Library of America: An Ohio Project Update

Penelope Shumaker (State Library of Ohio)
The Ohio Digital Network and Digital Public Library of America: An Ohio Project Update

ABSTRACT

The Digital Public Library of America Project began in 2013, and Ohio institutions began contributing their materials in 2018 through the Ohio Digital Network (ODN). Currently, the Ohio Digital Network send nearly 500,000 metadata records form over 40 libraries and museums in Ohio to DPLA for additional discoverability. Come to this session to learn about how the project has evolved, the status of the project and new management, how to contribute your digital collections metadata to DPLA through ODN, and how to connect students, and other users to the DPLA.

Participants will:

  • The audience will understand how to share DPLA and ODN materials with students, and consider if their collections are a good fit for DPLA.

Keynote Discussion

Keynote Discussion, Ione Damasco (University of Dayton)
"Dialogue, Encounter, Imagination: Practicing Critical Hope in Times of Challenge"

Concurrent Sessions 2

Gamifying Library Instruction with Generative AI

Ben Richards (Cleveland State University)
Gamifying Library Instruction with Generative AI

ABSTRACT

Generative AI has become a go-to tool for many when it comes to idea generation, brainstorming, drafting, and revising content. Even early on, librarians and library staff have experimented using it in the instruction planning process.

Librarians have also long sought to make their instruction more engaging for students, and recognized the benefits that games and play bring to the learning environment.

This session will focus on targeted use cases for generative AI to create games and interactive experiences for library instruction contexts, including creating game content, designing games, generating visuals, and even using chat bots as part of a game. Attendees will have the chance to experiment and evaluate using an AI tool to help develop a game or interactive activity in an instructional context.

Participants will:

  • Recognize use cases for generative AI in the development of games and activities for library instruction
  • Use generative AI tools to generate ideas, create content, or test a game idea for an instructional context.

Professional Development Protocol: A Tom Cruise–Level Mission for Campus Success

Stephanie Gaskins, Colleen Duchon, & Brook Wyers (Northeast Ohio Medical University)
Professional Development Protocol: A Tom Cruise–Level Mission for Campus Success

ABSTRACT

This session spotlights a creative approach to professional development through a series of workshops led by library and writing center staff working collaboratively to support teaching, research, and campus connection. Topics range from artificial intelligence in academic work to copyright and fair use, statewide resource-sharing agreements, and strategies for increasing faculty research visibility. These sessions are designed to get people talking across departments, share practical tools, and build a culture of collaboration. Each one feels like a carefully planned mission—timely, targeted, and packed with takeaways participants can use right away.

We’ll share what’s worked, what hasn’t, and how we’ve kept things flexible to meet our community’s changing needs. The session will include insights on gaining support from leadership, keeping sessions engaging, and tracking participation and feedback. Attendees will leave with planning templates, promotional ideas, and session outlines they can adapt to their own campuses. Whether they're just starting to build campus programming or looking to refresh their current approach, this session will offer ideas and inspiration for turning everyday challenges into opportunities for shared growth.

Participants will:

  • Develop a workshop plan that brings together different campus departments in order to support professional growth and collaboration.

  • Use shared tools and flexible strategies to design sessions in order to promote long-term participation and campus buy-in.

  • Identify timely, relevant topics for faculty and staff development in order to create programming that feels useful and engaging.

A Fidget for Every Fidgeter: Building a Point-of-Need, Barrier-Free Study & Focus Tools Collection

Madeleine Gaiser (University of Cincinnati)
A Fidget for Every Fidgeter: Building a Point-of-Need, Barrier-Free Study & Focus Tools Collection

ABSTRACT

Sensory rooms and kits have become more common in the past decade – museums have knapsacks and airports have calming spaces to support users with different sensory needs, often targeted at school-aged users. Higher education has also created sensory supports with the young adult audience in mind. These rooms and kits might include blue light glasses and noise-reduction earmuffs large enough for an adult. Like many specialized supports available in higher education, the sensory rooms and kits are often separate from the standard academic support offerings or require communicating needs at a service point, which can lead to stigma or barriers, inhibiting access. Seeking to support all users, one library at a large, 4-year institution curated a Study & Focus Tools Collection (SFTC) that is user-centered, barrier-free, and normalized. The collection, intentionally located in circulating stacks and a non-circulating study space, supports students’ study and focus habits with individual tools such as distraction-free timers, blue light glasses, and quiet fidgets. This presentation outlines item selection, user involvement, collection promotion, and strategies that make this collection truly available to all.

Participants will:

  • Identify potential perceived barriers and stigmas for specialized collections and kits
  • Draft a survey about study and focus tools for their library users
  • Plan their own study and focus tools collection

Instruction After Launch: Primo UX testing to improve instruction

Stephanie D. Founds (The Ohio State University) & Dai Newman (The Ohio State University at Newark & Central Ohio Technical College)
Instruction After Launch: Primo UX testing to improve instruction

ABSTRACT

Have you updated your instructional materials for teaching students how to search and navigate Primo? What FAQs and other instructional materials do your students need to effectively use this new platform? This presentation offers the opportunity to learn about a research project underway at the presenters’ institution to test the user experience (UX) in Primo with undergraduate students in a Reader Experience Lab. In this study participants complete common tasks in the new public-facing library services platform, Primo, launched by OhioLINK member institutions during the summer of 2025. Working alongside the English Department and collaborating across campuses, this study aims to understand where pain points and confusions lie to better teach undergraduates sophisticated searching and to develop updated and evidence-based instructional materials surrounding this platform. Presenters will discuss their research plan, methods, and share an early look at interesting findings.

Participants will:

  • Use what they learn about the Primo user experience research study in progress at the presenters’ institution to consider how they might use this information in their context to enhance instruction surrounding this new platform or how they might conduct a similar study at their own institution

Librarian as Co-Teacher: A Case Study on Open Pedagogy in First-Year Writing

Mandi Goodsett & Melanie Gagich (Cleveland State University)
Librarian as Co-Teacher: A Case Study on Open Pedagogy in First-Year Writing

ABSTRACT

Open pedagogy is a newly emerging area of interest in the open education space. The open pedagogy approach emphasizes student agency and student creation of openly-licensed course content. Librarians can play a key role in supporting open pedagogy, which provides an opportunity to teach information literacy concepts that are challenging to address in more traditional library instruction.

This presentation examines an open pedagogy project co-created and co-taught by a First-Year Writing instructor and a Performing Arts and Humanities Librarian. We will discuss our process of co-developing content for a multi-week module of a First Year Writing course. We will also cover project steps, co-teaching strategies, the role of librarians in supporting open pedagogy, and takeaways from our experience. We’ll end by sharing some openly-licensed student artifacts with the audience and inviting discussion.

Participants will:

  • Define open pedagogy and its relationship with information literacy in order to articulate its value to stakeholders

  • Design an open pedagogy intervention in collaboration with a faculty member in order to provide engaging, impactful information literacy instruction

NOTE: This is a Hybrid Session

Measuring the Invisible: Assessing Institutional Repositories to Launch Student Success

Gerald Natal & Arjun Sabharwal (The University of Toledo)

Measuring the Invisible: Assessing Institutional Repositories to Launch Student Success

ABSTRACT

Institutional repositories (IRs) have long been positioned as tools for enhancing research visibility, but their potential to support student success and teaching impact is underexplored. This presentation shares results from a two-part study examining the assessment practices of IRs at R1 institutions. Surveys of faculty and repository administrators reveal the extent to which IRs contribute to curricular use, student learning, and institutional strategic goals. By addressing explicit and tacit data and analyzing survey data pertaining to course inclusion and perceptions of teaching value, this study addresses a critical gap in understanding IRs’ role in academic environments. Attendees will leave with strategies for incorporating teaching and learning metrics into their own IR assessment frameworks. This session speaks to the conference theme by positioning IRs as launchpads not just for research, but also for student achievement and academic community engagement.

Participants will:

  • Identify key assessment strategies in order to evaluate the teaching and learning impact of institutional repositories
  • Clarify and analyze tacit and explicit data in order to surface hidden contributions of IRs to student success
  • Acquire knowledge to design an IR assessment plan in order to strengthen the library’s strategic alignment with accreditation and institutional goals

Build, Brand, & Deliver: Launching a Video Series to Support Library Learning

Diane Schrecker (Ashland University)

Build, Brand, & Deliver: Launching a Video Series to Support Library Learning

ABSTRACT

Welcome to “Take 2, Take 5, and Take 20” —a video and webinar series designed to supplement library instruction and provide general library resource awareness through concise, learner-centered media. Hosted on the University’s Kaltura media site, the series supports students and faculty across academic areas through scalable, multimodal content delivery.

This session will explore purposefully designed video modules: “Take 2” are two-minute introductions offering quick tips for library tools and services; “Take 5” are five-minute tutorials focus on research strategies and instructional integration; and “Take 20” is a 20-minute hybrid webinar delivering targeted content to small groups in-person and online. Video series content is aligned with core instructional design principles that emphasize demonstration, application, and iterative planning, to support learner needs.

Learn more about the series from start to finish including consistent branding to enhance visibility, personalization of video content, and developing Kaltura sub-galleries to promote both just-in-time learning and sustained learner engagement. This multifaceted video series enables librarians to provide timely, accessible learning that reinforces instruction while supporting independent exploration of library services and tools.

Participants will:

  • Identify opportunities to implement modular video instruction in academic libraries
  • Gain insights into managing content, branding videos, and making the most of Kaltura or similar platforms for outreach and education
  • Explore hybrid and asynchronous models that strengthen library engagement.

Balancing the Books? Library Personnel and Side Hustles

Amy F. Fyn, Julia K. Nims & Cassie Eide (Eastern Michigan University)

Balancing the Books? Library Personnel and Side Hustles

ABSTRACT

Despite the value that academic library personnel bring to their campus communities, the relatively low salaries of librarians and library staff as compared to other faculty and administrators don’t reflect this value, and many library personnel face financial challenges. To help bridge this monetary gap, some supplement their full-time library job with other work, or side hustles. Beyond the potential for monetary gain, some engage in side hustles for other reasons. The skill sets of library employees are versatile and valuable, and we were curious about the skills that are being applied outside of the stacks.

To answer our questions about who, what, and why, we surveyed staff and librarians in higher education about the side hustles they engaged in, what motivations prompted side hustles, and to identify patterns in professional and personal demographics. This presentation briefly shares our findings, spotlights the voices of participants who gave insight on their side hustles, and engages attendees in discussing their experiences and observations regarding how side hustles intersect with professional identity and career satisfaction in academic library personnel, and how those who engage in side hustles might be supported as a means to provide professional development and increase retention.

Participants will:

  • Consider the impact of side hustles on the library employees within their library
  • Reflect on how side hustles intersect with professional identity and career satisfaction in academic library personnel
  • Identify potential institutional responses to support library personnel who engage in side hustles, including strategies for retention and professional development

Lightning Talks

Lightning Talks

  • 11:00 - Beyond Health Sciences: Creating a Universal Evidence Synthesis Network at a Large University. Lynn Warner & Melissa Previtera (University of Cincinnati)
  • 11:10 - Cultivating Resilience: Trauma-Informed Practices in the Academic Library. Ricardo Rodriguez (Dominican University)
  • 11:20 - Shoot for the stars, land in your community: New to libraries network. Cara Calabrese (University of Illinois), Chloe Brown (Ritter Public Library), Erin Kilkenny (OhioLINK)
  • 11:30 - Acceptance Breeds Inevitability: GenAI in Education. Tamia Jackson (Bowling Green State University)
  • 11:40 - Q&A
NOTE: This is a Hybrid Session

Concurrent Sessions 3

Visualizing Impact: How Students Use Data and Storytelling to Share Outcomes

Jennifer Nyiri (The Ohio State University)
Visualizing Impact: How Students Use Data and Storytelling to Share Outcomes

ABSTRACT

Student employees serve critical roles at our Library in reference services, including internal professional development, classroom instruction, peer-coaching, data analysis, and much more. To foster ownership, professionalism, and pride in the work and impact of student employees in our department, each reference student employee works on an interactive “bulletin” every semester detailing their work. With this, our students can advocate and share their work with other departments and library staff in their own voice.

Students report feeling autonomous and independent in how they execute reference services and awareness of their impact with library users. Often, those doing reference work mark interactions for statistical purposes but do not have the opportunity to articulate why their work matters. Gathering data to tell a story means that those interactions are formally recorded and shows the impact on the student employees and the patrons served.

Participants will:

  • Attendees will identify ways to support student autonomy and professionalism through student-led initiatives like semester bulletins. 
  • Attendees will also identify ways student-led impact projects can cultivate transferable skills—such as communication, data literacy, and storytelling—that support both library goals and student career development.

Student-Centered Solutions: Using Survey Data on Research Challenges to Design Learning Objects

John Burke (Miami University Middletown) & Jessie Long (Sinclair Community College)
Student-Centered Solutions: Using Survey Data on Research Challenges to Design Learning Objects

ABSTRACT

Libraries play a pivotal role in supporting students' academic success. However, students often encounter challenges when navigating the vast and complex information landscape. To better understand and address these difficulties, this presentation presents the findings of a five-year survey study conducted with students at a university regional campus. Through analyzing student responses, key themes emerged, highlighting the most common obstacles students face in their information-seeking endeavors. The themes then became a guide for the creation and reorganization of instructional materials designed to increase student success. The presenters will share a series of guides, tutorials, and interactive learning objects that librarians developed to assist students in overcoming these challenges.

By leveraging the power of student feedback, this presentation aims to provide librarians with practical strategies for enhancing library services and empowering students to become more effective researchers. Librarians can utilize instructional design methodology to assess student research assistance needs, identify solutions, develop learning objects and instructional approaches, implement them in the learning management system and face to face instruction opportunities, and evaluate the results. The goal is to create a more supportive and inclusive learning environment where students can confidently find the information they need and achieve their academic goals.

Participants will:

  • Apply a method to discover the common information-seeking challenges faced by students at their institutions.
  • Create and implement effective instructional strategies to address student information needs.
  • Understand the significance of centering student voices and providing accessible and inclusive resources to support all learners.

If you are not making a mistake, it’s a mistake! Embracing Failure as part of the Path to Success

Meris Mandernach Longmeier & Pamela Espinosa de los Monteros (Ohio State University)
If you are not making a mistake, it’s a mistake! Embracing Failure as part of the Path to Success

ABSTRACT

The traditional functions of libraries, such as managing collections and data, have historically emphasized and rewarded particular skill sets, such as attention to detail, perfectionism, and accuracy. These skills have been instrumental in serving users effectively. However, in today's rapidly evolving and complex environments, librarians must also possess the ability to adapt quickly, navigate ambiguity, and experiment with innovative techniques. These skills are especially important in advancing meaningful experimentation to embed inclusive excellence in libraries core services.

This workshop aims to introduce the concept of "provocative competence," as well as emphasizing the importance of psychological safety and the value of making mistakes as a means of fostering innovation and personal/professional development. Through the use of case studies and interactive activities, participants will learn to embrace mistakes as valuable opportunities for learning and growth. Case studies will share real-life examples of challenges in the libraries that resulted in opportunities for change. Participants will leave with guided questions to support reframing and learn to pair complaints with solutions (Comp-lutions).

Participants will:

  • Learn about the importance of operating from a growth mindset to unleash creativity and innovation, as well as cultivate resilience
  • Learn to go from complaints to comp-lution
  • Leave with skills and tools to reframe library problems to action-oriented approaches

Mission: Thrive – Helping Library Staff Connect, Flourish, and Succeed

Marsha Miles & Mandi Goodsett (Cleveland State University)
Mission: Thrive – Helping Library Staff Connect, Flourish, and Succeed

ABSTRACT

Academic library staff are committed to providing the best possible service to their campus communities, and this begins with connecting, understanding, appreciating, and celebrating each other. This session/workshop will explore how one academic library took the first step in this process by developing workplace Thrive & Connect Guides that allow staff to share their workplace preferences, communication styles, and how they feel appreciated. In addition to creating Thrive & Connect Guides, the staff also participated in a workshop to share their guides and articulate how they feel supported and appreciated in the workplace. Presenters will share lessons learned in implementing this program, and attendees will have the opportunity to begin creating their own guides, engage in discussion, and leave with resources to cultivate belonging and connection in their own libraries.

Participants will:

  • Implement Thrive & Connect Guides within their institutions to foster inclusive communication practices, enhance a sense of belonging, and strengthen interpersonal connections among staff
  • Apply multiple methods for gathering staff feedback on how they feel thanked, appreciated, and supported in the workplace
NOTE: This is a Hybrid Session

Caring through Change: Wellness and Team Building in Technical Services

Masha Stepanova & Rocki Strader (The Ohio State University)
Caring through Change: Wellness and Team Building in Technical Services

ABSTRACT

In a Cataloging department that has experienced significant leadership changes, the migration to a new Library Services Platform (LSP), and various personnel shifts, consistent team-building activities have proven to be crucial for maintaining departmental well-being. The efforts initiated by the Interim Department Head and continued by the new Department Head have ensured that staff members receive the necessary support throughout these transitions. This continuity has fostered a sense of stability and trust, allowing the team to rely on one another and cultivate a more cooperative and harmonious work environment.

The speakers will delve into specific strategies and activities designed to improve group cohesion within your department. They will share practical approaches to creating a safe and supportive atmosphere that not only enhances the well-being of your staff but also boosts their productivity and creativity. By implementing these techniques, you can foster a collaborative and resilient team that thrives even in the face of change.

Participants will:

  • Be able to implement presented activities to enhance the group cohesiveness in their department
  • Practice thinking creatively about wellness in order to foster a supportive work environment

Mission Possible: Collaborative AI Literacy Workshop for Students

Diane Schrecker & Andrew Wrobel (Ashland University)
Mission Possible: Collaborative AI Literacy Workshop for Students

ABSTRACT

This session will share a successful collaborative workshop series designed to foster responsible AI use among students. Jointly developed and delivered by the Library, Instructional Resource Center, and Writing and Communication Center. “Practical & Responsible Use of AI" introduced students to the complexities surrounding use of generative AI.

The workshop series was structured to include three distinct session topics: Exploring AI (covering basics, terms, and chatbots), Projects & AI (focusing on effective prompting for assignments), and Prompts & AI (introducing advanced techniques such as the CLEAR framework). Core components woven throughout the series featured educating students on the university's official AI policy, demonstrating practical GenAI platforms when approved for use on assignments, and thinking critically about implications of academic integrity. Presenters will detail workshop activities, provide insights into building cross-departmental partnerships, share the workshop LibGuide, and address what comes next for this workshop series.

Participants will:

  • Be able to identify potential topics for student workshops on the practical and responsible use of GenAI
  • Discover useful strategies for developing cross-departmental partnerships
  • Attendees will share and discuss topics surrounding the practical and responsible use of GenAI
NOTE: This is a Hybrid Session

Engage and Adapt: Navigating Library Programming in a Changing Landscape

Beronica Avila (Denison University), Janell Verdream (Kenyon College) & Eve Kausch (Kenyon College)
Engage and Adapt: Navigating Library Programming in a Changing Landscape

ABSTRACT

Outreach and engagement librarians from across Ohio colleges and universities will share mission-driven strategies for planning impactful library events in response to evolving institutional landscapes. This panel discussion addresses the varying interpretations of outreach and engagement across institutions and the challenges of aligning programming with library and institutional priorities. Panelists will provide mentorship and guidance, offering practical frameworks and actionable strategies for building connections, managing expectations, and balancing capacity. Whether attendees are new to outreach or seeking validation in their efforts, this session will present a roadmap for navigating the complexities of outreach work and fostering mission-driven programming that resonates across campus communities. Panelists strongly encourage attendees to share questions, but panelists will reference the following guiding questions, if needed:

Guiding questions:

  • How do you define “outreach” and “engagement” in your university/college?
  • How do you step into an outreach role and get to know your community?
  • How do you manage expectations and capacity in outreach work?
  • How can libraries without designated outreach librarians improve engagement efforts?
  • What foundational strategies can provide a starting point for building mission-aligned outreach?
  • How are you navigating SB1?

Participants will:

  • Assess their capacity and develop a roadmap on how to approach outreach expectations in their role
  • Identify outreach strategies to align library events with institutional goals amidst evolving policies
  • Explore practical frameworks for planning mission-aligned events, partnership-building, assessing institutional priorities, and leveraging community feedback

Four Months Later: Evolution of Primo VE Instances and Next Steps for OhioLINK Discovery

Erik Ziedses des Plantes (University of Dayton), Aja Bettencourt-McCarthy (University of Cincinnati), Kellie Tilton (University of Cincinnati Blue Ash), Debby Andreadis (Denison University) & Sharon Gravius (Ursuline College)
Four Months Later: Evolution of Primo VE Instances and Next Steps for OhioLINK Discovery

ABSTRACT

The OhioLINK migration to Ex Libris’ Alma and Primo VE has had a significant impact on academic libraries across the state over the past two years. Four months since "go live," this panel presentation will focus on how OhioLINK institutions of varying size have taken advantage of Primo VE’s institution-level customization potential to make Primo VE their own. Panelists will highlight customizations, user input, early challenges, and adaptation efforts at each of their home institutions. In addition to describing their individual experiences, the panelists will discuss how their local efforts informed and were informed by the work of the consortium. The end of the session will be reserved for a collaborative discussion about the future of Discovery collaboration across Ohio.

Participants will:

  • Leverage presenters' examples to implement PrimoVE changes locally.
  • Gain perspective regarding OhioLINK library user adaptation to PrimoVE.

  • Provide feedback to help guide state-wide Discovery collaborations.

Concurrent Sessions 4

“I Still Feel this Source is Appropriate for Use in this Assignment”: Analyzing Freshman Students’ Evaluation of Information Sources

Tammy J. Eschedor Voelker & Danielle F. French (Kent State University)
“I Still Feel this Source is Appropriate for Use in this Assignment”: Analyzing Freshman Students’ Evaluation of Information Sources

ABSTRACT

This session will share insights from a qualitative study of student learning around the evaluation of information sources. The presenters are a librarian and English faculty team who have been collaborating on library instruction for more than 7 years. This study specifically focuses on a cohort of Freshman Honors Colloquium students enrolled in a unique yearlong critical inquiry course. Six library sessions were integrated into the course through the academic year, covering a variety of topics from a basic introduction to academic libraries to analysis of archival materials. This study focuses on the students’ ability to critically evaluate an information source after a 75-minute instruction session that covered many aspects of source credibility, including discussions of authority, review processes, methodologies, bias, and more. Students were offered two opportunities to complete an in-depth analysis of one source of their choice, once immediately following the focused instruction session in the Fall 2024 semester, and once several months later in the Spring 2025 semester. The results provide multiple insights into the strengths and weakness of the students’ understanding, including some differences that were impacted by “time since instruction,” and revealed gaps that will impact the presenters’ instructional content and pedagogical approaches.

Participants will:

  • Identify key challenge areas for students in evaluating sources even after instructional intervention
  • Uncover approaches to address student gaps in knowledge for their own source evaluation instruction

The Researcher's Journey: A Transformative Approach to Dispositional Information Literacy

Kirsten Setzkorn, Jess Elder, & Nathanael Davis (Cedarville University)
The Researcher's Journey: A Transformative Approach to Dispositional Information Literacy

ABSTRACT

Drawing upon principles of transformational information literacy and concepts of intellectual virtues, we redesigned our instructional curriculum toward active, student-centered participation in the research process. Our First Year Instruction shifted from teaching the research process steps to reframing research as a journey that is transformative, dispositional, and grounded in our institutional core values and faith-based convictions.

Modeled after the hero’s journey, the curriculum invites students on an information literacy journey using metaphorical language that parallels both adventure and scholarship. Common trials were included so students may learn how to effectively anticipate, avoid, and overcome these obstacles.

What makes this revision distinctive is the integration of dispositions, affective attitudes of the mind. Each of the eight dispositions we developed are mapped to a step on the Researcher’s Journey. Through instruction, students simultaneously cultivate their scholarly growth while engaging their worldview in the research process.

This revision includes a suite of learning objects complete with slidedeck, LibGuide, worksheets, Canvas course with tutorials & quizzes, and a dispositions self-reflection assessment, all with a coordinated and compelling aesthetic. Faculty and student feedback was captured by survey.

Students come away well-equipped with foundational research skills and dispositional mindsets as they grow in their information literacy journey.

Participants will:

  • Consider the scholarly dispositions they want to cultivate in their students and how to incorporate those dispositions into their instruction of the research process
  • Evaluate how they might integrate principles of transformational information literacy in order to encourage students’ agency in their scholarly development
  • Explore how extended metaphors can be used to enhance instructional engagement and introduce complex research concepts

Managing Migration Mania: Sierra to Alma/Primo VE)

Patricia Frank & Daniel O'Brien (Ashland University)
Managing Migration Mania: Sierra to Alma/Primo VE)

ABSTRACT

From the experience of a very small academic library, library director and electronic resources librarian will speak about how they planned for the Alma migration from Sierra and then managed deadlines during the migration with one person (electronic resources librarian) meeting all the ExLibris and OhioLINK deadlines. Finally, the library director and electronic resources librarian will speak about tools they developed to share training on Alma and Primo VE for both staff, faculty and students. Curriculum & instruction librarian will share how we’ll implement Kaltura for future training on Alma and Primo VE.

Participants will:

  • Learn from strategies for short-staffed academic libraries coping with the many demands of the migration process and implementation

Developing a Library Instruction Community of Practice: Fostering Collaboration, Innovation, and Comradery

Emily Henderson, Mira Scarnecchia, Ryan Scott, & Sarah Fouts (Columbus State Community College)
Developing a Library Instruction Community of Practice: Fostering Collaboration, Innovation, and Comradery

ABSTRACT

The Reference & Instruction Librarian Team at our institution has been working collaboratively to update our one-shot instruction sessions, specifically to include a greater level of active learning activities to more deeply engage students. Members of this department felt it was vital to incorporate more professional development into our work practice to learn more about instructional strategies, active learning activities, and logistics for implementation. To do so, we started a “book club” — a community of practice where members take part in reading the same instruction-oriented texts and meet biweekly to discuss the texts, learn from each other, and collaborate on new ideas. This club functions as an open forum to consider our own classroom experiences, the feelings and lessons that we draw from those experiences, and ideas for implementing lessons from the texts in our own instruction and teaching. This presentation will provide details and strategies to participants on starting their own community of practice, insight from our own members on how this community has benefitted their work and professional development, and recommendations for implementing ideas developed from the book club into the classroom setting.

Participants will:

  • Analyze the utility of a community of practice centered around a critical work function for their professional context

  • Identify how participating in a mutual reading experience paired with group discussion can foster collaboration, professional development, and the sharing of ideas amongst colleagues

  • Plan logistical strategies for creating a community of practice relevant to work tasks or future goals to meet their institutional needs.

NOTE: This is a Hybrid Session

FAIrly Informed: Using AI to Teach about Fair Use in Information Literacy Instruction

Lee Parker (Central Michigan University)
FAIrly Informed: Using AI to Teach about Fair Use in Information Literacy Instruction

ABSTRACT

In this presentation, I will go through the approach which I took to generate a lesson about fair use using the AI image generation tools available through Adobe Express. This AI tool is widely available at the university where I work. To do this, my presentation will be broken up into three main parts. The first part will be introducing the course which this lesson was being implemented into and the extent to which the related topic of copyright was discussed in the course. Once that is done, I will then go through the process by which I developed this lesson, integrated ACRL information literacy standards into its creation, and integrated AI image generation ethically, informatively, and responsibly. To conclude, I will go over how this lesson structure can be seen to have been successful in terms of teaching this concept (through results such as quiz scores) and how this serves as a model for integrating AI in other ways into information literacy. I will go through this by describing key aspects of this lesson and how the lesson can be seen to embody those key aspects.

Participants will:

  • Understand the steps that were followed in developing an AI centered information literacy lesson in order to apply it in their own information literacy classroom environments
  • Formulate a lesson/assignment using a specific artificial intelligence tool centered around their current information literacy needs in order to maintain the relevance of their information literacy instruction in the 21st century.

Academic Librarians and Academic Integrity Work: Collaborating with Campus Partners to Help Students Succeed.

Vanessa Earp (Kent State University)
Academic Librarians and Academic Integrity Work: Collaborating with Campus Partners to Help Students Succeed.

ABSTRACT

How involved should academic librarians be in academic integrity work on their campuses? Many academic librarians include teaching citation styles and proper attribution as part of their information literacy plans. However, academic librarians are uniquly qualified and situated to be campus partners on academic integrity initiatives.

This presentation will focus on how one academic library has stepped beyond the traditional librarian roles and become a partner on campus regarding academic integrity work. Details about the library’s plagiarism remediation program and academic integrity outreach programs will be shared along with information on how more educational remediation opportunities are being developed based on feedback from faculty and students. The presenter will share their experiences over the last decade as they have become more involved in the university’s academic integrity activities.

Participants will:

  • Be able to conduct a needs assessment in order to determine what their role could/should be on their campus relating to academic integrity work
  • Engage their colleagues (within the library and across campus) in order to foster discussions on how the library can provide support for academic integrity work.
NOTE: This is a Hybrid Session

Deep Dive in the Archive: A Librarian's Essential Guide to Archival Management

Jenni Royce (University of Findlay) & Cassandra Lagunzad Brown (Heidelberg University)
Deep Dive in the Archive: A Librarian's Essential Guide to Archival Management

ABSTRACT

As libraries and archives feel increasing budget crunches, librarians at smaller institutions may find themselves taking up management of archival collections. Leaving these collections on the backburner can quickly lead to a large backlog and hinder the accessibility and usability of the collection as a whole. Although daunting, individuals without formal archival training can effectively manage and organize these collections in ways that best suit the needs of their institution regardless of the time they are able to dedicate to it. This session will detail practical steps to manage and ensure access to a small university archive, all while balancing pre-existing responsibilities. These lessons can be applied to a variety of other situations.

Participants will:

  • Be able to develop strategies in managing archival collections, regardless of their prior experience
  • Propose strategies for archival processing on a budget and in time constraints

Ongoing Learning as a Key to Success: Launching a Teaching-Focused Professional Development Certificate for Library Professionals

Jane Hammons (The Ohio State University) & Amanda Folk (Denison University)
Ongoing Learning as a Key to Success: Launching a Teaching-Focused Professional Development Certificate for Library Professionals

ABSTRACT

Librarians and library professional staff need access to affordable professional development opportunities. One of the key areas in which professional development is needed is teaching information literacy. There has been ongoing concern in the profession about how well MLIS programs prepare students for teaching roles. Likewise, more established librarians may have difficulty participating in professional development to support their continued growth as teachers, as access to existing teaching-focused professional development is often limited by cost, time, or geography.

This interactive presentation will describe one institution’s effort to launch a free information literacy teaching-focused professional development certificate available to librarians, including public, school, and academic librarians, across the country. After providing a brief description of the program, presenters will share preliminary findings from a research study examining participants’ motivations for engaging with the program, what they learned through their participation, and their plans for future professional development.

Session participants should leave with a better understanding of the challenges related to preparing librarians for instructional roles and helping more established librarians to continue developing their pedagogical practices and knowledge of information literacy. Participants will gain an understanding of the potential for grassroots efforts to meet the need for affordable professional development.

Participants will:

  • Enhance understandings of the need for teaching-focused professional development for library professionals in order to determine how best to support librarians at a range of different institutions and levels

• Reflect on options for meeting the professional development needs of academic librarians in order to identify key considerations for undertaking this work

Poster Sessions

MurALL: Connecting Community, Library, Art, and Experiential Learning

MurALL: Connecting Community, Library, Art, and Experiential Learning
Amanda Hartman McLellan (Wittenberg University)

From neolithic cave paintings to modern murals and sculpture, art in public spaces has tremendous power to tell a story, evoke emotions, and to create a sense of shared belonging. Learn how one academic library partnered with their campus art department and provided a week-long experiential learning opportunity for ten students, touring the public art of three cities and then creating two murals in the library for current and future generations.

Seeking socially just information: Exploring adult learners’ knowledge application for critical algorithmic literacy

Seeking socially just information: Exploring adult learners’ knowledge application for critical algorithmic literacy
Catie Carlson (University of Cincinnati)

This research acknowledges the power, influence, and biases that information discovery algorithms hold. Information discovery occurs as we interact with online platforms that feed us information whether they are passive (e.g. social media scroll) or active (e.g. search results). Because information shapes thought processes and beliefs, the power, influence, and biases of these algorithms impact social justice movements. Using hermeneutic phenomenology, this research examines adult learners’ understanding of information discovery algorithms through their application of critical algorithmic literacy to inform future critical pedagogy methods. It presents key themes and conclusions found following participant interviews.

Realities, not Hallucinations: Ohio Libraries & Their Generative AI Policies

Realities, not Hallucinations: Ohio Libraries & Their Generative AI Policies

Amy Rohmiller (Kettering Health) & Ruth Monnier (Mount St. Joseph University)

Generative AI is creating new frontiers, but are library policies, procedures, and practices keeping up? Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, CoPilot, Gemini, Claude, and Bard, begin being publicly released in November 2023 and the technology is still evolving. How have libraries codified (or not) policies and institutional practices around this evolving technology - both internal- and external-facing? This poster presentation explores preliminary data about libraries’ generative AI policies and institutional practices via survey data from Ohio library Deans and Directors as well as a content analysis of Ohio library’s public-facing websites. Participants will be able to understand types of generative AI policies in place within Ohio academic libraries.

Peer Mentoring with a Trauma-Informed Heart

Peer Mentoring with a Trauma-Informed Heart
Shelby Royal (The Ohio State University)

University libraries continue facing the stigma of being stuffy, intimidating or emotionally sterile. While untrue, these misconceptions can easily deter students, especially those suffering from trauma, from seeking the support they need. This poster explores how trauma-informed peer mentoring programs within academic libraries can actively dismantle these barriers and challenge the stigma surrounding library spaces. Peer mentors, who often share lived experiences with their peers, are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between students and library resources, humanizing the library experience and fostering trust. Embedding trauma-informed practices, such as empowerment, safety, and collaboration, into their training has helped craft a safe, inclusive environment where students from all backgrounds feel safe and inspired to explore academic curiosities.

Preserving Libraries’ Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion work: a directory of projects for the present and the future

Preserving Libraries’ Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion work: a directory of projects for the present and the future
Ken Irwin (Miami University)

With recent attacks on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in higher education, it is important for libraries to retain our collective knowledge and build on efforts making our profession and our organizations more inclusive. In the Summer of 2025, the [ORGANIZATION] will publish a directory of EDI projects in academic libraries that can help retain and share this knowledge. Libraries and library workers are encouraged to share their own EDI projects so they may continue to serve as guides to libraries into the future. The web-based directory supports academic libraries, providing a central hub in which to learn about other libraries’ EDI projects, policies, and other initiatives. It offers inspiration and support for those continuing to advocate for inclusion, even in challenging times.

This poster will share information about the directory as well as strategies for contributing to our collective knowledge base even as libraries may be forced to retreat from specific programs. Even if your library has had to abandon one or more strategies for inclusion, your experiences may still benefit libraries in other states or in a less hostile future. The directory offers anonymity options for those who wish to share projects without identifying themselves or their institution.

The library’s role in mitigating impostor phenomenon in graduate students

The library’s role in mitigating impostor phenomenon in graduate students

Micky Carignano (Western Michigan University)


Digitization is an important initiative that enables greater access to historical artifacts, yet the high cost in both time and resources can deter many libraries from even approaching this trend. Instead of purchasing an expensive high-quality book scanner or contracting the services of a vendor, a small academic library explored ways to develop their own tool using their support staff’s expertise. The poster will detail how library support staff collaborated to design and then build an open-face book cradle that fit their collection’s specific needs at a low cost, before moving on to describe how this tool enabled high-quality scans for various projects. The benefits and challenges of this approach will be compared against other alternatives so that attendees may consider how this tool may fit into their own institution’s digitization initiatives.

All Means All: Collaborations Using Inclusive Health Data

All Means All: Collaborations Using Inclusive Health Data
Sarah Joseph (Grand Valley State University)

In 2023, our recently formed team of university Health Sciences Librarians embarked on a journey of discovery focused on one of the largest and most diverse biomedical datasets in the world. The All of Us dataset from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) collects data from over one million people living in the United States with the goal of improving health for all. We sought a health information source for our student researchers without expensive subscription fees and which included diverse data. All of Us fit the bill, given their focus on health data from individuals not always represented in studies.

How does helping our institution navigate sources of biomedical research lead to health care advances? How might libraries lead the way in providing training to students and faculty utilizing the All of Us resources? What collaborations might evolve from our engagement with this dataset? These were some of the questions we explored in this unique program through the NIH/National Library of Medicine. Our work included training sessions on dataset access and tools through an engaged cohort of library participants across the United States. This presentation highlights several of our campus engagement activities and the partnerships we formed.

Preparing for Liftoff: Library Internships to Prepare Students for Career Launch

Preparing for Liftoff: Library Internships to Prepare Students for Career Launch
Stacy Chaney-Blankenship, Holly Birk, & Amanda Raab (Ohio Wesleyan University)

Our poster will discuss the value of working with campus partners to establish undergraduate student internships in a variety of fields, including library and information science. Our campus partners have included internship placements through our university’s career services as well as semester-long coursework with academic departments in Environment & Sustainability and English. For our part, library staff have learned aspects of project management and building syllabi to support these interns. Additionally, we will briefly highlight how all our student workers participate in intentional student employment opportunities. As one of the largest employers on campus, we have created a system of training, scaffolding, and feedback that helps our students gain valuable professional skills. The results are professional training for our students – and as a bonus, we have a wealth of information for writing letters of recommendation to help “fuel” their future success.

Breaking Out of the Burnout Spiral

Breaking Out of the Burnout Spiral
Dylan McGlothlin, Caitlyn Stypa (Western Michigan University)

The emotions in a state of burnout can be ineffable and disorienting, which makes it difficult to find a way out. Often, burnout is viewed as exhaustion caused by stress, but it can be defined more specifically as demoralization from a misalignment of personal values and shared workplace values. The misalignment of values creates an unproductive relationship between our identity and work culture known as vocational awe. At each point, burnout, misaligned values, and vocational awe, there is a counterpart to end the spiral in the form of self-care and self-love, a strong grounding in prioritized personal values, and a healthy separation of identity and work.

Drawing on personal experience, library literature, collective organizing strategies, and various interdisciplinary burnout experts, this poster will visualize the relationships between different components of library work that fuel burnout and their counterparts that dampen burnout. An accompanying digital tool-kit of resources and exercises will be provided to assist individuals in breaking out of their own burnout spiral.

Fly Me to the Moon: Creating our Own “Overview Effect” to Train First-Time Electronic Resource Employees

Fly Me to the Moon: Creating our Own “Overview Effect” to Train First-Time Electronic Resource Employees
Michayla Nester & Rachel Krak (Denison University)

Training in electronic resources can be overwhelming and confusing, especially when you’re brand new to technical services. When a new Serials Coordinator joined our team, we wanted to try a different approach to onboarding. Focusing more on context and less on process, we created a curriculum that drew connections between different aspects of electronic resources management. Much like looking at the Earth from space, these modules focused on capturing the Big Picture in order to illuminate the details. In our poster, we will demonstrate how we came up with the idea for the initiative, review the framework and schedule we created, and elaborate on lessons learned. We will also share insights on how this methodology informed our approach to an LSP migration.

Rooting for You: Nurturing Student Wellness One Plant at a Time

Rooting for You: Nurturing Student Wellness One Plant at a Time

Katie Maxfield (University of Dayton) & Kristen Peters (Case Western Reserve University)

This poster highlights a low-cost, high-impact outreach event developed by an academic library to foster a sense of student belonging during the first six weeks of the semester. “Rooting for You” is an adopt-a-plant wellness event where students receive a free plant and connect with campus wellness resources such as student counseling and the library’s circulating wellness collection. What started as a creative way to manage overgrown library plants has blossomed into a signature event that students look forward to each fall. This poster outlines how the event was implemented with minimal costs and offers practical tips for launching a similar program to help students feel rooted in their campus community.

Providing Library Instruction for an Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program course

Providing Library Instruction for an Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program course
Susan Ashby & Marilia Y. Antunez (University of Akron)

In the Spring Semester of 2025, two librarians collaborated to deliver in-person library instruction sessions for a section of an undergraduate communications course held at a women’s community correctional facility in Ohio. This section of the course was offered as part of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. This presentation will explore the unique challenges and innovative solutions involved in preparing and conducting library sessions in a non-traditional academic setting, which included both incarcerated students and university students.

Cultivating Oxygen-Rich Atmospheres: Self-Care for Academic Library Personnel (Destress the Stress)

Cultivating Oxygen-Rich Atmospheres: Self-Care for Academic Library Personnel (Destress the Stress)
Vanessa Jones (Tennessee State University)

The well-being of academic library personnel directly impacts the library's ability to fulfill its crucial mission of supporting teaching, learning, and research. Investing in self-care initiatives across all departments and specialties fosters a more engaged, productive, and resilient workforce. Academic libraries, the intellectual heart of our institutions, thrive on the expertise and dedication of their personnel. However, the multi-layered responsibilities within this environment – from instruction and research support to collection management, digital scholarship, and navigating evolving technologies – can create significant pressures. Sometimes the environment adds to the stress as well. This engaging and relevant presentation, "Creating Oxygen-Rich Atmospheres," touches on the stressors inherent in academic library work and offers actionable self-care techniques applicable across all departments and specialties. Whether you're a public services librarian navigating demanding reference interactions, a cataloger managing complex metadata, an archivist preserving fragile materials, or an administrator leading strategic initiative, this presentation will provide you with tangible strategies to infuse "oxygen" into your daily work life – moments and practices that replenish energy, enhance focus, and promote a sense of balance and sustainability.

Executable Books for Research Services and Instruction

Executable Books for Research Services and Instruction
Sarah Murphy (The Ohio State University)

As research services continue to evolve within academic libraries, executable books present a valuable opportunity for libraries to package instructional materials and model open science. The Executable Books Project, an international collaboration with roots in the Jupyter ecosystem, offers one method for documenting research methods, procedures, code, and analysis. The project’s Gallery of Jupyter Books showcases over 100 titles, demonstrating how to interlace text, images, video, code and more.

This presentation will share an executable book created to support instruction and research services at one academic library. Part 1 of the book is structured similarly to a LibGuide, promoting library resources with text, images, and embedded videos. Part 2 of the book consists of seven tutorials but expands regularly as additional tutorials are added. Tutorials cover topics ranging from Python basics to web scraping, working with APIs, regular expressions, and more. Code blocks support students during live workshops by allowing them to quickly copy code from the book to Visual Studio Code. Following this demonstration of an executable book, presentation participants will learn the eight steps for creating an executable book and deploying the book with GitHub Pages.

The Trouble with Community Resources: Finding, Linking, and Maintaining resources that support civic engagement and social needs.

The Trouble with Community Resources: Finding, Linking, and Maintaining resources that support civic engagement and social needs.
Allen Reichert (Otterbein University)

Links to local resources for social services such as food pantries or crisis units are common on library webpages and libguides. These collections of links can be quite long, and libraries can measure usage of the pages or specific links. However, there are other ways to think about what resources we link out to that may be more beneficial.

I did a study of workers at three different hotline centers across the country; Columbus, Fort Lauderdale, and Ithaca. Crisis workers are trained at their center and come from many backgrounds. The analysis looked at their information needs and how they evaluate resources when talking to callers. This presentation will discuss my findings and how they can apply to library support for community resources. This includes what is listed, awareness of what resources are difficult to find, and how to help users looking for local resources.


Pre-Conference, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025
OCLC Convention Center, Smith Building

General Sessions Room

6600 Kilgour Place, Dublin, OH
Conference, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025
OCLC Convention Center, Smith Building
6600 Kilgour Place, Dublin, OH

Thursday In-Person Pre-Conference Workshop

  • $65 ALAO/MiALA/OHSLA Members
  • $90 Non ALAO Members
  • $38 ALAO Student Members/Retirees
Pre-Conference Registration

Let's get social, ALAO!

Thursday, November 6 

6 PM - 9 PM

Getaway Brewing

108 N High Street

Dublin, Ohio


ALAO is hosting a social on Thursday evening, November 6 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Getaway Brewing in Dublin, OH. Join us for hors d'oeuvres, conversation, and  lovely surroundings. Have dinner at one of the delicious nearby restaurants and then join us for the social!

In-Person/Online Conference Registration

Presenters will be emailed a direct link for registration.

Early Bird Registration Rates  (ends September 19, 2025)

  • $130 ALAO/MiALA/OHSLA Members
  • $160 Non ALAO Members
  • $77 ALAO Student Members/Retirees

In-Person Regular Rates

  • $160 ALAO/MiALA/OHSLA Members
  • $190 Non ALAO Members
  • $95 ALAO Student Members/Retirees

Online Only Conference

  • $50 ALAO/MiALA/OHSLA Members
  • $56 Non ALAO Members
  • $25 ALAO Student Members/Retirees
Conference Registration

Exhibitors

  • $250 Standard Exhibitor Package
  • $100 Non-Profit Exhibitor Package
  • $79 Additional Attendees
  • Platinum and Diamond Sponsors


About ALAO

The Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) is a chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). ALAO exists to develop, promote, and improve library and information services in Ohio’s higher education community, to advance the interests of academic librarianship and the personnel of academic libraries, and to provide leadership and advocacy for the educational and policy concerns of the academic library community in Ohio.

Sustainability

  • We encourage attendees to carpool to and from the conference to reduce pollution.
  • We encourage attendees to bring their own refillable water bottles and coffee mugs to the conference to reduce waste.
  • The committee will be very intentional about what we choose to print. As such, stay tuned for details about electronic conference programs, evaluations and more.

Community Agreements

The conference planners seek to create a space for respectful dialogue and debate about critical issues. Upon registration, attendees will be asked to review and accept a list of community agreements. Conference planners will actively strive to create spaces in which multiple perspectives can be heard and no one voice dominates.

Who We Are

Members of the 2025 conference planning committee are:

  • Paul Campbell, Chair (ALAO President Elect)
  • Mira Scarnecchia 
  • Rob O'Brien  Withers
  • Abigail (Abi) Morgan
  • Kristine Kinzer 
  • Cara Calabrese
  • Emily Henderson 
  • Diane Schrecker 
  • Kristen Peters 
  • Gerald (Jerry) Natal
  • Katie Maxfield   
  • Don Appleby
  • Leticia Wiggins

If you have any questions at all about this event, contact us at program@alaoweb.org.

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