Short Session Description: 

Data literacy has joined information literacy as a core area for undergraduate curricula. Many faculty have not had formal training in these skills beyond their own disciplinary context, and may be unsure how to create effective data-related assignments. Librarians at one university collaborated with faculty to envision campus-wide data literacy competencies and develop a teaching toolkit to help faculty integrate data literacy across the curriculum. This hands-on workshop will offer an introduction to data literacy competencies and guide participants through two hands-on data visualization and wrangling activities that can be adapted for a variety of disciplines.

Session Format and Style: 

This hands-on workshop will take place in small groups. After a brief overview of one campus model for data literacy competencies, attendees will use sample datasets to work through two group activities to create a data visualization from a dataset and then wrangle their data to compile a new dataset. The workshop will conclude with a reflection about learning outcomes and how these activities can be adapted for a variety of disciplines and levels. The goal of this workshop is to give librarians concepts and tools to begin leading conversations about integrating data literacy into curricula at their institutions.

Takeaways: 

Participants will leave with model data literacy competencies as well as sample data literacy activities that can be adapted and customized for a variety of disciplinary contexts. They will also gain tools for shaping conversation at their institutions about the information and data literacy skills that are so crucial for undergraduate students to master in preparation for entering today’s workforce.

Organization: We would like to invite at least one additional collaborator who has expertise in data literacy instruction and programming.

Contact Information:

Theresa Burress – tburress@mail.usf.edu

Emily Mann – ezmann@mail.usf.edu

1. Short Session Description: 

Women in higher education continue to struggle to be seen as equal to their male counterparts. Women in higher education continue to rise at a slower rate in professional ranks than their male counterparts. The authors believe the Collegial Support Triangle addresses some of the issues facing women in academia and career building. What strategies can women use to attain their desired level of leadership? We would like to share our triangle for you to take back to your workplace and implement for your own level of professional fulfillment.

2. Session Style/Format: Interactive panel

3. Takeaways: 

1. Take the triangle back and use it to develop and action plan.
2. Examine their own skill set: identify strengths and weaknesses. Identify women who can benefit from your strengths and women who can assist in turning your weaknesses into strengths, building mutual support and growth.
3. Put a plan into action and assess regularly for any changes that may be needed.

4. Organization:  Texas Tech University

5. Contact Information: Carrye Syma, carrye.syma@ttu.edu 

Goblins in the Library: Managing Mischief

Short Session Description. Students come to Lycoming College’s Snowden Library for many of the same reasons patrons visit any library: to borrow materials, use computers or printers, find a silent space to study, work on a project with a group, relax, socialize and more. Sometimes it seems that their sole reason to visit the library is to cause mischief. From noise problems to stolen plants, our goblins have inspired us to implement some creative solutions, including re-branding zones within the library to extra tattle-tape, to manage these new challenges.

Session Format & Style. Roundtable. Participants will work in groups as they play an interactive card game designed to manage goblin mischief. Each card represents a real-life mischief scenario inspired by the goblins that visit our libraries! Participants will express their initial reaction to the mischief, discuss appropriate steps to diffuse mischief including who to contact and what policies or procedures could be put in place. Remember, goblin mischief evolves quickly so you must act fast!

Takeaways. Participants will leave with completed a goblin mischief sheet that records solutions to managing disruptions in the library. They will walk away with creative solutions to the evolving behavioral issues occurring in libraries which they can use to help shape their own policies.

Organization. No formed group- I would like to collaborate with other library staff who have had to combat unique mischief within their libraries. I plan to post a Call for Participation so that others can join.

Contact Information. Taryn Bartholomew – bartholomew@lycoming.edu

1. Short Description

Dungeons Masters use active learning techniques to build their game sessions and Librarians can use these practices to design library instruction. MEET your students where they are- will they be decimated by a goblin raiding party, or are they ready to take on the Demogorgon? ENGAGE students in their own learning story- let them experiment, make choices, and face the results, even when that causes a Total Party Kill! REFLECT on the lessons learned- was trying to ride that dragon really a good choice? What do they want to accomplish in order to level up?

2. Session Style: Hands-on Workshop

3. Takeaways: Using active learning techniques, participants will strategize ways to incorporate the active learning principles of MEET, ENGAGE, and REFLECT into their own library instruction design.

4. Organization: CFP, especially for co-presenters who are current or past participants of Librarians Active Learning Institute at Dartmouth College, whose principles this session is based on. 

5. Contact information: Robyn Hartman, Information and Digital Literacy Librarian, Fort Hays State University. rchartman@fhsu.edu 

1- Short Session Description: Non-tenure track faculty, general faculty, professional staff; is it all just a roll of the dice? We will convene a group of panelists to discuss the merits and drawbacks of these different types of librarian positions and solicit feedback from attendees on their experiences. We will discuss how LIS programs do (or do not) prepare us for research-intensive positions and, in doing so, consider why there is so much variation among professional positions in this field. What are the challenges of switching jobs in this environment? Should we be pushing for change at the institutional level, and if so, what does that look like? This panel will consider these questions and more as we assess the impact of professional status in this field.

2- Session Style/Format: Interactive panel

3- Takeaways: Participants will share personal experiences with and consider the relative merits of different professional statuses in the library profession, and leave with an understanding of whether and how professional status should factor into their career plan.

4- Organization: We will initiate a call for participation for panelists to engage our audience.

5- Contact Information: Abby Flanigan, akf3g@virginia.edu and Sherri Brown, slb4kt@virginia.edu

• Short Session Description
  • In this session, we will create a story together (possibly alongside people across the world) through a live, interactive Twitter thread. Participants with a Twitter account and smartphone/laptop should bring them, but small groups/pairs will form, so those without are able to participate just as much! Using a consistent hashtag to track the conversation, polls and free-form questions to prompt action, the group will create a story viewable by the Twitter world. Simultaneously we will discuss the possibilities of this medium as a non-traditional outreach mechanism, and the opportunities DnD presents for information literacy education. The adventure will continue online throughout the rest of the conference!

• Session Format & Style
  • Part hands-on workshop (so-to speak), part make/hack/play session! Those present will get more out of it due to the in-person discussions around the mechanics and strategies, but anyone (worldwide) with a Twitter account will be able to take part in some way.

• Takeaways
  • The entire session will be interactive, with participants making decisions and shaping the story along with me, the DM/prompter. Participants will learn how outreach to the public can be in a non-traditional format and be presented in a non-stiff/educational format. Storytelling in this format can be just for fun, but it can also be used for educational purposes if done correctly!

• Organization
  • I would love to post a CFP if selected, for roaming assistants and story prompters if the session has a lagged start or anything.

• Contact Information
  • Allegra Tennis (atennis@library.rochester.edu)

Short session description (~100 words):

You’ve formed your party at the local tavern, and you’re ready to set off on a quest to create the best tabletop game collection! In this choose your own adventure workshop, adventurers will determine which path they will choose to learn about building a tabletop game collection. Will you play it safe and head to the village school to learn about teaching games, or will you delve into the dark forest to gain experience planning a program for teens? The choice is yours.

Session format and style: This session will be a highly-interactive workshop where adventurers will be asked to complete a different task or learn something new at each station/location on their quest.

Takeaways: Depending on which paths they take, adventurers will learn various aspects of creating, managing, and promoting a tabletop game collection and leave with strategies to implement these ideas in their own public or academic libraries.

Organization: CFP: Looking for 1-2 librarians who have experience working at a public library with a tabletop game collection. Hands-on experience with games programming is preferred but not required.

Contact info:

Emily Moran, Lycoming College, morane@lycoming.edu

Carl DiNardo, Eckerd College, dinardco@eckerd.edu

1. Short Session Description: Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I never thought too much about extended medical leaves and how it would feel to come back to work after/while grappling with an illness. It turns out that there is a rich body of scholarly, interdisciplinary literature about “return to work”––though it does not seem to be addressed in the library literature. In this facilitated roundtable discussion, we will share some of our own experiences with return to work after an extended medical leave. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect upon their own or a colleague’s experience, as well as ask questions and learn more about return to work in academic librarianship.

2. Session Format: Discussion roundtable/facilitated discussion type session.

The conveners will share their own experiences with returning to work, and ask for participants to share their experiences. We would like to have a guided, quiet reflective writing component at the beginning of the session, wherein participants can reflect on their own return-to-work experiences and come up with questions they would like the roundtable to address. These experiences could be their own experiences with returning to work after an extended medical leave, or their experiences with a colleague’s return to work. Participants who haven’t experienced a return to work situation may also find a safe space here in which to ask questions of the conveners who have experienced it.

3. Takeaways: During this session, participants will be able to listen to various experiences of library folks who have returned to work after an extended medical leave. Participants will also have the opportunity to share their own experiences after doing some guided reflective writing. The major takeaway from the session will be a sense of community and not-alone-ness, tips from other participants about what worked or didn’t work for them, and a feeling of empowerment from talking about something that is usually experienced silently and in the shadows. We want participants leave feel encouraged, emboldened, and safe to ask for what they need in their own workplaces. Participants who have not themselves experienced a return to work will have a safe space to ask their questions of those of us who have, and leave with new knowledge about what return to work might look like in different places.

4. Organization: This summer, I am conducting a broader survey of library workers who have taken an extended medical leave and have had a return-to-work experience. I am actually hoping to find co-conveners through that survey. But I am also open to doing a CFP to The Collective’s community! I would like to have at least 2-3 other co-conveners, preferably people I have never worked with before, so that we can have a more inclusive session.

5. Contact Information: Alex Gallin-Parisi (agallin@trinity.edu)

Short Description: Beyond the debate of pursing generalist vs. specialist education, once you're in the field you've probably collected a certain skill set that can feel like it restricts your long-term career path. But if you're itching for exploration, change is possible! Take it from this historic-special-collections-curator turned tech-savvy-metadata-and-discovery librarian. It's all about identifying your own transferable skills, staying keen on how to learn and prepare for new responsibilities, and marketing yourself as THE hero of the hiring committee's campaign.

Session Format & Style: discussion roundtable / small group breakout

Takeaways: Attendees will gain insight into different ways of looking at and advocating for their own skills and expertise, recognizing opportunities in departments they may not have previously considered, how to prepare for interviews and new positions when there are job responsibilities that would be new professional territory for them, and generally leave with a  perspective on the interconnection of various positions across libraries.

Organization: CFP - Actively seeking fellow adventurers who have navigated a major career path change!

Contact Information: Porsche Schlapper (porsche.schlapper@marquette.edu)

1-Short Description: Don’t settle for the status quo or botch your library’s website with decision-making based on assumptions--test it! Usability testing makes for better library websites. Even if you are not up for a major redesign, testing can illuminate iterative changes to improve end-user experience. This workshop will teach participants the basics of task-based usability testing, including simple strategies for recruiting participants, planning tests, and creating meaningful tasks. Participants will be challenged to skill check their library websites, or other online content, in real-time by creating tasks and partnering up to facilitate a usability test. Librarians in all rolls can benefit from a closer look at their online content, no web or user experience expertise required!

2-Session Format & Style: Hands on, interactive workshop.

3-Takeaways:

1. Learn the skills needed to implement basic task-based usability testing to inform library website changes.
2. Design a usability test with tasks that can tell you something.
3. Test your library’s website with a fellow librarian and maybe even identify some needed edits to share with your colleagues back home!

4-Organization: Fully formed

5-Contact:

Brittany Richardson, brittany-richardson01@utc.edu

Natalie Haber, natalie-haber@utc.edu