Individual Presentations
- “Finding Your Purpose: Leading Workshops on Justice-Oriented Scholarship” Claudia Berger, Sarah Lawrence College / Pratt Institute
In Spring 2024, after receiving requests from several groups of faculty and students, I led three workshops using Hannah Alpert-Abrams’ workbook Finding Your Purpose, an open access resource “for justice-oriented scholars in an unjust world” (Alpert-Abrams 2022). The workbook contains a series of guided activities and prompts for reflection to assist the practitioner in identifying concrete ways they can actively integrate their values into their research and professional life through five categories: lineage, community, pleasure, values, and purpose. These workshops were each in different contexts: an in-class exercise for graduate library students, a workshop outside of class targeting primarily undergraduate students (with a few graduate students also in attendance), and a professional development activity for a group of faculty and staff. The workbook was flexible enough to be applicable each time, and this presentation will reflect on how it functioned for each of these population groups as well as walking through some of the more successful activities. Finding Your Purpose is an incredible resource both for library staff to use in their outreach and workshops, but also in our own personal practices as a way to identify the types of work we want to focus our energy on. In a world where it can be easy to feel defeated when working within institutions we may not always agree with, Finding Your Purpose demonstrates that there are always ways to integrate our values into how we show up for our jobs every day.
- “Libraries as Sustainability Leaders or: How We Came To “Love” Trash” Zachary Vickery and Morgan Bond, SUNY Oswego
This presentation will explore the role that a library and its staff can play in supporting the ALA core value of sustainability and sustainability goals of an academic institution, with specific emphasis on efforts to improve waste management on a university campus. The Penfield Library Sustainability Committee and the Office of Sustainability at SUNY Oswego worked together to explore how waste reduction goals can be met across campus by working as a test site for an eventual campus-wide rollout of action. Within the past year the library conducted multiple building-wide waste audits, made changes to book recycling procedures, and served as the site of a pilot waste management program. The presenters will discuss waste management techniques at their institution, how education about waste collection improved the process at their library, share experiences navigating campus partnerships and coordinating with building partners to initiate change, and provide recommendations for conducting a building-wide waste audit.
- “Library and Union Values: Alignments, Frictions, and Resolutions” Alan Witt, SUNY Geneseo
Librarianship has a strong user-oriented and service mentality, and this value set can potentially class with the worker-focused union values. Many librarians hold service to their patrons as a value above and beyond their own well being, while unions have strong opinions about working beyond your compensation. This apparent contradiction has the potential to suppress librarian membership in unions, to discourage librarians from active participation in union advocacy, and thus to degrade the power of library unions and the power of unions to help librarians improve their working conditions.
That contradiction can be resolved: the library service mentality, when applied to the workers themselves, allows for librarians to advocate for better conditions as well as to improve the lives of other workers. Part of this can be demonstrated through a common saying in union work in academia: “Faculty working conditions are the student’s learning conditions.” Moreover, participation in union activism is a way to gain agency and power in the workplace, to work with as well as in opposition to management to solve problems, and to improve morale and to fight burnout.
Drawing on both his library experience and union service, the presenter will talk about ways to reconcile that apparent conflict in values between the two: both by talking through case studies of how the two can be reconciled in practice, and by explaining ways to shift the service mindset to accommodate workers as well as patrons. Symposium attendees will learn potential advantages for union membership and active participation; will understand how library mindsets and skills are particularly suited to union work; will understand the importance of politics for librarianship as well as where a union can support that work; and will understand that advocating for fellow workers is not automatically at odds with supporting your patrons and your community.
- “TikTok as a Search Engine: Implications for Academic Librarians in Reference and Instruction” Kelly Karst, CUNY Brooklyn College
This session explores TikTok’s growing role as an information source and its impact on academic librarianship. Attendees will discuss how TikTok influences students’ research behaviors, challenges in information literacy, and strategies for engaging students who rely on the platform. The presentation invites a philosophical exploration of how librarians can navigate and respond to this evolving digital landscape.
Lightning Talks
- “The Implications of Pausing Acquisitions in Special Collections Libraries” Melina Moe, Columbia University
Many major research institutions face a significant backlog of unprocessed archival materials– often measured in years, if not decades. This backlog not only hinders access to valuable resources, violating ethical obligations to make materials available, but also continues to grow due to imbalanced resource allocation. To address this issue, some institutions propose hitting “pause” on acquisitions. However, the implications of such a move are complex and multifaceted, affecting donors, researchers, dealers, and staff. This lightning talk will explore the potential outcomes of pausing acquisitions, weighing the benefits against the risks, and proposing strategies to balance the ethical duty of accessibility with the practical challenges of resource management in special collections libraries.
- “On Display: Community Engagement, Counter-Stories, and Diversity Audits through Curating Reference Exhibits” Tierney Gleason, Fordham University
Exhibits in libraries are often thought of as displays of unique “treasures” from archives and special collections, but this focus misses the opportunity to highlight resources outside the ownership of a particular institution, “ordinary” items in circulating collections, and a range of open and proprietary electronic resources. This lightning talk will discuss adapting a reference and instruction perspective to organizing research-driven displays of print and digital materials that researchers can touch, checkout, access directly online, or visit in person at neighboring institutions. Using intersectionality as a guide, curating small-scale exhibits on specific topics can engage a research community about library resources and research methods as well as promote diversity and inclusion. At the same time, the process of creating research exhibits with an eye towards intersectionality doubles as a diversity audit of a collection to pinpoint where new acquisitions are needed. Insights from recent reference exhibits in Walsh Library at Fordham University in the Bronx covering the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, 19th century Black abolitionist organizing in New York, Bronx history and cultural heritage, and poetry movements will be shared.
- “What’s Information Literacy without a little Civic Engagement? Using NYC Open Data in an Information Literacy Course” Samantha Slattery and Gina Levitan, CUNY Hunter College
As part of a one-credit, online asynchronous information literacy course, two librarians created a Civic Engagement module that draws on equity of access to information to engage their NYC-based students in public open data and civic engagement. This module asks students to explore participatory budgeting (which takes place in the Spring) and the Community District Profiles for their neighborhoods. Each of these tools draws on NYC Open Data, local community efforts, and invites students to connect the information literacy skills and theories that they learn in the course to everyday democratic praxis. This lightning talk will focus on the specific assignments within the module.
- “Who Belongs Here? Naming and Countering Epistemic Injustice in Academic Archive” Dorian Onifer and Mee-Len Hom, CUNY Hunter College
In this lightning talk, we employ the theoretical framework of epistemic injustice to name the specific harms that result from the underrepresentation of student life materials – especially those generated through organized student activism – in academic repositories. Through describing our collaboration with current and former student activists involved in the Coalition for the Revitalization of Asian American Studies at Hunter (CRAASH), we offer an example of how academic librarians can leverage their personal connections with student and alumni to disrupt one-sided narratives of institutional history and affirm the intrinsic value of students as epistemic agents.
By sharing the details of our process of navigating institutional barriers and (re)building trust with former and current student activists, we aim to inspire fellow library workers to consider the changing role of college libraries and archives in uplifting statistically prominent yet still marginalized voices over which they wield power. Attendees will gain insights into the logistical complexities of advocating for the inclusion of student activism within college library collections, the potential for integrating these materials into instruction, and the broader implications of similar projects for advancing core library values in contemporary contexts.
Panel Discussion
- “Fridays in May: Queer BIPOC Peer Networking Program Overview” Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, New York University / Pratt School of Information, Traci Mark, Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO), Sam Mandani, Online Learning Librarian, NYU Libraries, Stefany Merkelbach, MLIS student, Pratt Institute and Library Fellow at Bard Graduate Center, Sagal Hassan, MLIS student, Queens College, CUNY
Fridays in May took place in May 2024 with an aim to supply Queer Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (QBIPOC) information professionals and students an opportunity to engage in a peer network across disciplines and institutions. The program was open to eight degree-seeking or early career QBIPOC information professionals who engaged in over the course of five weeks, in-person tours, workshops, and mediated conversations led by, with and among QBIPOC library, archives, and information professionals across NYC metropolitan area on topics related to engagement, exhibitions, collections processing, queer histories, professionalism in queer contexts, and more. If accepted as a presentation, the 15-20 min presentation will be provided by the creators of Fridays in May, (Shawn & Traci) showcasing the process for developing the program structure, promotion and outreach, determining eligible participants, the application process, and expectations of the program experience. Outputs will be showcase as hosted on an open access digital scholarship platform by participants wanting to share their narratives, ideas, stories, art, and research.
Posters
- “After the Audit: Creating a Culture of Accessibility at the Library” Jennifer Rutner, SUNY New Paltz
After a SUNY-wide ADA audit of electronic information technology (EIT) accessibility in 2019, staff at the Sojourner Truth Library began a process of implementing an extensive plan to assess the accessibility of our online resources. This plan included reviewing and updating LibGuides, extensive collections policy updates, ensuring film accessibility, conducting a thorough database review, new professional development on accessibility standards and disability justice, and collaborations with the Disability Resource Center (DRC). In 2023-24 the Library expanded the scope of our work with the DRC to include accessible library orientations for students, and a very successful job-placement program called “Jobs for Juniors.” This poster will outline the STL accessibility plan, the projects and processes that were implemented, and the pathway to creating a culture of accessibility at the library.
- “Decolonize Your Legal Bookshelf” Malikah Hall-Retteen, CUNY School of Law
Decolonization theory in legal education and the law seeks to create a more inclusive, equitable, and just legal system that recognizes and values diverse histories, perspectives, and experiences. Decolonizing your legal bookshelf involves critically examining and expanding your legal resources to include diverse perspectives, particularly those of Indigenous communities, marginalized communities, and voices from the Global South.
- “Grabbing Tea: Queer & Racialized Conversations in Library and Archival Practice” Shawnta Smith-Cruz, New York University, Sara Howard, Princeton University
Grabbing Tea aims to illustrate queer and racialized identity perspectives in the LIS field with conversations as a method for scholarly inquiry, developed from a 2024 two-book series on queer identity in libraries and archives for which the presenters are co-editors. Conversation allows us to capture moments of discovery, frustration, joy, and spontaneity, freeing us from traditional and often confining academic standards; queer concepts of non-normativity unveil new considerations. The poster in three parts describes, 1: the methodology of the book project, 2: identity in libraries, and 3: practice in archives. Each section includes notable quotes from authors on ways queerness has informed their library or archival practice. Quotes venture into the somatic, enter the spiritual realm, supply introspection, consider queer taxonomies, identify erasure, critique the power of naming, and investigate classification systems. As co-editors, we aim to highlight intersectional queer contexts into tangible library and archival praxis with conversation being our methodological framework.
- “Navigating Dual Roles: The Lived Experiences of Mother-Academic Librarians” Mollie Peuler, Appalachian State University
There is a growing body of librarians and scholars who have noted the absence of scholarly literature that reflects the lived experiences of mother/academic librarians. Fortunately, librarians are beginning to note the importance of this exploration of identity and professional context.This poster will share the results from a qualitative phenomenological research study that investigated the lived experiences of individuals identifying as mothers and working towards tenure or continuous appointment as academic librarians.
The poster will showcase the six themes identified that encapsulate the experiences of the mother librarian research participants. These themes highlight the complex interplay between their professional duties and personal lives, illustrating the multifaceted challenges they face. The dynamic identity norms of this group, shaped by institutional contexts, are not static. Instead, they evolve and influence what is expected, valued, and understood within their professional environments (Swanson, et al., 2018).
The absence of shared narratives among mother librarians has created a void in comprehension and support within the academic library community. By examining how these mothers navigate the tenure track and continuous appointment processes, this research provides valuable insights for developing tailored support systems. Understanding these experiences is crucial for creating, refining, and advocating for structures that help mother librarians manage their dual responsibilities more effectively.
While this research is exploratory and does not aim to generalize the experiences of all academic librarian mothers, the identified themes offer valuable considerations for academic librarians and leaders. By filling a significant scholarly void, this poster will serve to advocate for a broader, more inclusive understanding of professional identity in the academic library field. It underscores the necessity of amplifying the voices of mother librarians, contributing to a nuanced understanding of their experiences and the development of more supportive professional environments.
- “Promoting Latin American Cultural Heritage Preservation through Minority Presses” Xena Marie Morales, Columbia University Libraries
Minority music presses are crucial to preserving the cultural heritage by amplifying voices that reflect the region’s diverse musical traditions, these presses focus on underrepresented composers and genres, fostering a deeper understanding in this case of Latin America’s rich and complex identity. However, their limited visibility in mainstream distribution channels presents challenges for libraries seeking to acquire these vital resources.
This poster highlights the role minority presses play in sustaining cultural narratives and emphasizes the importance of their inclusion in U.S. library collections. Challenges and strategies for identifying and acquiring these materials, and examples of presses in the US and Latin America that help support this vision.