Category Archives: conference reports

Designing Libraries: Finding New Adjacencies to Improve Experience

The ways in which we use libraries is changing. How we conduct research. How we use (and don’t use) print collections to seek information. How we design our physical spaces to welcome students and create a sense of belonging for … Continue reading

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Letters from the Field: Evidence-Based Research for Librarians

This month’s post is from Sarah Bauman, Head of the Charles A. Kraus Library at Temple’s Schools of Podiatric Medicine. Sarah was so excited by the recent conference she attended, I asked her to post about it. Here’s Sarah’s account: … Continue reading

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Creating Spaces for Community and Connection 

The crowds are back! For ALA’s annual conference, almost 16,000 registrants gathered at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center. The return to fully in-person meetings, coupled with sessions on the new hybrid work environment, has me revisiting the question of how … Continue reading

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Considering the Conference Experience 

This last week I had the opportunity to experience two very special conferences in two ways – the Library Assessment Conference was held virtually from November 1 to November 3. As co-chair, I was deeply involved in the planning for … Continue reading

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Assessing Library Services with a DEI Lens

The annual American Library Association conference returned (at last!) to an in-person format this year. It was great to meet up with colleagues, and miraculously, the heat and humidity of Washington DC were bearable, even at the end of June. … Continue reading

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Assessment in Uncertain Times

We assessment professionals are moving forward through uncertain territory as we adjust to new realities on campuses and communities and in our libraries. I had the privilege of talking with my colleagues about these issues by convening the ACRL Assessment … Continue reading

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Stretching Boundaries, Crossing Thresholds

  Today I needed a metaphor to suit my photograph.  It’s the immersive artwork Flight Paths by Steve Waldeck installed at Atlanta’s airport, constructed of thousands of laser cut “leaves” and incorporating sounds and images of birds. The artwork makes … Continue reading

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A Critical Approach to Library Assessment and User Experience?

As the new year begins, I’ve been reflecting on the exciting changes 2019 will bring to both our physical and online spaces. Projects that previously felt distant or nebulous for some of us, like the creation of a new library website or … Continue reading

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Library Space and Pot Plants: An Unexpected Connection

“Fall in love with your users” – Paul-Jervis Heath When Paul-Jervis Heath told the story of how pot plants improved occupancy rates at the Cambridge University libraries, the non-Brits at last week’s Library Assessment Conference were a bit confused. We would … Continue reading

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Setting the Path towards a New Library

Last week I had an unexpected 12 hours to spend at the Calgary International Airport, providing me plenty of time to consider all that I learned at the Designing Libraries conference.  While the airport provided fun rides between terminals and … Continue reading

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