Author: Suzanne Bernsten

Categories
Events Outreach

CJCLS News for April

Below are two opportunities for professional learning and contributing to the CJCLS community in April.

Attend a Webinar

Register for CJCLS Webinar: How to Create an Effective Survey

April 24, 3-4pm EST 

Interested in using a survey to conduct research, but unsure of the design process? Learn the basics of creating effective research surveys.

Write an Article for the Newsletter

Share what is happening in your libraries and communities with other community college librarians! 

Read our call for CJCLS Newsletter articles. Submit your 200-500 word article by April 24.

Here are some examples of articles from past CJCLS newsletters:

  • Reaching Across the Campus to Support the Freedom to Read
  • The Value of Community Professional Development
  • Zero Textbook Cost Initiative
  • Library Equity Book Group
  • Seniors Going Digital
  • Hamilton Digital Escape Room to Teach Library 101

“The More We Share, the More We Have” by Pietro Soldi for Creative Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Categories
Events Technology

Digital Inclusion

My first job after finishing my library science degree was at a public library in Camden, New Jersey. For many patrons, the library computers were their only access to computers and the internet. I helped patrons fill out job applications, write resumes, and more. I remember trying to help a patron book an appointment for an immigration interview. New appointments opened up at midnight, but by the time the Library opened, all of the appointment slots would already be taken. That job taught me digital inclusion involves more than providing access to computers, but also access to broadband and Wi-Fi, digital skills, technical support, and online content that enables all to participate. You can find a complete definition of digital inclusion on the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) website.

In my current job at a community college library, we lend laptops, calculators, and hotspots to students, and many students use our space for access to Wi-Fi and computers. Our lending services have grown over the last few years, as the pandemic put a spotlight on digital inclusion. The 2023 Net Inclusion Conference organized by NDIA was held at the end of February. I did not attend, but discovered that many resources related to the conference can be found online and wanted to share these resources, as they are relevant to libraries:

The Word Cloud below is made from the conference session titles and gives you an idea of the type of information you can find on the conference website.

Word cloud made from titles of Digital Inclusion Conference session titles. Most prominent words include digital, inclusion, and equity. Other words include community, building, research, affordable, device, mapping, initiatives, programs, healthcare, government, policy, and workforce.
Conference Session Title Word Cloud
Categories
Resources

The Greats – Better Sharing Collection

I recently discovered this amazing collection of artwork: The Greats, free illustrations from great artists to change the world. All works are published with Creative Commons licenses.

Share Freely Openly Like We Share Air
“Share Freely, Openly, Like We Share Air” by Hust Wilson for Creative Commons. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

You can browse the Greats artwork by theme:
* LGBT+ Rights
* Women’s Rights
* Freedom of Speech
* Freedom & Democracy
* Equality
* Climate Collection
* Resilience
* Animal Rights
* Empowerment
* Black Lives Matter
* Hate Speech
* Reimagining Human Rights
* Culture of Solidarity
* Anti-War
* Bridging and Belonging
* Planned Parenthood

The art above is from the collection related to Better Sharing. I am sharing it in honor of Open Education Week. Attend an Open Education Week Event or add an activity or an open asset on the Open Education Week website.

Categories
Events Leadership

CJCLS Volunteer Info Sessions

Interested in volunteering for a Community and Junior College Libraries Section (CJCLS) committee? Our 1st volunteer info session is today! Attend today or register for the session in February:

Learn more about volunteering with CJCLS.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Section Vice-Chair, Linda Miles (lmiles.librarian@gmail.com) with any questions.

Categories
Events Leadership

Volunteer with CJCLS

You are invited to volunteer for one of the committees of the Community and Junior College Libraries Section (CJCLS) of ACRL. Learn more about the CJCLS committees:

  • Awards
  • Communications
  • Conference Program Planning
  • Library Staff Education
  • Membership
  • Mentoring Program
  • Nominating
  • Open Educational Resources Committee
  • Scholarly Research
Five hands of different colors raised in their air under the word Volunteer
Tungilik, CC0, via Wikimedia Common

Information Sessions

Attend an upcoming information session to learn more about the committees and volunteering.

Timeline

Submit the ACRL volunteer form by February 28, 2023.

Why Volunteer

Hear from CJCLS members about why they volunteer:

I became active in CJCLS in 2018 when I volunteered for the Membership Committee. I became the chair of the committee and have enjoyed working with community college librarians from across the country.  Our libraries are very different, but also very similar.  I’m so glad I volunteered.

Lisa Eichholtz – Jefferson Community and Technical College, Kentucky

I have been involved in CJCLS for the past three years. Meeting other community college librarians has been inspiring. As part of the Communications Committee, I coordinate the ACRL Community College section blog and newsletter to share stories and ideas from community college librarians across the U.S.

Suzanne Bernsten – Lansing Community College Library, Michigan

There are so many intelligent, thoughtful, and creative community college librarians out there and I’ve learned so much from them. I enjoy hearing about how other people meet challenges and I get inspiration and ideas to bring back to my library. I’m a better community college librarian because of my involvement with CJCLS.

Jill Sodt, Mott Community College, Michigan

Questions

Contact the CJCLS vice-chair, Linda Miles, Hostos Community College, lmiles.librarian@gmail.com

Learn more about CJCLS:

Categories
Outreach

Veterans Day

My grandfather served in the army in World War II. He is buried alongside my grandmother in the beautiful Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. My grandfather never talked about his time serving in the military.

On Veteran’s Day, I wanted to share some resources related to amplifying the stories of veterans and their families, as well as serving veterans in libraries.

A green field surrounded by fir trees with a view of Mount Hood and blue sky in the background.
“Willamette National Cemetary, Oregon (2013)” by Another Believer is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Listen to Stories for Veterans Day recorded by StoryCorps. Encourage others to share their stories via StoryCorps. Stories can be recorded remotely and uploaded to the StoryCorps Archive.

Explore the Libraries & Veterans National Forum Toolkit which has resources compiled by experts in veteran services to help you develop programs for veterans at your library.

Read Orienting Student Veterans to the Library created by Sarah LeMire and Stephanie Graves.

Register for an upcoming WebJunction webinar about Suicide Prevention for Veterans, Service Members, Families and Communities scheduled for November 15 from 2-3pm EST.

Look at Veterans LibGuides created by community college librarians and create one for your Library.

Please comment on this post to share resources to add to this list.

Categories
Tech Tuesdays

The Simple Newsletter

CJCLS has been using newsletters to communicate with community college librarians for a long time. You can visit the American Library Association Institutional Repository to read section newsletters dating back to the 1940s. Our most recent newsletter will be coming out sometime in October. If you are a section member, you’ll receive a copy via email or you can visit the CJCLS newsletter webpage.

I ran across a recent article from the Atlantic, the Internet’s Unkillable App: The noisier our digital lives get, the more popular the humble newsletter becomes by David Pell. Reading it inspired me to do an inventory of the newsletters I subscribe to. I thought I’d share a few of my favorites in this month’s Tech Tuesday column.

An envelope with the word News written on it with a wing on each side of the envelope.
Newsletter, Julian Kücklich, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

What newsletters do you subscribe to? Please share your suggestions!

Categories
Tech Tuesdays

Chat Training Resources

One of my favorite parts of my job is doing virtual reference. My library participates in a collaborative of Michigan libraries called Research Help Now. When I first started doing chat, fifteen years ago, I found every chat I picked up very stressful because I thought I had to quickly find an answer and was intimidated to try to help students on unfamiliar websites. Now, when I pick up a chat, I see it as a fun challenge and view myself as a partner with students as we work through their research questions together. I often get ideas for improving my library’s website by helping students do research on unfamiliar websites. Sometimes I find problems with my own library’s website by browsing chat transcripts. 

Here are some virtual reference training ideas: 

  • Librarians can choose one of their own transcripts to review and think about what went well and what could have gone better. Or all librarians can review the same transcript and share observations. This can work for an online meeting using a shared Google Doc. If you’d like, use virtual reference best practices to guide the discussion.
  • In our Michigan collaborative, we have a yearly best transcript competition. We use a rubric to evaluate transcripts and choose winners to recognize for their excellent work. I learned a lot about doing chat well by volunteering for the committee to review transcripts.
  • Organize a panel of experienced chat librarians for a local or regional workshop. A colleague and I invited best transcript winners to speak on a panel at our Michigan Academic Library (MiALA) Conference, Celebrating Our Successes, Improving for Our Future: Best Chat Transcript Awards. It was a great opportunity for librarians to share virtual reference strategies. The session was recorded and I share the recording with new chat librarians at my institution.
  • Here are additional chat training ideas that participants brainstormed during a workshop I facilitated with a colleague, Trust Me: Collaborative Chat Training for Uncertain Times.

What tips do you have for doing virtual reference? What training resources do you have to share?

Categories
Tech Tuesdays Technology

Web Team Show & Tell

I am the lead for our library’s web improvement team. We meet once a month and at every meeting, we set aside about 10 minutes for a team member to share something they have learned about technology related to libraries. Sometimes people share an article they read or information from a webinar or workshop they attended. By calling it “show and tell,” I try to emphasize that it isn’t a formal presentation, but an informal chance to share.

Show and tell. The l of tell has teeth to look like a month and a speech bubble next to it.
Show-n-tell by Johnny Goldstein is licensed under CC By 2.0

Here are some of the sources I encourage team members to use in looking for content to share:

Do you have other sources to recommend? What types of informal information sharing do you use at your library?

Categories
Tech Tuesdays

Crowdsourcing a List of Regional Groups of Community College Librarians

A few years ago, I gave a lightning talk at our local Michigan Academic Library Association annual conference as part of a panel of community college librarians. The panel was organized by our Michigan Community College Libraries Interest Group. I enjoyed sharing ideas with other community college librarians in Michigan and that experience inspired me to join CJCLS. As a CJCLS member, I have had the opportunity to meet community college librarians from many different states. You can read about some of these librarians in the Member of the Month feature on  the CJCLS Blog.

Tablet with a word cloud displaying words related to crowdsourcing
“Crowdsourcing in National Mapping – An International Workshop 2017” by Peter Mooney is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

As I have become more involved in CJCLS, I was curious to find out how many states have regional groups focused on community colleges like we do in Michigan. So, last month, I shared an empty Google Sheet in our CJCLS ALA Connect group to crowdsource a list of regional community college groups. So far, librarians have added groups from Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, and Washington. 

Do you have a group to add to the list? What do you find valuable about being a member CJCLS or of a regional group community college librarians?