Topic: Getting students more engaged with the library.
Ideas: using the whiteboard on wheels, asking students fun questions like, "how can we make the library more accessible for you?" "who would win in a fight: bigfoot or mothman?" Doing a hand Turkey competition, a puzzle table, other things to take a brain break.
Passive programming sounds awesome, it's a low-key way to draw people in.
Bussing and release time has become more of an issue
How to make the library a less scary place? Marist has an education program so that the schools can collaborate with the college. When tours come through, the library is front and center. They make sure it's not a silent place.
They do high school visits on the UB campus - there could be more. Logistics are hard to get everyone there and get them back in time. There are info passes that students can use to get the resources from the college even if they are not there on a group tour.
Liaison meetings in the school system help connect academic and school librarians. (that is a state requirement.) High schools are eligible to pick up ILLs to give students access to physical materials.
Pilot project for middle schools and SUNY Fredonia: projects around citizen science and academic - instruction around data collection. The library becomes the data hub. The students are now contributing to the archive so they can compare data between the two districts.
How is AI going?
Some say use it because they're going to use it anyway, some are not incorporating. Google LM is a new tool that lets you drop in data and manage it.
https://www.nyla.org/section-of-school-librarians
The library instruction sessions are waning, and the students are not prepared to use the library. They lack the stamina to persevere through a complicated assignment. It's impossible to ensure everyone has a level playing field when they are all coming from different backgrounds, so there isn't even time for an assessment. The students are not doing full research projects.
Professors have to want to work with the library in order to get them interested in the library resources. Some of the young digital natives don't have basic computer skills, and the professors don't know that.
Reluctance to teach foundations of research - there is a pushback against teaching or having librarians in instructional roles. (Some academics are faculty, some are admin staff.)
SUNY is bringing AI into information literacy instruction as a requirement. It is unclear how that will impact instruction at the library.