How has the semester/season been going so far? Any anecdotes?
- Some campuses are going remote, to start – libraries are working out who is going to staff the library/manage campus resources
- 35 students from Afghanistan are attending an institution in the region and, along with other new students, participating in library orientation workshops
- COVID testing/absences/remote learning: some students and parents are hiding positive test results in order to send their kids to school
Instruction Discussion
- Library instruction tends to be sporadic, as ever, per professor (college)/teacher (public school) requests – rather than a built-in routine
- Students arriving at colleges have an uneven array of experience/skills with library resources/research methods
- Some schools provide pre-semester writing workshops for school orientation; the library includes a research/instruction component in those workshops
- Public school librarians report lots of teacher absences; while slightly improving in recent weeks, there’s still a real impediment to enthusiasm as everyone tries to get their footing
- “Ghosts in the Library” and similar engagement activities are lots of work but seem to have more impact on students than a generic tour/debrief of library services
Book banning controversy impact
- Book banning requests from parents still encumbering library staff; an impediment to student learning
- Diversity audit of collection underway; people not even associated with the school/institution/library have latched on to that work and have pushed back against the concept
- Discussion of the tension between those pushing against certain books and the people who are represented in those very books (and who are underrepresented elsewhere/subject to the anger of those who are reacting negatively to the equity discussions in recent years)
- Discussion that libraries are for everyone, not for any given individual, yet individuals sometimes act as though it’s all about them
Assessment Discussion
- New students involved in orientation do a padlet w/sources and keywords and research tips
- New assessment tools for instruction are needed: padlet/polls previously discussed at prior meetings; some students still aren’t participating
- “Project Outcome” was noted – an academic library toolkit to provide surveys and measure/analyze outcomes
Things to look forward to this semester/year:
- High school library has a New York Heritage trifold exhibit on immigration; trifolds on women’s suffrage and Eerie Canal forthcoming. Teachers bringing classes over to view. Will suggest that teachers have their students create their own trifolds, since these are such a big hit.
- LAD 2022 date/importance noted