Month: February 2026

Posted on
by

Shortly after I started working at Loyola Marymount University in fall 2015, I started writing regular posts for ALA’s Programming Librarian website. Between 2016-18, I wrote fifteen short articles for the site on topics that included social media, program development, exhibitions, external communications, and project management. 

I had almost forgotten about these until recently when someone shared one in a Discord group and I realized that my byline on all the posts had been accidentally removed during the site’s latest redesign. It was a surreal moment where I said to myself, “Hey, that sounds like something I would write. Oh wait, I DID write that!” (Note: ALA was super great about getting my byline added back)

As much as I cringe to read my own writing, I do love seeing the early emergence of programs (like LMU Speaks, the Long Night Against Procrastination, and Banned Books Week) and processes that I still maintain to this day. The conditional formatting in Excel post featured a spreadsheet that I first developed in 2017, have greatly expanded and modified since, and still check daily to see what external communications need to happen this week.

At the time I wrote these posts, I was still new to the position; and “the outreach team” had not yet become an official library department. Not surprisingly, our procedures are more advanced and codified than they were in 2016 and exist on a foundation that is more than a decade in the making. So much so that recently I had the realization that were I to hire someone onto my team, they would (1) need to come with a few years of full time outreach and communications experience just to keep up but (2) would be plugging into a fully-built machine.

My team has as far to go as we have come (if not farther), but it’s nice too reflect upon the progress we have made to date. Here are all the posts, in chronological order:

  1. Collaborating with Galleries: A Blessed Match (2016, March 28)
  2. When Library Student Workers Take Over Instagram (2016, April 28)
  3. Curating and Cultivating Exhibitors (2016, May 26)
  4. Building on Millions of Tiny Shoulders: Tips for Hosting a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (2016, July 2)
  5. Time to Meet Your New Faculty! (2016, August 2)
  6. Keeping It All Together with Trello: A Project Management Tool for Library Programming (2016, September 2)
  7. Subtle Nudges: Reminding Your Audience about Upcoming Events (2016, October, 3)
  8. Assessing Transformative Programming (2016, December 1)
  9. Program Marketing for a Campus Community: Two Quick Tips (2017, January 18)
  10. LMU Speaks: Developing a Storytelling Program from Scratch  (2017, March 15)
  11. Hosting a Long Night Against Procrastination (2017, May 25)
  12. Keeping Tabs on Deadlines with Excel’s ‘Conditional Formatting’ (2017, June 28)
  13. 5 Quick Ideas for Banned Books Week (2017, July 27)
  14. Archiving Library Events: Telling Your Library’s Story (2018, January 11)
  15. Promoting Your Event: A Timeline (2018, February 28)

Posted on
by

Social media happens so fast. I mean, in just over a week, we went from simply touching grass to being grass. So in between the monthly “Recently in Academic Libraries” posts, I pull together regular updates on what AcadLibs are doing on social. Please enjoy these recent highlights.

Bad Bunny memes

Moments of mass- /mono-culture are few and farther between these days, but leave it to libraries to take advantage of the ones that remain! A number of academic libraries, including Bass Library at Yale, UVU, University of Florida, Clemson, and Florida State University (seen above) used photography and stills from the Super Bowl to promote library services and collections. This year’s half time show did not disappoint and provided plenty of fodder for the meme cannons. 

Scrapbooking a campus tradition

If your campus has an annual tradition with decades of photos behind it (the more raucous the better), check out what Dartmouth Libraries did to highlight their annual Polar Swim. I love the scrapbook vibe (easily pulled off with a little background remove magic). Be sure to connect with your campus alumni organization or the main uni social for the collab opportunity (and remember: let the bigger account initiate the collab). 

Animated gif drop

Does this meme have a name? It’s giving Vine. From Penn Libraries.

Library cart ride along

Honestly, I’m surprised I hadn’t seen this format used by a library before now. So many academic libraries have golf carts for moving books around campus. It’s the perfect opportunity to create short, fast-paced content, provided you’ve got a witty host. The sound effects are fun. Very “Cash Cab” vibes. From University of Florida Libraries.

Be the main character

Currently, I’m working on a presentation about social media in academic libraries and one of my top recommendations is to “become your own main character.” Too many libraries treat their social like bulletin boards with no clear or consistent voice. Instead, I suggest they embrace the serial approach and feature a regular occurring cast. I think Emerson College Library is doing this well by featuring the same folks (Molly) in all their recent content. See also: University of Wyoming Libraries and William and Mary Libraries.

https://www.tiktok.com/@emersoncollegelibrary/video/7602718387294244127

Posted on
by
orange label for "Joy Drop" next to version created for UF Health Libraries

News and announcements

🍊☀️ The University of Florida Libraries gave us a peek into the design process for their current centennial campaign. Utilizing the university’s primary brand but combining it with imagery that was reflective of the library (e.g. the facade window of Smathers Library), the UF Library Comms team created a look that was immediately recognizable. Moreover, they dove into their Jerry Chicone Jr. Citrus Label Collection to identify Florida-specific imagery that could highlight their six on-campus branches (as seen above). I love getting to see behind the curtain!

🚌🐎 Eight study rooms. Eight different themes. UC Davis Library recently remodeled its group study rooms to include more art, mostly utilizing recycled and reclaimed materials. All this was done through donations and less than $8,000. Some of the themes include: university traditions and athletics; animals and the university farm; bikes; buses; water towers; and the history of the library itself. 

📚🤝 One of North Carolina’s oldest Black-led nonprofits, the Durham Colored Library, will merge with the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University. Even though the DCL’s branches were integrated into the county library system following desegregation, the non-profit continued to organize events and literacy programs. This merger builds upon a pre-existing relationship between DCL and Duke and is additionally bolstered by a grant from the Mellon Foundation to build new events, storytelling, and training programs. 

👩‍🏫🔍 Kate Carter and Natalia Kapacinskas are the 2025 recipients of the Rooks Early Career Librarian Fellowship at University of Houston Libraries. Carter will be exploring the lived experiences of open education librarians. Kapacinskas will be looking at autoethnographies published by librarians living with chronic illnesses and disabilities. 

❤️📊 Love Data Week is coming soon! Folks at RIT Libraries have a suite of events lined up, including one that will discuss AI poisoning, or the act of inserting code that disables (or at least hobbles) unwanted data scraping. See also: plans from other AcadLibs, including Fresno State and Wayne State. 

📺🎞️ USC Libraries has an amazing TV program, Lost LA, that is co-produced with its local PBS station. Episodes frequently feature the collections of the USC Libraries (though, they also feature other regional libraries as well). The show is now in its 8th season. The current season, which just dropped in January, has episodes about auto racing, science fiction, true crime, and colorful plants. 

🎉🚀 The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in celebration of its 80th anniversary, is inviting undergraduate students to imagine (and share) their vision for the future of academic research libraries. Students can submit artwork, videos, music, and creative writing projects (among other formats) and have the chance to win cash prizes. What I love about this the most is that one day (say at its centennial event in 20 years), the library can look back on these predictions and see what students of the past thought the future would look like. 

Notable mentions 

On social

Honestly, the best luck I’ve had with getting students to fill out surveys is still the old fashion way: set up a table and catch people as they walk by. But I do like how the University of Illinois threw in a little whimsy to encourage students to fill out their surveys.

https://www.tiktok.com/@uillinoislibrary/video/7599711291049102623?_r=1&_t=ZP-93T6GEEiXio

Perhaps this is only relatable to people who live perpetually online (or who follow beauty industry content creators), but this makeup haul-inspired special collections highlight from Boston College Library is a delight. 

New goals for 2026? Ohio State University Libraries can help. This mix of gentle background music and b-roll footage, combined with the occasional library staffer smiling and waving is a perfect timeline cleanser. 

This was actually the first time I saw this trend. I suspected something was up, but I’ll be honest, it still caught me by surprise when the fourth wall was reversed. From Hampden-Sydney College Library (who is regularly putting out fun content. Give them a follow!)

From Widener University’s Wolfgram Memorial Library, this was an elegant way to promote their sensory kits. 

@wolfgramlibrary

Sometimes you gotta lock out to lock in – we got you! Check out our new sensory kits #sensorykit #library #widener

♬ original sound – jacklevi121

Finally, so… many… libraries… went to the cottage this past week, including Emerson College Library, Connecticut College Libraries, Tisch Library at Tufts University, and Hilbert College. I really shouldn’t have cancelled my HBO subscription last year.

https://www.tiktok.com/@emersoncollegelibrary/video/7597875561997798686?_r=1&_t=ZT-93HEhTqtutq