News and announcements
🎤🎵 Stanford’s East Asia Library hosted a Love Data Week event exploring how data shapes K‑pop. Attendees explored Stanford’s K‑pop collection, learned how fan engagement and music metrics are analyzed, and enjoyed games, snacks, and song sharing. Organized by librarians and staff, the program highlighted data’s role in global music trends. The event featured a performance by XTRM, Stanford’s competitive K‑pop dance team, exploring community through shared musical interests. There was “enough K-Pop data to seal the Honmoon” said the libraries’ social media coordinator, Carrie Gao.
🤖🤔 Last fall, Gleeson Library at the University of San Francisco convened a taskforce to consider how AI is impacting higher education and library work at their institution. They’ve issued their final report. They offer a set of values to support ethical, responsible, and transparent use of AI in library contexts, as well as links to what other AJCU schools are doing around AI. One thing that makes the AJCU’s distinct (aside from the obvious Jesuit connection) is their dedication to “discernment.” Reading this report suggests to me that the ACJUs collectively could lead the way in developing a more critical AI literacy framework.
🎮💻 The University of Chicago Library has opened a Steam PC Cafe pilot as part of its “year of games” initiative. Students can play games like Portal, Terraria, Subnautica, God of War, Half-Life, and more. There are also inclusive titles for patrons with visual impairments; and students can recommend titles to be added.
🚧📢 The Carrier Library at James Madison University is going through a massive renovation. The new building is scheduled to open later this year. The communications in and around the construction work has been a master class in effective storytelling, community engagement, and external marketing (psst: there will be an article about this in the next issue of Public Services Quarterly).
📚☕️ The UC Boulder University Libraries is partnering with local independent bookstores to build a more community-centric collection. “The Boulder Bookstore has excellent expertise for curating books for the Boulder community. Every time I visit, I see things that I think we should have in the library collection” said Literature and Humanities Librarian Rybin Koob. In addition to bringing in diverse perspectives, this partnership enables the library to provide titles that connect to the specific interests of the local community— some of which may not be accessible through traditional acquisitions workflows. See also: Clarivate phasing out print book purchases and the closure of Baker & Taylor.
📜👩🏻🎓 The special collections team at WashU Libraries is soliciting nominations for a student public historian internship. Interns work with university archival collections “to assist with reparative description in finding aids and contribute to the WashU & Slavery Project digital archive.” There is also the possibility of developing a small exhibition. What a great opportunity!
🏛️💰 I did not have “Pam Bondi” and “Epstein” on my bingo card of announcements about library funding. But at Long Beach State, U.S. Congressman Robert Garcia presented the library with a $2.1 million check to fund their new Research Center and Special Collections Archives. The funding will help develop an expanded facility with an improved reading room and exhibition space.
Notable mentions
- UTA Libraries is trying to stop bots slowing down its websites.
- Need an old family film digitized? The University Libraries at U. of Georgia can help you out.
- The University of Arkansas Libraries, along with UA’s language department, is hosting a two-day symposium on Boccaccio’s Decameron.
- The Hesburgh Library at Notre Dame has opened a new immersive tech lab.
- I love what UC Boulder Libraries is doing with the listicle format here and here.
- UC Davis, along with other schools, is intentionally selecting books on two topics, bees and insect pollinators and Puerto Rico, to be digitized for the Google Books project. Also from UC Davis: a study room art contest!
- Archival science can be incredibly personal, as demonstrated by Indiana University Bloomington Libraries.
- TAMU Libraries has a brand new maker zone (pictured above).
- At Cornell University Library, they are building instructional content around Gen AI Critical Literacy and piloting that content with 12 faculty.
- The MacPháidín Library at Stonehill College is trying to start a fight with FSU 🍿👋🏼
On social
I first saw the “This is who…” trend going around among coffee shops in early February. This is where you post baby photos of your staff with captions like, “This is who manages the money.” Academic libraries started picking it up in the last week, with prominent examples being University of Wyoming, Stockton, Fondren Library, Utah Valley U, and the J. Willard Marriott Library.
UC Santa Barbara took the lead from Wimbledon to do their own version of the “mic’ed up” series here and here and here. They’re doing it with their service desk staff to highlight the variety of questions folks ask at the library.
If you’re looking for a fun way to highlight the University Archives, take a cue from UF Libraries and create a video walking tour. Especially fun if you have some niche campus lore to share.
If you’re going to host a film competition, you best make sure the call for proposals is solid piece of video work. William & Mary Libraries read the assignment.
Here’s a motif I think I might ask my student workers to try out: playing hide and seek in the library as a means to promote various library spaces. I could see this working for any size library, from single-room to multi-floor! From Wayne State Libraries:
Finally, I thought this video from FSU Libraries promoting the library’s impact on student employees was extremely well done. Good lighting, voice over, talent, and editing. Obviously a social-first approach, one that I don’t always see in university fundraising videos.