NILRC 2023 Annual Conference

Held at Allerton Park & Retreat Center in Monticello IL, this year’s conference will take place October 5-6. This year's theme is 'Everyone Belongs: Putting the Community in Community College'.

The cost to attend the full conference is $275, which includes all meals and snacks (lunch and dinner on Thursday, and breakfast on Friday), a single room, and use of the facilities. There is a separate price if you do not plan to stay at Allerton of $175. There is also an early bird registration: register before August 18th and get $15 off!

You will receive an invoice from Lois once registration closes.

2023 NILRC Conference Registration:

https://forms.gle/1QvoamPnKqyDSkPa8

If you have any questions, please contact Bryan Clark at Bryan.Clark@icc.edu.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Call for Proposals: 20th Annual Information Literacy Summit!

Call for Proposals: 20th Annual Information Literacy Summit!

DePaul University Library and College of DuPage Library are pleased to announce that we will be partnering to co-host the 2022 the Information Literacy Summit in April. We are excited to announce the call for proposals for the 20th annual Information Literacy Summit!

Title: Expanding the Conversation: Digital, Media, and Civic Literacies In and Out of the Library

Date: Friday, April 29, 2022

Co-hosts: College of DuPage Library and DePaul University Library

Location: Virtual 

We are seeking presenters to lead engaging and interactive discussions about information literacy and library instruction. We are especially interested in breakout sessions and panels which explore the evolving nature of information literacy and are related to this year’s theme: Expanding the Conversation: Digital, Media, and Civic Literacies In and Out of the Library. We hope to foster conversations across all types of libraries, schools and other organizations and encourage a diversity of perspectives in this proposal call.

In line with this year’s summit theme, we’re especially interested in proposals that speak to: 

  • Digital literacies: How do we make invisible algorithms (and their impacts) visible? What do critical digital literacies look like?

  • Media literacies: How do we engage with media literacy in the classroom? In our daily lives? How do we evaluate new forms of media and changing information ecosystems?

  • Civic literacies: What opportunities do we have to engage with questions around social justice and democratic participation? How does information shape civic engagement?

  • Partnerships promoting information literacy across departments, campuses, institutions:

  • How do we work with first year writing programs to embed key literacies into the core curriculum? What are good examples of media information literacy

  • resources that can be reused across institutions?

The Summit is a regional conference which will be held virtually. Breakout sessions and panels will be 45 minutes long and should include audience interaction or discussion. Panel discussions should have a three person maximum. Hands-on lessons and demonstrations (and/or practical takeaways) are encouraged. Sessions typically have 20-40 participants. 

The submission should include a 300-500 word description of your presentation. Please include learning outcomes and a brief explanation of why people should attend your session and what they will take away. A shorter abstract for publication in the Summit programming will be required as well. If you wish to propose more than one session, please fill out a form for each topic. 

Deadline to submit proposals: January 21, 2022 | Submit a proposal here

For more information about the Summit, visit https://informationliteracysummit.org/

RLOE Network Leadership Program: Open Call for Participation

The RLOE Network Leadership Program supports leaders to build individualized strategic plans for Open Education that align with existing campus goals to support underserved and underrepresented students. The RLOE programming helps leaders structure plans that integrate the use, application and development of open education resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP). Scholarships available! Contact Dr. Karen Cangialosi with questions

Vendor Spotlight Webinar: PowerNotes - New tools to maximize library resources and improve digital learning - October 27th and 28th

NILRC and PowerNotes have partnered to provide discounted pricing and subscription benefits for member institutions. Join us on Tuesday, October 26th from 9 - 10 am OR Wednesday, October 28th from 3 - 4 pm for an introductory webinar to see what the PowerNotes tools can do. Current subscribers will also benefit from attending!

Please log in to the Member Portal to access links to the webinars. Contact Lois at director@nilrc.org for the password to the portal.

What is PowerNotes?

PowerNotes addresses the challenges inherent to source-based research and writing in the digital environment and seeks to improve writing quality with tools that provide an efficient and continuous workflow through the entire digital reading, research, and writing process. Learn how PowerNotes can:

  • increase the accessibility of your databases with integrated OCR;

  • improve reading comprehension and retention in the digital environment;

  • prevent unintentional plagiarism and contract cheating;

  • combat procrastination while allowing students to reflect on their reading and writing activities;

  • enable students to gather, annotate, and save content and citation information efficiently;

  • put students in the best position to write by providing an efficient organizational framework;

  • provide instructors and librarians with visibility into the students’ research process;

  • prepare students to become proficient college-level readers and writers.

Kyle will also be showcasing their latest Automated Citations, Group Annotation, and Source Notes/Information Literacy features.

Contact Kyle Zegarac | Kyle@powernotes.com with questions

NILRC Professional Development Fall Webinars

The NILRC Professional Development Committee (PDC) will be hosting the following webinars this Fall.

Please login to the Member Portal to access the links to the webinars. Contact Lois Bruno, NILRC Director for the password at director@nilrc.org.

 October 21st at 10 AM

 Title: Mental Health Awareness-Get to know NAMI

 Presenter: Teri Latter, ​State Program Director, NAMI Illinois

 Description: Take this opportunity to learn about NAMI-National Alliance on Mental Illness, what they do, and the resources they offer.

November 10th at 10 AM

Title: Library Outreach During COVID-19

Presenter: Valerie Moore, Prairie State College
Description: During the 2020-2021 academic year, the Prairie State College Library was only open by appointment. While we knew that faculty, staff, and students were overextended in their personal and professional lives, we wanted to continue offering programming and communications to showcase our work. This presented a unique opportunity to experiment with fully digital programming. We did so with low expectations and had mixed results. This presentation will cover what we did, what worked, what didn't, and how we intend to continue working with our students remotely, even now that the building is open again. 

December 7th at 10 AM

 Title: Introduction to MarcEdit

 Presenter: Natalie Hall, Moraine Valley Community College

 Description: Have you heard about MarcEdit but aren’t sure how to get started? This webinar is for you! This one hour presentation will introduce the most commonly used functions and tools in MarcEdit as well as best practices for working with MARC data within MarcEdit. Intended to be a practical introduction, it will use real-world examples to demonstrate how to add and delete fields, edit subfield and field data, change indicators, build new fields, and more! It will also cover some supplemental tools to make bulk editing easier including task lists and how to use MarcEdit to find errors in your MARC records.

Please login to the Member Portal to access the links to the webinars. Contact Lois Bruno, NILRC Director for the password at director@nilrc.org.

Hope to see you there!

 

Professional Development Webinar: Data Forecasting – An Introduction

Data forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. It is also the basis of all strategic decisions. For example, one could use forecasting for scheduling, inventory, budgetary, and circulation planning. This webinar will serve as an introduction to forecasting methods and ways to gauge whether a forecast is accurate and/or reliable.

Join the webinar with Sam Suber on Tuesday, May 11th at 10 AM to learn more. No prior experience is necessary!

Data Storytelling Concepts and Strategies

Presented by Kate McDowell on Tuesday, March 23rd at 10 AM

Storytelling has been happening for over a century in libraries, but its applications are too often presumed to be narrowly focused on serving children. The skills involved in navigating a dynamic exchange between teller, audience, and story are applicable to the most pressing problems facing libraries and librarians in the 21st century, those of communicating our knowledge and value. This talk will feature storytelling insights based on over 40 interviews from the Storytelling @ Work project, combining insights from librarians with those from storytelling applications in advancement and fundraising. Participants will leave with narrative structures for building informative and emotionally compelling stories from their own knowledge and experience to communicate their value.


NILRC's 2021 Annual Meeting - Save the Date!

Save the date for NILRC’s 2021 Annual Meeting!
Friday, May 7, 2021 9 am – 12:00 pm
The Annual Meeting will be a virtual event on Zoom
Delegates or Alternates attendance requested - All are welcome!

The morning will include the following:

● Board Elections (voting by delegates or alternates)
● Business meeting
● Learning opportunities and networking with your community college colleagues

For more information, please contact Lois Bruno, Director of Member Relations and Consortium Business Manager director@nilrc.org/262-287-8017