Early Bird Registration for NILRC Conference is Now Open!

As summer begins its graceful transition into fall, imagine the crisp air, the cozy ambiance of your favorite library and the promise of a season filled with inspiration. We are thrilled to announce our annual NILRC conference, themed "The Evolving Library: Transforming Spaces to Meet Changing Needs," on October 2nd–3rd at the scenic Allerton Park & Retreat Center in Monticello, IL.

Registration Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfou95veCqvZ1Six252bcmMRp6dbJjWKiK6tJASngf7XJGixQ/viewform?usp=header

What’s in Store:

• Inspiring Theme: Delve into how libraries can be redesigned to better serve evolving community needs. Whether it's innovative spaces or rethinking traditional roles, this conference is your opportunity to explore how people use academic libraries (final schedule TBA).

• Enjoy the Full Conference Experience: For $325*, your registration includes:

• All meals and snacks (lunch and dinner on Thursday, breakfast on Friday)

• A single room stay

• Full use of the Allerton facilities (https://allerton.illinois.edu/)

Not staying at Allerton? Get a discounted rate of $200.

*Early Bird Advantage:

Register by July 31st and receive $25 off your registration! Secure your early bird discount and prepare to immerse yourself in a transformative library experience. After early bird registration closes, an invoice from Lois will be sent to complete your booking. If you want your invoice in advance, please select that option on the registration form. 

New This Year: Looking for another discount? You can now share a room with a colleague! For more information on room sharing, please see the registration form or email Cat Broady

And don’t miss the Tales and Toasts: An Autumn Soiree (fancy dress encouraged) on Thursday night. It will be an evening to unwind, network, and celebrate the spirit of libraries in an unforgettable setting.

Returning this year are scholarships. Three scholarships are available to NILRC members and one LIS student to attend. More information and the application are here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeISpdAWqsCplWl_s5npmsGMdOpb1-LTQiPxt0k9Qkcx_zZAg/viewform?usp=header

We look forward to welcoming you to Allerton Park & Retreat Center for a conference that promises both insightful sessions and delightful, cozy moments.

If you have any questions or need further details, feel free to contact Cat Broady at broadyc@bhc.edu. 

Register for the Illinois Open Education Summit

Greetings! Registration is now open for the Illinois Open Education Summit.

Illinois Open Education Summit - Building an Open Future: Supporting and Expanding Open Education Across Illinois

Description

The Illinois Open Education Summit seeks to bring together people who want to create a shared vision for Open Education in Illinois and develop or expand their Open Education programs and initiatives. Whether you are from a small institution or a large university, are beginning your open educational resources journey or already have an established program, the Open Education Summit invites librarians, faculty, academic leadership, instructional designers, and distance education staff to join together with partners across the state to build foundational knowledge and fashion a vision for the future of Open Education in Illinois. We are encouraging institutions to put together a team of up to 3 Open Education champions (both aspiring and active) to bring their diverse perspectives to the event.

Highlights of this day will include

• Keynote presentation discussing the state of Open Education in Illinois and in the midwest more broadly

• Roundtable discussions on Open Education at large, Open Educational Resources, and Open Pedagogy and learner-centered practice

• Networking opportunities to connect Open Education practitioners

• Contribute to a conversation around building a statewide vision for Open Education in Illinois

• Participant insights will be collected throughout the day to document the current Illinois OER landscape and collective visions for the future of OER in Illinois 

Date and Location

April 7, 2025

9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Illinois State University Alumni Center, Room 118

1101 N. Main Street, Normal 61761

Directions

Parking

The ISU Alumni Center offers free parking to attendees in the lot adjacent to the Alumni Center. There are 6 ADA compliant parking spaces located outside the Alumni Center. 

Registration

Please register to attend!

Institutions are encouraged to bring a team of up to 3 OER champions to ensure a broad perspective of Open Education in the day’s discussions. Institutions should select a primary contact to complete the registration form and receive any questions regarding registrations. The primary contact will provide basic contact information (names and emails) for their team of attendees. After registration closes on February 7th, all attendees will receive an individual form to fill out to identify personal information relating to their attendance at the summit.

Attendance is free. Lunch will be provided.

Questions

• For accessibility inquiries, please contact Jayna Leipart Guttilla  <gjleipa@ilstu.edu>, 309-438-2754.

• For registration questions, please contact CARLI Support <support@carli.illinois.edu>.

• For general inquiries about the summit, please contact Dee Anna Phares <dphares@niu.edu> 

Event Sponsors and Support

Midwestern Higher Education Compact, Illinois Community College Board, Illinois Association of College and Research Libraries, Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois, College of DuPage, Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Lincoln Land Community College, Moraine Valley Community College, Northern Illinois University

Summit Agenda

Morning Session: 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

• 9:30 - 10:00 Registration Check-in, Networking, and Refreshments

• 10:00 - 10:10  Opening remarks

  • Dr. Dallas Long, Dean of Milner Library, Illinois State University

• 10:10 - 10:50  Plenary Session: The State of the State - Open Education in Illinois

  • Presenters: 

    • Michele Leigh, PhD, Open Illinois Senior Coordinator, The Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois

    • Jeff Newell, Deputy Director for Strategic Initiatives, Illinois Community College Board

    • Dee Anna Phares, Social Sciences and Humanities Librarian, Northern Illinois University

    • Chris Sweet, Information Literacy and Scholarly Communications Librarian, Illinois Wesleyan University

• Description: Open education efforts in the state are growing, and this session will provide an overview of the expanding open landscape in Illinois and across the Midwest. Reviewing work to date in areas such as training, surveys, summits, and funding, the panelists will also discuss available resources for developing and sharing open education materials, such as the OER Commons Hub: Open Illinois. The session will conclude with an aspirational look at well-developed open education programs in other states.

• 10:50 - 11:00  Break

• 11:00 - 11:50 Morning Breakout 1: The Open Education Maturity Model: A Tool for Strategic Planning

  • Teams will be asked to engage with the Open Education Maturity Model, a flexible framework designed to assist institutions in reflecting on and planning for their open education initiatives. Together, teams will assess their current stage, set goals, and plan for future growth with an eye toward aligning efforts with other institutions across the state.

Lunch: 12:00 PM - 12:50 PM

• Light Networking/Table Discussions

Afternoon Session: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

• 1:00 - 1:40 Afternoon Breakout 1: Role Networking  

  • Attendees will split into groups by their role as it relates to Open Education to participate in facilitated discussions about aspects of Open Education relevant to their work, ask questions of each other, and share ideas about what the future looks like in their particular work.

• 1:45 - 2:25 Afternoon Breakout 2: Starting Out or Stepping Up 

  • During this roundtable session, attendees will be invited to share and seek out advice on advocating for, creating, cultivating, and maintaining open education initiatives on their campuses and collaborating with peers across the state.

• 2:30 - 3:10 Afternoon Breakout 3: Statewide Capacity Building for OER 

  • Our final breakout session will culminate in vision planning for what a state-wide coordinated OER effort could look like in Illinois. Teams will contribute to a conversation about possible statewide goals, what resources are needed at the state level, and who needs to be a part of these conversations moving forward.

• 3:15 - 3:45 Team Shareback 

  • Teams will take a brief moment to share back things they have identified as important to the future of open education in Illinois and at their institutions. Shareback information will be collected to help build a shared vision for building statewide capacity in the coming years.

• 3:45 - 4:00 Closing Remarks

Suggested OER Introductory Resources

To help ensure attendees can participate in the day’s discussions with foundational knowledge, we encourage those new or unfamiliar with Open Educational Resources, or Open Education more broadly, to attend one of the following CARLI workshops:

CARLI OER for Faculty Series, Workshop 1: Supporting Academic Success: Open Educational Resources and Equitable Course Materials

This first workshop of the two-part OER for Faculty Series will identify:

• what are open educational resources (OER).

• benefits and motivations for using OER

• how to find and evaluate OER

• how to integrate OER into your class

After attending, CARLI-member teaching faculty will be invited to write a brief review of an open textbook in the Open Textbook Library.

This workshop will be offered twice. Both workshops contain the same content. Please register at the link below if you would like to attend.

 February 7, 2025, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
February 20, 2025, 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

CARLI OER for Faculty Series, Workshop 2: Open Pedagogy Workshop

In this second webinar of the two-part OER for Faculty Series, the CARLI OER Committee invites teaching faculty to an online workshop on open pedagogy.

When you use open pedagogy in your classroom, you are inviting students to be part of the teaching process, participating in the co-creation of knowledge. In this workshop, you will learn the definition and context of Open Pedagogy, view innovative examples being applied in a variety of subjects and formats, and work with other attendees to create an assignment that you can use in your own class.

Please register at the link below if you would like to attend.

February 27, 2025, 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

CFP: GAIL Virtual Conference

You are invited to submit a proposal for the 2nd annual Generative AI in

Libraries (GAIL) virtual conference aimed specifically at librarians here:

https://forms.gle/QzvMY9kcuL6JbWLK8. This conference seeks to explore

the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in libraries. It is also an

opportunity for librarians to share their experiences with generative AI

technologies and their applications in the library setting.

Scheduled to take place June 9, 10, 11, 12th, 2025 from 1-4pm EDT each

day, the GAIL virtual conference aims to promote a deeper understanding

of how generative AI can revolutionize library services like instruction,

research support, collection management, access services, outreach and

collaboration, while also addressing the challenges and ethical

considerations this new technology brings to libraries.

We welcome submissions from librarians, researchers, educators, and

practitioners working in libraries or related fields with AI. Submissions are

now being accepted for posters, presentations, workshops, panel

discussions, lightning talks, discussion groups or demonstrations on topics

related to generative AI and its applications in, and implications for

libraries, including but not limited to the following tracks:

● AI implementation in libraries

● Ethical considerations and policy in AI

● AI and teaching/Information Literacy

● AI applications or products

● AI Impact on Library Services or Librarianship

CFP: Information Literacy Summit

Reminder – Proposals due Feb 1st!

The College of DuPage Library and the DePaul University Library are pleased to announce the call for proposals for the 23rd Annual Illinois Information Literacy Summit!  The Summit will be held in person on Friday, May 2, 2025 at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL.  

This year, we’re exploring the theme: Reshaping Information Literacy for an Uncertain Future: Sustainability, Adaptability, and Resilience

We’re excited to kick off the discussion with a keynote by Rachel Fundator, Clinical Assistant Professor at the Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies and the Associate Director for the Institute for Information Literacy at Purdue. 

We’re also considering proposals for breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, and lightning talks related to the Summit theme. We’d like to hear about how librarians are adapting their teaching practices with an eye towards the future. Are we building sustainable and relevant information literacy programs that can keep pace with a rapidly changing information landscape in an increasingly uncertain world? 

In particular, we’re seeking proposals that speak to the following topics: 

• Technology & Power: How do we incorporate digital and algorithmic literacies into our information literacy programs? How can we prepare our students to navigate a rapidly changing technological landscape characterized by an uneven distribution of power and resources? What are the ethical implications of new technologies and how do we engage students with ethical questions in our instruction? 

• Epistemic Justice: How do we design information literacy programs grounded in respect for different forms of knowledge and the pursuit of social justice? How can we incorporate and value student voice in our pedagogy and ensure inclusive classrooms and curricula for an evolving student population? 

• Civic Engagement: What does a problem-based approach to information literacy look like? How can information literacy initiatives prepare students to engage with pressing social issues, in their academic work and beyond? How can we expand the conversation to include important stakeholders beyond our institutions, including our local communities? 

• Mis/disinformation: How do we tackle pressing issues of mis/disinformation and propaganda? How do we collaborate with teaching faculty and others in our communities to facilitate critical media literacies? 

We’re considering proposals in the following formats: 

• Breakout sessions or panels: These sessions will be 50 minutes long and consist of a presentation from the front of the room. We encourage presenters to incorporate audience interaction or hands-on demonstrations when possible. Panel discussions should include a maximum of three (3) presenters.  

• Roundtable discussions: These sessions are 50 minutes long and consist of a brief presentation from the facilitator to set the stage, followed by small or large group discussion among attendees. If you’d like to propose a roundtable discussion, please include a brief (5-7 item) bibliography of publications related to your chosen topic and several discussion questions (3-5 questions).

• Lightning talks: These are short 5-7 minute presentations which serve as an optimal format for presenting work-in-progress, sharing successes (and things that didn’t work out as expected), or introducing attendees to a teaching tool, lesson plan or learning activity, or critical framework.  

The Summit is a regional conference that draws attendance from university, community college, and school librarians from Illinois and neighboring states. Sessions typically have 20-40 participants. 

The submission should include a 200-400 word description of your presentation and a brief explanation of what attendees should expect to take away from the session. Proposals for roundtable discussions should include a brief (5-7 item) bibliography of related publications and 3-5 proposed discussion questions. 

We’ll also ask for a short (approximately 50-100 word) abstract of your session to include in the conference program. If you have questions or would like to discuss your idea for a proposal, feel free to reach out to the planning committee at infolitsummit@gmail.com. 

For more information about the Summit and the CFP, visit https://www.infolitsummit.org/