May 29th
We started our week with a needed session by Clara on “Professional Development Plans” discussing both SWOT and SOAR assessments. It was very useful to get to learn how to set a 5-years goal for our careers, understand the opportunities we have, and list the possible obstacles to know how to tackle them.
Then it was time for a beautiful retreat at the Allerton Park and Retreat Center; a park and a huge mansion. Both were once owned by the Allerton family and then were both gifted to the University of Illinois to “be used by the University as an education and research center, as a forest and wild-life and plant-life reserve, as an example of landscape gardening, and as a public park.” A generous and large gift indeed, and a truly beautiful retreat center with all the colorful peonies we saw there.

May 30th -31st
Our first stop was Grainger College of Engineering Library; a huge library which is unique for 2 things: its outstanding architecture that stands uniquely in the University of Illinois campus, and its IDEA Lab (Innovation and Design in Engineering and the Arts). The IDEA lab offers loanable technology, 3D printing studio for students, usability lab for eye-tracking of websites, etc. there are also writers workshops, data management plan templates for engineering, data management workshops, and research data service guides. I believe such services have to be available in all libraries whether public or academic.





Our next stop was the School of Information Sciences (iSchool) where they offer a variety of degrees studies & programs for students whether in campus or online. iSchool is ranked #1 for 25 years! There is also the Library of color; it was brand new for me to see such artwork.



Then we had a fruitful session on “G.R.E.A.T: Customer Service guidelines” which is a user-centered approach offering effective and excellent customer services guidelines that we should apply to meet the needs of our patrons. The session was really useful.
For the rest of the day and the following one, we had the “Everything DiSC Workplace” workshop by Shirley. It was one of my best sessions ever in the program as I love knowing and understanding others’ behaviors, and because, Shirley, the instructor, was one of the best. She is one of the most engaging and cheerful instructors we had. Each one of us was profoundly introduced to their individual style regarding behavior and traits. We also got to know our team members styles, knowing that everyone may have a different style than mine, but the most important thing is to have the ability and flexibility of “transition” to other styles whenever needed. We also learned not to judge, but rather listen, watch and understand. This is really helpful to be fully grasped and applied in any workplace. I was a “C” style.


Jun 1st
We visited the “Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL)” along the “Instructor Studio”, “Media hub” and the “Innovation lab”.
At CITL, we learned how the way in which a learning space is designed really affects the teaching process, and that any learning space should be effectively accommodated according to the instructor needs and the lecture/session type for a better learning and teaching processes.
The “Instructor Studio” and “Media Hub” are studios that offer faculty instructors the chance to record videos for their online classes. They have a studio that is fully-equipped with modern devices to facilitate such purpose for the staff members for free, such as web cams, professional microphones, etc.






The “Innovation Lab” was really great. It is a lab equipped with laser-cutting printers, VR gaming devices, customized button-making machines, 3D printing, and a huge screen for accessing ChatGPT. I believe every library should have a maker-space for public/students to explore such technologies and experience them themselves, along mentors for further explanation and inspiration. I made a customized key chain, and a button.



Jun 2nd:
At the beginning of the day, we headed to Siebel Center for Design (SCD). We had an inspiring session about how “impathy”, “engagement”, and “connection” should meet “human needs” to design human-centered designs (HCD). We then had a workshop for creating our ideal library model using the HCD concept and the how might we (HMW) questions; a workshop that was very fruitful for our final project.
By the end of the day, we had a tour at the SCD. There is an amazing Fab lab makerspace with various tools for students to further explore their talents.
