Springfield here we come! historic.
Abraham Lincoln Memorial Public Library visit – Monday we traveled to Springfield for a visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Illinois State Library where we met met by passionate, knowledgeable & inspiring professionals. It was such a marvel to experience such history.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential library, an agency of state government is a research library that houses a collection on Lincoln. The library houses the collection of the Illinois State Historical Library (founded in 1889). Ryan Franklin, Outreach coordinator at the Illinois State library was enthusiastic and passionate with her presentation and tour. The State Library is a repository that maintains an authoritative collection of historic Illinois documents including more than 185,000 maps. A treasure house opened which in 2000, was renamed honor of Gwendolyn Brooks, who was appointed Illinois Poet Laureate in 1968.
While this year’s theme is “Shaping the Future of Libraries: A Professional Development Program for Library Leaders and Innovators “, it was interesting to see that the state library provides audio and braille library service to any Illinois resident who is unable to read standard print material due to a permanent or temporary visual or physical disability through the Talking Books and Braille services. I believe this service goes a long way; over 40,000 (audio) books and music in braille formats are available for download – Braille Audio Reading Download.
Below are a few photos from the Abraham Lincoln House (the Lincoln family stayed in (1844 -1861) before becoming the United States’ 16th president.
Tuesday June 6th,2023 morning session – CARLI Network by Anne Craig (Senior Director)- wonderfully presented, insightful and eye opening. CARLI is a consortium of colleges and universities working to advance open textbook initiatives & an Open Education Network (OEN). The OEN is searchable online, with complete textbooks available for faculty and students – free to use, adapt as well as distribute to support courses. All 128 CARLI Governing member libraries benefit of OTN membership. The governance of the consortia is impressive and to benchmark on.
Grant Writing – Anne gave a needed presentation to highlight what one needs to be aware of, what to avoid when attempting to apply for a grant.
Sousa Archives and Center for American Music-
Scholarly Publishing – Open Educational Resources (OER) + Open Access (OA) by Mandi Goodsett, Copyright & OER Advisor (Performing Arts & Humanities Librarian):
- OER – available online, educators can adapt and build on them & share knowledge.
- OA – enables anyone to access research documents + publications.
- It worth noting that copyright is important must be considered when publishing OER & releasing OA materials.
Clar Chu – Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. This session gave us insights to discuss various opportunities availed by AI in libraries. Resulting on introspecting on how to benchmark and prepare for possibilities to shape the future for our instutitions. With Artificial Intelligence we sure capitalise our efficiency(operations) and improve our service effectiveness thereby reducing costs -work on been sustainable.
Thursday 8 June – Dublin, Ohio overnight roadtrip! OCLC – Online Computer Library Center; founded in 1967, provides bibliographic, abstract & and full-text information to anyone. With is member libraries, OCLC brought to us the WorldCat (OCLC Online Union Catalog the largest OPAC in the world. A lasting impression was the “New Model Library” survey, which was conducted among global library leaders on the changes in libraries after the pandemic. Key findings were grouped into three experiences (after merging four areas of impact agility, collaboration, virtualization & space:
Work, Collection & Engagement –
Ohio State University visit: OSU Thompson Library – ‘of spaces‘ very spacious and well lit. Nancy emphasized on listening to students’ suggestions to ensure they meet their needs to improve on overall user experience.
Research Commons – pinnacle of the program for me as it spoke to my initial interest; to have a dedicated unit for research services. The research commons space exemplifies how user needs can be accommodated to offer collaborative welcoming space that foster creativity to enhance researce.
We completed Ohio journey with a visit to the Westerville Public Library. This public library inspired me with their innovative initiatives that are just what butresses how libraries positioned at every stop for patrons. These initiaves ar ewell thought and indeed inclusive (the borrowing artwork, ‘Drive-Thru‘ lending and returns, ‘Homework Help Center’, and ‘Learning Kits‘ to children).
