MLA 2024 Conference

How can academic libraries use student ideas and perspectives to improve library outreach? How can we provide students meaningful opportunities to engage in outreach? And what are the goals and benefits of engaging students in library outreach efforts–for both the library and the students? In this session, members of the Outreach & Promotion Committee at the Gustavus Adolphus College Library will explore these questions. We will share our experiences engaging students–including our inaugural cohort of a Student Advisory Board, library interns, and library academic assistants–in our outreach initiatives. We will provide examples of student-executed events, including Taylor Swift-inspired programming and a poetry open mic night, and feedback from students on topics ranging from library space to instructional outreach. We will discuss how we engaged both students and fundraising partners in these efforts, how we approached student compensation (either monetary or for college credit), and how we assessed and developed future plans for engaging students in library outreach. Attendees will have opportunities for group discussion and sharing and for participation in an activity inspired by our students. Through the presentation and discussion, attendees both new to and familiar with library outreach will gain practical recommendations and insights into engaging students in their own library outreach initiatives.

How do use games in the library to increase checkouts and engagement. This session will share ideas and resources for using and creating games in your school library such as Trivia, Magic Tickets, Winning Checkouts, Breakout Edu, games as a makerspace, and Bookface.

The practice of critical cataloging acknowledges that catalogs are not neutral and looks for solutions or ways to address harmful practices and language in the library catalog. Knowing that our catalog is not perfect, the Bridge Consortium of Carleton College and St. Olaf College created a working group to address this and related issues in the cataloging world. The Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access (IDEA) Working Group is composed of library staff who are interested in minimizing harmful language and improving access through appropriate metadata in our shared discovery platforms by striving to provide the most relevant and accurate information. This group has met monthly since January 2023, resulting in the creation of a public-facing statement meant to address the issue of harmful language in our libraries. A reporting form was created in tandem with the policy statement so that members of our community may submit concerns about harmful language found in our discovery platforms. In this session, Kate Niemisto and Jane Campbell, co-chairs of the IDEA Working Group, will walk through the process of writing this statement, how the group worked with campus partners to develop both the statement and workflow for submissions, and how they marketed this work to the Bridge Consortium community. By sharing their experiences with this project, Kate and Jane offer attendees an opportunity to reflect on the importance of critical cataloging and brainstorm how a similar project may look at their own libraries.

Are you interested in bringing more visibility to your library’s digital content? Join us to learn more about Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, and Wikipedia and how these emerging platforms can improve user experiences and increase collection discoverability.

Since 2020, Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has worked with contributing partners to upload their open access digital content to Wikimedia Commons. Staff at Minitex and the Minnesota Digital Library were inspired by the success of the DPLA project and conceived of their own pilot to learn more about using the wiki-based, free-to-use media repository called Wikimedia Commons, along with its sister sites Wikidata and Wikipedia, to increase discoverability of content from digital collections.

Presenters will discuss the outcomes of our successful 2023 pilot project and the continuation of the project’s work during the summer of 2024. We will provide an overview of how we added archival images to Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia, and added structured data (linked data) from Wikidata. Participants will learn about our goals, impact on access and use, and some tips on how to get started with a Wikimedia project at your own organization.