I had the opportunity to attend the 3rd National Joint Conference of Librarians of Color also known as JCLC in Albuquerque, New Mexico. With over 1000 registered attendees from all over the country, the theme for this year’s conference was “Gathering All Peoples: Embracing Culture and Community.” From “Cultural Humility for Library Workers” to “Environmental Justice at Your Library and in Your Community,” many exciting sessions offered opportunities to engage and develop professionally and personally.

Since 1996, April has been designated National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate poetry through greater awareness and public engagement. Your library's participation in this annual observance can serve as a fun way to engage students and cultivate the type of interactive relationships essential for first year success initiatives and more. Here are a few activities to consider:

Instructional librarian Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe has been researching what misconceptions about information literacy students carry with them to college, and investigating what types of pedagogical responses best correct these. In a recent webinar she discussed the challenges of teaching information literacy to first year students, and shared her initial findings. Download the full recording here, and view her presentation slides here.  

When Howard University decided it was time to streamline their First Year Experience program and create an FYE librarian, they tasked Niketha McKenzie with creating an instructional platform to ensure incoming students were aware of the library’s resources and services. Professors asked her to use her one-shots to introduce students to the library’s databases, but McKenzie noticed a fundamental gap in students’ readiness to conduct that level of scholarly research.

By Sol M. Lopez, MLIS

ALA annual is so large and broad in scope, and yet manages to offer a handful of specialized workshops for every possible area of the profession. Learning about issues that impact minority academic librarians, what different types of libraries are doing on diversity, inclusion, and equity were among the highlights of my experience. 

Brian Coutts and Rosemary Meszaros of Western Kentucky University recently joined us to explore the role of the librarian as scholar. Brian is this year's winner of the Reference and User Services Association's (RUSA) Isador Mudge Award. View the recording here (plus slides). 

We recently asked librarians to send us their stories of how they put Credo to use helping students. Sol Lopez of Regis University won our contest, and a trip to ALA Chicago, for her submission on how Credo supports her school's first year experience (FYE) program by encouraging students to initiate choosing topics for their research.

First year success librarians Raymond Pun and Kate Angell recently spoke about innovative ways they’ve found to engage first year students in their respective libraries. To be clear, in Beyond Information Literacy: 10 Ways to Engage with Your First Year Students, they aren’t talking about bypassing information literacy. In fact, many of these programs and ideas work in tandem with ongoing IL initiatives. Here’s a quick sample of some of their tips, or you can watch the full webinar recording.

We had an amazing time in Baltimore for the ACRL Conference, and we’re grateful to all of the librarians we got a chance to meet and talk to about the state of research and reference today.

Digital Learning Objects: Exploring New Ways to Teach Online Learners