Spark: Trial by Fire - Lessons Learned from a Pandemic

Wednesday, December 9, 9:30 a.m. - Noon

Librarians from Illinois shared their innovations with their colleagues. What  changed at your library since March 2020? How did you stay motivated? What successes do you want to share?

Presentation Schedule

Time Presenter Title Description
9:30 Dan Bostrom Introduction  

9:35

Session #1

 Kari Garman Turning on Less than a Dime: Delivering a Contact Tracing Seating System with (Almost) No Budget In late July 2020, staff learned that we were expected to re-open the Bradley University library in less than a month with a contact tracing seating system in place - but almost no budget to construct it. With a little inspiration and some cross-university collaboration, we delivered our system on time at minimal cost and have used it ever since with only minor modifications.

9:47

Session #2

 Michelle Y. Roubal Going Virtual for EDI In my role on the President's Diversity & Inclusion Council, I had been organizing census and voting educational initiatives since 2019. Learn how these projects were migrated online due to the pandemic

9:59

Session #3

 April Anderson-Zorn Collecting a Pandemic: How the Rayfield Archives Collects Pandemic Stories Join University Archivist April Anderson-Zorn as she presents the successes and challenges of quickly launching an online file collecting system documenting her institution’s response and experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic.

10:11

Session #4

 Kelly Fisher Library Staff's Support of Faculty During Their Pivot to Online Instruction at Eureka College In March of 2020, Eureka College's faculty were forced to pivot their in-person instruction to online only for the first time in the college's history. Learn about how the library staff played a significant role in the faculty's successful transition to online teaching as evidenced in a librarian-administered post-semester online teaching transition survey.
10:23 Break: 5 Minutes
10:28 Breakout Room Discussions

10:45

Session #5

 Russ Iwami We Never Closed! We never closed: mistakes, fear and dread, opportunity…all of the above…the limits of safety measures and the reality of skyrocketing library usage

10:57

Session #6

 Michelle Oh OER Workshop and the Impact of Learning from Home Northeastern University (NEIU) Libraries hosted a workshop on Open Educational Resources for 19 faculty members in the Spring of 2020, shortly after the Governor's shelter at home mandate. This talk will discuss the workshop process, survey results that indicated that instructors that adopted open textbooks saved NEIU students upwards of $9,329, and the impact the pandemic has had on willingness to adopt an OER.

11:09

Session #7

 Kent LaCombe Fluid Engagement; applying an evolving and responsive instruction model during COVID-19 Fall 2020 brought significant challenges and uncertainties to academic life at Illinois State University (ISU). This lightening session will briefly outline some of my evolving efforts at creating flexible and accessible instruction and outreach models while serving as a new tenure-track faculty member for Milner Library at ISU.

11:21

Session #8

 Courtney Tedrick DEI Programming during a Pandemic Courtney Tedrick, Community Engagement Department Head at Wheaton Public Library, discusses how she worked with community leaders and members to bring DEI programming and conversations about race to the Wheaton community in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
11:33 Break: 5 Minutes
11:38 Breakout Room Discussion
11:55 Dan Bostrom Conclusion and 
wrap-up		  
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