Special Interest Groups (SIG) Updates July 2024
We are proud to inform you about the most important activities of IATUL's Special Interest Groups (SIG). IATUL invites librarians at member institutions to participate in the SIGs.
Information Literacy
(SIG IL) Update
Social Media:
The IATUL Information Literacy Community of Practice will establish a social media presence using LinkedIn. A LinkedIn Affiliated page (sub-account) to the IATUL LinkedIn main account has been created.
Membership update:
The group is progressing plans to establish the IATUL Information Literacy Community of Practice. Applications to join the steering group are starting to come in. Membership of the steering group will be limited to a maximum of 12 early career professionals, working under the guidance of Tine Stewart, who will report to the SIG. Membership of the CoP will be open to all IATUL members.
Project news:
IATUL Podcasting Project – Vicky Grant and Alanna Ross completed an online course on podcasting, hosted by Andy Tattersall, at the University of Sheffield, UK. Vicky visited Alanna Ross at the American University of Sharjah 26th Feb 2024-1 March 2024 to progress the podcasting project work. Alanna completed a return visit to Sheffield, UK, in April 2024, and VG and AR attended the LILAC conference together. Podcast release dates have needed to be rescheduled due to the need for ethics approval to use the podcasters preferred platform (Zoom). The project has been accepted for a workshop at the IATUL Conference, 2024, which VG and AR plan to attend. A full report on the project will be made back to the Board later in the year.
The Liberating Information Literacy Open Education Resource has received its first submission. More on this to follow.
Auckland Workshop: Beyond the Shelves: exploring the voices of all through podcasting
The group is continuing work to establish IATUL's "Beyond the Shelves" podcast and members attending the IATUL 2024 conference are warmly invited to attend a podcasting workshop led by the SIG Co-chairs Vicky Grant and Alanna Ross. The conference theme of Ngā Reo o te Katoa – The Voices of All will be reflected in the workshop. Academic podcasting provides an innovative platform to capture and communicate the voices of all, disrupting traditional academic publishing models through open and accessible media. But can they serve as a platform to include living indigenous knowledge, decolonize research and liberate the library by capturing and distributing oral narratives? Delegates will have the opportunity to explore this question before gaining first-hand experience of planning a podcast series focused on the voices of all, incorporating proposed episodes with indigenous or previously excluded library communities.
Library Space (SIG Space) Update
SIG Leadership:
Kelly Miller is stepping down as co-Chair for SIG Space, after four years as the inaugural Chair/co-Chair. We are very grateful to Kelly for the contributions she has made to the group, including maintaining connections during Covid and beyond. We wish her the best for future activities.
We are delighted to announce Martin Borchert (Director and University Librarian at the University of New South Wales, Australia) has agreed to co-chair the SIG with Gry Bettina Moxnes for this coming year (2024-2025).
The group is in good shape overall with active membership and participation from library leaders from Norway, Australia, Egypt, Germany, Canada, and the US.
2024 IATUL Conference engagement:
Various group members, including Mike Crumpton and architect Kelly Karpinsky (Shepley Bulfinch architectural firm), and Gry Bettina Moxnes will be presenting on library space related topics at the upcoming IATUL Annual Conference - look for them in the programme!
Project news:
o Nathalie Leclair has facilitated a recorded interview with the architect, Mohammed al Riffai (OAA | B.Eng. | FRAIC | LEED AP Senior Associate), that will be shared via the Library Space SIG page on the IATUL website. The questions that the architect is responding to in the recording were developed by members of the SIG.
o A recorded Zoom presentation and conversation is being planned for early fall that will feature Dale Leorke and Danielle Wyatt on their research on play and creativity in libraries. This will also be shared via the Library Space SIG page on the IATUL website in anticipation of the workshop that Mike and Kelly Karpinsky will lead at the November IATUl conference. Play in libraries will be one of the thematic topics considered in the workshop.
o The next Designing Libraries conference will take place at NCSU Libraries in North Carolina, USA, in October: Designing Libraries XI: North Carolina State University, October 27–29, 2024. Some SIG members may attend