NCLA Con 2025

In the midst of a major library transformation, Davidson College Library launched a series of internal learning networks to support cross-functional collaboration, informal professional development, and a shared sense of purpose. One of the most dynamic of these has been the Object-Based Inquiry Network. Rather than focusing on formal pedagogy or technical expertise, this network encourages staff to approach archival materials, technologies, and tools as springboards for inquiry. Staff are invited to bring challenges, brainstorm ideas, or simply explore together. These sessions foster a sense of connection and creativity during a time of organizational change, providing an outlet for shared learning that is collaborative and energizing rather than prescriptive. This presentation will introduce the goals, structure, and spirit of the Object-Based Inquiry Network. Whether you're in archives, public services, operations, or digital scholarship, this presentation will offer practical inspiration for building collaborative learning communities in your own context-especially those rooted in curiosity, conversation, and a love of meaningful materials.

Short-term leave, like parental, family, or medical leave, can have long-term effects on careers. Often the need to take leave arises suddenly, and there is little notice or preparation possible, leaving regular work-flows disrupted and special projects in the lurch. This can be stressful for managers as they struggle to identify critical gaps, find coverage, and equip their employees; it's stressful for colleagues as they scramble to understand new assignments and manage additional workload. It is also stressful for the librarian on leave to assemble necessary materials for the handoff, let work responsibilities stall, and to return to work without a clear sense of where things stand. Recent research shows that short-term leaves like parental leave can pose a challenge for librarians' careers and for library communities. This presentation aims to build on the work of Mollie Peuler (2024), Emily A. B. Swanson (2020), and Alexandra Gallin-Parisi (2017); but while those papers offer themes and takeaways for administrators to better support parents before and after leave, this presentation will add a practical option for anyone who might need to take short-term leave of any kind. Grounded in personal experience, project management literature, and librarianship literature, this session would be applicable and adaptable to library workers in any setting. While the frontiers of life can be unexpected, in this presentation the author plans to share concrete strategies one can take to proactively document responsibilities and materials so that if an absence is necessary, the work can continue. In the past five years, the author has, herself, taken two short-term leaves of absence from her work as a liaison librarian in an academic library. In order to equip her colleagues the first time she took leave, she created an easy to understand and adapt calendar-based system, a short reference guide for frequent tasks, and a suite of templates for emails and instruction. She shared this information in a common drive and ensured it was labeled and available to her department. These actions were simple and straightforward, but they were so successful that they were adopted by other members of the department. Her manager also asked to use them for onboarding new employees so that they might have models as they settled into new work. The second time the librarian took leave, she simply had to make minor updates to her materials. Sharing this calendar-based workflow resource will not totally solve the stress that short-term leave can cause for a library or library workers, but it might serve as a map to help both parties navigate the new frontier of absence. Until the worker returns, confident and at ease, on that not-so-distant horizon.

How can academic libraries promote a culture of reading in their spaces and communities? This paired presentation summarizes efforts to connect books of all shapes and sizes with community building and wellness initiatives on campus. It highlights the successes (and some of the pitfalls) of leisure reading programming at a liberal arts college. From book clubs to outreach strategies, attendees will hear about ways in which students, faculty, and staff have connected with books (and beyond) through their academic library.

Over the last 20 years, Belk Library's collection development policy has shifted from prescriptive to descriptive, deemphasizing specific collections outcomes and empowering liaison librarians to make purchasing decisions for their partner areas. Without any coordination or mandates, librarians began purchasing materials meant to meet the whole-person needs of their liaison groups, converging on a collection capable of supporting campus both through and beyond the curriculum. Our presentation will explore the effect of placing more collection development in the hands of liaison librarians already immersed in different user populations. This case study demonstrates how extending the trust already placed in liaison librarians to include materials selection can yield new and improved relationships throughout the university, as well as deeper library involvement in projects and activities across campus and the surrounding communities. We offer lessons learned on the counterintuitive ability of decentralization to build collections with a shared vision; how popular materials can advance the mission of academic libraries; and the value in crafting policies allowing for organic and responsive collection development rather than those imposing narrowly prescribed visions on library collections.