NCLA Con 2025

What are future students' needs, and how do they view the library as part of their academic journey? Belk Library & Information Commons, the main library at Appalachian State University, turns twenty years old this year. Since the building opened in 2005, the student population at Appalachian State University has grown by 7,000 students, and technology advances continue to shift the higher education landscape. As such, the Dean of the University Libraries has decided to undergo a Master Planning process in order to ensure the building adapts to meet the current and future needs of the App State Community. In exploring the library of the future, we started the process by engaging the biggest users of our building: our students. The University Libraries first sought to gain insight from our students with the design of a new branch library on App State's Hickory campus. Students on our Library Student Advisory Board designed the layout of the space and selected the furniture. Hickory Library & Information Commons is therefore designed by students for students, and we want to apply a similar concept as we rethink Belk Library. This session will showcase the various ways we have worked to gather feedback on the building from our students, including a campus-wide survey, engagement with interior design classes, and multiple sessions with our Library Student Advisory Board. We will share our process for creating these engagements, highlight themes that we have learned across the feedback mechanism, discuss quick fixes we were able to address, and finally, talk about how the feedback informed how we engaged with the architects for the master plan.

Libraries are dynamic spaces that offer more than just books and digital resources-they serve as vibrant hubs of activity, fostering creativity and engagement. At East Carolina University's Joyner Library, we proudly host a diverse range of exhibits, from special collections to interactive displays that engage and inspire students, faculty, and the broader community. Our primary exhibition space, the Janice Hardison Faulkner Gallery, spans 1,600 square feet and is a versatile venue for various exhibitions, including art, history, and beyond. The gallery's mission is to highlight the creative work and scholarship of faculty, students, community, and region while also featuring traveling exhibits from other institutions. In addition to exhibitions, the gallery serves as a dynamic event space, hosting many activities such as poetry readings, artist talks, academic lectures, and more. In this presentation, J.H. Faulkner Gallery curator Charlotte Fitz Daniels will provide an in-depth look at the gallery's operations. She will discuss the types of exhibits displayed, the library's exhibit planning process, and the collaborative efforts with academic departments and the local community. Furthermore, she will explore the gallery's unique space, the equipment used for exhibitions, and the process of sourcing artists, drafting contracts, and more. This model can be adapted for use in other libraries, offering inspiration for expanding your own library's exhibit spaces and programming.

Libraries serve as hubs for information and community engagement, yet traditional feedback mechanisms often fail to foster real dialogue between patrons and staff. This session explores how the "What's On Your Mind?" comment board at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest University has evolved from a simple feedback collection tool into a dynamic platform for meaningful conversations and service improvements. Attendees will learn how the program was structured to encourage student participation, and the tightrope of maintaining a balance between accessibility and professionalism. The session will discuss key challenges faced in managing open-ended, public feedback-- challenges such as moderating responses, maintaining engagement, and ensuring that student concerns actually lead to actionable change. The discussion will include strategies for enhancing engagement using structured prompts, collaborations with campus organizations, and innovative promotional efforts. Additionally, the session will highlight improvements that are planned for the comment board. These changes will include transitioning to a more professional platform, the exploration of digital tools to track trends in student comments, and best practices in response management. By the end of the presentation, attendees will understand how libraries can move beyond passive suggestion boxes and create interactive, student-driven feedback platforms!

To further establish libraries as dynamic hubs of entrepreneurial activity and support, NC IDEA (a foundation dedicated to supporting North Carolina's entrepreneurs) has partnered with NC LIVE to pilot a groundbreaking fellowship program that empowers librarians to effectively support the "patron-founders" who walk through the library doors. The Libraries for Entrepreneurial Advancement Fellowship Program (LEAF Program) is a fully funded professional development experience that invites a cohort of 20 librarians to a 2-day in-person summit followed by virtual skill-building sessions throughout the year. Fellows gain confidence in speaking the language of entrepreneurship, they expand their knowledge of business resources, and also strengthen their market research skills using tools like Data Axle and Social Explorer. Through this program, librarians develop meaningful connections with peers and ecosystem partners. They also learn how to capture and communicate the numbers and stories of the library's contributions to local economic development. In this session, meet a current LEAF librarian and hear from NC IDEA's program manager. You'll understand how the LEAF Program works, what it hopes to accomplish, and how it has been developed in close collaboration with ALA's Libraries Build Business, BLINC, and the State Library of North Carolina. Attendees will leave inspired by how our state can serve as a national model of library-powered, equitable economic development. Application materials for the upcoming LEAF cohort will be on hand. (To ensure accessibility for all library systems, NC IDEA is committed to covering 100% of all Fellow expenses -- hotel, food, transportation.)

Mentorship in libraries is a powerful tool for professional growth. It plays a key role in helping librarians develop essential skills, advance in their careers, and overcome role-specific challenges. Both formal and informal mentorship provide invaluable support, particularly for early-career professionals and those navigating job transitions. For mentees, these relationships provide guidance, help build confidence, and offer a sense of direction, while mentors benefit from fresh perspectives, strengthened leadership skills, and the opportunity to pass on their knowledge Beyond individual growth, mentorship aids in the creation of a supportive network, promoting knowledge transfer across generations and job roles. By leveraging existing networks, libraries can build and sustain meaningful, mutually beneficial mentorship relationships that extend across institutions and strengthen the field as a whole. Throughout our careers, we've each benefited from both formal and informal mentorship experiences that have helped us grow professionally, build meaningful connections, and navigate the complexities of the library field. As libraries continue to evolve in response to new technologies, changing job roles, and shifting institutional priorities, mentorship will become increasingly important, as it offers a sustainable way to adapt to these changes while nurturing professional development and fostering a culture of collaboration. In this session, we will use real-life examples to show how mentorship assists early-career professionals with navigating job transitions and career difficulties. We will highlight why mentorship is particularly crucial in today's library landscape, and how it contributes to resilient, adaptive, and confident professionals who are ready to face future challenges. By exploring the many ways mentorship strengthens libraries, we will demonstrate how it encourages idea-sharing, promotes collaborative problem-solving, and offers opportunities for personalized, low-cost professional development. Ultimately, mentorship helps librarians grow their skills, build networks, and achieve professional goals, ensuring the continued evolution and success of libraries.

Join us for an essential workshop led by library managers passionate about helping you succeed! This dynamic session will provide invaluable insights and practical strategies to refine your resume and cover letter, ensuring you stand out in the competitive library job market. We'll delve deep into the art of crafting a compelling resume and cover letter that captures your unique qualifications and experiences. Learn what hiring managers look for, common pitfalls to avoid, and how to tailor your application to specific job postings. Whether you're a seasoned librarian or just starting out, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and tools to present yourself confidently and effectively on paper. This presentation is part of the NMRT student track.

Family Portraits started with a familiar missional goal: identify what holes exist for our local community in availability, access, and impact, and find a way to provide meaningful service in that space. What began as a utilitarian opportunity to leverage existing Library resources in meeting a community need has blossomed into the Library's most expansive recurring annual program, serving nearly 500 families since its inception in 2021. Starting in 2021, each fall a staff member transforms the underutilized Library Conference Room, crafting multiple festive, nonsectarian backdrops comprised entirely from materials on hand from Library storage or on loan from staff. In patrons' twenty-minute appointment slots, a Library staff member stages the family/individual and shoots photos in various combinations of backgrounds, poses, and props (as determined by the patrons prior). Afterward, the staff member uses free, open-source software to edit the best shots in the same vein a professional photographer would, delivering around a dozen card-ready edits along with any usable unedited photos to the patron digitally via cloud storage. While time-intensive for the staff member responsible for the set-up, staging, shooting, and editing, the program operates on an almost non-existent budget and is easily replicable year-over-year at libraries of any size. As the program entered its fourth year in 2024, word-of-mouth exposure increased significantly, particularly after the program was recognized at a state level by the NC Public Library Directors Association. Following the most ambitious year of the program from a patron availability standpoint (2023), and adding in that the programming staff member responsible for staging, shooting, editing, and delivering the photos would be leaving in the middle of the program's normal editing season for paternity leave, significant innovation proved necessary to slash down staff time investment if the program was to remain available to serve the community. The first step in streamlining was to completely overhaul the patron registration process. Staff enacted a new-look online registration in 2024 as a prerequisite to book an appointment. Under the new system, a custom link (available as QR codes throughout the building and hyperlinked on Library web/social media pages), directed patrons to a one-stop web experience where they could: maximize photoshoot time by filling out all their information; access the full rules, guidelines, and suggestions for enjoying the program; utilize a full catalog-style collection of family portraits from previous years, as well as photos of the backdrop options, to custom order the poses and placements they wanted for their shoot; and, especially important given the staffing circumstances of the program, select whether they preferred to ensure photo delivery by November first (whether edited or not), or wait for the full set of edited photos after the holidays. Another key change instituted in 2024 proved pivotal in slashing editing time, and thus enhancing the capacity of the program: the addition of photography lights. Investing in a set of low-end studio-style photography lights (approximately $50) allowed the staff photographer to better control the shooting environment prior to taking the photos, which cut the largest parts of the photo editing (lighting and color adjustments) out, taking the average edit time down from around ten minutes to less than three. A third key innovation-the addition of a color-neutral background option-while seemingly a flippant addition, provided an unexpected increase in access.

Play, Learn and Explore: A Park Adventure Guide is a booklet created in collaboration between Librarians at the Cary Regional Library and the staff of the Downtown Cary Park. The booklet uses the framework of Every Child Ready to Read to guide caregivers and children on an early literacy adventure throughout the park. Using rhymes and songs, conversation prompts, coloring pages, word searches and themed book lists, the booklet helps caregivers interact with their child in proven ways to encourage literacy while having fun. In our presentation we will share the process of forming this collaboration with the Downtown Cary Park and the steps we took to get a printed booklet in people's hands. We will also discuss the various opportunities and problems that arose and how we ultimately ended with both a product and a partnership that helps increase library visitation and encourages early childhood literacy. As Children's Librarians, we understand the importance of early childhood literacy. Our presentation will share how librarians can create tools using Every Child Ready to Read so caregivers can partake every day in developing a child's love of reading. These tools can then be used to engage people all across our community and beyond the library's doors. By partnering with a community park, we have not only created a mutually beneficial relationship, but an opportunity for an outside entity to be an advocate for the importance of public libraries. 

Based off viral internet book clubs like Dracula Daily, ECU's Joyner library started our own digital book club. Using public domain literature and open access photos we divided each story into bite-sized sections and emailed them out to students, faculty, and staff on campus who signed up for the newsletter. This session will share successes and failures from our first two years running this program as well as detail how we navigated logistics, marketed the program, and continue to work to ensure diverse and inclusive voices while using 100+ year old texts. Having now used a novel, short stories, poems, and non-fiction essays in different semesters this session will also discuss the pros and cons of each format and how we are hoping to improve in the future.

Libraries are always looking for new and innovative opportunities to serve the needs of their patrons. Adding manga to an academic library's collection offers an invaluable opportunity to promote inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility within higher education environments. As a distinct medium that blends art and narrative, manga has garnered significant global popularity, transcending cultural boundaries and appealing to a broad range of readers. The incorporation of manga into academic library collections supports the educational and social goals of inclusivity by offering a broader, more diverse spectrum of content that reflects various lived experiences and viewpoints. This collection management project started by creating and expanding the library's popular reading collection. The idea was to provide students with an opportunity to use the library for more than just studying. They are given the chance to make recommendations for the collection by commenting on social media posts or sharing them at events like the annual connect fair (an event for freshmen to explore the different departments and clubs on campus). Through these interactions, we found a need to expand the collection to include manga. The addition of manga to an academic library collection does pose some unusual challenges, particularly in terms of classification and cataloging. Popular manga titles are increasingly being made available in public libraries, but only a relatively small number of academic libraries have begun adding them to their collections. While many manga MARC records do contain call numbers, these are invariably either Dewey Decimal system call numbers or PZ call numbers under LC classification. Gardner-Webb has tried to move away from using PZ call numbers for all but children's books, so we need to assign our own LC call numbers to almost all incoming manga series titles. Further complicating matters is the fact that manga can be assigned LC call numbers based on different criteria by different institutions - by collection name, by author, by title, etc. There seems to be a lack of consistency in cataloging practice among academic libraries, and a lack of non-PZ LC call numbers in existing MARC records inhibits the addition of manga titles by copy cataloging alone. This poses a real challenge to academic libraries who may no longer have an experienced catalog librarian on staff.