CARLI News January 29, 2026

CARLI News January 29, 2026

Submitted by mjhuls on Thu, 01/29/2026 - 10:35am

WEST Information Session
E-Resources News
–FY2027 E-resources Brokering Selections 
–Spring 2026 ERMC Webinar Series
–Intro to E-resources Brokering Webinar
–Consortia Manager Tricks and Tips 
–Third Iron Product Demonstration
Semi-Annual Alma Premium Sandbox Refresh
Collection Management Committee Community Chat
Community Chat: Students within Reach--Academic Libraries and Belonging
Technical Services Q&A: DEI Options for Alma and Primo VE
Learning Commons and Collaborative Library Spaces Open House
Upcoming OER Events
–Libre Texts Workshops
–Three Virtual OER Meetups for Faculty, Instructors, and Librarians
–CARLI OER Faculty Workshop
–Open Pedagogy Workshop
–CARLI's OER Commons Hub: Open Illinois
CARLI Archives Committee Announcements
–Recap of the "Introduction to Appraising Born-Digital Records" Webinar
–Registration Open: Ask an Archivist!
–Save the Date: Archives Open House
–CARLI Member Archives Collection Highlight
Professional Development Alliance Events
–Archives in Action: Empowering Student Workers and Community Volunteers
Education Justice Project Update
2025 Preservation Survey Report
Preservation Tip
Other Library News
–Annual Library Certification
–IACRL 2025 Campus Kickstart Awards
–Scholarship Opportunity Available for Midwest Archives Conference
Upcoming CARLI Events and Meetings
Contact Us

If you need disability-related accommodations to participate in any of the events mentioned below, please . Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.

Registration is typically required for CARLI events. For more information and to register for events, please visit the event page links.

WEST Information Session February 2, 1:00–2:00 p.m. 

CARLI has an agreement with Western Regional Storage Trust (WEST) Shared Serials Storage and all CARLI members have the option to participate in this service. 

If you would like to learn more about WEST and what they have to offer, join us for this informational session. There will be time for you to ask questions during this session. 

E-Resources News

FY2027 E-resources Brokering Selections

The FY 2027 E-Resources brokering period for libraries to make selections will tentatively be April 6 to May 18.

We will be offering products from Bloomsbury, EBSCO, Gale, Kanopy, MLA, Swank, The Chronicle of Higher Education, ProQuest, and Oxford University Press.

INTRO TO E-RESOURCES BROKERING WEBINAR - FEBRUARY 10, 2:00 P.M.

Join the CARLI e-resources staff for an introduction to CARLI's e-resources program. If you are new to e-resources or just want to know more about how our program works, please register and attend.

There will be a presentation but also time for questions. 

ConsortiaManager Tricks and Tips - March 10, 2:00–3:30 p.m.

Join the Commercial Products Committee for a webinar about ConsortiaManager, CARLI's system for managing the e-resources brokering program. The webinar will include an overview of ConsortiaManager, as well as tips and tricks for navigating and using system features. 

Third Iron Product Demonstration - February 11, 10:00–11:00

Representatives from Third Iron are hosting a webinar for CARLI libraries. Third Iron products will be part of CARLI′s Software as a Service cycle in March and this is an opportunity to see how the products work. 

Spring 2026 ERMC Webinar Series

Join the CARLI E-Resources Management Committee (ERMC) for their Spring 2026 ERMC Webinar Series. These sessions will be recorded and available for viewing on the CARLI website.

Understanding Counter Stats, Including the Transition to 5.1 - February 9, 1:30–2:30 p.m.

This session is intended to equip academic library staff with the knowledge and skills to interpret and use COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources) statistics effectively. 

Interpreting Counter Stats & Storytelling - March 16, 1:30–2:30 p.m.

Explore how to interpret COUNTER statistics and transform usage data into persuasive stories for academic libraries.

Using Analytics to Pull Your Data/Working with Vendors/ SUSHI without Analytics - April 13, 1:30–2:30 p.m. 

Learn about importing usage statistics into Alma, LibInsight, and other free SUSHI harvesters. We will demonstrate how to set up vendors and how to generate reports on these platforms. 

Semi-Annual Alma Premium Sandbox Refresh

CARLI′s Alma license includes access to six premium sandboxes that may be used to train staff or test workflows. A "premium" sandbox is distinguished from a standard sandbox by containing a copy of an institution′s actual Alma data (personal data, including all user accounts, are anonymized). Twice each year, Ex Libris performs a full refresh of all sandboxes, copying production data from institutions and adding those snapshots to the sandboxes.

The next sandbox refresh will take place on Sunday, February 8, 2026.

More information is available on the Alma Sandbox Information page. Dates for the monthly Alma release and release updates may be found on the Ex Libris Release and Maintenance Schedule.

Collection Management Committee Community Chat - February 26, 10:00–11:15 a.m.

The CARLI Collection Management Committee is hosting an online Community Chat on Collecting Non-Traditional Materials. This informal discussion will focus on sharing ideas on the funding, collection, storage, and management of materials not commonly part of the collection of a CARLI library. This can be anything from games to accessibility devices to educational aids. Learn from your colleagues about the non-traditional materials that they have available. 

Community Chat: Students within Reach--Academic Libraries and Belonging - March 5, 9:00–10:00 a.m.

The CARLI OER and Public Services Committees invite those at Illinois libraries to an informal discussion on increasing student belonging through outreach, events, activities, campus collaborations, and employing open educational practices to empower students as co-creators in the classroom and beyond.

Technical Services Q&A: DEI Options for Alma and Primo VE - March 5, 10:00–11:00

The Technical Services Committee has been investigating tools and techniques for libraries to address and revise harmful language in Primo VE catalog records. Options identified so far will be presented and we will discuss other actions that libraries and CARLI may take to manage harmful language.

Learning Commons and Collaborative Library Spaces Open House - April 8

The CARLI Public Services Committee is hosting in-person open houses at Kishwaukee College and Northern Illinois University for CARLI members. Registration is limited to 25 people.

Upcoming OER Events

LibreTexts Workshops

These workshops are part of a series of workshops designed for the CARLI members who have opted to use LibreTexts thanks to the support from the Illinois Support for the Creation of Open Education Resources (SCOERs) grant that CARLI received from the U.S. Department of Education. The workshops are open to all CARLI members. 

Three Virtual OER Meetups for Faculty, Instructors, and Librarians

The CARLI OER Committee is sponsoring three upcoming virtual meetups intended for faculty, instructors, and librarians. Join us for a lively virtual meet-up designed to spark ideas, share experiences and tips, and explore opportunities for cross-institutional OER partnerships.

OER Meetup for STEM Faculty, Instructors, and Librarians - February 6, 1:00–2:00 p.m.
OER Meetup for Social Sciences Faculty, Instructors, and Librarians - February 20, 1:00–2:00 p.m.
OER Meetup for Humanities Faculty, Instructors, and Librarians - March 6, 1:30–2:30 p.m. 

CARLI OER Faculty Workshop: Supporting Academic Success: Open Educational Resources and Equitable Course Materials - February 19, 1:00–2:30 p.m.

Please share this opportunity with your faculty to attend a webinar to learn about open educational resources including open textbooks with their teaching faculty.

After attending, CARLI-member's teaching faculty will be invited to write a short review of an open textbook in the Open Textbook Library.

If your institution plans to offer an incentive to your faculty for attendance at the workshop and writing a review of an open textbook, please email  so that CARLI staff can provide you the information you need about your faculty attendance/review status.

Open Pedagogy Workshop - March 4, 11:00 a.m. –12:30 p.m.

In this online workshop, you will learn the definition and context of Open Pedagogy, view innovative examples being applied in a variety of subjects and formats, and work with other attendees to create an assignment that you can use in your own class.

CARLI′s OER Commons Hub: Open Illinois 

It has been nearly five years since CARLI launched the Open Illinois Hub on OER Commons, a resource that is available to all CARLI members.

The Open Illinois Hub is a customized, branded resource on OER Commons where our network of users can create and share their locally created open educational resources and collections, have an institutional presence, or work collaboratively, and share news and events associated with a project or organization.

By combining resources from CARLI members into a seamless environment, faculty, staff, students, and the public can search across Illinois institutions and collections to find open educational resources that have been created by or are being used as course materials at CARLI member institutions.

Use of the Open Illinois Hub is a benefit of your CARLI membership and there is no additional cost. 

CARLI Archives Committee Announcements

Recap of the "Introduction to Appraising Born-Digital Records" Webinar

The webinar recording and slides from Danielle Taylor’s presentation "Introduction to Appraising Born-Digital Records" are now available under the Archives and Special Collections Resources in the Training section.

Taylor drew from her decade of experience as an instructor for the Digital POWRR Program, a grant-funded initiative based at Northern Illinois University focused on supporting digital preservation activities at institutions with restricted resources. An essential takeaway emphasized the importance of determining institutional goals and capabilities, then selecting the tools to achieve those goals.

Registration Open: Ask an Archivist! - April 20, 1:30–2:30 p.m.

Do you have questions related to archival practices and archives administration? Join the CARLI Archives Committee for Ask an Archivist virtual office hours where committee members will be on hand to answer questions, offer advice, and share resources to help you with your archives. Questions related to appraisal, arrangement, processing, outreach, and advocacy for physical and digital archives are welcome.

Save the Date: Archives Open House

Illinois State University and the CARLI Archives Committee will be hosting an in-person Archives open house for CARLI members on the morning of April 16. Attendees will get an up-close glimpse of Special Collections at Milner Library, including the Circus & Allied Arts Collection, which is one of the three largest of its kind in the United States.

More information and details to register will be coming soon.

CARLI Member Archives Collection Highlight

The Special Collections Research Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale received a $1,000 grant from the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board (ISHRAB) to digitize several 16mm films. The ISHRAB grant will be used in combination with funding from the Friends of Morris Library.

The films were selected for their historical significance, reference demand, preservation concerns, and potential for broad public interest. Most were created by SIU′s Film Production Unit that produced promotional and educational films from about 1960-1974. Two of these were CINE Golden Eagle Award winners: 1967 NCAA Gymnastics Championship, a documentary on SIU′s national champion men′s team, and Vergette Making a Pot, showcasing SIU art professor and sculptor Nicholas Vergette′s creative process. Another film, Mississippi River Festival, highlights the origins of the event held on the SIU Edwardsville campus that grew into a major annual rock music festival in the 1970s.

The film Blacksmith Workshop was selected from researcher demand. The patron noted, "It supposedly documents ′the first blacksmith workshop in the country′ held by L. Brent Kington," another SIU art professor. He said, "According to Kington, ′The interesting thing about the film is it undeniably records the birth of a medium, or the renaissance of a medium, into the American craft movement."

Although we cannot view the films to assess the content, we were aided by film catalog descriptions and Film Production′s project files. Not all films were adequately described, and a few were selected based on our best guess informed by what little metadata was available. For example, one canister is labeled O′Neal Interview which we suspect is Frederick O′Neal, founder of the American Negro Theater and the British Negro Theatre. In another case, a film from the Trovillion Private Press collection is labeled "Carbondale 1938," and we are excited to see what it reveals.

This project allows us to provide access to otherwise inaccessible films. Once complete, they will be uploaded to Morris Library′s YouTube channel and publicized through our social media and university news channels.

Professional Development Alliance Events

The following programs from the Professional Development Alliance are currently on the calendar. Programs are offered on a wide variety of subjects. Check out everything the alliance is making available to our libraries!

  • February 3: Academic Librarianship in a Media Literacy Crisis
  • February 3: AI Harms, AI Use, and the Library as Intermediary in Adoption of New Tech Tools
  • February 4: Archives in Action: Empowering Student Workers and Community Volunteers
  • February 5: Strategies to Combat Imposter Phenomenon
  • February 5: From Numbers to Insight: An Intro to Usage Statistics for Libraries
  • February 5: How Do You Measure Good Will: Finals Week Activities, Student Well‑Being, and Assessment
  • February 10: From Intimidating to Insightful: Building a Usability Testing Program
  • February 10: Faculty Recognition and the Sustainability of OERs: The Key to Success?
  • February 12: Next Chapter: Career Literacy for Library Staff – Bookmarked for Success: Professional Networking Strategies
  • February 12: Rewriting the Inner Critic: Using Writing as a Tool to Challenge and Transform Self‑Doubt
  • February 17: Bringing the past to Life: Reader′s Advisory for Historical Fiction
  • February 17: From Community to Campus: Public to Academic Librarianship
  • February 19: AI for Transcription in Digital Collections
  • February 19: Using Data Intentionally: Cost Context, and Collection Decisions with Usage Statistics
  • February 19: CARLI OER Faculty Workshop: Supporting Academic Success: Open Educational Resources and Equitable Course Materials
  • February 23: Management 102: Building Successful Teams
  • February 24: Social & Marketing Strategies
  • February 24 Resources Wies: Evaluating Library Collections with Impact
  • February 25: Market Smarts: Using Social Explorer for Business and Entrepreneurship
  • February 26: Navigating the Continual Evolving AI Landscape
  • February 26: Next Chapter: Career Literacy for Library Staff – Managers: How to Create Job Postings
  • March 4: CARLI Open Pedagogy Workshop
  • March 12: Next Chapter: Career Literacy for Library Staff – Turning the Page: Career Transitions Outside of Libraries
  • March 24: From Memorization to Critical Thinking: An Embedded Librarian′s Guide to Designing Higher‑Order Assessments

To register, visit the CARLI Event Calendar.

Recordings of past CARLI-sponsored PDA events are available on the Professional Development Alliance website when permitted by the presenter. 

View recordings of past AI-specific PDA webinars offered this fiscal year, compiled by Minitex.
 
Are you interested in presenting a topic for CARLI members and the Professional Development Alliance? Or would you like to moderate a follow up discussion for an upcoming program? to become more involved in CARLI′s continuing education efforts!

Archives in Action: Empowering Student Workers and Community Volunteers - February 4, 1:00–2:00 p.m. 

This webinar will focus on the empowering opportunities that archives and special collections can offer both student workers and community volunteers, highlighting specific projects at Bradley University and Illinois Wesleyan University.

Education Justice Project Update

The Education Justice Project (EJP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is pleased to share two new essential resources.
 
A New Path: Guatemala and A New Path: Honduras, provide clear, practical information for individuals facing deportation to those countries.
 
Download the free pdfs (in English and Spanish).

To learn more about the EJP′s Reentry Guides, please view the webinar recording and resources shared during the November 3, 2025 Professional Development Alliance webinar and visit the Education Justice Project′s Reentry Guides webpage.

2025 Preservation Survey Report

CARLI Preservation Committee members are pleased to share the results of the 2025 Preservation Survey.

The survey was sent to 126 CARLI institutions, and 70 responses were received. Thank you to all who took the time to complete the 2025 Preservation Survey and share your valuable insights. Your thoughtful responses are greatly appreciated and instrumental in helping to better understand the preservation needs of the consortium. 

Preservation Tip

Beyond Paper: Cellulose Nitrate and Cellulose Acetate Film in Collections
Bonnie Parr, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Historical collections that include film-based photographic materials – negatives in sheet or roll form, motion picture film, and microfilm – are highly likely to contain cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate plastic films. These types of films are known to be unstable materials, and they present many preservation challenges for collecting institutions. 

Read this full article for an introduction on how to identify these films, their characteristics of deterioration, tips on handling and storage, an overview of options for reformatting, and sources for further reading.

Other Library News

Annual Library Certification

Annual certification, which is required of all CARLI Members, is now open! The form for 2026 has moved to the Library Directory and Learning Calendar (L2). The certification period ends on March 31. 

Please visit L2 for directions on how to complete your certification. If you have questions, you can view the ILLINET ILL Statistical Survey FAQ.

IACRL 2025 Campus Kickstart Awards

The Illinois Association of College and Research Libraries (IACRL) has announced the recipients of its 2025 OER Campus Kickstart: Award for Growing Illinois OER Programs!

Congratulations to:

  • Jacob Hill, Elmhurst University.
  • Robin Hofstetter, Roosevelt University 
  • Loren Mindell, Chicago State University 

Scholarship Opportunity Available for Midwest Archives Conference

The Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) is currently accepting applications for the 2026 Archie Motley Memorial Scholarship for Students of Color. 

The full call for applications and application forms can be found on the MAC website.

Upcoming CARLI Events and Meetings

Consult the CARLI calendar to view the current list of meeting times and locations.

Contact Us

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