CARLI News March 31, 2020

Special Note from CARLI′s Executive Director

I bring you warm greetings from all of us at CARLI; I hope you, your families, and all staff at your libraries are well. What very strange days we have all experienced! As a parent of a college student, I appreciate how challenging our current reality can be for everyone involved in supporting higher education. As a leader of a university unit, I marvel at and applaud the flexibility and creativity of everyone who’s "keeping calm and carrying on" without childcare, caring for fragile family members, coping with spotty connectivity, and working through a myriad of unexpected challenges. 

A most heartfelt thank you to all for your commitment and generous, helpful emails and phone calls as we navigate these strange waters. I also want to thank the CARLI Board of Directors and CARLI staff for their constant high level of support, connection, and engagement. No one has unplugged or thrown up hands; in fact, just the opposite. The takeaway for me has definitely been the demonstration (once again) of the power of this consortium to support one another. BRAVO to you all for the incredible hard work you′re doing. My staff and I are here to serve you and help you; please keep in touch!

CARLI COVID-19 Updates

CARLI has announced many changes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the suspension of the Illinois Library Delivery Service (ILDS), turning off I-Share Universal Borrowing, and the cancellation or postponement of all in-person events scheduled through at least April 30. Our COVID-19 page at provides the most recent information about CARLI operations, links to special e-resource offers, and links to other significant COVID-19 resources. As always, please send any questions to CARLI Support.

ILDS Service Suspension 

ILDS service will be suspended until at least April 7. This may be adjusted in the future as the situation with COVID-19 Coronavirus continues to evolve. CARLI is aware that some schools currently plan to be closed beyond that date. We will be working closely with RAILS and IHLS to coordinate a smooth restart of the delivery service. Make sure to watch your email and check the ILDS information page to keep up on the latest!

CARLI 40th Anniversary Celebration: New Date, New Location!

In 2020, CARLI will celebrate 40 years of resource sharing through CARLI and its predecessor organizations. The CARLI 40th Anniversary Celebration and Scholarship Kick-Off Event, originally scheduled for June 28 at the Art Institute of Chicago, has been rescheduled to November 12, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the I Hotel in Champaign, the day before the CARLI Annual Meeting. More details will be available soon.
 
In recognition of this important anniversary, we invite you to share your memories!

CARLI is encouraging YOU to share your stories, photos, videos, anything! Share with us your reflections about CARLI, ILCSO, CCMP, IDAL, the staff, the meetings, consortium membership, resource sharing, etc. Ask your faculty, staff, and students to share as well. Tell us about a moment, a day, an event, person, or place that made a difference to you or the people you know. Please contribute your memories online. We look forward to hearing what CARLI means to you!

Call for Nominations: Board of Directors Election

CARLI is seeking nominations for candidates to fill seats on the CARLI Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is the governing authority of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois.
 
CARLI Governing Members will elect one Board member from each of three specified constituencies (public universities, community colleges, and private colleges and universities). Candidates receiving the most votes for each constituency will serve three-year terms, July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023.
 
Only the director of a CARLI Governing Member institution is eligible to serve on the Board of Directors. The director is defined as the person who is operationally responsible for the staff, services, and budget of the library, with titles that include, but are not limited to, Director, Dean, Chair, or Head Librarian. 
 
Members of the CARLI community may nominate themselves or others (permission of the nominee is required when nominating others) by filling out the online nomination form.
 
All nominations will be reviewed and a slate of candidates developed by the CARLI Nominating Committee comprising Spencer Brayton (Waubonsee Community College), Karen Janke (Erickson Institute, Pattie Piotrowski (University of Illinois at Springfield), Anne Craig (CARLI), and Margaret Chambers (CARLI).
 
The nomination period will close at 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
 
If you have any questions or if you have problems submitting a nomination, please email CARLI Support with the subject line: Board Nominations.

Suspending Open Calls for Committee Volunteers

This year marks a time of great transition for CARLI; the new library services platform, Alma Primo VE, will change how we provide services. As we envision CARLI in 2021 and beyond, we know that some of our committee charges may need to be updated to reflect our new environment. Additionally, we may wish to create new committees, and combine or sunset others. See the Committee Directory for a list of committees and descriptions.
 
In order to allow time to evaluate current committee structures and make recommendations for committees that reflect the changing landscape, the CARLI Board of Directors has suspended open calls for committee volunteers for FY21.
 
Broadly, what this means for CARLI committees and their members:

• The committee structure will remain the same for FY21; that is, the groups themselves will be carried over without change to purpose. 
• In Summer/Fall 2020, we ask that each committee consider whether the group should continue, cease, combine, or split. For committees that should continue, we ask that members examine their group′s charge with an eye to evaluate whether it should remain unchanged or go forward with modifications. 
• Current committee members whose terms are expiring are invited to continue their service for FY21 in order to engage in these evaluation efforts. We value the benefit of your committee experience and hope that you will stay to continue helping through this transition period. If you are unable to continue, or if you do not wish to do so, please email Margaret Chambers. Where additional input is needed for the evaluation or to complete their planned activities, CARLI may invite past members to serve a one-year term.
• In order to have a final plan in time to complete the committee volunteer and selection process in Spring 2021, we ask that each committee prepare an initial report to the CARLI Board of Directors for review at their December 2020 meeting, with a final plan presented for approval at the March 2021 board meeting.
• Committee projects may be suspended or continued in parallel with a focus on the questions above. In short, the committee’s project for the year can be its re-envisioning.
• For FY22, the established process to join committees will recommence. As necessary to transition to the new committee structure, FY21 committee members may have to option to continue their service on continuing or newly created committees.

As always, please send any questions, or feedback about the committee evaluation process to CARLI Support.

Fiscal Year 2021 CARLI Research Funding Program

We are pleased to announce the availability of the Fiscal Year 2021 CARLI Research Funding Program. Approved by the CARLI Board of Directors at their December 2019 meeting, this program provides funding up to $4,999 to CARLI Governing Member Libraries to support staff and faculty with the intention of spurring research and innovation that support the CARLI Strategic Priorities. Proposals will be accepted from both individuals and those working collaboratively with others in their own organization or other CARLI Governing Member Libraries.

Projects should have the potential to positively affect libraries and the library profession; have the potential to provide a useful addition to the existing literature; and results of the research should be of interest to or of use by other CARLI Governing Member Libraries.

Applications for the FY 2021 Program are due May 15, 2020.  For detailed information, visit the program page.

Fiscal Year 2021 CARLI Professional Development Reimbursement Program

We are pleased to announce the availability of the Fiscal Year 2021 CARLI Professional Development Reimbursement Program. Approved by the CARLI Board of Directors at their December 2019 meeting, this program provides funding (reimbursements only from paid expenses) to CARLI Governing Member Library staff and faculty to support professional development activities that further the CARLI Strategic Priorities. 

The purpose of the program is to provide financial support to further the professional development of CARLI member library staff and faculty, both full and part-time but excluding student and graduate workers, so that benefits accrue to the individual, his/her library, and the greater CARLI membership; and further the CARLI Strategic Priorities.

Funds can be used to cover registration, travel, and/or lodging based on the University of Illinois reimbursement rates. Please note that per diem/meals are not covered.

For specific details about this exciting program, including eligibility, reimbursement requirements, events covered, applications and more, please visit the program page.

CARLI Scholarship for Staff at Member Libraries

In celebration of 40 years of resource sharing in Illinois by CARLI and its predecessor organizations, and to help grow the profession, CARLI has established a scholarship that will be available for the first time in 2020. This scholarship will provide financial assistance to current employees of CARLI Governing Member Libraries pursuing graduate studies leading to a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Scholarships may be awarded for both on-campus and/or distance education programs. The scholarship amount for the 2020-2021 academic year (August 2020-May 2021) will be $1,000. We are now accepting applications. The deadline to apply is May 1, 2020.
 
We would like to thank our donors for their generous contributions to the scholarship. You can give to the scholarship fund online. The minimum donation is $5.00. We hope you will consider supporting future librarians and help CARLI grow the profession with a contribution.
 
If you have any questions about the CARLI Scholarship, please contact CARLI Support.

ACT UP: Evaluating Sources and Pushing Against Privilege

Registration is now open for the CARLI Instruction Committee sponsored webinar: ACT UP: Evaluating Sources and Pushing Against Privilege, on Tuesday, April 7, 1-2 p.m. CST.

In this webinar, Dawn Stahura discusses her evaluation method called ACT UP, which goes beyond standard evaluation methods like CRAAP. Because source evaluation is social justice work, it is critical we teach students how to push against privilege in publishing as well as identifying misinformation before sharing it with others. 

This webinar will be recorded and posted to the CARLI website.

Please send any questions to CARLI Support.

E-Resources Updates

We are waiting on final prices from a couple of vendors but we are still optimistic that we will open the system to libraries in the next week and close it the second week of May.  
 
Things to note:

• We have a new agreement with Statista, a database which contains market/business information and data.
• We also have a new agreement with Swank Digital Campus. Swank allows libraries to purchase access to a set number of streaming video titles. They have several models that balance cost with flexibility of title selection. 
• We will not be offering Syndetics content this year. We have been unable to get a clear answer from ExLibris as to how it fits into Alma/Primo, so we will wait until after we go live to explore the future of this content.
• Content from EBSCO, Ovid, and ProQuest that is provided by 3rd parties (such as ATLA and APA) have significant price increases for many libraries. The contracts we have for these products are ten year contracts, and one concession we made was to not hold vendors to price caps in the fifth year. As a result, many of these products have significant price increases. Since most of these products are available from more than one vendor, I encourage you to look at different vendors. If pricing is not available to your library, ask and we will request it.
• We can provide usage statistics on request for any product you get through CARLI. Just send an email to CARLI Support.

RESCHEDULED: Messy Data? Clean it up with OpenRefine!

CARLI has decided to postpone the April 30, 2020, in-person program, "Messy Data? Clean it up with OpenRefine!" which was to be held at the I Hotel, due to health and travel concerns with the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. The program has been rescheduled and will be held on Thursday, October 8, 2020. Current registrants will be allowed to register first when registration opens in late August.

Please contact CARLI with any questions.

Call for Presentation Proposals for CARLI′s 8th Annual Instruction Showcase 

The CARLI Instruction Committee is seeking presentation proposals for the 8th Annual Instruction Showcase to be held on Friday, May 29. The Showcase will be held online this year.

CARLI members are welcome to submit proposals on all library instruction topics and encouraged to draw inspiration from the committee's theme this year, "Fresh Starts and Restarts: Growing Beyond Your Comfort Zone." Lessons related to the theme might include new approaches to evaluating information, reimagined instruction for improved accessibility, and techniques for teaching new systems such as Primo VE. Of course there is now a great opportunity to share with fellow librarians your experiences focusing on instruction in the time of COVID-19.

Proposals should outline an instruction session activity that supports skills-based or conceptual learning and encourages active student participation. Please include a full lesson plan with your proposal.

All lesson plans must include the following elements: topic, learning objectives, materials, activity overview, assessment of student learning, and applicable knowledge practices and/or dispositions from the Framework for Information Literacy. Presenters will be given 15 minutes to present and five minutes for questions and answers. 

If interested, please submit the proposal form by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22.

Submissions will be reviewed by the CARLI Instruction Committee; notifications will be sent during the week of April 27.

Please send any questions about the Instruction Showcase to CARLI Support.

Getting Ready for Primo VE Online Program 

Registration is full for the daylong online program "Getting Ready for Primo VE", sponsored by CARLI′s  Instruction and Public Services Committees. All sessions will be recorded and made available on the CARLI website. We will send out an announcement when the recordings are available.

Please contact CARLI Support with any questions.

Alma Primo VE Update

Despite the COVID-related closures and shift to working from home, the project to move to Alma and Primo VE is continuing as scheduled at this time and we are still looking at June 24 for our Go Live date.  

The list of events and deadlines related to the project can be found in multiple formats on the CARLI website: as calendar items, as a printable pdf, and as an Excel sheet that you can use to include any of your own tasks and dates.

April 1 marks some major deadlines. By April 1, libraries must submit the I-Share Alma Migration Form Online Update Survey to indicate any changes for your production Migration Form. We have attempted to keep this task as simple as possible, and to allow for the default response to be "no changes" from the form your library submitted for the test phase.  We are also now reaching dates for beginning to stop changes in Voyager. As of April 1, library staff must stop adding new locations and vendors to Voyager and library staff must stop adding new libraries, locations, vendors to Alma test environments.

April 30 will be the last day to perform technical services work (acquisitions, cataloging, serials) in Voyager. As of May 1, we will enter the "Technical Freeze". During this period we must all stop making changes to inventory (bibs, MFHDs, items) in Voyager and. Circulation activity can continue through June 18. Universal Borrowing was scheduled to stop on June 11, but has already been suspended in response to COVID closures, and it is questionable as to whether it will resume before its scheduled shutoff date.

I would like to again call your attention to two sets of important work that your institution should be working to complete before May 1: planning for your patron data updates (Student Information System synchronization) and planning for user authentication whether you are using OpenAthens or a solution already in place at your institution. Both of these projects should be setup and tested by May 1. 

A migration of this scope is stressful, even in normal times. While our consortium size adds to the complexity, it also works for our advantage in many ways. Because of our size and geographic distribution, we knew from the outset that most of our instruction and consultation would have to be delivered remotely and not in person. Our weekly Office Hours webinars have been recorded and made available on our website. Along with Ex Libris′ Knowledge Center you should have access to a wide range of Alma and Primo VE training and planning materials from wherever you are working.

Thank you for your ongoing participation and efforts on this project in these challenging times. Please stay in touch, stay safe, and let′s look forward to better days and a new system.

Robert Morris University has Merged into Roosevelt University 

Robert Morris University Illinois recently merged into Roosevelt University (March 9, 2020). The Robert Morris Illinois Library has fully integrated into Roosevelt and will no longer be an entity on its own. All locations of Robert Morris University Illinois have either closed or been integrated into Roosevelt.  Roosevelt University now has the following locations: Schaumburg, Lake County (formerly RMU), Peoria (formerly RMU) and the main campus in Chicago on Michigan Avenue. Roosevelt CARLI membership and I-Share participation will continue as Roosevelt University. 

Preservation Tip: Preservation Week, An Interview with Moriah Caruso, co-chair, ALCTS/PARS Preservation Outreach Committee, Digital Preservation Librarian, University of Washington Libraries 

Meghan Ryan, Special Collections and Cataloging Librarian, National Louis University

For 2019-2020, the CARLI Preservation Committee is sharing a series of interviews with preservation managers, conservators, and other library specialists who graciously described their experiences on preservation and conservation topics of interest to CARLI libraries. 

Recently, Meghan Ryan, Special Collections and Cataloging Librarian at National Louis University, asked Moriah Caruso, the co-chair of the Preservation Outreach Committee a committee of the Preservation and Reformatting Section of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) to share information about Preservation Week, an initiative of the association.

Read this full article.

Read additional interviews from the Preservation Committee′s Learning from our Collective Experiences series.

Other Library News

RAILS Seeking Webinar Presenters

RAILS is looking for individuals/teams interested in presenting a webinar for staff at RAILS member libraries. During this time when learning opportunities are necessarily shifting online, they are looking to offer a variety of webinars in the weeks and months ahead.

Maybe you prepared presentations for conferences that are no longer proceeding as scheduled during the pandemic. RAILS would love to give you the platform to deliver your content to an audience of RAILS members.

If you are interested, please fill out the survey. All topics will be considered but RAILS is particularly interested in topics related to providing virtual services to your community of users – such as virtual programming, virtual reference, promoting e-collections and databases, as well as strategies for communicating with and managing staff in a virtual environment.

For questions reach out to RAILS.

Upcoming CARLI Events and Meetings

Important Dates

May 26            CARLI Office Closed

Webinars, Forums, Workshops and Training

April 1           CANCELLED: Cut the CRAAP
April 2           Getting Ready for Primo VE Webinar
April 7           ACT UP: Evaluating Sources and Pushing Against Privilege Webinar
April 9           Alma Primo VE Migration Open Office Hours
April 16          Alma Primo VE Migration Open Office Hours
April 23          Alma Primo VE Migration Open Office Hours
April 30          Alma Primo VE Migration Open Office Hours

May 7             Alma Primo VE Migration Open Office Hours
May 14            Alma Primo VE Migration Open Office Hours
May 21            Alma Primo VE Migration Open Office Hours
May 28            Alma Primo VE Migration Open Office Hours
May 29            8th Annual Instruction Showcase       

Meetings

April 1          Resource Sharing Committee Meeting
April 8          Collection Management Committee Meeting
April 8          Instruction Committee Meeting
April 13        Preservation Committee Meeting
April 15        Public Services Committee Meeting
April 21        OER Task Force Meeting
April 27        Technical Services Committee Meeting
April 28        Created Content Committee Meeting

May 6            Resource Sharing Committee Meeting
May 11          Preservation Committee Meeting
May 13          Collection Management Committee Meeting
May 13          Instruction Committee Meeting
May 18          Technical Services Committee Meeting
May 19          OER Task Force Meeting
May 20          Public Services Committee Meeting
May 26          Created Content Committee Meeting

Consult the CARLI calendar for the most current list of meeting times and locations.

Contact Us

Please direct all questions and comments about the e-newsletter to CARLI Support. Subscribe to CARLI email lists to receive the latest news on topics of interest to you.