Events

Events

Thu, Apr 16, 2026 / 9:30am to 1:00pm

Milner Library at Illinois State University and the CARLI Archives Committee invite CARLI members to an Open House on April 16 from 9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. that showcases Milner Library's Archival Circus & Allied Arts Collections. 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.

Come experience the spectacle of an archival collection that documents over a century of the circus in America. This collection contains over a million items, including manuscripts, correspondence, business records, posters, ephemera, books, photographs, advertisements, costumes, and more. With complex collections comes a range of issues relating to arrangement and description, access, outreach, and care.

This event will touch on managing diverse materials and will provide plenty of information applicable to archives of all subjects and sizes.

Space is limited, so register soon!

Open House Agenda:

09:30am- 10:00am  Check-in, Morning Beverages Available
10:00am - 12:00pm
  • Introduction 
  • Preparing circus-themed exhibits
  • Bloomington-Normal (the trapeze capital) circus legacy
  • Working with diverse archival materials—costumes, posters, and more
  • Preservation
  • Digitization, metadata, and digital projects
12:00pm- 01:00pm   Lunch (provided)
01:00pm  Program concludes

Location:

Milner Library - Floor 6, Special Collections Reading Room
Illinois State University
201 N. School Street, Normal IL 61761

Once in the Library, use the central stairwell or elevator to access Floor 6. The Special Collections Reading Room is located to the left.

Directions and Parking:

Directions to Campus

Milner Library on the Illinois State University campus is next to the Bone Student Center.

The Visitor Parking lot at the Bone Student Center is located adjacent to Milner Library. Parking is currently free in this lot; if this changes prior to the Open House, CARLI will notify those registered. The ISU Campus Parking Map shows additional metered parking locations around campus.

If you park in the Visitor Parking lot at the Bone Student Center, use the stairs or ramp to access the upper plaza. Milner Library is the building on the left side of the plaza.

Presenters:

Rebecca Fitzsimmons is a Special Collections Librarian at Illinois State University. She provides instruction, reference, and collection development services, curates and designs digital and physical exhibits, and engages in a variety of digital scholarship projects and initiatives in the library, with an eye to centering special collections and archival materials in this work.

Ellie Harman is Milner Library’s Digitization Technician. She has a bachelor’s degree in photography and graphic design from Olivet Nazarene University and a master’s in library and information science from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

Mark Schmitt is a Special Collections Specialist at Milner Library and an expert in circus history. He is the co-author of the book, The Bloomington-Normal Circus Legacy, and works closely with patrons researching the Circus & Allied Arts holdings at Illinois State University.

Becky Koch is the Conservator and Preservation Specialist at Milner Library at Illinois State University. In this role she works with a variety of archival and special collections materials, including rare books, textiles, and works on paper. Her role ranges from designing and creating custom housings for a diversity of materials to repairing works on paper ranging from newsprint to oversized circus posters.

Registration: Registration closed.

Registration Deadline: 5 p.m. on April 13. (or until full)

A box lunch will be provided. When you register, you may select either a vegetarian or non-vegetarian option. Our caterer is working in a commercial kitchen where a wide variety of other foods are being prepared, often using some frozen and/or processed products that may have unknown trace ingredients. As a result, we are unable to guarantee that the food is kosher, vegan, gluten free, and/or peanut free. Attendees with strict, specific dietary restrictions should plan to provide their own food.

Thu, Apr 16, 2026 / 10:00am to 11:00am

Open Educational Resources offer powerful opportunities for teaching and learning—but they also raise important copyright questions. This webinar will guide librarians and faculty through creating OER, including how and when copyrighted materials can be used in the creation of open content. Topics include licensing, fair use, attribution, and practical strategies for combining open and copyrighted works in ways that support teaching goals while managing risk.

Speaker:

Tucker Taylor, Library Consultant and Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship

Register to attend

Hosted by PASCAL

Thu, Apr 16, 2026 / 12:00pm to 1:00pm

How can academic libraries move beyond quiet study to become vibrant sites of creative engagement and innovative connection? At Florida State University, Art in the Library began as an exhibition initiative and has grown into a multifaceted program spanning STEM collaborations, performing arts pop-ups, museum partnerships, campus-wide collaborations, and outdoor programming.
 
In this webinar, presenters share the strategies, partnership models, and marketing approaches that supported this evolution. Attendees will gain adaptable frameworks for scaling arts programming, cultivating cross-campus collaborators, and positioning the library as a visibly interdisciplinary hub.

Presenters:

Leah Sherman, PhD, is the Visual & Performing Arts Librarian at Florida State University Libraries and Chair of the Art in the Library program. Trained as an art historian, her scholarship and professional publications engage art historical research, cultural heritage, and academic librarianship, and she contributes leadership through professional service in the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) and the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL).

Dianna S. Bradley is the Special Collections & Archives Digital Library Center Metadata Specialist and a PhD Candidate in Museum Education and Visitor-Centered Curation at Florida State University. Her work and scholarship engage user-centered description and exhibition curation in academic libraries.

Crystal Mathews serves as the Student Engagement Librarian, leading Florida State University Libraries outreach initiatives.  Crystal’s work focuses on building strong partnerships among the library, students, and faculty to support teaching, research, and student success through inclusive, student-centered programming. Through campus collaborations, assessment, and student feedback, she promotes information literacy, research confidence, and academic wellness while ensuring the library remains a welcoming, relevant hub for learning and belonging.

Laura Pellini is the Senior Marketing & Design Specialist at Florida State University Libraries and member of the Art in the Library program. Laura holds a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts and a Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications. At the Libraries, she collaborates with Library staff and faculty to plan and execute creative and data-driven multimedia marketing strategies to promote Library events, resources, and services.

Register to attend

Hosted by FLVC
 

Thu, Apr 16, 2026 / 1:00pm to 2:00pm

Please join the CARLI as we demonstrate some of the uses of LibreTexts Conductor for project planning and management. This workshop will also go over getting you started on remixing, adapting, or creating your OER project. This workshop is part of a series of workshops designed for the CARLI members who have opted in to use LibreTexts. This workshop is open to all CARLI members.

Please register in advance.

Thu, Apr 16, 2026 / 1:00pm to 3:00pm

The CARLI Archives Committee meets monthly.

This virtual meeting is held via Zoom / Conference Call.

Contact for attendance details.

Thu, Apr 16, 2026 / 1:00pm to 2:30pm

During this time of attacks on freedom of expression, libraries matter more than ever. Join us on April 16, 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time / 1:00 p.m. Central Time / 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time to find out more about the legal and social context for censorship in libraries. Theresa Chmara and Dr. Emily Knox will discuss the legal history of censorship, the legal landscape today, why people censor, and how to respond. 

This webinar is the first of the Free Speech Needs Free Libraries series developed by CARLI, Orbis Cascade Alliance, and PALCI in support of our joint statement "Free Speech Needs Free Libraries."

Register to attend! This event will be recorded. 

Presenters:

Theresa Chmara is an attorney in Washington, D.C. She also is the General Counsel of the Freedom to Read Foundation. She is the author of Privacy and Confidentiality Issues: A Guide for Libraries and their Lawyers (ALA 2009). She has been a First Amendment lawyer for over thirty-five years and is a frequent speaker on intellectual freedom issues in libraries. She also served as an instructor for the Lawyers for Libraries training seminars, Law for Librarians training seminars, and as an instructor for the American Library Association First Amendment and Library Services E-Course.

Dr. Emily Knox is interim dean and professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include information access and intellectual freedom and censorship. She is a member of the Mapping Information Access research team. The second edition of her book, Book Banning in 21st Century America (Bloomsbury), was published in January 2026. Her previous book Foundations of Intellectual Freedom (ALA Neal-Schuman) won the 2023 Eli M. Oboler Prize for best published work in the area of intellectual freedom.  She has been interviewed by media outlets such as NPR and the New York Times and also testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on book banning. Emily previously served on the boards of the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Freedom to Read Foundation, and is a former editor of the Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy. She received her PhD from the doctoral program at the Rutgers University School of Communication & Information.

Thu, Apr 16, 2026 / 2:00pm to 4:00pm

The Instruction Committee meets monthly. This virtual meeting is held via Zoom / Conference Call. Contact for attendance details.

Fri, Apr 17, 2026 / 9:30am to 10:30am

Open Q&A and demonstration session for library staff that want to ask questions or share concerns about activating EBSCOhost collections in their institution zones.

This event will not be recorded.

Resources

Managing EBSCO e-Collections in the Institution Zone

Managing EBSCO Collections in Alma IZ LibGuide from the CARLI Electronic Resources Management Committee

EBSCO Database Packages Provided by CARLI and the State of Illinois

EBSCO Alma e-collections and Linking Parser Parameters

Mon, Apr 20, 2026 / 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Do you have questions related to archival practices and archives administration? Questions related to appraisal, arrangement, processing, outreach, and advocacy for physical and digital archives are welcome. Join the CARLI Archives Committee for Ask an Archivist virtual office hours on Monday, April 20, 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Committee members will be on hand to answer questions, offer advice, and share resources to help you with your archives.

Don’t have a specific question? You’re still welcome to join the session and hear what other CARLI members want to know.  
 
This session is open to all CARLI members.

The session will not be recorded.

Please register using the tab above by April 16.

Connection information will be shared with all registrants on April 17.

 

Tue, Apr 21, 2026 / 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Librarian Claire A. Miller explores the science and practice of making, crafting, and creating in groups. From story-time craft projects to adult stitching circles, crafting as part of a group offers benefits for both individuals and communities. The practice of crafting together can help fight digital abstraction, connect socially, and build our personal reserves of patience, resilience, and tolerance for mistakes.

Learn how to build, facilitate, or host your own social crafting event! Start the process of planning your own event from space considerations and budgeting to suggested craft projects and marketing ideas. Explore how social crafting can be adapted to fit a wide range of spaces, user groups, and organizational goals.

Participants are encouraged to bring a craft or coloring page of their own to work on during the presentation.

Presenter:

Claire A. Miller is the Research and Instruction Librarian at Seminole State College of Florida 

Register to attend

Hosted by FLVC
 

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