Events

In an era where artificial intelligence is reshaping communication, access, and our daily lives, it’s crucial that we don’t lose sight of the people at the center. This talk explores the intersection of AI and accessibility - and why human judgment, empathy, and oversight are more important than ever.

In this session, we’ll dive into:

• How AI tools are being used to improve accessibility (and where they fall short)
• Real-world challenges that arise when AI replaces or overshadows human input
• Best practices for designing AI systems that include people - not push them aside
• Practical strategies for keeping people “in the loop” so that technology empowers, rather than excludes

Whether you’re a designer, developer, educator, policy advocate, or simply curious about the future of technology, you’ll come away with insight and actionable ideas for building more inclusive AI-powered systems.

Presenter:

Valerie Lockhart serves as Executive Director of the MN Tech Network and is the founder of the Minnesota Women in Tech. She is passionate about liberty, accessibility, and universal design, and spends most of her time helping people learn how to leverage technology and media to become more self-sufficient and successful.

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Hosted by Minitex

What does “student success” really mean, and who gets to define it? Although student success has become a prominent focus across higher education, including academic libraries, the term is often left undefined and ambiguous, frequently overlooking the most important voices: the students themselves. This webinar shares findings from a qualitative study in which undergraduate students were interviewed about their own definitions and perceptions of success.

Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how students conceptualize success and explore strategies for creating more equitable, inclusive library environments that support those student-defined goals.

Presenter: 

María Emerson is the Student Success Librarian at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She earned her BA in Spanish and International Studies at Hope College, and her MLIS at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research grows out of her work at small colleges and now a Big Ten school on how academic libraries can support a sense of belonging in students. María’s other research interests include multiracial students, basic need support, and exploring how students perceive what student success means in higher education.  

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Sponsored by FLVC

Augustana College’s Tredway Library takes pride in its moniker of being the living room of the campus. However, like many others, the library faced a decrease in student engagement in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic; moreover, situational factors such as reduced campus communication outlets and several curriculum redevelopments compounded the situation by limiting both messaging opportunities and library capacity to respond to student needs. Survey data collected from senior students over the past five years underscores an initial decrease and steady regrowth in self-reported sense of belonging within the library, aligning with the pandemic and post-pandemic library engagement data.

Tredway librarians prioritized the development of targeted wellness-related collections and programming centered on giving students resources and spaces to simply be, rather than be in an act of becoming, in response to expressed gaps in student support. These projects, ranging from the expansion of a leisure collection to include self-care materials to curating lego sets for passive community programming and even to the present reimagining of a defunct computer lab into a wellness lounge, have each invited and engaged students throughout the development and realization processes. This presentation will overview Tredway Library’s path to developing our wellness initiatives with this active student buy-in, along with some pros, cons, and advice regarding each of the projects we have undertaken so far.

Presenters:

Kaitlyn Goss-Peirce (she/her) is a Research and Instruction Librarian for the Humanities Division at Augustana College's Thomas Tredway Library, where she also serves as the Library Instruction coordinator. With prior experience in public libraries and archives, one of her passions is enriching the library's role as an accessible third space. She earned her Master's of Library and Information Science from Simmons University. 

Garrett Traylor (he/they) is a Research and Instruction Librarian and Assistant Professor at Augustana College's Tredway Library. He is the library's outreach coordinator and liaison to the Arts & Communication Division, to the business, Spanish, and Swedish programs, and to the Augustana Prison Education Program. He previously worked at Illinois College for five years after earning his master's from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Traylor's varied research interests have led to publications on topics such as video games, Scandinavian cinema, adaptation theory, and poetry, and presentations on AI, wellness, and zines. Happy husband, dad to two, and dog dad.

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Hosted by CARLI

Do you have questions about the Illinois Support for the Creation of Open Educational Resources grant (SCOERs) or the OER funding from the Secretary of State/Illinois State Library? Do you need guidance creating your OER or ancillary materials?

If so please feel free to join us with all your OER related questions. Registration is not required.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://illinois.zoom.us/j/84245967645?pwd=VkVQeGRQQVIvdXA2dWg4Umx4UU5rQT09

Meeting ID: 842 4596 7645
Password: 271282