Public Services Committee Meeting: August 13, 2024

Zoom / Conference Call

Members attending: Beth Hultman, (Elgin Community College), Jennifer Lau-Bond (Harper College), Charity Ringel (University of Illinois Springfield), Gretchen Schneider (Oakton College), Kimberly Shotick, co-chair (Northern Illinois University), Dawn Sterning (Prairie State College), Diana Sykes (Erikson Institute), Lesley Wolfgang, co-chair (Saint John's College of Nursing)

Member absent: Simone Williams (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Denise Green, Amy Maroso

Decisions

• Minutes of June 20, 2024 approved with corrections.
• Minutes rotation set up for future months alphabetical by last name- Beth Hultman for next meeting, then Jennifer Lau-Bond for October, etc.
• Kimberly Shotick and Lesley Wolfgang will be co-chairs for this year.
• Committee Meetings will be held by Zoom once a month for one hour.  

Tasks Assigned

• Today’s minutes taken by Denise Green.
• Co-chairs will draft email for other committee chairs about potential AI Symposium. CARLI committee liaisons will share with other committee liaisons.
• Committee liaisons will send out a poll for the reoccurring monthly meeting.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • All introduced themselves.
  • Gretchen Schneider (Oakton College): Oakton has a new Learning Commons at Skokie and plans for one at their Des Plaines library location. Oakton College is opening health care education/clinical site in Evanston in 2025.
  • Charity Ringel (University of Illinois Springfield): She mentioned her CARLI Counts in-person experience and posters at CARLI Annual Meeting. She recommends that others participate in future CARLI Counts.
  • Kimberly Shotick (Northern Illinois University): Kimberly also noted great experience with CARLI Counts. Northern Illinois University received a new Open Educational Resources Grant from the Illinois State Library.
  • Dawn Sterning (Prairie State College): Prairie State College Library has moved back into their space after asbestos abatement this summer. They are now working on a partial library renovation which includes new furnishings and a sensory inclusive space.
• CARLI Announcements:
  • Registration is open for the CARLI Annual Meeting to be held at the I Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign on October 22, 2024.
  • The CARLI calendar has several continuing education programs open to all CARLI members including:
    • OER Creation Workshops
    • Free People, Read Freely Symposium
  • The CARLI Consortial Ebook Program’s FY25 Access Collection will have ebooks from Wiley, Oxford University Press, and the University of Illinois Press.
  • Over the summer, five CARLI Members joined I-Share. They are Chicago Theological Seminary, City Colleges of Chicago, College of Lake County, Elgin Community College, and Prairie State College.

Discussion

• 2024-2025 Committee Leadership – Kimberly and Lesley will co-chair.
• Committee reviewed communication tools and charge.
• The Committee considered possible themes, past events, and possible projects for the 2024-2025 year including (but not limited to):
  • More on artificial intelligence by sharing experiences among CARLI libraries possible an in-person event to share more ideas from survey results.
  • Compile a guide/resources list for AI and academic libraries as members noted interest in this type of resource on the FY24 committee survey.
  • Generative AI versus Assistive AI – different modes, what vendors are doing, instruction on AI?
  • AI Symposium with other CARLI committees?
    • Library Instruction about AI
    • Vendor’s add-ons/products ex. Alma’s ebook cataloging tool
    • AI chat bots: how to create one that contains frequent or common Reference Questions, citation formation advising, etc.
    • Assistive AI tools
    • Other topics with Commercial Products Committee, E-Resources Management Committee, Collections Management Committee, DEI Committee, etc.  
    • What not overdone about AI that we could feature?
  • Copyright and libraries using digital resources for Course Reserves
  • How libraries develop innovative ways to provide services by using spaces examples, sensory inclusive room, study spaces for parents with young children, etc.
  • How do libraries make decisions regarding space? Just create or survey users?
  • Innovative ways to test ideas out without large expense.
  • Practical AI discussions.
  • Learning Commons conversions - what went right/wrong
• The committee discussed the pros/cons of in-person or virtual events and various months of the year to hold a symposium.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Public Services Committee next meeting is to be determined.

Deadlines: None at this time.