Public Services Committee Meeting: September 17, 2025

Zoom / Conference Call

Members attending: Kristen Blankenship (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Kelly Fisher (Eureka College), Beth Hultman, (Elgin Community 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, co-chair (Erikson Institute), Kate Tallman (Illinois State University)

Member absent: Beth Hultman (Elgin Community College)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Amy Maroso

Decisions

• Minutes of the August 4, 2025 meeting were approved with corrections.
• Diana will take minutes for the October meeting and Dawn will take minutes for the November meeting.
• The Public Services Committee will host a community chat for CARLI members on student worker supervision from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on November 18 with Kristen Blankenship and Charity Ringel as facilitators and Gretchen Schneider as a back-up facilitator.
• The next meeting’s focus will be on the questions and facilitation of the November 18 event.
• Attendees will receive notes from the meeting along with any resources that members shared during the meeting. 

Tasks Assigned

• Minutes taken by Kimberly Shotick.
• Amy and Elizabeth will see if there are funds to provide lunch for an in-person event in Spring. They can also look at which institutions have Learning Commons/Student Success Centers near each other so two institutions could be visited in one day. 
• All members will add questions and/or topic ideas to the planning document.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • Charity Ringel (University of Illinois Springfield): UIS Learning Commons is breaking ground on Friday. It should be completed in 2027.
  • Gretchen Schneider (Oakton College): Oakton’s Learning Commons in Des Plaines will open on January 2026.
  • Kate Tallman (Illinois State University): ISU will be posting a non-tenure track interdisciplinary social sciences librarian job soon.
  • Kelly Fisher (Eureka College): Eureka’s library is under construction and should reopen in spring.
  • Diana Sykes (Erikson Institute): Erickson is developing sessions for early childhood education (pre-k to second grade) on using Library of Congress to find primary source documents as a part of a Library of Congress grant.
• CARLI Announcements:
  • The Annual Meeting is Tuesday, October 21, 2025 - 10:00am to 3:00pm. Annual meeting registration.
  • Attendees will be invited to bring a photo of a unique item from their collections. Scott Carlson will be the keynote speaker.

Discussion

• “Student training” was the topic that got the most number one votes on the project topic survey, though “Learning Commons” was a close second.
• Training could be explored as a fall program and Learning Commons visits could take place in the spring.
• Three potential locations include Oakton College, which has two campuses with different Learning Commons, Northern Illinois University, and Elgin Community College.
• Amy and Elizabeth will see if there are funds to provide lunch. They can also look at which institutions have LCs/SSC and near each other so two could be done in one day. 
• A member chat about student training could be held as a virtual program for the fall.
• We can plan the Learning Commons visits after we finalize details for the fall program. 

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Public Services Committee will meet next on October 15, 2025, at 10-11 a.m.

Committee Meetings:
October 15, 2025, minutes taken by: Diana Sykes 
November 19, 2025, minutes taken by: Dawn Sterning
December 17, 2025, minutes taken by: Kate Tallman 
January 21, 20326, minutes taken by: Kristen Blankenship 
February 18, 2026, minutes taken by: Kelly Fisher 
March 18, 2026, minutes taken by: Beth Hultman 
April 15, 2026, minutes taken by: Charity Ringel 
May 20, 2026, minutes taken by: TBD
June 17, 2026, minutes taken by: TBD

Deadlines:
May 29, 2026: Committee Annual Report due