Public Services Committee Meeting Minutes of February 18, 2026

Zoom / Conference Call

Members attending: Kristen Blankenship (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Kelly Fisher (Eureka College), Charity Ringel (University of Illinois Springfield), Gretchen Schneider (Oakton College), Dawn Sterning (Prairie State College), Diana Sykes, co-chair (Erikson Institute)

Members absent: Beth Hultman, (Elgin Community College), Kimberley Shotick co-chair (Northern Illinois University), Kate Tallman (Illinois State University)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Amy Maroso

Decisions

• Minutes of January 21, 2026 were approved with edits.
• The Committee will continue to pursue a virtual Learning Commons program at Sauk Valley Community College.
• The May meeting date was changed to May 13, 2026, 10-11 a.m.

Tasks Assigned

• Minutes taken by Kelly Fisher.
• Learning Commons: Kishwaukee Community College / NIU
  • Kristen will serve as the moderator for the NIU panel discussion.
  • CARLI staff will send out a reminder for the open house with the goal of increasing non-committee member attendance. 
• Learning Commons: Oakton College
  • Gretchen will work on editing the questions from the Kishwaukee Community College/NIU visit to better fit her sites’ situation.
  • Gretchen will create a “save the date” blurb for the CARLI newsletter by Friday, 2/20.
• Learning Commons: Sauk Valley Community College
  • Diana will reach out to Sauk Valley Community College’s library again to confirm their continued interest and check on possible dates. She will also ask that they provide picture slides instead of attempting a live video tour.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • Charity Ringel (University of Illinois Springfield): ILA is looking for submissions to the ILA Reporter publication. They are always looking to hear more from academic libraries.
  • Dawn Sterning (Prairie State College): More staffing cuts have occurred at her library.
• CARLI Announcements:
  • CARLI is moving to a new system to handle its support requests. Members will still send questions and requests for support to support@carli.illinois.edu.
  • Continuing Education – All are available from the CARLI calendar.
    • February 19: Resource Sharing Committee panel discussion: Loaning Technology – Policies
    • February 20: CARLI Instruction Committee article discussion: Algorithmic Literacy
    • February 24: CARLI Member OER Initiative Information Session
      • It is not a grant program.
      • More information on the initiative is available on the Initiatives website.
    • February 24: Social & Marketing Strategies
    • March 5: Spring OER/Public Services Joint Community Chat.
    • March 24: PDA Event: From Memorization to Critical Thinking: An Embedded Librarian’s Guide to Designing Higher-Order Assessments
    • April 16: Free Speech Needs Free Libraries: Censorship in Libraries and Academic Spaces

Discussion

• Learning Commons and Collaborative Library Spaces Open Houses final logistics and planning
  • April 8, 2026: Kishwaukee College and Northern Illinois University
    • Registration is available at: https://www.carli.illinois.edu/public-services-committee-open-houses
    • A committee member volunteered to moderate the NIU panel for the April 8 Open House.
    • There are currently 5 non-committee registrants for the April 8 open house. 
    • The April 8 schedule is confirmed and ready to go.
    • The list of questions for the April 8 open house was discussed. A few were reordered to improve the flow, and new questions were added about how students use the space and what lessons library staff could impart to attendees.
    • It was discussed whether we need committee members to volunteer to help attendees navigate to the library/program sites. This remains to be determined. 
  • May 27, 2026: Oakton College: Skokie and Des Plaines campuses
    • Gretchen will use similar questions from the Kishwaukee/NIU visit and edit slightly to apply to her institution’s situation.
    • The plan is to start at Des Plaines then move to Skokie. There will be a tour, a presentation by Gretchen, a panel of Oakton staff and lunch at Des Plaines with a quick tour following at Skokie and final thought/questions.
  • Virtual Learning Commons option with Sauk Valley Community College
    • The committee discussed continuing to pursue a virtual Learning Commons option at Sauk Valley Community College. It was decided to still try to have this option, as it may be of particular interest to smaller, lesser funded institutions.
    • Diana will reach out to them and make sure they are still interested and will look at dates.
• Spring OER/Public Services Joint Community Chat: Save the date for March 5, 2026 from 9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
  • Registration is available.
  • Committee members were encouraged to attend, as we are co-sponsors of the event.
• Rescheduling of May 20 meeting date
  • Amy and Elizabeth are both unavailable on May 20. 
  • Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at 10-11 a.m. was chosen as the new meeting date.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Public Services Committee will next meet on March 18, 2026, at 10-11 a.m.

Committee Meetings:
March 18, 2026, minutes taken by: Beth Hultman 
April 15, 2026, minutes taken by: Kate Tallman
May 13, 2026, minutes taken by: TBD
June 17, 2026, minutes taken by: TBD

Deadlines:
May 29, 2026: Committee Annual Report due