Opening Keynote: Curating Diverse Community Collections: A Road Map
As our communities become increasingly diverse, the challenge of ensuring that our patrons see themselves reflected in our collections grows. Join Mary and Wendy as they cover all the ways you can discover the needs in your community, assess the state of the collection currently, identify gaps, set realistic goals for improving the diversity in your collection, and communicate and celebrate your success with community stakeholders, customers, and staff. Areas of concern such as: intellectual freedom ramifications, expansion of world language collections, and best resources and vendors for diverse materials will be addressed. Participants will leave with a practical, do-able three step action plan suited to their own library size and budget.
Mary Schreiber is the branch manager of the Brooklyn Branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library, near Cleveland, OH. Prior to that, she worked in collection development for 13 years as a youth and world languages materials selector. An avid reader and book evaluator, she served on the 2016 Newbery Award and the 2021 Caldecott Award Committees. Her latest book with Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited, Curating Community Collections: A Holistic Approach to Diverse Collection Development, published in 2024.
Fostering a Relevant Collection for Your Community in Austere Times: 3 Strategies
No matter where you work, you may at some point in your career face workplace challenges such as budget cuts or staffing cuts. As a small college library that recently endured a 23.5% collections budget cut, and without access to fancy resources such as collection analysis tools, a licensing manager, and reports designer, we still need to ensure that our collections accurately reflect our patrons’ current information needs and that we’re connecting our resources to faculty, staff, and students who need them. In this presentation, librarian Melissa Freiley will share a 3-pronged approach to developing and maintaining a relevant collection for users even in the midst of budget and/or staffing cuts, including investing in Patron Driven Acquisitions, soliciting feedback from patrons on what they need, and “rightsizing” the library collection.
Melissa Freiley has worked in libraries since 2007, when she began her career as a cataloging technician at a public school district. She earned her Master’s of Science in Information Science in 2018 at University of North Texas and is currently the Assistant Librarian for Technical Services at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas.
Responsive Collection Strategies: HCPL’s Community-Centered Approach to Library Services
Harris County Public Library (HCPL) serves a diverse population of 2.1 million through 27 branches in an area larger than Rhode Island. Maintaining consistent, community-centered collections across such a vast system is a complex challenge. Since 2018, HCPL's Technical Services team has spearheaded innovative projects to enhance collection discoverability and reflect the rich diversity of its communities.
Initiatives include customized holiday labels for picture books, a tailored graphic novel classification system, and the inclusion of local subject headings and awards information in catalog records. Managed centrally but adaptable locally, these solutions empower staff to meet community needs while maintaining system-wide standards.
This session will share strategies for launching new services with existing staff and managing workflow trade-offs when prioritizing projects. It will offer attendees practical insights on balancing innovation and operational capacity in a small technical services unit.
CJ Williams has worked in public libraries for 15 years and joined the Harris County Public Library in 2017. In addition to her role as the Technical Services Manager, she oversees the HCPL Digital Archive, a collection of digitized library artifacts and exhibits sharing the history of the HCPL over the last 100 years.
Nikita Mohammed is the Cataloging and Processing Manager at Harris County Public Library in Houston, TX. She has a BS in Computer Science from St. John’s University and an MSLIS from Long Island University. Her interests include cataloging, data, and technology.
Documenting Indigenous Architecture: A Digital Bibliography for Oklahoma
This presentation details the creation of an interactive bibliography dedicated to Indigenous architecture in Oklahoma, addressing a significant gap in existing architectural scholarship. While a statewide architecture bibliography existed, it completely lacked representation of Indigenous architects and their work. This glaring omission spurred the development of a new, interactive resource. Using digital humanities tools, the bibliography connects researchers with a wealth of information on Indigenous architecture, from historical accounts of earth lodges and ceremonial grounds to contemporary designs. The interactive platform allows for mapping tribal affiliations and linking to related resources, such as collections of Indigenous art and national Indigenous newspaper bibliographies. This project not only provides access to previously hidden narratives but also demonstrates how digital tools can amplify underrepresented voices and enrich our understanding of architectural history. It showcases the power of digital humanities to uncover and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Indigenous architecture in Oklahoma.
Sara Mautino is an Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. She has been the architecture librarian for Oklahoma State University Libraries since 2021, managing the Cunningham Architecture Library for the OSU School of Architecture. Sara has been a librarian since 2015, when she graduated with her MSLIS from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition to the day-to-day tasks required to operate a university branch library and her responsibilities as a faculty member, Sara focuses her librarianship on engaging students from often overlooked communities and building a diverse collection that reflects the students, faculty, and staff served by the Cunningham Architecture Library. She has previously presented at conferences in Vancouver, British Columbia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Newcastle, England.
Break
Behind the Stacks
Behind the Stacks: How Diverse Librarians Can Amplify Diverse Voices in Comics is a panel featuring librarians from diverse backgrounds and experiences that offer valuable insights into the intersection of comics, culture, and community-building. The panelists will discuss how libraries serve as spaces for diverse voices, as well as the evolving role of librarians in making comics and graphic novels more accessible to underrepresented groups through collections and technical services practices.
Gabe Lopez was born and raised in South Texas. He has a MA in History from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a MSLS from the University of North Texas. He has worked with the American Library Association’s Comic & Graphic Novels Roundtable, on several committees and projects, for several years. A lifelong reader of comics, he is amazed at the diversity of the modern comics landscape. He actively promotes the use of comics in academia, and the power of comics to draw students into the classroom. He is currently a Collection Management Librarian.
Elizabeth Bradshaw is the Director of Library Services at Wiley University. With a background in cataloging (MSLS from UNT), she now works towards bridging the information literacy gap for first-generation college students through experiential learning. Elizabeth is currently pursuing an M.A. in English Literature at Texas Tech University and is passionate about Speculative Fiction, particularly Afrofuturism. She is eager to incorporate graphic novels into the university's literature courses.
No Stone Unturned: Taking a Deeper Look at Your Library
Does the ongoing work of collection development and programming cultivation feel daunting? Do you want to improve your library's collections and services, but aren't sure where to start? In this session, presenters will discuss their experiences evaluating and enhancing library collections, spaces, and programming through data-driven analysis. Join us for inspiration to dig a little deeper to discover more of the gifts of your library and its community!
Katherine Witzig (she/they) is a reconnecting relative of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ and disability communities. They graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma (BA English, 2015), Oklahoma City University (BA Spanish, 2022), and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (MLIS, 2024). They serve professionally as the Oklahoma Library Association’s Chair for the Committee of Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums and work for the Oklahoma Department of Libraries as a Programs & Partnerships Officer. Nationally, they co-chair the PCC Task Group for Metadata Related to Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and serve in various roles within the American Library Association (ALA), the American Indian Library Association (AILA), and the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM).
Heather D. Hutto has served in tribal-rural schools, libraries, and museums in northeastern Oklahoma. From 2021-2024 she served as executive director of a tribal-rural library in northeastern Oklahoma, where she vastly improved collections, services, and programs. Today she serves as project manager of a Native American cultural heritage preservation project. In her many capacities, Heather strives to bridge gaps in communities-- particularly those faced by historically underrepresented communities-- and foster awareness about these issues.
Closing Keynote: Reflecting Our Communities: The African American Subject Funnel Project
For over 20 years, the African American Subject Funnel Project has worked to improve the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) reflecting the African American experience. The Funnel is a group of catalogers, subject experts, and other library staff who work together to make changes in LCSH. Michelle will talk about successes that the Funnel has had in recent years as well as challenges that they have faced, and how this reflects the ever-changing attitude of the Library of Congress toward updating and expanding its subject headings. She will also share how you can get involved in shaping the Library of Congress Subject Headings so that they better reflect the communities you serve.
Michelle Cronquist has worked as a Special Collections Cataloger at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 2009. She serves as Cataloging Chair of the African American Subject Funnel Project, which works to improve the Library of Congress subject vocabularies reflecting the African American experience and is involved in several other projects related to inclusive cataloging and metadata.