Category: College Resources

Unconference on Open & Equitable Access, April 14

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Consider submitting a topic for discussion?

The Oberlin Group’s Open and Equitable Access working group is holding a half-day online unconference on April 14th from 1 PM to 4 PM EST. This event will provide a forum for us all to share recent successes, talk through current challenges, explore new developments, and identify opportunities for future collaborations. Since we are using an unconference format, as the date approaches, we will be issuing a call for topics to discuss. We hope you will contribute your own ideas, such as:

  • Migrations to a new institutional repository

  • Campus-based OER programs

  • Open Access outreach success stories

  • Reports from the HELIOS open science initiative

  • Open Access publishing models and infrastructures

The event will be organized into three 45 minute breakout small group sessions, with an opening and closing activity. It is free of charge and open to anyone who works on an Oberlin Group campus. Feel free to invite your colleagues from the faculty, IT, or digital learning.

You can sign up at https://forms.gle/TWMFXaJJfXmpppcm7   where you can suggest topics you would either like to hear about or talk about.

We hope you will join us and contribute to what we imagine to be the start of increased engagement across the Oberlin Group in conversations and collaborations in this important area.

File Maker Pro–Please let CIT know about your data!

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Center For Information Technology
FileMaker Pro Users: Tell Us About Your Database
If you are a FileMaker Pro user, CIT needs to hear from you. Please take five minutes to complete this brief questionnaire to provide important information about how you use your database.
Your response is critical to our understanding of the need for databases of this type at Oberlin and will assist us in making decisions that will better support all FileMaker users on campus.
Responses are requested by this Friday, March 3.

Facilities Plan Consultants on Campus Nov 1-2

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I am pleased to announce that the College has chosen Fred Fischer & Partners and Brightspot Strategy to do a Space & Facilities Assessment and Design Plan for the Libraries.  They will be on campus November 1-2, doing tours our of spaces and meeting with various groups, including the Pan-Library Forum on Nov. 2, the faculty Library Committee, the Student Library Advisory Board.

Tours will take place on November 1 (time slots tba) and I have asked each unit head to meet with staff to discuss ideas about how to make our spaces more welcoming, accessible, efficient, and effective. In a way, we are reviewing what we did last fall so you have had a year to think about possible changes and improvements. Your group prep will be useful when the consultants tour our spaces and talk with all staff then and during the Pan-L Forum, which will be devoted to this topic.

We are ahead of the game with our good Strategic Directions document which states our shared values and sets out 6 Areas of Focus for our planning.  I would also point you to the Space Addendum, which the consultants have read carefully and which might serve as a basis and/or reference point for your ideas and suggestions.  There is plenty of room for your expertise and creativity within those goals. (I believe the Space Addendum begins on p. 12).

Their plan will only be able to meet our needs and values if we give them clear and direct input. Thank you for reflecting on this individually and as a unit before November 1.

Thanks!

Valerie

 

Metcalf Reception on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 @ 12:30-1:30– RSVP is NOW live – respond by May 17th

Leave a Comment on Metcalf Reception on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 @ 12:30-1:30– RSVP is NOW live – respond by May 17th

The annual Metcalf Reception will be held for our graduating student employees on May 24th,  2022, from 12:30-1:30. On the north Mudd Plaza, aka. the huge new sidewalk (formerly the tree) between Wilder & Mudd- under a tent.

Please RSVP to join us for lunch, an AVI catered Burrito Bowl (Chicken, Tofu, or Steak with optional: rice, lettuce, black bean and corn salsa, grilled peppers, onions, cheese, and sour cream toppings.) Please RSVP on the Evite by May 17th @ 4:00 p.m.

We hope you can join us to celebrate our graduating student employees!

Student supervisors: Please nudge your senior employees to fill out the student questionnaire and RSVP as soon as possible.

PSA (Public Service announcement): The Metcalf Committee tried to get a food truck from Steel Magnolia or Beautiful Flame (Lorenzos) but AVI evidently has the first refusal on all campus catering jobs over $500. Who knew- not any of us until this week.

Oberlin Group Lightning Talks–March 23

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The Oberlin DEI and Antiracism Ad Hoc Committee (ODAC) is hosting our 2nd Oberlin Group DEI Lightning Talks. There will be seven speakers from a variety of institutions who will speak about DEI and antiracism from an array of areas within the academic library. Following the lightning talks will be our Keynote speaker, Monica Figueroa (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), with her presentation “21 Days and Beyond: Building and Sustaining Racial Equity Conversations in an Academic Library”.

 

Schedule:

 

Five Tips for a More Inclusive Job Ad

Christy Allen, Associate Director for Digital and Resource Management, Furman University

Re-Imagining a Digital Communications Strategy for Achieving Greater Racial Justice in the Library

Jennifer He, Web Content Specialist, Smith College

Whose History? Whose Responsibility?: Racism in Historical Collections

Melanie Maksin, Head of Academic Engagement, and Debra Bucher, Head of Collections & Discovery, Vassar College

Engaging with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the College Library: A Departmental Discussion Group Effort

Anna Boutin-Cooper, Research & Visual Arts Librarian, Franklin & Marshall College

Exploring White Supremacy Culture to Develop Inclusive Culture: A Library’s Work in Progress

Jess Denke, Outreach and Assessment Librarian, Muhlenberg College

“Make Money From Home!” Soliciting and Archiving Trauma at Middlebury College

Rebekah Irwin, Curator and Director, Special Collections and Archives, Middlebury College

Bringing Outside Resources & Services In: Library Work in the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound

Benjamin Tucker, Scholarly Communications & Digital Projects Librarian, and Jane Carlin, Library Director, University of Puget Sound

 

Keynote Address: “21 Days and Beyond: Building and Sustaining Racial Equity Conversations in an Academic Library”

Monica Figueroa, Librarian for Inclusive Excellence, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Q&A

 

The event will occur on Wednesday, March 23rd, at  9 am PST / 12 pm EST and will last 1.5 hours. Please register here.

 

[Re-posted & Extended] IDEA Committee Survey Regarding Workplace Amenities

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Established employees at the OC Libraries know that there are a wide variety of avenues we can take to secure workplace-related amenities. It feels like over the years, we develop a “sixth sense” about what sort of things are appropriate to ask of our department heads, of CIT, of Bill Ruth, etc. However, this information is not well-documented or codified, and especially for new employees, these resources may not be altogether obvious.

The IDEA Committee would like to address this problem by creating this documentation for current and future employees. Please help us in our efforts by answering the survey locations located here.

To clarify, by “workplace amenities” we are referring to equipment, tools, software, etc. that improves your working environment. These should not rise to the level of requests that fall under ADA accommodations. These must be taken up with Human Resources, and the form for those requests can be found here.

Please complete the survey by the new updated due date of Friday, February 11th! Thank you so much for your participation.