Orbis Cascade Alliance’s Summer Meeting was held virtually July 18-20, 2023 with the theme of Community-Collaboration-Change.
This page provides descriptions and details for all sessions, as well as materials and recordings if available. Return to the schedule for dates and times.
Keynotes
Opening Keynote with Scott Cline
Topic: Relationship and Obligation: Moral Imperatives in Professional Service
Description: This presentation grapples with the meaning of who we are as information professionals and explores the ideas of moral commitment and just behavior in our work. These ideas are constructed on the dual foundations of relationship and obligation, two concepts that are necessary, both personally and collectively, in cherishing and sustaining human dignity. The pursuit of moral order recognizes that society’s development, including our small professional portion, should be measured by assessing its basic decency and determining what each member of that society is able to do and become. My claim is that all of life is relationship and that we bear a presumptive obligation to moral engagement with the other.
Scott Cline is the author of Archival Virtue: Relationship, Obligation, and the Just Archives. He is a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), two-time winner of the SAA Fellows’ Ernst Posner Award for outstanding essays published in American Archivist, and a recipient of the Society’s C.F.W. Coker Prize for advancing practices in archival description. Cline was City Archivist and director of the Seattle Municipal Archives for over three decades. He taught the introduction to archives course in the University of Washington Information School for twenty years. Cline is a past president of the SAA Foundation Board, the Academy of Certified Archivists, and Northwest Archivists; and served a term on the SAA Council. His scholarly interests are in the areas of virtue theory, ethics and morality, and relationship and obligation in the archives profession.
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: Recording (57:47). Opening Keynote starts at 16:30.
Mid-Meeting Keynote with Fobazi Ettarh
Topic: Intersection of Vocational Awe & Burnout: Building Supportive Communities and Self-Advocacy
Fobazi Ettarh’s research is concerned with the relationships and tensions between the espoused values of librarianship and the realities present in the experiences of marginalized librarians and library users. In 2018, she coined the term and defined the concept of “vocational awe,” which describe, “the set of ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in beliefs that libraries as institutions are inherently good and sacred, and therefore beyond critique.” In her article “Vocational Awe: The Lies We Tell Ourselves,” she describes how vocational awe can lead to burnout and a sense that one’s own self-care is less important than the work being done.
Although written before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ettarh’s words have resonated with many library workers throughout the nation in the current moment, as we strive to serve our patrons and our profession as best we can amidst the competing demands of home, work, and health. Her remarks on equity and inclusion in libraries are just as timely and important. In a 2019 interview with Cathy Hannabach, she spoke of the resistance that marginalized library workers can face when advocating for better working conditions and talked about what a changing world might offer in the way of alliances and social progress. When describing what a better world would look like to her, Fobazi Ettarh said, in part, “a place where change is embraced, where people work as a collective rather than working in opposition to each other—and to one’s own interest—…a place where conflict isn’t seen as a four-letter word but as a fulcrum to a better time, a better organization, a healthier world and place.”Fobazi Ettarh’s critical work on libraries, labor, and identity has been published in In the Library With the Lead Pipe and edited collections, including the Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook and Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies through Critical Race Theory. She has given invited talks at numerous professional and scholarly conferences and events, including the Library as Place Symposium, and keynotes at the Association of College and Research Libraries and Library Journal Directors’ Summit. Her research has been covered in numerous outlets and she consults in library and corporate contexts on labor, identity, and diversity. She is also the creator of the open-access video game Killing Me Softly: A Game About Microaggressions.
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: Recording (42:55) and presentation file (PPTX).
Closing Keynote with Tarida Anantachai & Jennifer Garrett
Topic: Organizational Development and Its Relationship with Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Tarida Anantachai (she/her) is the Director, Inclusion & Talent Management at the NC State University Libraries, where she oversees the recruitment and hiring process for library faculty and staff positions; leads equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts; and coordinates the Libraries Fellows Program. Her research and professional interests include topics around equity, diversity, and inclusion; mentoring and early career development; leadership; and outreach programming. She was an ARL Leadership and Career Development Program Fellow, a participant in the MN Institute for Early Career Librarians, and an ALA Emerging Leader. Tarida received her MS in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Jennifer Garrett (she/her) is currently Associate Director for Organizational Design, Equity, & Talent at the NC State University Libraries. Her portfolio includes Libraries Human Resources and the coordination of the Libraries Fellows program, a nationally renowned residency for recent MLS/MIS graduates. As Associate Director, Jennifer provides leadership for the Libraries’ equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, including planning and implementing programs that foster a climate where staff and user populations feel welcomed, valued, and respected. This also includes developing strategies to increase employment and retention of members from historically excluded groups. Prior to joining the Libraries’ senior leadership team, Jennifer served as the Libraries’ Director of Talent Management, Head of Digital Research Education and Training, and Research Librarian for Management, Education, and Social Sciences. She first joined NC State University Libraries as a 2012-2014 Libraries Fellow. Jennifer is a current member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (DEIC). The DEIC is charged with promoting social justice within ARL and among member libraries and archives. Jennifer holds an MLIS from the University of British Columbia and a BA from the University of Oregon. She has also served as an ARL Leadership and Career Development Program (LCDP) Fellow from 2018-2019 and is also an ALA Spectrum Scholar (‘10-11), ARL Career Enhancement Program Fellow (‘11), and ARL Kaleidoscope Scholar (‘11-12).
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: This keynote was not recorded. Presentation file (PDF).
Sessions
Conversation on Ethical Library Staffing & Funding
Presenters: Holly Wheeler (Mt. Hood Community College); Michelle Bowie (Gonzaga University); Jennifer Wells (Oregon State University)
Description: In this session, we will foster a discussion about the current challenges in library funding across Alliance institutions, how those challenges impact our ability to provide robust library services, the ethical concerns of reduced staffing, and how the Alliance can offer support in this area. We encourage members to bring their stories of challenges and successful strategies employed to retain/regain positions and advocate for funding.
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: This session was not recorded.
Consortial Training Community Conversation
Presenter: Amy Coughenour (Orbis Cascade Alliance)
Description: This fall, the Orbis Cascade Alliance will conduct a training needs assessment to identify and prioritize consortial training needs. We’re holding community conversations for member staff to share their thoughts, experiences, and questions about Alliance consortial training. Each session will begin with a brief overview of Alliance training opportunities and an estimated timeline of the assessment process. We’ll incorporate feedback from these conversations as we develop the training needs assessment.
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: This session was not recorded. Presentation file (Google Slides).
Copyright First Responders Speak about Fair Use
Presenters: Elsa Loftis (Portland State University); Kael Moffat (Saint Martin’s University); Rachel Bridgewater (Portland Community College)
Description: Members of the Copyright First Responders of the Pacific Northwest will share some important information about the group, and what we’ve learned about Fair Use in academic libraries.
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: Recording (41:18) and presentation file (Google Slides).
Facets in Primo VE
Presenters: Blake Galbreath (Washington State University); Junghae Lee (University of Washington); Kelley McGrath (University of Oregon); Casey Mullin (Western Washington University)
Description: This session will provide an introduction to facets, how they represent data, and how they are used in discovery layers. It will then more specifically discuss the inventory of facets the NRSG has created in Primo VE, how they can be used by patrons, and how many institutions are currently using them.
Alliance Program Area: Shared Content & Technical Services, Diversity & User Experience, Resource Sharing & Fulfillment, Systems
Recording Files: Recording (37:00) and presentation file (Google Slides).
Do You Have a VPAT: Incorporating Accessibility into Subscription Renewals
Presenters: Karen Spence (University of Washington); Faye Christenberry (University of Washington); Hana Levay (University of Washington)
Description: This presentation will describe a cross-departmental workflow we developed to incorporate the accessibility of online resources into the renewal cycle. Initially this required the collaboration of two departments and three functions: acquisitions, licensing, and accessibility. We’ll go over the steps and decisions involved, what we’ve learned, and where we are with the process now. This session is intended to encourage participants to consider how they might improve accessibility of online resources by incorporating it into their workflow.
Alliance Program Area: Shared Content & Technical Services, Diversity & User Experience
Recording Files: Recording (26:02) and presentation file (PPTX).
Your RSF Community
Presenters: Lori Hilterbrand (Orbis Cascade Alliance) & Emily Moxley (Central Oregon Community College)
Description: RSF is changing our structure to better reflect the needs of the community. Our 2023 team and group members will talk about the work we’ve accomplished, the new group organization, and the work we hope to do in 2024. We will also ask you – our community – what you would like to see, what would make you excited to engage in this work.
Alliance Program Area: Resource Sharing & Fulfillment
Recording Files: Recording (26:57) and presentation file (Google Slides).
Building a Bridge: A Library Outreach Program for Students in Transition
Presenters: Heidi Senior (University of Portland) & Xan Arch (University of Portland)
Description: Reflecting the Summer Meeting topic of engaging and impacting our local community, our Library Bridge program invited local high school students to learn about the university library to support their transition to college, as well as interviewed these students to gain insights into the student experience encountering our library space and services for the first time. Our asset-based approach to the perspective of high school students from underrepresented backgrounds valued students’ unique viewpoints and incorporated their feedback into new library services that better meet the needs of students in the transition to college. We hope that discussion of this innovative program will spark ideas within our Alliance colleagues for similar outreach programs.
Learning Outcomes:
- Participants will gain new perspectives on the benefit of outreach to high schools from the academic library.
- Participants will gain new strategies to support first-generation college students, both during the transition to college and as peer mentors for students in that transition.
- Participants will learn the fundamentals of an asset-based approach to the knowledge and skills of students outside of the traditional college student profile.
Alliance Program Area: Diversity & User Experience, Resource Sharing & Fulfillment
Recording Files: Recording (23:22) and presentation file (PPTX).
Demonstration of a Homegrown MARC Search Tool
Presenter: Ron Chesko (Western Washington University)
Description: This session will demonstrate a homegrown MARC search tool that was created by an NRSG member (Ron Chesko) to find MARC records with specific criteria in an Alliance Primo premium sandbox. It will go through multiple use cases to demonstrate the options that are currently available.
Alliance Program Area: Shared Content & Technical Services, Systems
Recording Files: Recording (26:18) and presentation file (Google Slides).
Overdue and Lost? Find Your Way in Alma
Presenters: Paul Gardner (Oregon Health & Science University); Sara Trott (Oregon State University); Ruby O’Connor (Central Oregon Community College); Chrissy Hursh (University of Oregon); Kaitlin Cushman (Gonzaga University)
Description: Overdue and lost items are one of the most challenging areas in Library-patron interactions. In Alma, everything from notifications to status changes are dictated by the overdue and lost loan profile. We explore how this function works in Alma, define its parts, and suggest different configurations for libraries to consider.
Alliance Program Area: Resource Sharing & Fulfillment
Recording Files: Recording (24:34) and presentation file (Google Slides).
Remediating Harmful Language in CONTENTdm Metadata
Presenters: Junghae Lee (University of Washington); Martha McTear (University of Washington); Benjamin Riesenberg (University of Washington)
Description: Since 2021, the University of Washington Libraries has provided a form for users to report harmful language in our collections metadata. Following a form submission requesting that the term ‘Eskimo’ be removed from digital collections metadata we found that the term appeared more than 700 times across multiple collections and began discussing remediation. A project team with representatives from cataloging, special collections, and information-technology units are engaging in a pilot project to replace the term ‘Eskimo’ in metadata for selected CONTENTdm collections. The project is challenging in many ways and is expected to inform future work in other collections, targeting additional harmful descriptive language.
Alliance Program Area: Unique & Local Content, Shared Content & Technical Services, Diversity & User Experience
Recording Files: Recording (27:48) and presentation file (PPTX).
ArchivesSpace Assessment Module: A Case Study on Planning and Implementation at the Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections
Presenters: Conor Casey (University of Washington); Eve Kausch (University of Washington); Elaine Speer (University of Washington)
Description: Since late 2017, ArchivesSpace (AS) has included an Assessment Module. Orbis Cascade Alliance-hosted AS instances have included this Assessment module since late 2019. This case study focuses on project design and implementation for an audience of other Assessment module users, potential users, and those curious about what setting up workflows and implementation might look like in their shop.
We will discuss tips, lessons, barriers, and challenges in a practical “how to” and reflection session. Presenters will discuss the project design process, scope, and the challenges encountered. Process details will include practical details of legacy data assessment, cleanup, mapping, migration, creating internal documentation, and entering new data into the module.
The Labor Archives of Washington (LAW) is a community curatorial area within the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. The LAW obtained funding to perform an internal survey to chart the impact of its activities, interventions, and impacts upon UW’s Special Collections over the past 12 years. A central purpose and outcome of the survey is to make transparent the impacts of the LAW (a community-founded and funded project) to enable accountability to its community of creation and support. The plan of work involved correcting, updating, migrating, and centralizing legacy survey data from its current Google Sheet format into the Assessment module. Another phase performed a new assessment on existing physical collections, comparing the results of the old and new assessments to reveal impacts and correcting omissions or errors in the legacy data.
This presentation will include Eve Kausch, the then-University of Washington I-School Capstone project graduate student assistant who served as the principal worker on this project; Conor Casey, Head of Labor Archives of Washington, designer of the legacy survey and the initiator, fundraiser, and consultant for the new project; and Elaine Speer, Interim Accessioning Archivist, UW Special Collections.
Alliance Program Area: Unique & Local Content
Recording Files: Recording (41:40) and presentation file (Google Slides).
ELUNA Enhancements Process: Learn from the Experts on Crafting Meaningful Enhancements
Presenters: Mary Grenci (University of Oregon) & Anne Pepitone (University of Washington)
Description: This session will describe the Alma and Primo enhancement processes, including the general timeline for each and tips for creating well-crafted enhancement requests. We will also address the differences between Enhancements and Idea Exchange processes.
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: Recording (41:53) and presentation file (PPTX).
Growing CollectionBuilder: Building Community and Collaborations with an Open Source Digital Exhibit Framework
Presenters: Julia Stone (University of Idaho) & Evan Peter Williamson (University of Idaho)
Description: This session will introduce CollectionBuilder (https://collectionbuilder.github.io/), an open source framework for creating sustainable digital collection and exhibit websites developed by librarians for librarians at University of Idaho Library. We will report on our current IMLS grant funded activities that seek to grow the community of users and opportunities for using a static web approach for digital scholarship and teaching. We will present some examples of collaborations on our campus, in the Alliance, and beyond to highlight the possibilities. We hope others in the Alliance can adopt CollectionBuilder for their own unique digital exhibit projects and get involved (particularly in our upcoming grant funded opportunities).
Alliance Program Area: Unique & Local Content, Systems
Recording Files: Recording (16:39) and presentation file (PPTX).
Collaboration at Every Step: Implementing Collection Development Guidelines at UW Tacoma
Presenters: Erika Bailey (University of Washington) & Johanna Jacobsen Kiciman (University of Washington)
Description: In 2020, the UW Tacoma Library iterated and published robust new collection development guidelines, centering the goals of being antiracist, accessible, sustainable, interdisciplinary and open to diverse ways of knowing. This winter, we utilized this policy to enable an ambitious collection project to support our campus community. This presentation highlights how we created change collaboratively, and implemented the policy with input and support from our campus. We hope to demonstrate how collection development guidelines can be implemented to better serve communities that have been historically marginalized and underrepresented in our collections and institutions.
Alliance Program Area: Shared Content & Technical Services
Recording Files: Recording (25:44) and presentation file (Google Slides).
Resource Sharing Refresher: A Day in the Life of Physical Requests in Transit
Presenters: LoriAnn Bullis (Western Oregon University)
Description: This session is about the day-to-day hands-on processing of Summit physical requests in transit. It is the little things that make our daily work lives easier, alleviate our stress, and build positive collaborative relationships among Summit libraries. We are all a bit discombobulated from the upheavals of the COVID pandemic, budget and staffing cuts, taking on additional work, and the never-ending changes. Let’s take a deep inhale, and exhale all that negativity as we reboot, refresh, and remind ourselves of the day-to-day hands-on nitty-gritty processing of physical Summit requests in transit.
Alliance Program Area: Resource Sharing & Fulfillment
Recording Files: Recording (14:52) and presentation file (PPTX).
Conversations
Library Life Hacks: Tips for Library Work
Facilitator: Bill Kelm (Willamette University)
Description: Gather with colleagues to share ways to improve workflows. How have you adapted common tools to new purposes or simplified processes with templates or macros? Do you use Google Keep and Zotero in your daily work? From the practical to the creative to the technical, we’re always interested in finding helpful tips, tricks, and shortcuts to make our work lives just a little easier.
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: This conversation was not recorded.
DEI Journeys & Collaborations
Facilitators: Robert Perret (University of Idaho) & Emily Moxley (Central Oregon Community College)
Description: Where are you (and your institution) at on your DEI journey? Do you feel like you have a good grasp of DEI needs and services? Have you partnered with others as you have approached DEI issues, and if so, what were the results? What have been your successes and/or failures on your journey?
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: This conversation was not recorded.
Zines & Libraries: An Open Chat
Facilitator: Maria Cunningham (Oregon Health & Science University)
Description: Join us for a lively chat exploring the fascinating world of zines! Whether you’re a zine novice or have prior experience with these creative publications, there will be something exciting for everyone. Connect with fellow library staff members who are passionate about zines, delve into various zine collections, and engage in a casual and enjoyable atmosphere. Don’t miss out on this chance to broaden your zine knowledge and expand your network!
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: This conversation was not recorded.
Show & Tell: Pet Stories, Haunted Stacks, & More
Facilitator: Dawn Mosher (Eastern Washington University)
Description: Come to a library show and tell! Share photos of your pets’ cutest expressions or stories of some of their silliest habits. Are your stacks haunted? Tell us about that one corner in the library that doesn’t feel quite right, or the shelves that always seem to have problems keeping the books in order. And what about books you’re reading or movies/series you’re watching? We definitely want to hear what we should add to our to-be-read-and-watched stacks!
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: This conversation was not recorded.
UX for Researchers in Archives
Facilitator: Robert Perret (University of Idaho)
Description: What does good user experience (UX) look like from a researcher’s perspective, and what do you do when that might differ from an archivist’s perspective? Have you created resources for researchers to be self-reliant or are you focusing on an archives worker to always serve as an intermediary? Come talk about archives and UX and goals you have been working toward or have achieved!
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: This conversation was not recorded.
Nailed It/Failed It: Patron Engagement
Facilitator: Dulce Kersting-Lark (University of Idaho)
Description: Let’s talk about library programs. Share stories about what worked well and what maybe wasn’t quite ready yet. Have you had events across campus? Or workshops with minimal attendance? Did some events work so well that you offer them annually? This is an opportunity for us to celebrate successes, support failures, and hear about programs that might work well at our own libraries.
Alliance Program Area: all
Recording Files: This conversation was not recorded.