Seminars & Workshops Attended

https://www.mlanet.org/courses/talking-tools-an-introduction-to-systematic-review-tools/

Hosted by the Medical Library Association; moderated by Tara Brigham, Librarian & Supervisor, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, and Mary Katherine Haver, Medical Librarian, Biomedical Library at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; presented by Rebecca Carlson, Health Sciences Librarian, Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Stephanie Roth, Biomedical & Research Services Librarian, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, and Alyssa Grimshaw, Clinical Research & Education Librarian, Yale Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, New Haven, CT. Completed July 2024.

The course was the first of two parts on helpful tools for systematic reviews. The presenters covered five different tools that all had different drawbacks. I don’t know how much I’ll use the Yale MeSH Analyzer, PubMed PubReMiner, or Polyglot, but I’m intrigued by MeSH on Demand and CitationChaser; I’ve already used the latter on a couple of scoping reviews to pull citation searching and snowballing results into Rayyan for easy exporting later.

https://www.medlib-ed.org/products/2819/systematic-searching-improving-effectiveness-and-efficiency-recording

Hosted by the Medical Library Association; taught by Wichor Bramer, Ph.D., Biomedical Information Specialist at Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Completed April 2024.

This was probably the first 90-minute webinar from the MLA where I felt I didn’t learn much new information. Bramer’s system of creating searches textually is how I was actually taught, vs the line by line approach I’ve seen elsewhere, so it wasn’t new to me. However, I still learned new tips about the overlap of Scopus and Web of Science (which I suspected but it was nice to have confirmed) and how to translate searches from one database to another.

https://www.medlib-ed.org/products/3383/librarians-and-systematic-review-teams-negotiating-roles-and-recognition-recording

Hosted by the Medical Library Association; taught by Jen Deberg, User Services Librarian at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa, and Heather Healy, Clinical Education Librarian at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa. Completed December 2023.

This 90-minute webinar coaches librarians on how to communicate with research teams and assert their skills in order to get the acknowledgement and authorship they deserve.

https://www.medlib-ed.org/products/3557/planning-for-systematic-review-success-reference-interview-protocol-development-recording

Hosted by the Medical Library Association; taught by Margaret Foster, Director of the Center for Systematic Reviews and Research Synthesis and a Professor at Texas A&M University–College Station, and Whitney A. Townsend, an Informationist in the Taubman Health Sciences Library at the University of Michigan. Completed March 2023.

This 90-minute webinar helps librarians through the planning stages for a systematic review, including the reference interview and developing a protocol.

https://www.medlib-ed.org/products/3178/systematic-reviews-for-beginners-how-librarian-participation-creates-better-evidence-recording

Hosted by the Medical Library Association; Allison McArthur, an Information Specialist at Public Health Ontario (PHO). Completed August 2023.

After defining systematic reviews and distinguishing them from other scholarly reviews like umbrella, rapid and scoping review, the presenter spent the bulk of this 90-minute webinar reviewing the process of a systematic review and the librarian’s role in each step of the process.

Hosted by the Medical Library Association; taught by Andy Hickner, Education and Outreach Librarian at the Samuel J. Wood Library at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Kathryn Vanderboll, Informationist at the Taubman Health Sciences Library at the University of Michigan. Completed August 2022.

https://www.medlib-ed.org/products/3482/citation-management-for-systematic-reviews-recording

This 90-minute webinar took participants through the pros and cons of citation management software like EndNote and Zotero for systematic reviews, particularly when considering how well they work with screening software like Rayyan or Covidence.

https://www.medlib-ed.org/products/3748/three-things-to-know-about-systematic-reviews-recording

Hosted by the Medical Library Association; taught by Julie Glanville, a UK-based independent information consultant focusing on consultation, training, and research in information retrieval and strategy design. Completed May 2023.

This 90-minute webinar helps librarians differentiate systematic reviews from other types of scholarly reviews and introduces attendees to checklists that help reviewers assess the quality of other systematic reviews.

Hosted by the Texas Library Association; speakers were Adriana Lebron White and Alyssa Naley. Attended July 2024.

Given that both of the speakers were neurodivergent and have worked in a variety of library settings, they had some interesting insights into neurodiversity from an employee/employer perspective. While some points felt rather obvious (like that accommodations are required under the American Disability Act) they are worth repeating and emphasizing. Considering ways to make interviews more accessible, like giving questions to applicants ahead of time, really helps all applicants by making the interviews more equitable for those that might struggle to piece an answer together on the spot.

The fact I found most interesting was that neurodivergent (ND) individuals are more likely to be queer; I have an ND trans family member, and it made me think about them and how they view sexuality and gender.

Hosted by Library Works; speaker was Maurice Coleman of Coleman & Associates. Attended May 2024.

I had hoped that because this was hosted by a library-specific organization, the presentation would be more focused on customer service in libraries. I was wrong. It felt like a hodge-podge of inspirational quotes and books that didn’t quite mesh together.

The presentation did reinforce several things that I was already familiar with:

• Good, honest, clear communication is essential to deliver quality services to patrons.
• Creating an atmosphere of trust and accountability sets up staffers to succeed.
• Just because we’ve always done something that way doesn’t mean we have to continue doing it that way.

Hosted by ERS, the Employees Retirement System of Texas; speakers were Sarah Karnes, the Director of Library Development and Networking at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and Andrew Glass, the Records and Information Management Officer at the Employee’s Retirement System of Texas. Attended January 2024.

https://www.gotostage.com/channel/a46fbe06603048aab38de36e55bbdb5a/recording/8aa0f196f1424f8f87160bcf48fe19eb/watch

The descriptions advertised a presentation that would focus on how libraries can be used for education, research and relaxation. It focused more on the various services that Texas state employees can access through libraries, including talking books and databases, and not at all on wellness or relaxation tools.

Hosted by Texas Women in Higher Education; speaker was Dr. Tomikia P. LeGrande, President of Prairie View A&M University. Attended November 2023.

Dr. Le Grande shared her pathway from STEM faculty through administrative roles like Director of Admissions, Vice President for Student Affairs, Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management, and her current role as President of Prairie View A&M. She reminded us to know our skill set and seek out jobs that fit them, then build the skill sets you need for the career pathway we want. She shared lessons from past supervisors, mentors and champions and advised building relationships across departments and across campus.

Hosted by Amigos Library Services; taught by Jodie Borgerding, Continuing Education Services Manager, Amigos. Attended October 2023.

https://www.amigos.org/node/3919

After being promoted to Interim Manager at the beginning of October 2023, this 2-hour webinar was a welcome discussion of how to manage staff while also fostering good relationships with upper management at any library.

Hosted by the Offices of Teaching & Learning with Technology and Curriculum & Strategic Initiatives at TWU; moderated by Dr. Jorge Figueroa, Vice Provost for Curriculum & Strategic Initiatives at TWU; panelists were Dr. Sarah Rodriguez, Associate Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, Mark Watkins, Lecturer in Composition & Rhetoric at the University of Mississippi, and Dr. Robert Cummings, Executive Director of Academic Innovation at the University of Mississippi. Attended March 2023.

A follow up to the session on ChatGPT from a couple of weeks before, this panel discussion gave professors the chance to discuss how they were incorporating AI and ChatGPT into writing prompts. Professors were showing how ChatGPT could be used to challenge students: Have ChatGPT answer this question, and they would write a response as well, then compare student writing to what was generated. They also showed how ChatGPT could be using for brainstorming as students consider topics. The panelists also acknowledged that universities will have to create policies regarding the use of AI in student work and consider loss of privacy when using such tools.

Hosted by the Offices of Teaching & Learning with Technology and Curriculum & Strategic Initiatives at TWU; moderated by Dr. Jorge Figueroa, Vice Provost for Curriculum & Strategic Initiatives at TWU; panelists were Dr. Adam Fein, Vice President for Digital Strategy & Innovation at the University of North Texas, Dr. Rudi Thompson, Assistant Vice President for Digital Strategy & Innovation at the University of North Texas, and Charlie Mewshaw, Chief Information Security Officer at UNC Fayetteville State University. Attended March 2023.

This panel discussion focused on how to use services like ChatGPT to improve student learning. At the current time, the panelists acknowledged that it is easy to detect because it makes up citations, while noting that this could change. They pointed to the reactions of academics when Wikipedia and Google were introduced, and that it’s better to teach students when it’s acceptable to use it rather than forbidding it, which will make it more intriguing.

Hosted by Covidence; taught by Nia Wyn Roberts, Outreach Librarian at the University of Oxford Bodleian Health Care Libraries, Ghida Iskandarani, Community Manager at Covidence, and Laura Mellor, Head of Community Management at Covidence. Completed December 2022.

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6237760788932050955

This one-hour webinar used the Cochrane Handbook as the basis for a discussion of how to develop systematic search strategies.

Hosted by the University of Michigan Taubman Health Sciences Library; taught by MLA UX Caucus leaders Andy Hickner, Education and Outreach Librarian at the Weill Cornell Medicine Samuel J. Wood Library, and Kate Saylor, Health Sciences Informationist at the University of Michigan Taubman Health Sciences Library. Completed October 2022.

https://guides.lib.umich.edu/TaubmanTalks/UXDatabaseTips

A 60-minute discussion of what to do when your search isn’t working — how to troubleshoot and investigate problems and sharing solutions to some of the most common search issues.

Hosted by Infopeople; taught by Beckett Czarnecki, the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Project Specialist for Denver Public Library.

https://www.infopeople.org/civicrm/event/info?id=1057&reset=1

The goal of this 60-minute webinar was to encourage librarians in any setting to build foundations for gender inclusivity in their spaces, learning how to give empathetic and equitable services to all patrons.

Posted by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University. Completed July 2022.

https://library.medicine.yale.edu/tutorials/subjects/systematic-searches

These tutorials were recommended to me by a fellow recent MLS graduate and new Health Sciences Librarian as a way to learn more about the systematic reviews published so often by our faculty. The one challenge I found was that several of the databases discussed had been updated since these were produced, resulting in outdated screen examples.

• Introduced standards like PRISMA that shape how searches are performed and results are presented, and discussed the importance of searching grey literature as well as scholarly articles, making sure that all possible outcomes for interventions are researched.
• Reviewed the steps of a systematic review.
• Went through what to do before a systematic search: Looking for similar existing systematic reviews, doing a scoping search to find existing research on the topic, organizing your search terms and parameters, and deciding where to search.
• Being strategic about building your searches in PubMed, OvidSP, Web of Science and Scopus, reviewing common search tactics in each database, like using Boolean operators and applying filters to results, using controlled vocabularies like MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), and demonstrating how to build complex searches using adjacency and frequency operators.

Hosted by the Women & LGBT Center at Southern Methodist University; presented by Jermisha Frazier, Coordinator at the Women & LGBT Center at SMU and a Ph.D. candidate at the California Institute of Integral Studies, studying human sexuality. Attended November 2021.

https://www.smu.edu/StudentAffairs/WomenandLGBTCenter/LGBT/LGBTPrograms

This three-hour training was an expansion on the one-hour session Dr. Sidney Gardner, Director of the SMU Women & LGBT Center at SMU, presented at Fondren Library in August. The training is meant to get participants talking about their own experiences with LGBTQIA+ people, how to be welcoming and inclusive without being invasive, and learning more about proper terminology for the community.

Academic libraries are one of the few spaces on campus where students are not being judged or graded on their performance. Librarians should lead with empathy and compassion, offering a safe space for all students to be themselves. I was thankful to see that out of the seven people attending the training, three of us represented SMU Libraries, and each of us was from a different building — while I work in the main library, the other women worked at the Business Library and Hamon Arts Library. It shows that the ideas of inclusivity and openness are celebrated across the libraries on our campus.

Hosted by the Griffiths Leadership Society at the University of Missouri; moderated by Emma Smoczynski, Programming Co-Chair; presented by Niki Harris, Ph.D. candidate at Azuza State University, studying leadership, identity development, and change. Attended March 2021.

https://www.mizzou.com/glsspring2021

While this is focused more on the individual and not specifically tied to work within the library world, Harris’s presentation was important as it focused on understanding one’s own identity before engaging with race and social justice. Her presentation emphasized being authentic to oneself, which other presenters, like Dr. Nicole Cooke, have also noted. Harris mentioned the stages of Racial Identity Development as described by Beverly Daniel Tatum, which notes that the consideration of one’s racial and ethnic identity is just as important for whites as it is for people of color.

If a person’s place of work is not engaging teams in deep conversations of race, identity and diversity, Harris’s talk is a good place to begin considering one’s own space in our society, and how our identity is seen and felt by others. During the question and answer session toward the end of the hour, she emphasized that yes, having difficult conversations with others about race is important, but be kind. Use qualifiers — “I may be wrong, I might say this in the wrong way, this makes me feel” — to be kind to other people while discussing such fraught topics. Accept that they may be defensive, but emphasize your perspective.

Hosted by the North American Virtual Reference Online Conference; moderated by Sandy McCarthy, Faculty Librarian at Washtenaw Community College; presented by Aleksandra Blake and Sherri Sundstrom, both Research Support Services Librarians at MacOdrum Library, Carleton University in Ottowa, Ontario, Canada. Attended February 2021.

The librarians found that before a restructuring, there were no guidelines or a coordinator to manage videos posted to the Carleton University Library YouTube channel. Research tutorials were mixed in with marketing videos, and no one was reviewing content to make sure everything was up-to-date. (It was not.) With the restructuring, a new teaching and learning librarian took on the responsibility of coordinating the creation of new videos, writing guidelines and creating a workflow for video creation. The guidelines included the creation of a script and keeping the video at an optimum length, preparing proper lighting and sound for the recording, and keeping pedagogical approaches and educational objectives in mind throughout the entire process.

The library staff used such software as Kaltura’s Personal Capture and MediaSpace, Camtasia, Zoom, and even iPhone cameras to record their videos. Because of the use of multiple softwares and with people working from home during the pandemic, production quality was uneven. The presenters showed some of the challenges librarians faced with particular softwares, particularly uploading video content from home and the creation of captions. The library is continuing to evaluate video creation platforms in the hope that they will find one that is easier for everyone on the staff to use.

Hosted by the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries; moderated by Elaina Norlin, Program Coordinator for Professional Development, ASERL; presented by Emily Daly, Head, Assessment & User Experience Department, and Joyce Chapman, Assessment Analyst & Consultant, both at Duke University Libraries. Attended December 2020.

https://vimeo.com/491452531

This 60-minute webinar, available to watch above, focused on a report developed by a team at Duke University Libraries after questions from a comprehensive study about student experience in the libraries led to in-depth reports and studies of first-generation students, Black students, and International students at Duke University. The study sought to investigate three main areas: What it means to be Black at Duke, Systematic injustice perpetuated through the DU curriculum, and How spaces and services at Duke University Libraries help students feel supported. The webinar takes viewers through how the research was carried out, what the libraries learned from student responses, and next steps for the library to take in order to be more inclusive.

Hosted by Library Journal; moderated by Lindsey Gervais, Digital Learning Manager, Gale; presented by Emily Cox, Collections & Research Librarian for Humanities, Social Sciences, & Digital Media at North Carolina State University, Catherine Nichols, Advanced Lecturer in Cultural Anthropology and Museum Studies at Loyola University Chicago, and Sarah Ketchley, Lecturer at University of Washington. Attended December 2020.

https://www.libraryjournal.com/?event=how-to-champion-teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-humanities

This 60-minute webinar used a panel of practitioners to discuss the team approach used in teaching and completing digital humanities projects. Ms. Cox emphasized the importance of collaboration with the library for these projects — librarians can help professors implement DH projects in their lesson plans, doing one-shot instruction on the software or even becoming embedded in the class. Their support of these projects is a natural extension subject librarians’ expertise; investing in DH projects and finding ways to promote them inside and outside of the campus community is good for both the library and the students. All three presenters advocated using open source and easy-to-use (and access) software like Omeka, as illustrated by the student project example above.

Gutoske, E. (2018). Origins of the Ghost Dance. http://ctsdh.org/anth212/exhibits/show/ghost-dance—wounded-knee/origins

Hosted by WeHere; presented by Carly Lamphere. Attended July 2020.

https://archive.vn/4QpJW

This hour-long webinar (which ran long to be an hour and a half) introduced users to the basics of video editing within the sphere of academic libraries and virtual instruction. Ms. Lamphere took attendees through the planning process, emphasizing the importance of running time (2 minutes or less for short videos; no more than 10 for longer ones), branding, and planning. She introduced several platforms for online editing and noted the differences between open source and proprietary options.

One of three presentations from the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table presented as an Afternoon of Social Justice on June 29, 2020; it was posted to YouTube.com the following week. Moderated by Dr. Melanye Price, Endowed Professor of Political Science, Prairie View A&M, Houston, TX. Speakers: Dr. Carol Anderson, Chair, African American Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, GA; David Daley, a journalist and the author of “Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy,” Haydenville, MA; Mac Heller, Executive Producer of Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook; and Tomas Lopez, Executive Director, Democracy NC, Durham, NC. Attended June 2020.

https://youtu.be/TVW4aMGrWlg

The 90-minute round table began with an excerpt from Mr. Heller’s documentary on voter suppresion, showing how various states have disenfranchised voters, particularly Black citizens, and a discussion of voter suppression. Dr. Anderson gave examples of conservative leaders like Paul Weyrick publicly admitting that voter suppression benefits the Republican party, as well as how many conservatives use a variety of tools, including photo IDs and closure of polling places, to suppress voting. The contributors also discussed how political parties have tried to control district mapping and the distribution of representatives at both the state and national level.

After a tense discussion, the round table ended with the contributors asking the question, How can we encourage widespread voting this year? The panel encouraged attendees to register as poll workers in order to make sure that polling locations are open this year, particularly when many elderly people (who often work these spaces) should not be exposed in such environments. Finally, whether we’re working in a university setting or a public library, the panel encouraged librarians to make sure that all patrons understand their rights related to voting, and to help them understand the process.

American Library Association. (2020, July 2). SRRT’s Afternoon of Social Justice | Democracy in the Time of COVID [Video]. YouTube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVW4aMGrWlg

Keynote speech for the SCELC Colloquium 2020, hosted by the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium; presented by Rick Anderson, Associate Dean for Collections & Scholarly Communication, University of Utah. Attended June 2020.

https://vimeo.com/434543968/884710a041

In this 30-minute presentation, Mr. Anderson argued that there is a moral imperative to increase open access to scholarship and to stop restricting access to scholarship behind paywalls. While he doesn’t think universal open access will happen, at least at any time in the near future, he does believe that open access will and should continue to expand. He admitted that the outcomes of the expansion of open access are both positive (more access to scholarship, immediate reusability of scholarship) and negative (who is confirming the quality of this scholarship? who is paying for the publication?), and he discussed the impact of these outcomes on the future of libraries — what new functions can the library support, in terms of data management, open scholarship, and more? How can the library evolve in order to avoid becoming irrelevant?

Hosted by Junior Library Guild; presented by Angela Christianson and Drew Scott. Completed January 2020.

https://tinyurl.com/yjt9t9za

This one-hour webinar was not related to the below webinar, which I had watched the week before, but the presenters reinforced many of the points from the first presentation, like making sure that diverse characters have diverse experiences, rather than always confronting oppression or discrimination. They also gave a great metaphor to consider when looking at your library’s collection and asking whether you have multiple books on a topic: “One book shouldn’t be the only book in your collection on a topic or reflecting diverse characters. Are you the box of 8 crayons or 64 crayons?” As librarians, we want to make sure students have access to the variety of stories and perspectives that the larger box of crayons (i.e., stories) would provide.

Hosted by WebJunction; presented by Dr. Krista Aronson, Dr. Andrea Breau and Andrea Jamison. Completed January 2020.

https://learn.webjunction.org/course/view.php?id=455

This one-hour webinar discussed the reasoning and research behind diverse juvenile collections, and then it presented an analysis tool (hosted at www.diversebookfinder.com) to evaluate your library’s own collection. The research was a convincing reminder that every library should have a diverse collection, and the presenters gave great advice on how to build your collection in a conscious and deliberate way. The presentation suggested a sample checklist to compare to all new purchases, as well as a long list of resource websites for diverse books.