Several Illinois academic librarians presented at the 2016 Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) Midwest Chapter Annual Conference. This year’s event took place on Friday, May 13, at Indiana University’s South Bend campus. The theme was “Innovate! Advocate! Integrate! : Reinvigorating Your Library in a Digital Age”. Among the speakers was keynoter Miguel Figueroa, who works for the ALA-initiated Center for the Future of Libraries, an organization that tracks trends affecting libraries and their constituencies.<\/p>\n
The list of presentations is below. For those that had a presenter not from an Illinois library, just the Illinois librarian is included.<\/p>\n
“Talking Back to the Public Library: Measuring and Conceptualizing the Little Free Library Movement”<\/strong> “An Overview of ‘An Analysis Report of 2014 CALA Self-Assessment Survey'”<\/strong> “Customize Your Search Box for Your Patron”<\/strong>
\nKate Williams-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
\nAnalyzed data on users of Little Free Libraries and types of materials circulating, proposed lessons that public libraries and the profession as a whole can learn from the success of Little Free Library movement<\/p>\n
\nJian Anna Xiong–Southern Illinois University Carbondale
\nEvaluated the findings of a survey measuring the knowledge that Chinese American Librarians Association members have of the organization’s purpose and structure, in addition to member satisfaction with CALA leadership and long-term goals; organizations will use findings for long-range planning<\/p>\n
\nMingyan Li–University of Illinois at Chicago
\nDemonstrated use of the OPAC search box builder to design or fine-tune for specific patron or information requirements, which can help large libraries, in particular, improve information-retrieval workflows<\/p>\n