Checking In:
Responding To & Inspiring Change
University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library
Salt Lake City, Utah
Friday, October 13, 2023
Over the last few years, the world has changed in big ways. Sometimes we have been at the forefront, fighting for change, but other times we’ve been carried in the wake of changes we could not control.
COVID is only part of the picture: we’ve also been through drought, flooding, and fire, cultural upheaval, and a revolution in how we work, teach, and learn.
With this in mind, we wanted to take the opportunity to check in with each other personally and professionally, and speak to the issues that we, and our libraries, are facing.
Where have you adapted your teaching, collections, management, outreach, services, hiring, and work policies in the face of book bans, legislative decisions across the country, and challenges to academic freedom?
How are you? How are your students, your colleagues, and your library doing?
What do you know now about accessibility, mental health, work-life balance versus burnout, and equity, diversity, and inclusion, especially among BIPOC and gendered people, that you didn’t know before?
We hope you’ll share your struggles, successes, and inspiration with us.
In addition to a robust schedule of presentations, our goal this year is to allow space to reconnect and make new connections with colleagues from across the state. Time will be built into the retreat schedule for conversation, networking, and connecting with old and new friends. We hope you’ll join us.