Bottle of Epiphany 2020 Grenache and wine glass

It’s been a minute since I posted a wine tasting review! I’ve spent the last month experimenting with classic martini recipes and not paying as much attention to my first love, grapes. So it was refreshing to come back to something local with a distinct California flavor.

On the nose, there is raspberry and chaparral. Light to medium bodied, with hints of oak, rose water, and tart fruit. Maybe licorice as well? Good tannin balance and a tight/focused structure and a delicate finish. I would pair this with cheese and almonds. Possibly a light chocolate. Great to drink right now, but you could also hold back for 3-5 years.

finder touching a printing of The Scream painting

News and announcements

🎶 Musical theatre students at the University of Georgia Libraries curated an exhibition of classic Broadway musical posters and artifacts. The selected items were then passed on to another performance-based class who will perform selections from the musicals at the exhibition’s opening reception. “The concert on March 24 will present standards from familiar titles like Brigadoon, Cabaret, Hair, and Kiss Me Kate. But it will also highlight songs from lesser-known shows such as Dear World, It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s Superman, Lost in the Stars, and No Strings.” I love the coordination and collaboration across multiple classes.

🏀 Not sure what library merch is most appealing to students? The University at Buffalo Libraries is hosting a March Madness-style bracket challenge to find out. They are putting 16 potential library merch items head-to-head. What a simple an effective way to see what students really want.

😌 “Sometimes the hardest part about studying is staying focused.” The University of Cincinnati Libraries has created a “Study and Focus Tools” collection of items such as fidget toys, blue light glasses, white noise machines, and more. The collection won’t be available until fall 2025, but they are showcasing the items at upcoming tabling events, which is a great way to pilot test the items before putting them into circulation. 

🇮🇷 The University of Pennsylvania Libraries has received an extensive collection related to the late Iranian poet Nader Naderpour, donated by his close friend Farhad Mafie and his widow, Jaleh Bassiri Naderpour. The collection spans six decades and includes correspondence with literary figures, 400 tapes of lectures and interviews, 45 videos, over 1,600 scanned articles and notes, 1,000 images of handwritten poems, and 200 photographs.

🎤 Berkeley Library has created and released an Oral History Agreement Toolkit, “a collection of templates, guiding documents, and resources designed to help transform how institutions approach oral history agreements.” These resources can help libraries and archivists protect narrators’ rights and address privacy concerns, adhere to best practices, resolve ambiguities in usage permissions, respond to common scenarios, understand legal issues, and standardize terms. 

🖨️ It’s always wonderful to see libraries increasing access to information resources in new ways. At UTA Libraries, they have added Braille and PIAF (Pictures in a Flash) printers (pictured above) to assist visually impaired students. These printers convert digital documents into tactile Braille and raised-line images, respectively. The Braille printer translates PDFs into Braille text, supporting over 100 languages, while the PIAF printer transforms visual content into touchable graphics. 

Notable mentions

Room with potted tree, pillows, and a carpet
The Peabody Library reflection room at Vanderbilt University

Finally, there were two notable themes this month. A handful of libraries celebrated Open Education Week, including The Catholic University of America, UMass Dartmouth, and Emory University. Additionally, a fair number of libraries curated collections for Women’s History Month, including Binghamton University, Berkeley, Wake Forest, Touro University, WashU, and San Diego State

On socials

I love that feeling I get when I’m watching a Reel or a TikTok and I just know the folks involved had a great time making it. That’s the vibe I get from a recent University at Buffalo Libraries Instagram post. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia for the TV of my generation, but I watched this at least twice beginning to end just for the feels. If I could convince my colleagues to do this type of content, I would do it all the time.

Speaking of folks having a great time on social, Kay P Maye at Tulane Libraries went around to students asking them basic facts about the library. The results are hilarious and include (because why not?) someone dressed as a crawfish. Unless you read the title of the video, it isn’t until the very end that you get the reveal that it’s a promo for an upcoming book event. And props to leading with the crawfish to hook folks in the first two seconds.

Library reconstruction projects begin with high excitement but then immediately enter a long period of stagnation, frustration, and possibly resentment. So to keep the positive energy looking toward the eventual reopening, it’s important to keep the campus communuty engaged with the library’s progress. James Madison University Libraries did a fabulous job collaborating with their univeristy president to showcase what is essentially a poorly-lit construction zone. They also managed to work in appreciation for their donors. (I honestly think the president was learning about the project as they were filming this, so nice work JMU connecting with that major stakeholder).

As a supervisor, as much as I rely on my student assistants to help with content development, I have to regularly remind myself that they need profession development opportunities as well. Here, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries had their photography intern tag along with the university’s main marketing team on a photoshoot. I love all the BTS footage. 

Finally, I love the effect that UF Libraries is doing here by aligning faces of students in quick succession. It’s the type of template that could be used to highlight university photographs, buildings, mascots, or faculty and staff. With a title like “100 Years (and faces)” I would have expected to see a wider ranges of images, but the messaging is still the same: the university archives is the place where IHEs preserve their history.

computer screen with numbers

Social media happens so fast. I mean, just over a week ago, saying that I can’t get anxiety out of my brain meant an entirely different thing. So in between the monthly “Recently in Academic Libraries” posts, I pull together regular updates on what AcadLibs are doing on social. Please enjoy these recent highlights.

The content is mysterious and important

I’m sure we’re not all watching Severance, but it feels like entire world is watching Severance (or maybe that’s just my fyp). Major props to Oklahoma State University Libraries for getting the dolly zoom elevator shot perfect. Over at University of Maryland Libraries, they put together a small set of Severance references to promote locking in at the library. I even jumped on the “outie/innie” trend at my library as a way to subtly poke fun at the things some students do in the library (and yes it’s true that someone actually left an entire bowl of spaghetti once).

Promoting OERs with high-quality content

KU Libraries used both video and still images to celebrate a faculty member who is an open educational resources advocate. The video is a solid interview with engaging b-roll footage, and a good example of what you can accomplish with skilled a videographer. The carousel works equally well, combining good photography with simple branded graphics. Instead of trying to put images and words together in a single slide, KU Libraries posted image, then graphic, then image, giving each its full space. I hope this is part of a series! 

Three pieces of trending content

1. “Last week, I just got two offers for the job that I want.” The J. Willard Marriott Library posted this solidly feel-good video across their socials, encouraging students to find the good in life. It follows on the heels of a trend I’ve seen many universities doing (including my own) but I love the tight camera angle and ASMR-style audio. It takes a familiar trend and makes it more intimate. 

2. The “subtle foreshadowing” meme is a great way to take advantage of the rule that you have to capture someone’s attention in the first 1-2 seconds of a social media post in order to hook them. It’s an obvious gimmick, but the self-referentiality of the format works. CSU Fullerton’s Pollak Library pied their dean and associate dean as a thank you to donors following a Day of Giving. I really hope that was a student worker throwing the pies. 

3. I am always impressed by libraries that have the time and energy to hop onto the awards season bandwagon by posting timely content. The go-to meme is, of course, the juxtaposition of a book cover with a celebrity’s red carpet outfit. So it was refreshing to see a slightly different take by Georgia Tech Library who used high quality photography and Oscar Awards categories to highlight their library spaces.

And finally…

Ok, Chatham University Library, this is hot.

header image: still from the University of Maryland Libraries Severance parody video

black pub holding a tennis ball chew toy

“Have mercy now, save poor Bob, if you please.” Robert Johnson, Cross Road Blues, 1936

I am at a crossroads. If I decide to stay in academic libraries, I am well-positioned at this moment to either (1) move into a more administrative/leadership role or (2) move into a more creative, content development role. I have enough experience and have built enough skills in both areas to pursue one or the other more deeply and each offers a path to greater satisfaction at work. Regarding the former, I enjoy managing large, complex projects and supporting a team of skilled employees. Regarding the latter, I also enjoy delving into creating something that is fundamentally unique to my talents. 

In my current position, it seems unlikely that I would have the space or resources to pursue both paths simultaneously. Still, I’ve been thinking about what it takes to be successful in either role: a good manager and a good content creator. What follows is a short list of attributes/habits that I find useful. Perhaps I’ll be utilizing one of these sets more fully in the near future. Or perhaps I’ll continue to cultivate both to the best of my ability. 🤷‍♂️

Tips for being a good manager

  • Your employees don’t support you; you support them. Start every day by asking your team “what do you need?” 
  • Start from a place of curiosity, not criticism. When your team comes to you with an idea, begin by framing it this way: “this could be successful if…”
  • Make your team part of the story. Regularly tell your team how their work fits into the bigger narrative. 
  • And then, give them the space to write it their own way.
  • If you have to say no, try to think of at least one thing that would “get you to yes.” That might not change your answer, but it could change how you both approach the issue.
  • Always assume your employees want to be as successful as you do.
  • Staying informed is a two-way conversation. You shouldn’t rely entirely on your team to keep you in the loop. At the same time, they shouldn’t rely entirely on you to follow up on things. It’s a relationship and it takes both parties to do the work.

Tips for being a good content creator

  • Constantly be learning new skills and closely examine what the best in the field are doing.
  • Block out your schedule so you can have longer periods of uninterrupted work.
  • Keep the number of projects on your plate as small as possible. Three is good rule of thumb.
  • Focus on quality even if it takes more time. This is what will set your work apart from others’… not how “responsive” you are to emails. 
  • Have a standard workflow but be willing to abandon it if you have the option for uninterrupted focus time.
  • Never skip the pre-production stage. Plan, plan, plan.
  • Whatever step in the creative process you’re avoiding, that’s where you’ll find joy. 
  • Take a break if it’s no longer fun. There’s no problem a good walk can’t resolve.

What I’m reading 

🧑‍💻🏴‍☠️🪴 Why Personal Websites Matter More Than Ever by Joan Westenberg. “Personal websites matter – now, more than ever – because we can see, clearly, with our own eyes, what happens when a handful of companies control and own the medium and the message. It gets silenced, suppressed, and subtly reshaped without us.”

🧑🏽‍🏫✊🏽🎓 The Authoritarian Endgame on Higher Education by NYTimes. “For people in higher education, this is a moment both to be bolder about trumpeting its strengths and to be more reflective about addressing its weaknesses. […] University presidents seem to be hoping that if they keep their heads down, the threat will pass — or at least pass by their campus. They are unlikely to be so fortunate.”

Links to the past 

  • 1 year ago: I was singing the praises of using email marketing for outreach to college students. Some folks interpreted this as “libraries don’t need social” but that’s not what I said. Social media, as I’ve shown in recent posts, has a significant impact on how students view the library’s role on campus and how they feel about it. Feelings matter. Even if they can’t be quantified. 
  • 5 years ago: Nothing. It was March 2020. 🦠 I wasn’t focused on blogging at the time, though in hindsight I wish I had been.
  • 10 years ago: I was doing the “Day in the Life of a Librarian” post. We should all do that again.

Overheard online 

This historian gives you explicit permission to delete and destroy each and every bit of data (pun intended) that can put you or others in danger. Lives Saved >>> Historical Record Preserved @lavaeolus on Mastodon

banner photo: Meet Poppy, the newest member of the family.