Attending ALA 2025 in Philadelphia? Join us on Sunday, June 29 at 1pm in Pennsylvania Convention Center, Room 115 B C for a panel presentation, “Can It Happen Here? Book Challenges, Censorship, and Academic Freedom in Academic Libraries.”
More info can be found in the ALA conference scheduler at https://cdmcd.co/6vwyW3
Monday, June 30, 2025
12:00-1:15pm PST / 3:00-4:15pm EST / 2:00-3:15pm CST
Reference Discussion
Collections Discussion
Register to attend at https://vanderbilt.zoom.us/meeting/register/0OwzV_r-Ql2ElsyPLJ78-g
Do you have a vision for LES? Do you want to take a leadership role in shaping our future? Do you know other LES members who would make excellent officers? We need your voice!
The Nominating Committee is seeking interest and nominations in the following positions:
ACRL elections will be held in March 2026. Terms begin on July 1, 2026. At this time, there are no in-person requirements for serving. For information about each of these positions, please see https://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/les/lesofficers
To learn more about how to indicate interest or find out where to direct your questions, take a look at this ALA Connect post!
When: June 12, 2025 – 3:30 – 5:00 pm EST
Topic: Academic Librarians and Oral Histories: Curating Living Memory
Description: Three academic librarians will discuss oral history projects they’ve worked on. They’ll talk about what inspired them, their processes, and what they learned.
Program Panelists:
For more information and to register, visit ALA Connect!
It’s that time of the year – please consider sending a submission for the Fall issue of Biblio-Notes. To submit articles, photos, announcements, or news items, please email ginsua1 [at] uic.edu. Articles should be 500-1000 words, while shorter reviews and updates should be approximately 200-500 words in length. Articles can be about anything – are you doing something new in your teaching? Have an exciting new collection? Want to share your thoughts about AI? Anything related to LES is fair game. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, October 2nd. Feel free to email Glenda with any questions!
Are you curious about what happens on the LES Executive Board? Have you ever thought about serving as an LES officer? The Nominating Committee is seeking nominations for the following positions:
For information about each of these positions, please see https://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/les/lesofficers
To nominate yourself, please visit https://forms.gle/BiEZVjyarmeBys639
Questions? Contact Leslie Madden, LES Nominations Committee Chair, at [email protected]
All are welcome! Please register separately for each one!
LES Collections Discussion Group
Wed, July 10, 2024
2:00pm EDT / 11:00am PDT
Format: Virtual (register below!)
Description: Join us for a real-time activity with three of the top GPTs available: Open AI’s Chat GPT 4.o, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude. We shall run tests to see if the AI ChatBots can propose items for collection and discuss the implications of using AI for collection development. We will also discuss the growing trend of online sellers with mislabeled first editions, reused ISBNs, and unauthentic book jackets. How do you navigate these issues, and where do you find reliable sources for rare books? And finally, we will share our experiences and approaches to dealing with Faculty Retirees and their desire to donate their collections.
Register: csulb.zoom.us/meeting/register/…
LES Reference Discussion Group
Thu July 11, 2024
2:00pm EDT / 11:00am PDT
Format: Virtual (register below!)
Description: Join us for a discussion on AI and Reference! How are you or librarian colleagues using AI in research and reference consultations? Are you integrating AI into your teaching? How are you perceiving students using AI in their work? We look forward to learning from each other on this timely topic.
Register: libcal.baylor.edu/event/12685597
LES will be co-sponsoring a great session at ALA Annual with the RUSA History Section, and we’d love for you to join us if you’ll be in San Diego!
Marked for Death? Challenges to the Humanities and Humanities Librarianship will be presented on Saturday, June 29 from 4—5pm at the San Diego Convention Center. Co-sponsored by ACRL LES and the RUSA History Section, the program will feature panelists Jennifer Hofer, History Librarian at the University of Florida; Nancy Kranich, Teaching Professor at Rutgers University; Ethan Lindsay, Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian at Wichita State University; and Laura Semrau, Humanities Librarian at Baylor University. The panelists will engage in a conversation about the turn towards AI and quantitative studies, shrinking attention spans, and growing economic anxieties among students and how libraries and humanities librarians can respond to this real or imagined crisis.
Our Fall 2023 issue of Biblio-Notes is live! Want to hear more about the awesome ACRL LES program at ALA Annual 2023, Interdisciplinarity and Humanities Librarianship: Are Librarians (and Libraries) Keeping Pace, and What’s Next? Head to the new issue and check out the message from LES Chair Leslie Madden on pages 1-2!
Do you have something you’d like to share with fellow LES members? Share ideas for the Spring 2024 Biblio-Notes issue with our editor at [email protected]!
There is still time to contribute to the Fall issue of Biblio-Notes. Submissions about new publications, upcoming online workshops, news items, announcements, or anything else of interest to the Literatures in English community are welcomed and encouraged! If you were engaged with any summer service work or conferencing, your contributions are likewise valued, including any images or photos.
Please send submissions and any questions to [email protected]. The submission deadline is Thursday, September 28, 2023.
Thank you!