Southeastern Michigan League of Libraries

 

Fall Meeting Update

We will regrettably be canceling the Fall 2022 meeting. Even though we all have plenty to say on the topic of intellectual freedom in academic libraries, we did not get the number of proposals we need to run a robust meeting on this topic.

We know that everyone has had a rough few years and that we are all feeling the burn out as we try to attend all the meetings and get everything back up and running in our new normal. We felt that due to the local networking nature of our focus it would be best to give this moment back to you all as a beat in which to rest instead of doing something just for the sake of doing something. All that said, some of us will be meeting up at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti from 4-7 on November 18th and we would love for you to join us for an informal chance to see each other's faces again.

Our hope is that by next spring we will all be feeling more steady, energetic, and ready to come together and share with each other our thoughts, concerns, and strategies around the roles we play in the protection of academic freedom.

Please feel free to continue submitting proposals anytime between now and the Spring meeting. You may not feel like an “expert” in this area, yet we are all here doing the work and you have something valuable to add to the conversation. We are all looking forward to hearing from you!

Best wishes for your Fall semester and we hope to see you in April

Call for Proposals

We are seeking proposals for presentations around the topics of intellectual freedom, book banning, and access to information, to be presented at our Fall 2022 meeting. We are considering 15-30 minute topical talks as well as a longer keynote presentation. Live or pre-recorded content is acceptable, however we would like someone who knows the presentation to attend the meeting for Q&A.

Presentation topics may include: What does it means to allow and facilitate access to the broadest possible range of information in a higher educational setting? How do publishers, students, faculty, local community members, administration, and even available technology impact your collection development and challenged book policies? What have you done to protect yourselves, your library, your faculty, and your students from limited viewpoints? This could be an entry point for talks on community outreach, stakeholder education, DEI, OER, policy development, technological solutions, copyright, etc.

We know our colleagues in public libraries, special libraries, and primary & secondary schools have stories to tell in this area and we would love to hear from you too! What have been your pain points on this topic, your successes, how have you formed your policies to offer protection for your organization and your readers? We also encourage proposals from those working or studying in related fields, including Education, IT, Publishing, Law, Marketing, and LIS students.

To submit a proposal, please send the title, name of speaker(s), and an abstract of no more than 250 words to semlol.board@gmail.com.

(Re)Join Us!

The SEMLOL board is inviting libraries to engage with SEMLOL as either full or liaison members. While our full members consist of academic libraries in the southeastern Michigan area, we acknowledge and value the input and perspective of the varied libraries that make up our liaison membership.

Together, we will work to connect members of our profession by offering low/no cost professional development and networking opportunities, with your input and participation. There has never been and will continue to not be any fees required from our members. The only commitment that we ask is that a good faith effort is made to send at least one staff member (empowered to cast their organization's votes) to the spring meeting each year.

To learn more about our organization, please review our newly revised organizational guidelines. If you would like to become involved, or continue your institution's involvement with SEMLOL, please complete our membership form.