ULA Annual Conference 2025

PAVE Prevention recognizes that libraries across the United States are experiencing increased public aggression toward their workers, as highlighted in the 2022 Urban Library Trauma Study. To address these challenges, PAVE offers comprehensive training sessions focused on critical skills for library staff. The training covers topics such as building situational awareness, ensuring physical, emotional, and mental safety, and employing de-escalation techniques—both verbal and non-verbal. Participants will also learn grounding techniques, self-care practices, bystander intervention strategies, boundary setting, conflict resolution, and effective intercultural communication. Additionally, the training incorporates principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility (DEIJA), as well as cultural humility and competency. All PAVE modules utilize adrenalized, real-life scenario learning, which has proven to be one of the most effective training methods for adult learners. PAVE has successfully trained library workers nationwide in trauma-informed, DEIJA-inclusive human safety skills. As part of this initiative, PAVE will deliver a 3-hour workshop for ULA participants, equipping them with the tools needed to navigate their complex working environments.

Outreach at academic libraries is vital in reaching and supporting students. However there are often hidden challenges for librarians attempting to start and maintain innovative and effective outreach initiatives. Outreach librarians from two different Utah higher education institutions will share their experiences and insights into how to navigate these challenges.

Looking for some great reads for your Book Group or personal reading? This presentation will be a great opportunity to get the scoop on some wonderful reads. Don't worry there will be time to present some of your own favorite reads and get ideas for building a strong book group at your library.

As a self-professed “librarian gamer,” I've come across a number of "library-related" board games & video games, and I’d like to share them with all of you! Each game mentioned in this session will have a specific focus on libraries and/or library work as a central theme of gameplay. Each game asks its players to utilize different skills & tackle scenarios that real librarians might encounter, & thus could be useful for developing programs or collections (especially anything intended to highlight a library's usefulness to patrons, or various aspects of librarianship to prospective library students).

To address issues with consistency, searchability, and collection management, a team at Eccles Health Sciences Library (EHSL) conducted a comprehensive assessment of the metadata in the Neuro-Ophthalmology Virtual Education Library (NOVEL) collection. We identified inconsistencies in field usage, naming conventions, and degrees of detail across sub-collections. This project aimed to streamline metadata practices, ensuring consistency, relevance, and adherence to library standards.

After a Library-wide realignment in 2023, USU Libraries created a new program, Archival Outreach & Instruction, to better emphasize outreach efforts for the Special Collections & Archives Department. This session will highlight the innovative ways this program has engaged with library, campus, and community partners, building systematic assessment tools, and securing administrative support to better highlight the unique collections and services the library provides.

Apart from having an unlimited budget, the ultimate library dream is to develop a future-proof, data-driven collection development strategy that is nimble and responsive to evolving technologies, user demand, and market trends. Easy, right? While this session does not have the secret holy grail strategy, it does provide A strategy . . . an A to Z strategy, to be precise.

This presentation details the first comprehensive collection analysis of a medical library serving three campuses in the Intermountain West. The analysis focused on item record quality, metadata effectiveness, table of contents availability, and collection overlap/deficiencies. By examining electronic book records and comparing holdings across campuses, the study identified areas for improvement in resource discoverability and collection development. The presentation will share key findings, best practices, and lessons learned, empowering other libraries to conduct similar analyses and enhance their collections.

In the wake of rapid advancements in the general publics’ awareness and use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, the UVU Fulton Library has taken proactive steps to harness these tools for the benefit of its student community. This presentation will explore how the library responded positively to the rise of AI by educating our librarians and then developing and implementing a series of engaging workshops designed to educate and empower students to use AI tools ethically and effectively in the process of academic research. These workshops not only demystify AI tools but also provide practical skills that students can apply in their academic and professional lives. The UVU Fulton Library’s initiative to integrate AI education into its services has not only equipped students with valuable skills but also fostered a culture of innovation and curiosity. By sharing our story, we hope to inspire other institutions to embrace AI positively and create similar opportunities for their communities.

We will provide a clear understanding of what experiential learning is through an experiential learning framework that has been successful at our institution. We will offer practical real-life stories and have table and partner discussion as we deliver each step of the framework. The session will demonstrate how implementing experiential learning can give time back, can teach us how to delegate more to employees and empower them in ways that will further their growth. Attendees will learn how to implement this framework at their library.

They're free, but often not as easy to find. This introduction to federal government documents is designed for public librarians to quickly come up to speed finding and using the most important government websites and datasets.

This session is anticipated to be an updated version of my presentation at the ULA 2024 Fall Forum discussing what constitutes unauthorized practice of law, how to navigate the Utah State Court website and resources, and provide links and information on how to find legal reference information.

This session will outline a process for achieving a participatory, function-focused organizational realignment on a 6-month timeline. Presenters will share an in-depth look at the activities, structure, and ultimate outcome of a recent reorganizational process for a collections-focused department that included visioning, conducting a functional analysis, and providing a space for participatory organizational modeling.

This presentation explores the translation capabilities of various Artificial Intelligence systems, with a particular focus on several European minority languages. Additionally, it examines the challenges and techniques involved in translating colloquialisms and idiomatic expressions within literary works.