Back In Circulation 2026

Bobbi L. Newman, MLIS, MA (she/her) is a consultant who helps organizations create healthier, more equitable workplaces using evidence-based strategies. She is also a professor who teaches future librarians and leaders, integrating research, practice, and compassion to shape healthier workplaces across the profession. Bobbi is the founder of ThriveLib, a virtual conference dedicated to advancing the well-being of library staff and fostering honest conversations about work, care, and sustainability.
A certified Wellness Practitioner with nearly a decade of experience in workplace well-being, Bobbi is known for translating research into practical, actionable strategies that support both individuals and organizations. She is the author of Fostering Wellness in the Workplace and the editor of Well-Being in the Library Workplace: A Handbook for Managers, widely used resources for leaders seeking to build healthier work cultures.
She writes about well-being in libraries at www.librarianbyday.net, where her work continues to challenge harmful norms and advocate for systemic change.

The Council Bluffs Public Library has been circulating seeds since March of 2022. Attendees of this program will learn from our trial and error over the last few years, and how the Circulation team has developed a process in which the seed library is now a thriving resource for other aspects of library service & education. Several areas that we will touch on that have made this collection a success: circulation processes & statistics, utilizing volunteers, and integration into education & programming. The seed library has been a great opportunity to connect with new volunteers, and they’ve become an integral part of our seed collection processing. Through partnerships with local organizations and programming staff from other departments, we’ve worked to develop routine programming, annual seed swaps, and attendance at local outreach events. Additionally, routine marketing has included regularly posted gardening & seed tips. Working with our cataloging department, we’ve made tweaks to more quickly catalog seeds and reduce costs. We’ll share how these partnerships across the community and the library have helped us in reaching our original purpose in creating the seed library: to create an educational, accessible and affordable seed collection.

You have all heard of situational awareness. But, how much do you really know about it? How good are your observation skills? What about your ability to de-escalate? No one’s skills are perfect, but we can all work together to improve them! This fun and highly-interactive seminar will challenge the audience to gauge their own situational awareness, observation, and de-escalation skills. Everyone is encouraged to attend. We’ll use short videos, experiments, humor, and an (optional) fun game to demonstrate the importance of situational awareness and observation not only in the library world, but in our everyday lives. We’ll cover de-escalation techniques and see how they, along with the power of observation, help keep us safe in the library.

The presenter has been a circulation manager of a medium-sized public library in Chicagoland for eight years.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Participants will better understand situational awareness, observation, and de-escalation, and how these concepts apply to real-world library experiences.
2. Participants will practice their situational awareness and observation skills through multiple activities, including a fun game.
3. Participants will learn mindfulness exercises, including breathing techniques to lower heart rate and adrenaline.

Access Services work happens on the front line of the library—where buildings stay open late, service demands shift constantly, and staff carry significant emotional and operational labor. In these environments, effective management is not just about policies, coverage, or workflows. It is about people.

This interactive session explores how inclusive supervision can serve as a powerful framework for staff development, retention, and sustainability in Access Services. Drawing on the presenter’s lived experience returning to leadership after a life‑altering health event, along with research‑informed models from Inclusive Supervision in Student Affairs (Wilson, McCallum, & Shupp), inclusive leadership, and psychological safety, the session reframes supervision as an intentional, relational practice.

Participants will learn how the four tenets of inclusive supervision—creating safe spaces, cultivating holistic development, demonstrating vulnerability, and building capacity in others—translate into daily supervisory practices in public‑facing library work. Emphasis is placed on moving beyond deficit‑based management toward curiosity, clarity, and strengths‑based staff development, even amid staffing shortages and constant change.

Through short reflective exercises and small‑group discussion, attendees will practice reframing common supervisory challenges, identifying underutilized staff strengths, and setting clear, supportive expectations. The session is designed for supervisors at all levels and offers practical strategies that can be implemented immediately.

Participants will leave with concrete tools, shared language, and renewed perspective on how supporting staff growth is essential to keeping people—and services—in circulation.

As information professionals, our work often necessitates engaging with large bodies of knowledge. Without proper documentation, however, such knowledge can easily become lost due to staffing and organizational changes. This prompts a question: how do you build a system that encourages proper documentation of procedures, responds to the needs of stakeholders, and is capable of surviving institutional change?

In this presentation on project and change management, we will discuss the process of building a wiki-based system of documentation and knowledge-sharing for the newly-formed Access Services department in the UW-Madison Libraries. We will specifically discuss our use of templates, audience-driven taxonomy, maintenance schedules, and best practice codification, and how a careful approach has allowed us to transfer over a decade’s worth of both written and verbal knowledge into a new system for staff ranging from part-time student workers to full-time subject matter experts. We will also discuss the institutional conversations that this transition has prompted, as well as the hidden benefits of the new system.

Our approach is tool-agnostic and designed to be adapted to one’s institution, making it easy for other workplaces to modify and use it. By sharing our experiences we hope to inspire attendees to consider wiki-based information storage models, as well as to aid them in such transitions by sharing both our lessons learned as well as our ongoing successes.

In a time where social media is used more by libraries as an advertising tool, it’s imperative that we use these platforms to get the word out about events, services, and items available for checkout. Over the past year, the Michigan Tech Library has been exploring how to make more relatable and engaging posts so that both students and community members are more informed about what is available for them, as well as what is happening in and around our library.
In this presentation, I will share some key ways to game the algorithms (specifically for Instagram and Facebook) so that your posts will be seen by more people. I will also highlight some ways that you can experiment with finding what resonates with your audiences, such as hopping on current trends, highlighting historical information, collaborating with peers both in and out of the library, and utilizing Stories and Reels to reach a wider audience. We will also do a group exercise where we come up with ways to make a ‘boring’ post more captivating.
By making entertaining, relatable, and attention-grabbing posts, your library can benefit from increased collaboration, visits, and overall visibility.

The Bryn Mawr College Libraries created an exhibits program to spotlight materials in its collections and to support the campus’s intellectual and creative life. Monthly book and media displays highlight topics shaped by academic inquiry, cultural contexts, and campus interests. While displays were previously curated primarily by librarians, the program was redesigned to integrate the seventy-five student library circulation assistants as exhibit creators. The perspectives, lived experiences, and academic backgrounds of these students broaden representation and enhance the thematic and material diversity of the exhibits in ways that reflect community interests.

In this student-centered model, student employees propose exhibit topics related to heritage months, personal identities, academic interests, or social issues. Once a topic is selected, the students then collaborate with librarians to identify materials, gaining hands-on practice with catalog searching, requesting materials, and foundational research skills. To support circulation workflows and build confidence in academic research skills, the program provides scaffolded instructional tutorials with embedded assessments that guide students from catalog use and the process of requesting materials to searching targeted databases and engaging primary sources in databases. Assessment results allow librarians/supervisors to tailor the training to the students’ demonstrated needs.

This session will provide an overview of the program, discuss strategies for explaining and integrating scaffolded learning into the curation of book displays, and encourage more student engagement in the library. Participants will leave with adaptable strategies for integrating student employees into library programming in ways that enhance both skill development and representation.

Gather to hear about the collaborative development of a unique classification system designed specifically for the Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums (TLAM) collection at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s CDIS Commons Library. The project centers Indigenous knowledge systems, emphasizing the relationships and community that the collection represents. The TLAM Program Director, Cassy Leeport and TLAM graduate Anastasia Hanson will reflect on the process to reimagine, seek feedback from Tribal Partners, and finally to implement the collection.
Participants armed with this knowledge will be led through a short guided activity of sorting materials into new ways of categorization, to get our minds moving and exploring new approaches. Presenters will share how integral this approach is important to providing access that reflects the community. Considering what harms and biases might be embedded in the current systems. What local updates can you make to reduce harm and improve the patron experience? Finally, presenters will review some strategies to advocate for and incorporate these practices into decision making and reflection on processes in access services.

Access services teams are under increasing pressure to adapt—while navigating staffing constraints, evolving student behavior, and legacy service structures. Often redesign efforts begin with solutions rather than shared understanding.

This session shares a phased service design assessment underway at a mid-sized academic library. The work began by establishing psychological safety and shared goals across departments (Phase 1) and is currently in Phase 2: Discovery, using low-barrier methods to examine both user behavior and internal workflows. The goal is to build a shared evidence base before making structural changes. The project will move into its final design and pilot phase in late spring and summer, and by the time of this conference, outcomes and lessons learned will be available to share.

Discovery methods include lobby whiteboard prompts, social media polling, research help exit questions, transaction analysis, space-use counts, faculty listening sessions, and structured staff insight conversations. Rather than focusing on performance evaluation or quick fixes, this process surfaces patterns of friction, hidden labor, and misalignment between student behavior, staffing capacity, space design, and decision-making structures.

Participants will learn how to implement practical, low-cost discovery tools in access environments; distinguish between collecting data and generating meaningful insight; and frame structural tensions in ways that support collaborative, evidence-informed redesign.

The session includes a guided small-group exercise in which attendees draft an insight statement based on a persistent challenge from their own institution.

This session examines how change management was put into practice in a regional university academic library’s User and Delivery Services (UDS) department through the perspective of an interim associate dean working closely with the UDS department head. As libraries respond to evolving user expectations, staffing constraints, and shifting service models, successful change requires both strategic vision and effective operational leadership.

Drawing on departmental transformations during the past year and a half, the presenter will discuss how they partnered with others to guide staff through changes in service approaches and organizational culture. The session will explore setting direction and aligning with institutional goals, gathering evidence, communicating the rationale for change, and working with both the Libraries dean and the department head. The department head perspective will provide supporting staff through uncertainty and translating strategy into day-to-day operations. Participants will be invited via menti polls to share their experiences with recent changes they implemented or wish to implement.

Attendees will gain insight into the importance of the relationship between administrative and department head leaders during times of transition. The presenter will highlight unvarnished lessons learned, strategies for fostering trust and transparency, and practical approaches for maintaining service quality while navigating change. The presenter will invite attendees to complete an immunity to change rubric and stakeholder planning worksheet to spark strategies for change management. Participants will leave with actionable ideas for leading change collaboratively within their own organizations and for effectively working with different leadership styles and “managing up.”

Implementing the right technology can make circulation services more efficient by reducing workload, improving workflows, and minimizing reliance on paper reports. This session will highlight how St. Charles Public Library has integrated new tools to streamline processes and support circulation staff in their daily tasks.

Key Topics:
-MobileStaff App for Modern Registration & Holds Management
Enabling faster, more flexible library card registration and more efficient management of pick lists.
-RFID Second‑Scan Processing with staffCirc Trak Shelf Manager
Improving check‑in accuracy, supporting efficient shelf management, simplifying inventory workflows, and reducing repetitive staff tasks.
-Digital Reporting & Paperless Workflows
Implementing digital reporting solutions to eliminate paper‑based processes.
-SharePoint for Centralized Communication & Workflow Management
Using SharePoint to centralize documentation, track processes, support reporting, and improve staff communication and collaboration.

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session, attendees will:

1. Identify ways technology can improve circulation workflows

1. Learn best practices for implementing new tools and training staff

1. Explore strategies to reduce repetitive tasks and move to digital processes

Being “Here to Help” is what public libraries do, so creating an overall customer service philosophy and training program is important. Learn how the Johnson County Public Library created a meaningful customer service training program that helps staff understand the role of a public library and our shared purpose, while reviewing basic expectations and how a positive, proactive and empathetic mindset can benefit patrons and staff. The ideals and framework of “Here to Help” can be easily adapted and applied at any public library. 

In February of 2025, at the UW-Madison Libraries new Access Services Unit formed after several years of discussion, information gathering, and planning. Fall 2025 was our stress test. New hires, new staffing model, new communication methods and more. Join us as we explore the challenges and successes of this extensive planning. As our fondly named ‘NewNewSchedule-April’ professional staff schedule represents, the credit goes to our Access Services staff. Their dedication and flexibility that went into our mid-year, mid-semester hours changes allowed us to meet patron's needs. We will look at some of the scheduling data and staff interviews to analyze the staffing model worked and changes to address in future iterations. Implementation of this model has improved our schedule stability, increased available support for front line staff, and contributed to consistency of library services across locations. As a unit we are working to define and solidify our values and strategies for maintaining a generous but sustainable staffing model. This session reflects on the challenges and advocacy required to stick to staffing models that are sustainable and humane for staff.


Outcomes:  

1. Attendees will examine strategies and lessons for having difficult conversations with staff.

1. Attendees will assess staffing model stability through scheduling; including primary, backup, and cross-training for frontline staff.

1. Attendees will also discuss advocacy for library staff needs and complexities to setting hours.

Join us to learn about the C.A.R.E.S. framework of customer service, how it can be taught to up-skill staff, and how these skills can be assessed by a supervisor. C.A.R.E.S. stands for communication, accountability, response, empathy, and solution - the key ingredients in patron satisfaction. Learning Objectives: 1. understand the C.A.R.E.S. framework. 2. develop ideas on how to teach the C.A.R.E.S. framework to staff. 3. develop ideas on assessing the efficacy of staff with the C.A.R.E.S. framework.

Many user services units collect patron transaction data, but how often are frontline library staff involved in the processes of meaning- and decision-making using this data? This session will detail one approach to integrating user services staff into the process of data analysis through the format of an in-unit working group. The working group undertakes a variety of qualitative analytical approaches to data collected in LibAnswers and Libraryh3lp in order to identify trends in patron needs and uses these trends to generate ideas for special projects. Attendees will gain insight into how including staff in the process of data analysis leads to better-vetted findings and actionable plans as well as increased staff engagement and agency.

The Student Employee Supervisors at Wartburg’s Vogel Library are always experimenting with new training methods. Our two teams of student employees are often the first contact patrons have when they seek library services, so it is important that we train our teams to be self-disciplined thinkers who will approach patron interactions with the highest level of quality, integrity and equity. In other words, with excellent customer service and a mindset of inclusion. The guiding force behind our training is our student employment policies (ex: safe space and confidentiality policies) and etiquette guidelines. Over the past few years changes in campus dynamics and feedback from students has prompted us to become more creative in our training approaches, incorporating the use of skits, one-on-one meetings, and Canvas, our campus’ learning management system. In this session we will talk about the evolution of our training and communication methods, our annual development cycle, and key takeaways. We will also provide an opportunity for session attendees to share their student employee training stories.

Meet me in the library at midnight- I’ll bring the Ghost Hunting Kit! At Michigan Technological University, the JR Van Pelt and Opie library has been experimenting with packing items from its Library of Things into adventure kits and hosting field trips. We found students loved the idea of our Library of Things, but some of the more fun items were often underutilized and overlooked in favor of the more practical calculators, laptops, and cables we lend. Located in the incredibly scenic upper peninsula of Michigan, we saw items such as our GoPros, DSLR cameras, and timers as tools that could do more than just support class projects; these could encourage campus community members to explore our unique area, engage prospective students, and showcase new items.

Join us for a conversation about the logistics of planning field trips, assembling and lending kits on the go with Alma, cultivating partners, and measuring success. We’ll weave in interactive, round-table style brainstorming and conversation on how you can replicate and adapt this at your institution, so that you can leave with a plan!

Regardless of a person's socioeconomic standing, everyone is entitled to use their local library. Charging patrons for an item that was accidentally damaged while checked out to them deters them from using the library. This can be for many reasons, whether it be that they are unable to afford it or for the shame they feel for damaging an item. This feels contradictory to what we believe a library should be advocating for within our community. One way that we felt that we could make a difference would be to enact an accident forgiveness policy. This is a multistep process that made us reassess how and why we sent patrons to collections, added a processing fee, and ultimately, how we kept patrons from using the library. 

Student employees are the backbone of the academic library, particularly for access and circulation departments. Many of our student employees go on to enjoy careers in library and information services. Managers in circulation and access services develop early-career information professionals by promoting student employees to advanced roles, assigning advanced tasks and providing advanced training and mentorship. Additionally, advanced student workers help overburdened staff with their operational tasks like circulation reports, responding to patron emails, and stacks maintenance projects. Trusting our student employees with advanced mission-critical tasks more thoroughly engages them in our work, improving the quality of service our patrons receive and providing invaluable workplace experience to young professionals.

This conference session will involve a short discussion of advanced student worker roles in UW-Madison Access Services, including our recent role leveling project as we bring student roles from multiple libraries into alignment under one department. We will also discuss training and supervision best practices for advanced student employee roles. Interactive activities will follow, in which session attendees will examine tasks and roles from your own libraries to identify opportunities for advanced student employees. Templates and other take-home materials will be provided. This session will be most beneficial for managers and supervisors of student employees in access and circulation services but all are welcome to attend.

In this session, you will learn how to:

- Design advanced student positions, tasks and projects that match library needs with student career goals and interests
- Train lead students to train and guide other student workers
- Provide mentorship opportunities for early-career information professionals

You will leave with strategies you can use right away.

A misshelved book. LIS migration with no record cleanup. Incorrect call number labels. These are stacks crimes that Tisch Library has faced for years. No inventory of the stacks has ever been completed at Tisch, but one department is determined to close the case file and resolve these mysteries. Using modern API integrations with Alma, our forensic investigators (student workers) systematically examine our crime scene. As they scan items, they are alerted to inconsistencies between Alma and what they see.  These investigators pull the items and bring these “clues” to the detectives (Access Staff) who further investigate in Alma what the problems are, resolving what we can, and passing through the Chain of Custody (i.e. technical services work orders) things we cannot.  Resolving a variety of "crimes" that have plagued our stacks for years, come hear about the significant progress made in ensuring our shelves and catalog match for the first time in Tisch history. At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to outline the basic components for starting an inventory project. Participants will be able to compare their current inventory processes and identify areas for improvement.

Our presentation details a novel approach to inventory through our ILS' weeding workflows. The workflow functions as a figurative 'lens' through which our holdings are assessed for item and bibliographic-level cataloguing errors or inconsistencies; the proliferation of these for some 16 years prior being a major pain point in the transition to a new ILS. As opposed to typical "snapshot" models of inventory, our method manifests a recombinant teleological and modular process; reporting and data accrual are now continual versus periodic in output, and there is no need for closure. While the procedure is tied to a specific ILS, we believe the broader philosophy and underlying concepts will be applicable to most other library systems.

Get ready for a behind-the-scenes look at how one library system transformed a simple Strategic Plan idea into a vibrant, systemwide circulation staff conference; an event that not only built practical skills but sparked new confidence, collaboration, and professional growth across every level of circulation work.  

An action team dug into systemwide survey responses to pinpoint the training topics that mattered most to our frontline staff. With that foundation, we brought in a keynote speaker, an inspiring leadership expert who wove staff interests into an energizing opening session that set the tone for the entire day. 

Staff input fueled a lineup of sessions that blended hands-on learning with forward-thinking professional development: navigating workplace conflict, sustainable workplace ergonomics, pathways to promotion and more. 
You will learn in this session practical ideas, inspiration, and a clearer sense of how inclusive and staff driven planning will help you develop your own localized circulation conference.