Fresh off their successful program on Robert’s Rules of Order, The University Libraries Professional Activities Committee hosted an information session in January on how to best support students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Meredith R. Maroney and Justin Karter from the University at Albany’s Counseling and Psychological Services provided the Libraries’ faculty with an overview of the challenges facing students, the resources available to support them, and the strategies that best maintain mental health during a pandemic. 

The University Libraries Scholarly Communication Team was pleased to celebrate Love Data Week, "Data: Delivering a Better Future," February 8-12, 2021. We used this opportunity to highlight new services and resources, such as our Data Services Team and Data Citation LibGuide. We also encouraged deeper engagement with the promise of open data and the biases and ethics related to data sharing.

President Havidán Rodríguez held his annual Listening and Learning Tour meeting with the University Libraries on February 9, 2021. After providing an update on the state of the University at Albany, the President took questions from the Libraries’ faculty and staff. Many members of the Executive Council joined President Rodríguez for the session.

President Rodríguez began his Listening and Learning Tours in 2017. “These conversations have been extremely valuable for understanding the challenges and opportunities before us and to set the institutional priorities that will guide our work over the next several years,” said President Rodríguez. 
 

The University Libraries recognized Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week February 22-26. The campaign, driven by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), highlights the importance of fair use for students, faculty, and libraries across the United States. According to ARL, “Fair use and fair dealing are essential limitations and exceptions to copyright, allowing the use of copyrighted materials without permission from the copyright holder under certain circumstances.”

As part of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week, the University Libraries shared fair use tips and resources on social media. The posts received more than 4,000 views, making it one of the most successful digital campaigns in the Libraries’ recent memory.

“We highlighted more local resources and shared both well-established and newly released best practices for fair use for image use, text and data mining, and open educational resources,” said Emily Kilcer, Scholarly Communication Librarian. She added, “Fair Use Week gives the Libraries occasion to celebrate one of our favorite provisions of copyright law.”
 

From February through May, The University Libraries and The Graduate School hosted their popular Dissertation & Thesis Help Office Hours. In addition to providing individual support, the group produced focused presentations on topics including open access, copyright, formatting, Scholars Archive, and the Authors Alliance Partner Program (A2P2). Members of the Libraries’ faculty and staff who participated included Ann Kearney, Emily Kilcer, Karen Kiorpes, Elaine Lasda, Regina Testa, and Lindsay Van Berkom.

On March 29, the Information Literacy Department and the University Art Museum again hosted the Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, the fourth installment in the annual series. This year’s event took place virtually, with librarians assisting new editors on the technical side, while the Art Museum developed a list of women artists on which to focus.
 
“Following the wide-spread marketing campaign supported by the Libraries’ Marketing Coordinating Committee, 27 editors participated in the Edit-a-thon and the virtual format enabled contributions from across the globe,” said Trudi Jacobson, Distinguished Librarian and Head of Information Literacy.

The program strives to correct the gender imbalance on topics of art and feminism on Wikipedia. Per the Art + Feminism headquarters, “Since 2014, over 18,000 people at more than 1,260 events around the world have participated in our edit-a-thons, resulting in the creation and improvement of more than 84,000 articles on Wikipedia and its sister projects.”
 

The University Libraries offered a hybrid model of the popular Stress Less series in May. An in-person, grab-and-go campaign took place at the Dewey Graduate Library, featuring Stress Less care packages. The tote bags included aromatherapy bookmarks, meditation how-to cards, yoga instructions, hand sanitizer, chap stick, tissues, reusable cups, notepads, pens, magnets, and ear plugs.

For students participating remotely, the virtual model included:
•    Animal cams
•    Productivity tools
•    Free puzzles
•    Exercises
•    Mindfulness
•    Music and cartoon shorts
•    Cooking tips

Amanda Lowe, Outreach and Marketing Librarian, said of the initiative, "This semester we were happy to again offer our virtual guide. We look forward to next year when we can start offering more in-person stress less programs again!"