FACRL News & Announcements

Well-Being in Higher Education: The Library's Evolving Role

The Florida Chapter of ACRL (FACRL) is seeking proposals for presentations and poster sessions for the 2025 FACRL Virtual Annual Conference, held online on Friday, October 24, 2025.

“Being mentally resilient is integral to academic success” —Stephanie Rollins, director of library services at Air University in Montgomery, Alabama.

Over the past decade, mental health support in academic libraries has evolved into a creative, focused, and expansive initiative. Leading the way, educational institutions are consistently innovating to address campus needs by implementing targeted tools, dedicating roles and spaces to promote well-being, and investing in specialized programs and services tailored to their students and faculty. This year's call for proposals invites librarians and library staff to showcase their innovative projects, strategies, and ideas that uplift and enhance campus well-being.

What innovative projects have you implemented to enhance your academic campus's well-being? What steps can we take to prevent personal and professional burnout? What can we do to promote work/life balance? What spaces, resources, collections, activities, groups, or services do you provide to support wellness for your students, faculty, and staff? What wellness programs or immersive tools have you introduced to help others in their journey toward improved overall well-being? What practices have you implemented to leverage librarian expertise and enhance services and resources for a more positive patron experience?

We welcome submissions from library staff, students, and faculty.

Topics might include but are not limited to:

• Innovative ways to promote wellness.
• Promoting support services and networks.
• Student engagement activities.
• Building relevant collections.
• Librarians as champions for their students and faculty.
• Flexible work schedules, e.g., remote work, flex time, compressed schedules, etc.
• Innovative spaces, e.g., quiet rooms, comfortable seating, low sensory lighting, serenity, and meditation rooms.
• Stress-less activities for students, e.g., therapy dogs, free massages, coloring, and puzzle stations.
• Physical and mental well-being activities and other immersive tools that promote resilience and mental strength, e.g., yoga for the mind and body, relaxation techniques.
• Slow Librarianship: A captivating approach that harnesses the expertise of librarians to elevate services and resources, ensuring a genuinely enriching experience for patrons. It's all about fostering a positive connection and creating a welcoming environment where knowledge blooms and exploration flourishes!

Do you have an idea for a timely topic outside this year's theme? Please feel free to submit it for consideration! Don't see a trend of interest but have best practices to share? No problem. Submit your proposal anyway.

Proposals for presentations, posters, and lightning round presentations can be submitted beginning Monday, May 19, 2025 using the online submission form. Rolling reviews and decisions will occur as proposals are received. The final deadline to submit is Friday, July 11, 2025. Presenters will receive complimentary registration to the virtual conference.

Presentations should be 45 minutes long, including the time provided for questions. Posters will be shared during a virtual poster session at the conference. Lightning round presentations are 5 minutes in length. Please follow this link to the rubric used to score all proposals. Acceptance emails will be sent on or before Friday, August 15, 2025. 

Presentations of superior quality may be considered for future publication in The Reference Librarian, a major refereed journal published by Taylor and Francis. Consider reviewing the Instructions for Authors to learn about the expectations of content and writing for this peer-reviewed journal, which utilizes APA 7th edition style. Please contact editor Lauri Rebar (Lrebar@fau.edu) with any questions. New and established authors are welcome!

Inquiries may be sent to the FACRL President, Leah Plocharczyk (lplochar@fau.edu).

Are you looking to enhance your professional network while making a meaningful contribution to FACRL? Joining a committee is an impactful way to shape the future of academic and research librarianship in Florida. By volunteering your time and skills, you can help advance FACRL's strategic plan and influence the direction of this dynamic field. 

Take the first step towards building your leadership capacity and expanding your professional network by joining an FACRL committee today. As a volunteer, you will have the opportunity to: 

• Forge connections with academic and research librarians across Florida
• Strengthen your leadership skills through project management and consensus-building
• Share your expertise with fellow professionals
• Contribute to the growth of the association and the profession

Please note that all volunteers must: 

• Maintain active FACRL membership throughout their appointment
• Be willing and able to participate fully in committee activities
• Support the mission and concerns of the committee and complete assignments promptly

Join us in making a difference!

How to apply: 

Please submit your volunteer application using the Committee Volunteer Form by Friday, April 25, 2025. If you are not yet an FACRL member, we invite you to learn about our cost-effective membership options. Join us by becoming an FACRL member. 

If you need assistance with the volunteer form, please contact our FACRL President-Elect, Leah Plocharczyk. We greatly appreciate your interest in supporting FACRL and Florida's academic libraries, and we eagerly look forward to your future involvement with us!

We are looking for participants to be a part of a panel for an FLA preconference to share their experience and ideas on student engagement. Academic libraries play a pivotal role in student success, engagement, and the overall learning experience. With the landscape of higher education in midst of change, we need to embrace innovative strategies to actively engage with students beyond traditional services. The FLA preconference will explore effective, creative, and sustainable practices for fostering student engagement within academic library settings.

Do you have a successful initiative, program, or research addressing the changing needs and expectations of students in the library environment? If so, and you want to be part of the FLA preconference, please let us know!

Email Leah Plocharczyk (lplochar@fau.edu) or Sarah Hammill (hammills@fiu.edu) by Tuesday, February 4 for questions or to express interest.

Proving Our Worth Within and Beyond the Academic Community

The Florida Chapter of ACRL (FACRL) is seeking proposals for presentations and poster sessions for the 2024 FACRL Virtual Annual Conference, held online on Friday, October 25, 2024.

In the last few years, academic libraries and librarianship have faced many challenges that required us to defend our professional expertise and how we continue to provide value to the communities we serve. Librarians nationwide continue to overcome these obstacles by using innovative problem-solving approaches. This year's call for proposals encourages librarians and library staff to share their creative projects, plans, strategies, and ideas that demonstrate our professional value to our academic community. What innovative projects have you implemented that showcase your expertise? How do we prevent ourselves from being marginalized and having our expertise questioned? How has your academic integrity and freedom been challenged, and how did you respond? What intangible benefits do you bring to your community that may not be seen or valued? What is our responsibility as a profession in defending libraries, those we represent, and the values we hold?

We welcome submissions from library staff, students, and faculty.

Topics might include but are not limited to:

Do you have an idea for a timely topic outside this year's theme? Please feel free to submit it for consideration! Don't see a trend of interest but have best practices to share? No problem. Submit your proposal anyway.

Proposals for presentations, posters, and lightning round presentations can be submitted beginning June 24, 2024 using the online submission form. Rolling reviews and decisions will occur as proposals are received. The final deadline to submit is August 2, 2024. Presenters will receive complimentary registration to the virtual conference.

Presentations should be 45 minutes long, including the time provided for questions. Posters will be shared during a virtual poster session at the conference. Lightning round presentations are 5 minutes in length. Please follow this link to the rubric used to score all proposals. Acceptance emails will be sent on or before August 23, 2024. 

Presentations of superior quality may be considered for future publication in The Reference Librarian, a major refereed journal published by Taylor and Francis. Consider reviewing the Instructions for Authors to learn about the expectations of content and writing for this peer-reviewed journal, which utilizes APA 7th edition style. Please contact editor Lauri Rebar with any questions. New and established authors are welcome!

Inquiries may be sent to the FACRL Conference Committee Chair, Jason Phillips or the FACRL President, Ana Diamand.

Looking to enhance your professional network while making a meaningful contribution to FACRL? Joining a committee is an impactful way to shape the future of academic and research librarianship in Florida. By volunteering your time and skills, you can help advance the strategic plan of FACRL and influence the direction of this dynamic field. Take the first step towards building your leadership capacity and expanding your professional network by joining a FACRL committee today.  As a volunteer, you'll have the chance to: Forge connections with academic and research librarians across Florida, Strengthen your leadership skills through project management and consensus-building, Share your expertise with fellow professionals, and Contribute to the growth of the association and the profession.  To volunteer, you must: Maintain active FACRL membership throughout your appointment, Be willing and able to participate fully in committee activities, support the mission or concerns of the committee, and complete assignments in a timely manner. How to apply: We kindly encourage you to submit your volunteer application by Friday, May 3rd via the Committee Volunteer Form. For those who are not yet members of FACRL, we warmly invite you to learn more about our "low cost-high value" membership categories by visiting https://facrl.wildapricot.org/membership If you require any assistance while filling out the volunteer form, please don't hesitate to reach out to Leah Plocharczyk, FACRL President-Elect, at lplochar@fau.edu. We greatly appreciate your interest in supporting FACRL and Florida's academic libraries, and we eagerly look forward to your future involvement with FACRL! Volunteer Today!

Thank you for your participation in the 2024 FACRL Board Elections. Please join us in congratulating the newest members of the FACRL Board!

Special thanks to Rachel Cooke, Clarissa West-White, Julie Hornick, and Nancy Schuler for serving on this year's Nominating Committee. 

Our new Board members will be formally installed during the May meeting.

President
Ana Diamand

President-Elect
Leah Plocharczyk

Secretary
Emily Norton

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer
Alejandra Rodriguez

Board Member at Large (North)
Diana Matthews

Board Member at Large (South)
Angie Neely-Sardon

The new FACRL Board outlined below will begin their terms in May. 

FACRL Board of Directors (2024-2025)

• Ana Diamand, President (2024-2026)
• Leah Plocharczyk, President-Elect (2024-2027)
• Clarissa West-White, Past-President (2024-2025)
• Emily Norton, Secretary (2024-2026)
• Sarah J. Hammill, Treasurer (2023-2026)
• Rachel Tait-Ripperdan, Communications Manager (2023-2025)
• Janet Chan (Central Zone, 2023-2025)
• Vacant (Central Zone, 2023-2025)
• Diana Matthews (Northern Zone, 2024-2026)
• Lisa Campbell (Northern Zone, 2023-2025)
• Angie Neely-Sardon (Southern Zone, 2024-2026)
• Lauri Rebar (Southern Zone, 2023-2025)

The FACRL AI Exploration Interest Group is dedicated to delving into the dynamic intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and library sciences. We are interested in exploring how to use AI technologies to enhance library services, streamline information retrieval processes, and adapt information literacy sessions to incorporate AI literacies. This group provides a collaborative space for sharing insights, resources, and best practices. Join us as we navigate the evolving landscape of AI in libraries and empower ourselves as information stewards in the digital age. (As befits an AI group, this description was first generated by ChatGPT and then edited).

Contact Diana Matthews to join the new interest group.

About FACRL Interest Groups

FACRL Interest Groups are open to all Chapter members. Any group of ten or more members of the Chapter, representing a field or activity of interest and within the scope of the Chapter’s field of interest, may organize a group upon receiving approval from the Board of Directors. Interest groups shall be open to all members free of charge and composed only of Chapter members.