Orbis Cascade Alliance’s Alliance Connections will be held virtually July 22-24, 2025 with the theme of Foundations & Opportunities.
This page provides descriptions and details for all sessions. Return to the schedule for dates and times.
Invited Speaker Sessions
Hard Truths and Soft Starts: Challenges and Pathways to Critical Hope in Librarianship
Speaker: Kaetrena Davis Kendrick (Research Librarian & Workplace Consultant)
Description: Library workers are experiencing intense challenges in staffing, funding, and collections – along with values erosion, burnout, and exposure to workplace harm. Join Kaetrena as she explores LIS industry-based origins of these concerns – and shares how Critical Hope offers pathways to experience validation, Self-Preservation, and expanded avenues for library employee advocacy.
Skill Level: Any and all
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will not be recorded.
First Amendment Audit Training for Frontline Staff
Speaker: Dustin Smaby (Circulation Supervisor & MLIS Student)
Description: First Amendment audits of libraries are a growing trend and a very real challenge for frontline staff to handle. Chances are increasing that library staff will be faced with a First Amendment auditor’s attempt to get footage for their social media. In this webinar, learners will gain basic knowledge about First Amendment audits, what typically happens during an audit, and the key strategies for successfully navigating an audit. Video examples of audits will be used to highlight what (and what not) to do during an audit.
Dustin Smaby has worked in various roles across Illinois libraries for the past 13 years. His roles included adult reference, teen programming, circulation, interlibrary loan, and volunteer coordinating. Dustin is a Mount Mercy University alumnus, and is earning his MLIS from the University of Wisconsin. He is passionate about board games and video games, loves severe weather, and spends much of his free time in South Dakota. He has two cats named Doppler and Radar.
Skill Level: Any and all
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Rooted in Purpose: OD Strategies for Values-Driven Libraries
Speaker: Maisha Duncan Carey (Deputy University Librarian & Director of Organizational Learning, University of Delaware)
Description: For years, many libraries, universities and other educational institutions have sought ways to combat systemic discrimination through diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Today, that work faces intense scrutiny or outright bans, leaving many library workers wondering how to stay committed to their values and the communities they serve. In this session, Maisha will explore how organizational development (OD) can help libraries sustain their values-driven work in the current climate and introduce practical strategies that will be useful to library workers at all levels.
Maisha Carey currently serves as Deputy University Librarian and Director of Organizational Learning at the University of Delaware, where she is responsible for OD, HR, professional development, and assessment activities. She is currently working on her Ed.D in Educational Leadership and her research is focused on building organizational socialization practices that strengthen workplace culture.
Skill Level: Any and all
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Presentation & Conversation Sessions
Alliance Futures in Uncertain Times
Presenters: Isaac Gilman (Orbis Cascade Alliance) and Dena Hutto (Reed College)
Description: Join Executive Director Isaac Gilman and Alliance Board Chair Dena Hutto (Reed College) for a facilitated discussion that will inform the Alliance’s next strategic plan. Participants will have an opportunity to share their aspirations for Alliance collaboration over the next 1-3 years, along with concerns about local, regional, or national factors that could challenge those aspirations. Ideas generated through this discussion will be used by the Board and Alliance Council as they identify Alliance strategic priorities for the next few years.
Skill Level: Any and all
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Changing Course: Building a Cohesive Library Team
Presenters: Kristin Walker (University of Oregon)
Description: Using evidence based results gathered during two major Resource Sharing departmental restructuring processes, I will share what worked well and what did not for classified and student staff on the road to building my current dream team. I will include references from outside sources that will contribute to an engaging discussion. This session is geared towards supervisors and/or self-managing departments.
Skill Level: Intermediate
Alliance Program Area: Resource Sharing & Fulfillment
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Class Set Course Reserves: An Exercise in Collaboration
Presenter: Ruby O’Connor (Central Oregon Community College)
Description: At Central Oregon Community College, the Early Childhood Education (ECE) department provides enough textbooks to the library for every student to check out all their ECE textbooks for the full term. These full-class course reserves are beneficial for students and couldn’t be possible without close collaboration between the library and the ECE department. This session will highlight how the departments have worked together to establish and maintain this unique collection. Attendees will learn from our experiences and will be better prepared if they choose to explore a similar collaboration at their institutions.
Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Alliance Program Area: Resource Sharing & Fulfillment
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Desk Duty: A Return to the Fundamentals
Presenters: Jason Hall (Seattle University), Ekaterini Papadopoulou (Seattle University), and Jennifer Bodley (Seattle University)
Description: A team of research services/subject librarians will present recent successes resulting from a return to high-impact, in-person reference service by librarians at a physical reference desk. They will share statistical outcomes and feedback from students and campus partners demonstrating the positive effect of returning librarians to the in-person reference desk model. A brief review of reference and library service trends in research and college libraries will accompany details of how reference service models have evolved to reflect changing landscapes in student behavior, library staffing and job responsibilities, and library budgets. Attendees will be able to reflect on their own reference desk service models and how they map to their own library and university goals, ideals and values. Are you responding to trends, or getting back to basics?
Skill Level: Any and all
Alliance Program Area: Diversity & User Experience, Resource Sharing & Fulfillment
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Exploration of Using MarcEdit Delimited Text Translator to Convert Excel Data From the UW Gaihōzu Inventory Into MARC Records
Presenters: Keiko Hill (University of Washington) and Jian P. Lee (University of Washington)
Description: The University of Washington (UW) possesses a significant collection of uncataloged Japanese gaihōzu maps. The Japanese Studies Librarian has developed a comprehensive inventory sheet that provides detailed information on each individual map held by UW. To enhance the discoverability and accessibility of this collection, we explored the possibility of streamlining the cataloging process by converting the data from the inventory sheet into MARC records using the MarcEdit Delimited Text Translator. In this session, we will share the insights and steps we learned while utilizing the MarcEdit tool to convert non-Latin script data. A short demonstration will be provided.
Skill Level: Intermediate
Alliance Program Area: Shared Content & Technical Services
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Exploring Mixpanel: Early Insights Into the New Primo Analytics
Presenters: Jian Wang (Portland State University) and Allen Hauser (Portland State University)
Description: As Primo VE evolves into the Next Discovery Experience (NDE), libraries are transitioning from classic Primo Analytics to Mixpanel, a dynamic, event-based analytics platform designed for real-time insights. This session offers early findings from initial Mixpanel testing and highlights key distinctions between the traditional and next-generation analytics approaches. We’ll explore how Mixpanel’s advanced features such as Insights, Funnels, Flows, and Retention can reveal about discovery UX, illuminate user behavior, and support data-informed decision making. A live demonstration will be included to showcase practical applications.
Learning Outcomes:
- Distinguish between classic Primo Analytics and the new Mixpanel Analytics, focusing on methodological and functional differences.
- Analyze user behavior using Mixpanel’s real-time, event-driven data tools.
- Identify insights about discovery and UX based on behavioral analytics.
- This session is intended for those seeking to understand the capabilities of Mixpanel and explore how the new analytics platform can support user-centered discovery services.
Skill Level: Intermediate
Alliance Program Area: Systems, Diversity & User Experience
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Finding Balance Within Professional Networks
Presenters: Elizabeth Brown (Central Washington University) and Lydia Bello (Seattle University)
Description: Library consortia, state library organizations, national library groups, communities of practice around library work…participation in these networks is foundational in building the connections that foster collaborative library work. Strengthening ties and sharing knowledge helps libraries get more done. However, with so many networks to participate in, how do you determine what’s the best home for a particular conversation? Does your work within a network ever intersect, overlap, or conflict with professional organizational involvement? What benefits does the network variety offer? This round table will invite discussion around how we balance these intersections within professional networks and give space for library workers to discuss how they strike or struggle with that balance.
Skill Level: Any and all
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will not be recorded.
Intellectual Freedom Policies Community Conversation
Presenters: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Standing Group, represented by Lizzie Aubrey (Southern Oregon University), Janet Calderon (Reed College), Justyne Triest (Pacific University), & Jazper Windsor (University of Washington)
Description: The DUX Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Standing Group has been working to compile resources to help support Alliance libraries experiencing intellectual freedom challenges. This community conversation is an opportunity for member staff to share their thoughts, concerns, and questions about challenges to libraries, including collection development and reconsideration policies, library spaces and exhibits, and codes of conduct. We’ll incorporate your feedback to help us develop and design a resource that can best prepare member libraries to defend intellectual freedom at their institutions. Participants can expect any feedback gathered to be kept anonymous. Available methods of interaction will include chat, whiteboards, anonymous Q & A, polls, and conversation.
Skill Level: Any and all
Alliance Program Area: Diversity & User Experience
Recording: This session will not be recorded.
Library of Things
Presenters: Kate Smith (University of Oregon), April Witteveen (Oregon State University Cascades), Katie Bowler (Oregon State University, Guin Library), Stefanie Hood (Oregon State University), and Sara Trott (Oregon State University)
Description: This conversation provides a chance to talk about loaning technology, kits, passes, and other Things focused on the needs of our unique communities. Topics will include partnerships, storage, funding, and promoting this collection. Attendees will come away with new ideas and inspiration on how they can rethink and expand their equipment collections.
Skill Level: Any and all
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Nailed It/Failed It
Presenter: Kerri Goergen-Doll (Oregon State University)
Description: Coming soon.
Skill Level: Any and all
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Resource Sharing & Fulfillment Welcome Packet
Presenters: Sharing Standing Group, represented by Jenny Bornstein (Lewis & Clark College); Fulfillment Standing Group, represented by Victoria Kerr (University of Idaho); Community Engagement Group, represented by Jackie Gray (Saint Martin’s University), Roman Block (Oregon Health & Science University), Lara Elliott (Lewis & Clark College), and Todd Campbell (Eastern Washington University); and Lori Hilterbrand (Orbis Cascade Alliance)
Description: The Resource Sharing and Fulfillment groups have come together to develop and create a welcome packet for new Alliance member staff. This resource will highlight and host essential information available to members in one place. Our session will outline how this project developed, how it will function, and what information will be included.
Skill Level: Beginner
Alliance Program Area: Resource Sharing & Fulfillment
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Privacy and Anonymization at the Alliance
Presenters: Lori Hilterbrand (Orbis Cascade Alliance), Amy Coughenour (Orbis Cascade Alliance), and Jesse Holden (Orbis Cascade Alliance)
Description: Methods and considerations from Alliance program areas for keeping only the patron data you need and protecting research, loan, and requesting data privacy.
Skill Level: Intermediate
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Testing Content for Accessibility: Tools and Techniques
Presenters: Ren Thomas (The Evergreen State College), representing the Accessibility Standing Group, with Michele DeSilva (Central Oregon Community College), Jeremiah Kellogg (Eastern Oregon University), and Sagan Wallace (Oregon State University)
Description: For anyone who creates and shares content, whether it’s procedural documents, emails, web pages, or media, understanding relevant accessibility guidelines and testing is a foundational skill. This session will introduce a new resource made by the DUX Accessibility Standing Group focused on accessibility testing. Our goal is to go beyond listing accessibility testing tools by giving guidance about how to use them and in what use cases they are most relevant. In addition to introducing this resource, presenters will demonstrate a few practical examples of accessibility testing in action.
Skill Level: Beginner
Alliance Program Area: Diversity & User Experience
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Things That Were, Things That Are, and Some Things That Have Not Yet Come to Pass
Presenters: Janeanne Rockwell-Kincanon (Western Oregon University), Christopher Mansayon (Western Oregon University), and Vanessa Petroj (Western Oregon University)
Description: Among the institutional members of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, 63% of Writing Centers (WC) are housed in their campus’ libraries. In 2024, Western Oregon University (WOU) joined its ranks by shifting its WC reporting line to the Dean of Library and Academic Innovation and physically moving the WC into Hamersly Library, all while hiring a new WC Director. Collectively, these changes provide outstanding opportunities for the WC and the library to integrate and/or collaborate, driven by a shared mission and set of values. We will describe the history of the WOU Writing Center (things that were), where we currently are in our transition process (things that are), as well as the initiatives and directions that are on our horizon (things that have not yet come to pass). We will share our story and encourage other managers and staff of library public services and of writing centers to share theirs, from those just considering a similar incorporation to those who have already done so.
Skill Level: Any an all
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will be recorded.
Virtual Cabaret
Presenters: Lori Hilterbrand (Orbis Cascade Alliance) and Friends
Description: A session where member staff showcase their fun and unique talents. A tiny talent show!
Skill Level: Beginner
Alliance Program Area: All
Recording: This session will not be recorded.
XML to ArchivesSpace Conversion Project at University of Washington Special Collections
Presenters: Elaine Speer (University of Washington) and Tracy Nishimoto (University of Washington)
Description: In early 2025, UW Libraries Special Collections (UWSC) learned that custom digital tools vital to finding aid creation would be difficult to transfer over to Windows 11. This put a ten month deadline for creating and converting finding aids in EAD xml to ArchivesSpace without a full-time IT/systems staff for the unit. While this has been a long-term dream for staff, it wasn’t seen as a real possibility until staffing levels has been returned to pre-pandemic levels. However, staff saw the opportunity to start this project and have found ways to make it possible. Technical services (accessioning and processing archivists) will share their experiences working with a central libraries IT unit to create a project that minimally impacts other work while substantially updating archival workflows. This will include how to help IT professionals understand archival tools like ArchivesSpace and EAD, experiences importing Archives West finding aids into ArchivesSpace, and experience working with student employees during this substantial workflow shift.
Skill Level: Intermediate
Alliance Program Area: Open Strategies & Digital Collections
Recording: This session will be recorded.