2025 PASCAL Member Conference

Academic libraries constantly adapt to meet and support their students’ needs while navigating budgetary constraints and larger institutional goals. At College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library, these challenges were met, in part, by making changes to its access and instruction service and staffing models. More specifically, this presentation will cover why the decision was made to move to a single service point, how it was implemented, how it evolved, and the challenges brought by those changes. This presentation will also detail how the staffing model was changed at the service desk to give librarians more time to focus on providing credit-bearing instruction demands, which were brought on by a new budget model adopted at the College of Charleston.

An academic library’s outreach committee based in the upstate of South Carolina was brainstorming branding/promotional ideas. Thus began the makings of a legend: their library mascot, a stuffed goose christened by students as “Goostavo”. This presentation will explore the inception of the mascot, its introduction, student involvement, and how it is used to spotlight library resources and events. Examples of promotional materials will be showcased during the talk.  

Teaching research skills to religion majors in a predominantly online society poses distinct challenges: undergraduates’ unfamiliarity with physical books, limited exposure to library stacks, and the allure of easy internet searches. This presentation examines strategies to address these issues, drawing on experiences from teaching in various undergraduate religion programs. It emphasizes cultivating critical thinking amid abundant, often unverified online resources while countering students’ preference for convenience over depth. Attention is also given to students’ unfamiliarity with standard citation styles (Chicago, Turabian), essential for fair research documentation. By introducing religion majors to key physical resources, sharpening critical thinking skills, and promoting proper citation practices, educators can offer a more robust learning experience. This approach bridges the gap between digital reliance and scholarly rigor, preparing students for academic success in an increasingly online world.  

Soft skills are non-technical abilities that influence how we interact with others, such as communication, empathy, and teamwork. In library roles, these skills are crucial for providing excellent service, collaborating with colleagues, and managing conflicts. This presentation will cover the importance of soft skills in library work and how to effectively highlight them on resumes to attract potential employers. It will also discuss the inclusion of soft skills in job descriptions to ensure the recruitment of well-rounded candidates. Additionally, participants will learn how to assess soft skills during interviews using behavioral questions and during performance evaluations through goal-setting and feedback. Finally, the presentation will offer practical strategies for continuous improvement of soft skills, such as active listening, conflict resolution, and seeking feedback. By enhancing these skills, library staff can create a more efficient, harmonious, and customer-focused environment.

The Lightning Talks session will feature four 20-minute presentations back-to-back in a 80 minute time slot, with a moderator for introductions, Q&A, and time keeping. Each speaker will give a 15-minute presentation with 5 minutes for Q&A.

AI in Cataloging: Opportunities and Pitfalls
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a powerful tool and assistant. AI models like ChatGPT and Copilot have demonstrated the potential to enhance cataloging processes. These AI systems can assist in generating Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) by interpreting complex prompts and providing relevant suggestions. Using studies on ChatGPT and Copilot, this presentation involves learning what is possible and what could be the future of coding and cataloging. AI's ability to process vast amounts of data and learn from patterns makes it an invaluable resource for cataloging professionals. AI has pitfalls because it is not always correct, and human judgment is needed to analyze the answers currently. Although it is a good place to start assembling records, it is not an end-all technology presently. One of the issues is it does not understand RDA. This presentation will examine AI's capacity for cataloging now.

The Lightning Talks session will feature four 20-minute presentations back-to-back in a 80 minute time slot, with a moderator for introductions, Q&A, and time keeping. Each speaker will give a 15-minute presentation with 5 minutes for Q&A.

Inventory Show and Tell
This presentation will serve as in-person follow-up to our Inventory Webinar. It will provide an opportunity for attendees to see and try out the scanners we used, see and hear about interesting items found in books during the inventory process, get some helpful tips for performing their own inventory project as well as an opportunity to ask questions about the inventory process.

The Lightning Talks session will feature four 20-minute presentations back-to-back in a 80 minute time slot, with a moderator for introductions, Q&A, and time keeping. Each speaker will give a 15-minute presentation with 5 minutes for Q&A.

Saving a Sinking Ship: Managing a Skeleton Crew in Acquisitions
Over the last five years, Clemson Libraries' Acquisitions department has had three separate leaders who managed a continually changing and depleted staff. During those years, at least ten positions were modified or vacated. Individuals departed due to retirement, illness, finding new positions at other organizations, or by adopting new roles or titles within Clemson Libraries following a reorganization. Through a mix of creative solutions and careful planning, our department continues to function at a high level.

The Lightning Talks session will feature four 20-minute presentations back-to-back in a 80 minute time slot, with a moderator for introductions, Q&A, and time keeping. Each speaker will give a 15-minute presentation with 5 minutes for Q&A.

USC's Research Data Analysis and Statistics Support Service - Data Help for the Campus Community
The Research Data Analysis and Statistics Support Service at USC's Libraries provides free stats and analysis help for faculty, students, and staff at the Columbia campus. This service, staffed by a Statistics PhD student, is in its second pilot year. As the only service of its kind available to anyone on campus, it has become an important source of help for researchers who lack the statistics background to complete projects. As the largest user group, graduate students are particularly well-served. In this lightning talk, participants will learn about the need for this service and first-steps that can be taking to bring a similar service to their own campuses.

Many special formats—music scores, serials, audiovisual media, etc.—are so common and numerous in library collections that excellent, explicit guidance for cataloging these materials is readily available from experts. Not so with the mysterious “bound-with” volume, which invites us to represent multiple manifestations as a single item, an interesting challenge. This presentation will provide attendees with a conceptual understanding of bound-with items and two approaches to cataloging them, as well as practical recommendations for creating bound-with records in Alma. This presentation is geared towards anyone with cataloging responsibilities, but does not expect expertise of attendees and will avoid jargon as much as possible.

Does your library oversee a Curriculum Materials Center (CMC; which also may be called a Curriculum Lab, Instructional Materials Center/Lab, Education Media Center, etc.)? Though others exist in PASCAL institutions, Anderson University (AU) currently has the only South Carolina CMC listed in the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Directory of Curriculum Materials Centers and Collections. In this session attendees will learn how AU is working to transform its neglected CMC into a model school library. Attendees will be encouraged to discuss their own CMC experiences, with the goal of establishing a collaborative network with other PASCAL librarians tasked with developing and managing CMCs.

Libraries have been providing information and resources for centuries. Innovations in libraries have improved the ability of libraries to broaden the capabilities of resource sharing, which has increased libraries relying on these services to supplement their budgets. Though resource sharing libraries are expanding access to information that would not usually be available. The innovations in Interlibrary Loan Systems and the introduction of AI have made a big impact on resource sharing. The purpose of this proposal is to provide information and strategies to show how resource sharing can open resources and develop collaborative communities but also not overwhelm already overloaded staff. It will also touch on how AI is affecting resource sharing.

Join PASCAL staff and colleagues for dinner at one of Columbia's tantalizing restaurants. Meet in the lobby of the Pastides Alumni Center at 5:00pm to walk or carpool to dinner with your selected group.
Sign-up sheets will be available at the registration table. More information coming soon.