Calling all librarians!
Do you have a tool, project, or great idea about teaching and learning online that you'd like to share with your peers? The ACRL Distance Learning Section Instruction Committee invites you to submit a proposal to our second annual Distance Library Instruction Virtual Poster Session, which will take place April 13-17, 2020. Proposals are due February 19, 2020.
What is a virtual poster session?
The term “poster” is used very loosely; the intent is to keep the spirit of the traditional poster session while allowing for innovation and creativity in the format used. As in traditional poster sessions, virtual poster session presenters create short, asynchronous presentations of their work (as a guideline, less than 5 minutes of multimedia or 500 words of text) and they are available to answer questions. While an image or PDF that matches the traditional poster format is welcome, creativity and the use of interactive and multimedia formats are especially encouraged during this virtual poster session.
All posters will be hosted on the DLS website. During the poster session week, presenters will asynchronously engage with attendees. Through commenting functionality, viewers can ask questions about your work, and engage in conversation with you about your topic. Last year’s event proves that this format has the potential to lead to interesting and vibrant conversations between presenters and viewers across time zones.
After the poster session week has concluded, the posters will be archived on the DLS website so that they can continue to be viewed indefinitely.
What is the timeline for this event?
The virtual poster session will take place April 13-17, 2020
- Proposals are due by February 19, 2020
- If accepted, you'll be asked to submit your completed poster by April 1, 2020
Presenters will actively respond to comments and questions for a full week (April 13-17, 2020). The DLS-IC will assist with promoting interaction, but we ask that you check in on your poster at least once a day to keep the conversation going.
What topics can I present on?
Posters can be on any topic related to distance and online library instruction. We would love to hear about your successes and failures in teaching distance and online students, your instructional techniques and approaches, and the tools and technologies that you use! Though it is not required, we encourage you to align your proposal with one of our five tracks:
- Accessibility and Inclusivity: How do you ensure that your online courses and learning objects are accessible and inclusive?
- Assessment: How do you assess your online instruction (including qualitative and affective assessment)?
- Instructional Collaborations: How do you effectively build relationships and collaborate with faculty, instructional designers, and others to instruct distance and online students?
- Project Planning & Management: How do you efficiently manage the “behind the scenes” work of planning, developing, reviewing, and updating online courses and learning objects?
- Student Engagement: How do you ensure students remain engaged in your synchronous and asynchronous online instruction?
How will presenters be chosen?
Proposals will be reviewed by members of the DLS-IC. We will be selecting posters based on the following criteria:
- Quality of Proposal: Is the information requested on the proposal submission form complete? Is the abstract well written, articulate, and does it clearly describe the main idea of the poster?
- Alignment to Poster Session Theme: Is the poster about library instruction in the distance/online environment?
- Interest to Attendees: Does the topic have potential to attract poster session attendees and stimulate conversation? Will innovative, new and/or unique information be presented? Is the topic practical, easily implemented, and broadly applicable?
- Diversity of Perspectives: We are seeking to provide a poster session that provides a diversity of perspectives. We especially invite posters from librarians, staff, and LIS students that highlight voices and experiences that are underrepresented in libraries.
I'm ready to submit!
I still have questions!
If you have questions, please contact ACRL Distance Learning Section Instruction Committee Co-Chairs, Matthew LaBrake (matthew-labrake@
