C&RL News October 2019 516

Higher education lives on the academ-
ic community established by and for 
its faculty. [The Campus Conversations 
in Standish speaker] series drives that 
community by sharing our expertise, 
building intellectual networks, and 
reminding us all of the very interest-
ing work being done every day by 
individual faculty. This series reminds 
us of the integral role the Libraries’ 
play in the development and advance-
ment of scholarship. In many ways, 
the Libraries serve as a cross-campus 
hub.—James Stellar

What library would not like to receive 
a comment such as this from the previous 
campus provost? He was commenting on 
a faculty speaker series, Campus Conversa-
tions in Standish, begun by the University at 
Albany Libraries several years ago. The series 
has gained the interest and respect of the 
campus community. A recent speaker from 
the Department of Languages, Literatures, 
and Cultures noted:

For me the Conversations in Standish 
are a rare and precious venue of 
scholarly exchange; and it seems quite 
apropos that the idea of such a series 
has been developed and that the 
event is being hosted by our UAlbany 
library. You as our librarians are the 
ones in touch with all our disciplines 
and scholarly needs and questions. 

I see our library as a point of con-
tact and . . . exchange of ideas and 
resources.—Ilka Kressner

Each conversation is sparked by a short 
presentation by a faculty member about 
her or his research in progress or profes-
sional interests more generally. We encour-
age speakers not to exceed 35 minutes 
for the formal presentation, which allows 
ample time not only for questions, but also 
for a conversation. We are particularly in-
terested in providing students with an op-
portunity to engage with faculty members 
from a wide range of disciplines. Many of 
the questions that have been asked are 
thought-provoking, based on the way that 
speakers work through the issues as they 
respond. We have had several speakers—
particularly those still engaged in the work 
of the project they are describing—say that 
the give-and-take portion of the event has 
been particularly helpful to them in how 
they plan to move forward.

The series developed from a suggestion 
by the librarian coauthor of this piece, who 
felt that there might be an opportunity to 

Trudi E. Jacobson is head of the information literacy 
department, email: tjacobson@albany.edu, and Tyler 
Nor ton is student success and communications 
associate, email: tnorton@albany.edu, at the University 
at Albany-SUNY University Libraries

© 2019 Trudi E. Jacobson and Tyler Norton

Trudi E. Jacobson and Tyler Norton

The library’s role in building 
campus conversations 
Extending academic discourse

mailto:tjacobson%40albany.edu?subject=
mailto:tnorton%40albany.edu?subject=


October 2019 517 C&RL News

extend the libraries’ role in the academic 
discourse on campus. She brought the 
suggestion to the then director of public 
services, who felt that the idea had merit. 
The dean and other members of the policy-
making group in the library agreed. The 
dean asked the librarian to oversee it, and 
she happily agreed. The name of the series, 
Campus Conversations in Standish, states 
both the intent for the events and the event 
location—a particularly attractive meeting 
room in the Science Library. It has not 
been particularly 
time consuming 
or costly to in-
stitute.

We have had 
2 2  t a l k s  s i n c e 
2015, spanning 
15 diverse disci-
plines. We have 
found historians 
to be eager and 
engaging partici-
pants who often 
encourage their 
students to at-
t e n d .  S o m e  o f 
the other speak-
ers represent the 
sciences (chem-
i s t r y ,  e n v i r o n -
mental engineer-
ing, atmospheric 
science), social 
s c i e n c e s  ( p s y -
chology, anthropology, political science, 
information science), and the humanities 
(art, art history, languages, literatures, and 
cultures). We have learned things during 
the course of the series that might be useful 
for other libraries. 

Logistics
A small committee was formed to plan and 
oversee the events. It currently includes 
four librarians and the communications co-
ordinator from the office of the dean of li-
braries. The committee generally meets just 

twice a year to determine which speakers 
we would like to invite and which commit-
tee liaison will coordinate communication 
with each speaker. Initially, we drew upon 
faculty members whom we knew to be en-
gaging presenters with interesting research 
topics. We also solicited suggestions from 
other librarians and former speakers, and 
have since branched out to adding ideas 
suggested by the campus daily newsletter 
and news announcements on the websites 
of the university’s various schools and col-

leges. It has 
quickly become 
such an estab-
lished entity 
on campus that 
we sometimes 
get requests 
from faculty 
members who 
would like to 
be considered 
as speakers. We 
strive to include 
presenters from 
a range of disci-
plines that span 
the humanities, 
arts, social sci-
ences, and sci-
ences, selecting 

three per semes-
ter. We ask that 
talks be appro-
priate for an in-

terdisciplinary, nonspecialist audience. 
In order to facilitate the committee’s 

work, names of past and potential speakers 
are all kept in a shared Google sheet. The 
sheet is also used to collect information on 
their departments, research interests, and, 
for those selected, their scheduled dates and 
presentation titles. 

From the start of the series in spring 
2015, the events have been held at midday 
on Wednesdays, coinciding exactly with a 
class period. This alignment makes it easier 
for people to attend, rather than a noon to 

Associate Professor of History Carl Bon Tempo presented 
his Campus Conversations in Standish talk in the Fall 2016 
semester.



C&RL News October 2019 518

1:00 p.m. slot, for example, that spans two 
class periods. We understood that there 
was no one good time period to select, and 
made a choice that avoided time slots we 
knew to be problematic. Some institutions 
have a “free period” in which classes are 
not scheduled, which might be ideal for a 
speaker series.

The communications coordinator pro-
vides essential support prior to and at 
events: 

• reserve the room for all viable 
W e d n e s d a y 
dates a semes-
ter prior to the 
e v e n t ,  w h i c h 
a l l o w s  u s  t o 
o f f e r  p o t e n -
tial speakers a 
choice of dates; 

• d e t e r -
mine that the 
dean will pro-
v i d e  f u n d i n g 
f o r  r e f r e s h -
ments at each 
event, and then 
orders those re-
freshments;

• w r i t e  a 
short biography 
of the speak-
er to be read 
when he or she 
is introduced; 
and 

• prepare sign-in sheets so that at-
tendance can be gauged and refreshment 
costs justified.

Marketing and distribution
While not a member of the committee, 
the student success and communications 
associate oversees the marketing of the 
series. Print materials, namely flyers and 
bookmarks, blog posts, social media mes-
sages, and LCD monitor slides are all used 
to advertise the events. Each talk also gets 
posted to the university’s shared calendar. 

In addition to sweeping, university-wide 
advertisements, the student success and com-
munications associate also coordinates with 
targeted groups on campus. This includes 
academic departments related to the topic, 
student groups, and administrative offices 
that work closely with the libraries. 

Involvement from the speakers plays a 
key role in effectively marketing the series. 
When an invited guest provides a headshot, 
biography, and description of the topic, the 
quality of the marketing materials rises. In 

some instances, 
speakers have 
indicated that 
they are open 
to doing short 
video advertise-
m e n t s  a h e a d 
of time. These 
c o u l d  r a n g e 
from a preview 
of the topic to 
rapid-fire ques-
tions shared on 
Facebook Live. 

In addition 
t o  a d v e r t i s e -
m e n t  v i d e o s , 
the committee 
finds r ecord-
ing the events 
beneficial for 
post-talk distri-
butions. Begin-

ning in the fall 2016 semester, the commit-
tee made an effort to record each session. 
Recordings are then shared on the libraries’ 
YouTube channel,1 as well as hosted in an 
institutional repository, Scholars Archive.2 
The videos have a similar brand layout, so 
that once packaged, a student employee or 
intern interested in multimedia production 
can edit them.

Reception to the series
The reception on campus has been quite 
positive. Highlights have included two 
standing room-only events, one a presenta-

The University at Albany community gathers for a Campus 
Conversations in Standish presentation in October 2016.



October 2019 519 C&RL News

tion entitled “Unconscious Brain, Decision-
Making and Learning” by the university’s 
provost, the other, “What Can 1916 Tell Us 
About 2016? Europe, Islam and the Middle 
East,” given by a historian. 

As the series has become better known, 
the small group dynamic that we had at a 
few of the early events, where everyone 
engaged in conversation as they sat around 
a large table configuration, is no longer pos-
sible. Depending on the topic of the talk, 
attendance has ranged from 15 to 75 people. 
But we still ask speakers to save time for a 
robust question-and-answer period. Some 
instructors ask their students to attend talks 
that are relevant to their courses, sometimes 
offering extra-credit. 

One subject librarian emphasizes how the 
series extends the libraries’ reach on campus:

I appreciate that this series is a great 
way for the libraries to support and 
promote research on campus not 
just via our regular venues (building 
collections, creating library services, 
developing workshops and other 
information literacy sessions) but 
by inviting faculty to share their 
research projects [with] the larger 
UAlbany community. Libraries [are] a 
place to share knowledge, to invite 
discussions, to promote the research 
voices on campus.—Jesús Alonso-
Regalado

Faculty, staff, and students find the 
mission of the university reflected in the 
conversations. A staff member highlights 
this connection:

I thoroughly enjoy the Campus Con-
versations in the library. I try to go 
whenever I can because I am always 
rewarded by learning something 
new, gaining insights about aca-
demic research, and getting to know 
our faculty. It also makes one more 
aware of belonging to a greater uni-
versity community.—Christina Evola

These responses affirm the value of the 
series across a range of constituencies. All 
too often, individuals from across campus 
only connect through committee work or 
at administrative meetings. Libraries have 
a unique opportunity to facilitate scholarly 
engagement that creates bridges between 
departments and disciplines. 

Conclusion
The organizing committee has had re-
quests to consider other categories of 
speakers or types of events, such as a con-
versation among doctoral students about 
the challenges they have had researching 
and writing their dissertations or the pre-
sentation of research by graduate students. 
We have also been asked to consider 
speakers who would require a move to a 
much larger space, such as the university 
president when he had published a new 
work. While some of these suggestions 
would clearly lead to interesting events, 
we plan to continue to adhere to our origi-
nal mission of highlighting the scholarship 
of faculty members in a manner that en-
hances the campus community and con-
versational goals of the series. 

We would be happy to work with others 
who might like to run a parallel series or 
host occasional events featuring graduate 
students. One of our goals is to have a 
librarian present his or her research-—as 
faculty members, we certainly qualify. We 
plan to continue as long as the library dean 
supports the program and faculty members 
continue to say yes when we ask them to 
participate. 

Notes
1.  University at Albany, Campus Conver-

sations in Standish Playlist, YouTube, https://
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG8BUcff
XGoeuq8IcZ8S5prKG9iQ7PWVa (accessed 
April 30, 2019).

2. University at Albany, Scholars Archive: 
Campus Conversations in Standish, https://
scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/campus 
_conversations/ (accessed April 30, 2019).  

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG8BUcffXGoeuq8IcZ8S5prKG9iQ7PWVa
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG8BUcffXGoeuq8IcZ8S5prKG9iQ7PWVa
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG8BUcffXGoeuq8IcZ8S5prKG9iQ7PWVa
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/campus_conversations/
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/campus_conversations/
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/campus_conversations/