2026 PASCAL Member Conference

ADA Title II updates require that government funded institutions make fully accessible all digital materials provided to the public. Coastal Carolina University has convened groups with multiple campus stakeholders to plan for full accessibility of all digital materials. Coastal Carolina University Libraries has already made progress in several accessibility projects identified by the library. This poster presentation will outline those projects and show progress made after one year of planning and implementation. The poster aims to provide insight to those libraries and institutions planning their own digital accessibility updates.

In one shot library instruction the Faculty-of-Record has real power to improve the quality of the library presentation. Even a small gesture from the faculty could create a more rapt audience of students during the class. This observation led to the creation of a qualitative survey to determine the importance of faculty participation in the library instruction process. Over the summer of 2025 ten instruction librarians from various PASCAL institutions were interviewed about their perspectives on the one-shot instruction process, how involved faculty are in their instruction, and other related questions. This poster will explore the collected data, patterns that were found, and provide recommendations for better one-shot library instruction.

USC Beaufort Libraries will create a public-facing Library Guide entitled "Freedom Takes Root: A Digital Gateway to the Reconstruction Era." This guide will be a curated, interactive digital bibliography centralizing Reconstruction-era materials related to Beaufort County and the Lowcountry. This collaborative project between the USCB Libraries and the ISRE will organize, annotate, and contextualize key primary and secondary resources to support researchers, teachers, and the public's understanding of one of the United States' most significant Reconstruction communities.

In Fall 2022, HONS 101: Studies in Fanfiction was offered as an interdisciplinary course to first semester freshmen at USC Aiken. Co-taught by an English professor and a librarian, the course focused on critical thinking, analysis, information literacy, research, writing, and examination of primary and secondary texts. The final project of the course was to create and deliver a conference style presentation, and the final projects were excellent and demonstrated good and actively developing research and information literacy skills. In this session, we'll define fanfiction and participatory fandom and demonstrate how they can be valid subjects for interdisciplinary study, with particular focus on helping students develop information literacy skills. Fandom communities develop in a similar way to academic communities, and many fans essentially become subject matter experts with some understanding of the nature and overall quality of information online, resulting in them becoming more sophisticated information consumers, overall.

Many librarians that do outreach work either do not use or do not have access to their ILS systems, making creating book lists for displays or purchase requests tedious. However, there is an innovative approach to rapidly generating book lists from both the open web and library catalogs. By creating a custom Citation Style Language compatible with Zotero, librarians can quickly save and export book lists with relevant metadata such as call numbers or ISBNs. By using generative AI and Citation Style Language's code editor, functional workflow requirements can be integrated into custom CSL code without programming expertise. Harnessing the power of open-source platforms like Zotero and the Citation Style Language project alongside generative artificial intelligence allows librarians doing outreach work to streamline their workflows.

In an effort to encourage engagement with students on campus, Lander University's Jackson Library developed weekly interactive whiteboard prompts to invite students to share their thoughts with the staff and other peers. Each week saw an outpouring of responses, with the boards quickly filling to capacity to display students' handwritten opinions, book recommendations, and creative doodles. Using examples from Jackson Library's boards of the past, this poster session will discuss practical insights on crafting successful prompts and how these responses can be utilized to inform collection development decisions in academic libraries.

To proactively combat stressful times within an academic year, such as midterms and finals, the Gregg-Graniteville library hosts a table of snacks, drinks, play-doh, puzzles, and coloring books. This resource has seen great success, but what if there was a permanence to this initiative? With inspiration from Oregon State University's Library of Things, the access services department at USC Aiken has created a de-stress alcove. This permanent location within the library hosts board games, puzzles, hammocks, and coloring books. This new collection promotes an environment of sustainability through borrowing, not buying. It also allows student to take mental health breaks, try new things, and understand that lifelong learning isn't just limited to textbooks and the classroom. Further collaboration between departments across campus, like student life and housing, has increased foot traffic in the library and reframes the library as a fun space while also holistically improving campus life.

When the circulation desk cash register became too unreliable to continue operating, I built a user-friendly replacement using Microsoft Excel on an existing Windows workstation. Built in one week at a small college library (under 5,000 students), this zero-budget solution handles all circulation transactions - print charges, ID fees, fines, and guest card costs - without new software, vendor contracts, or supplies. Previously, student assistants relied on tip sheets and regularly escalated transactions to senior staff. Now they operate independently with minimal assistance. This poster documents the problem identification, design, and live implementation process, with before/after comparisons and workflow analysis. The solution works with basic Excel skills, though advanced macro versions are available. Attendees will receive an adaptable template for immediate use at their own circulation desk.

Seed libraries connect library patrons to seeds for them to grow their own flowers and vegetables. In this poster presentation, participants will learn how a librarian collaborated with an undergraduate student organization to pilot a seed library located in the main library building on campus. The seed library was created to meet the needs of students, as plants continue to be of interest to students based on their feedback. The focus of this seed library is to provide free seeds and resources on gardening for students. The poster will describe the educational resources used to learn about seed libraries, materials needed to create the library and where to get those materials and donated items, and the planning that took place to create and market a seed library.

One of Amanda Caldwell's biggest tasks as Outreach and Engagement Librarian is to get more students in the library. She aimed to achieve this by reaching out to the support services students were already using and leveraging events happening on campus. From these initiatives, new collaborative events with various campus partners were developed. These events successfully drove students to the library and created lasting relationships across campus that will continue to grow the library's outreach. This poster will give examples of these events and list recommendations to help other libraries collaborate cross-departmentally.

Crafting has become one of the ways our library builds connections, supports mental health, and enhances the library environment. The library offers a monthly drop-in craft hour for students, faculty, and staff, alternating between guided activities with supplied materials and bring-your-own-project sessions. During final exams, the library offers collaborative coloring or sticker mosaic posters and grab-and-go craft bags for short mindfulness breaks. Library staff also create book art displays, such as penguin journal sculptures and folded book hearts, for our front desk. These displays support staff self-care, provide a creative outlet for staff, and create an inviting atmosphere for visitors. Informal feedback has been enthusiastic, with visitors finding the craft sessions beneficial and pausing to photograph and comment on the creations. The poster will share examples and ideas adaptable to other library settings.