The document summarizes discussions between librarians from Germany, the United States, and the West Indies who participated in an international networking program. They realized they faced many common challenges, such as limited budgets that make it hard to retain staff and keep collections current amid rising costs. Resources are shifting from physical to electronic formats, requiring support for information literacy and online/in-person services. Outreach must expand through social media to promote available services. Moving forward, the librarians will continue their network through regular meetings to discuss shared interests, issues, and support and share their experiences.

1. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2019
www.PosterPresentations.com
Participants
• Budget
• Never enough
• Libraries at the end of the line
• Inflation
• Staffing
• Hard to keep current staff
• Hard to hire new staff
• Materials
• Variety of formats to collect
• Format shifts from physical
formats to electronic formats
• Elevated costs
Resources
• Discovery/Reference/Research
• Google as a source
• Need for Information Literacy
• Support of teaching faculty
• Online and in person services
needed
• Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery
• Shift from physical formats to
electronic formats
• Remote users
• Outreach
• Marketing with shift to social
media.
• Expanding knowledge of what
services are available
• Both Formal and Informal
teaching opportunities
User Services
Closing Thoughts
In talking through the prompts provided
by the organizers of the International
Librarian Networking Program, we
realized that we had many concerns in
common, regardless of coming from
Germany, the United States of America,
and the West Indies.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge:
• ALA Office of International Relations
• International Librarians Networking Program
(ILNP) Team
• Michael Dowling and Deline Guerra from
the ALA Office of International Relations
• Our institutions for allowing/encouraging us
to take part in international programs.
• Each other. This is the work of all of us and
we are planning to continue our meetings.
Moving Forward
• Continuing our network
• We all wish to continue our
network
• Semiregular meetings to discuss
– Shared interests
– Shared issues
– Mutual support
• Sharing our Experience
• Using this poster to share our
experience
• Reaching out through our personal
networks to encourage others to
take advantage of this program.
Ninon Frank - Unika Omowale - John Sandstrom
Commonalities in International Academic Libraries
Ninon Frank is a subject
specialist and head of Public
Relations at Hildesheim
University Library in
Germany
John Sandstrom is a
Professor of the Library
College Faculty and Head
of Acquisitions at New
Mexico State University
in the United States
Spaces
• Study spaces for students
• Where to put them
• How to furnish them
• Space for Collections
• Tend to expand
• Shift to digital collections but
must still maintain physical
collections
• Buildings
• Aging
• Under maintained
• Obsolete
Technical Services
• Electronic Resources
• Electronic Resource
Management systems
• Cataloging
• Moving between different
standards
• Metadata
• Developing standards
• Acquisitions
• Licenses
• Contracts
• Agreements
Unika Omowale is the
Librarian at the Norman
Girvan Library Institute of
International Relations
UWI, St. Augustine
Trinidad and Tobago