Since 2020, the NYAC conference has been held online, virtually uniting the New York archivist community as practitioners, volunteers, students, and stakeholders share what they have learned from the projects and lessons they've encountered in the field. LILRC's watch party offers attendees the chance to network and interact with colleagues in person, while enjoying the Zoom conference in the company of a like-minded group of peers!

Please plan to arrive at the SCLS building (627 N. Sunrise Service Road, Bellport, NY 11713) at 9 am to spend time settling in and socializing with the other attendees before the conference begins at 9:30 am. Lunch will also be provided!

We are so excited to be hosting the watch party again after last year, and we hope to see many new and returning faces! If you have any questions, please contact Nicole Menchise at nmenchise@gmail.com.

The link to the registration form can be found here:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAEpD2EYo6MiXc84hYx_F0xuj7U09wnQ3x1QCLDUDgilHB5Q/viewform

by Elisha Feliz, LILRC Intern

In honor of LILRC’s 60 years of service, the 60@60 campaign aims to celebrate 60 acts of community service and engagement accomplished by council members.

LILRC’s purpose as a council is to play an active role in enhancing public access to information by providing all kinds of library organizations with the opportunities and resources to innovate and better serve their communities. This campaign celebrates the various programs and services that council members have implemented to properly carry out LILRC’s mission as an organization. 

We invited our members to share examples of their institution’s acts of service and engagement as a special, collaborative way to celebrate LILRC’s anniversary! All participating members submitted examples of their institutions’ acts of service in order to be included within our social media campaign. From February to October 2026, the campaign will be underway. If you are interested in getting involved and highlighting a community service event your institution has hosted, please complete this brief form.

Regarding any other questions, kindly contact Sally Stieglitz at sstieglitz@lilrc.org

By Elisha Feliz, LILRC Intern

On Friday, April 10, the 12th Annual Herbert Biblo Academic Libraries Conference, Understanding the New College Freshman: Supporting Gen Z Learners in Academic Libraries, will be held at Nassau Community College from 10:00am to 3:00pm (EST). The conference is co-presented by LILRC, NCLA ASLD, and SCLA DASL. 

REGISTER NOW

CONFERENCE DETAILS

Recent incoming classes of college students arrive at their institutions with novel strengths and challenges that present academic librarians with the welcome task of determining how to better cater their services to this new generation. This conference will expose attendees to several innovative ways to build a better rapport and relationship with their Gen Z patrons. 

The following speakers and their presentations are as listed: 

Silas W. Kelly: LMSW, EJWSA 

Presentation: Gen-Z: Mental Health and Belonging in the Age of AI 

Gen Z arrives on campus digitally fluent, AI-aware, and facing unprecedented mental health challenges. As tools like Chat GPT reshape learning, academic libraries have a unique opportunity to foster belonging, critical inquiry, and human connection in an increasingly automated world. 

Debra Bernstein, Special Assistant Professor of Library Services, Hofstra University, Axinn Library 

Presentation: Lessons from TikTok: Using Popular Social Media Platforms to Engage Gen Z 

As Gen Z students increasingly engage with social media, academic libraries are exploring new ways to connect with them. This presentation will share findings from a study of five academic libraries in the New York City and Long Island area and analyze which TikTok videos generate the most engagement. Results show that humorous, lighthearted content performs best, while instructional videos often gain less traction. The presentation will also outline practical strategies libraries can use to build and maintain a TikTok presence that increases visibility, strengthens connection, and supports meaningful engagement with today's students. 

Christine Fena, Undergraduate Success Librarian, Stony Brook University Libraries and Chris Ketz, Head of Academic Engagement, Stony Brook University Libraries

Presentation:

From High School to Higher Ed: Lessons on Gen Z from Collaborations Between SBU Libraries & Local High Schools 

Gen Z comes to college with the research experience they've gained in high school, yet their ability to conduct college-level research is an open question. The Ready for Success Project partnered SBU LIbrarians with teachers and librarians from a local high school to explore and strengthen how research skills are taught. In this talk, the presenters draw on

their research from the project, as well as their observations and experiences with current high school and SBU students, to address the complicated and diverse information literacy skill sets of incoming university students. 

The conference is open to all in the profession, and online registration is open until Friday, April 19, with a ticket fee of $40.00. For more information or further questions, please contact Eliscia Cirrone at ecirrone@lilrc.org.

Elisha Feliz is currently an undergraduate Honors English Language and Literature student at Stony Brook University. She also received her associate’s degree in journalism from Suffolk County Community College in December 2023. She is the Head Nonfiction Editor for SBU’s literary magazine Sandpiper Review and the vice president of the Alpha Nu Zeta chapter of the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society. In her free time, she enjoys watching films, reading literary fiction, and drawing. Elisha plans to graduate in May 2026 and is looking to pursue a career in the publishing industry. She is excited to join the LILRC and learn about the wide variety of opportunities librarianship has to offer. Elisha is deeply passionate about the value of literature and how books provide readers with the privilege of exploring and learning from perspectives different from their own. Ultimately, she is looking forward to serving the community under the guidance of this internship.

LILRC is proud to be one of only 40 winners of a programming grant awarded as part of a national campaign for the upcoming PBS documentary, The American Revolution, a six part series from Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt. The series explores the complex origins of the United States. LILRC’s proposal stood out among more than 440 applications from libraries across the country and is only one of two awarded in New York State. 

About the Series:

The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a war of conquest, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. It impacted millions from Vermont’s Green Mountains to the swamps of South Carolina, from Indian Country to the Iberian Peninsula. In defeating the British Empire and giving birth to a new nation, the American Revolution turned the world upside-down. Thirteen colonies on the Atlantic Coast united in rebellion, won their independence, and established a republic that still endures.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, the six-part, twelve-hour series on America’s founding struggle, will present the story of the men and women of the Revolutionary generation, their humanity in victory and defeat, and the crisis that they lived through. By weaving together accounts of American political leaders and their British counterparts with the perspectives of the so-called ordinary people who waged and witnessed war, The American Revolution will be an expansive, evenhanded look at the virtues and the contradictions in the fight for independence and the birth of the United States.

Please welcome Mehwish Hasan, Stony Brook University student, who is beginning her internship with LILRC on Wednesday, May 14. We are looking forward to working with you!

More information on the LILRC Diversity Internship Program can be found on our webiste or email Sally Stieglitz, Communications and Outreach Coordinator, at sstieglitz@lilrc.org