ULA Annual Conference 2026

Employee development increases capacity, communication, and growth within any organization. Transferable skills are versatile competencies like communication, leadership, and time management that empower employees to succeed in current roles and future careers. Drawing on practical examples and interactive activities, the session highlights how transferable skills can be effectively taught and applied, especially in student or temporary positions. Since many student employees won’t pursue careers in libraries, training them in transferable skills equips them for success in diverse fields and prepares them for job interviews. Additionally, involving employees in skill-based training helps them recognize their strengths, build confidence, and develop leadership abilities. This approach enhances morale and fosters a culture of growth, positioning student workers as valuable contributors to library teams and beyond.

In 2013, University of Utah’s Marriott Library purchased its first 3D printer. Over the past decade, the Creativity & Innovation Services department expanded 3D offerings to include self-service 3D printers, an online 3D printing service, 3D scanning tools, and training materials for all of the above. In this session, we will present a timeline on the development and deployment of each service, provide quantitative data about user demographics and use trends over the past decade, and relate qualitative data and anecdotal stories about the meaningful impacts these 3D-related services have had on University of Utah affiliates, curricula, and research.

“Your Librarian Is In!” In this session, two subject librarians share our experiences of holding office hours out of the library, on site where our liaison departments are housed. We discuss the origins, benefits, challenges, and related statistics of the arrangement. We feel that holding office hours outside of the library has improved our services and strengthened our relationship with faculty.

Librarians from USU and BYU will share their experiences with student employees in libraries & archives. Attendees will learn how we’ve worked with hourly employees, interns, graduate students, and more. We’ll talk about the importance of experiential learning to student success and how to grow the understanding and appreciation of archives and librarianship in Utah.

The Marriott Library (University of Utah) has three media production studios as part of their ProtoSpace emerging technologies and digital scholarship hub. This presentation is part of an article under submission entitled User scheduled media production studios in academic libraries: A case study. This is a follow up article to my publication: Podcasting services in academic libraries: A case study. https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2021.1897722.

The Marriott Library has two Podcast Booths and a Simple Video Studio. Students, faculty, and staff can reserve these spaces for audio and video production. This presentation will discuss use statistics, the types of projects scheduled, and charts on how often and when each studio is in use.

While the purpose of each studio is media production, the data results show a variety of non-media projects taking place supporting coursework, teaching, outreach, research, and personal projects.

In addition to the use data, this talk will discuss suggestions for physical studio creation and affordable equipment lists. The purpose is to generate podcasts and film videos in any library type maker space location/environment.