About Charleston Conference

Established by Katina Strauch in 1980, the Charleston Conference draws many attendees from near and far and offers sessions integrating the perspectives of both librarians and vendors on the lifecycle of scholarly communication (Charleston Hub, 2020). This year’s conference theme was “The Sky’s the Limit!” In-person sessions were held November 11–15, 2024, and online sessions were delivered December 9–13, 2024. Attendees registering for the in-person conference are given access to the virtual conference. I had the pleasure of experiencing both the in-person and virtual conference.

In-person sessions were held concurrently in three primary spaces: Francis Marion Hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott, and the Gaillard Center, all within Charleston’s historic district. The virtual sessions were delivered through the Whova platform, which has desktop and mobile applications. The virtual conference comprised recorded sessions from the in-person conference as well as pre-recorded online-only sessions. The recordings were followed by live question and answer Zoom meetings held with the session speakers. Many of the recorded sessions are now available via YouTube and are conveniently organized into playlists (Charleston Conference, 2025a; Charleston Conference, 2025b; Charleston Conference, 2025c; Charleston Conference, 2025d).

The Vendor Showcase

The one-day vendor showcase took place on November 11 in the Gaillard Center, a lovely performing arts space with a Renaissance revival facade. After a quick stop at Francis Marion to get my conference badge and materials, I walked over to Gaillard and soon joined a throng of people snaking around the various vendor booths. People were also lined up along a long serving table filled with aromatic food that divided the ballroom. Though I often feel awkward at exhibitor events, I enjoyed visiting vendors and meeting them in person. My visit led to several productive conversations (and lots of swag).

For the virtual conference, a pre-recorded video of the vendor showcase was streamed. In the video, Beth Bernhardt, Charleston Conference Program Chair, visited several vendor tables and collected swag. Bernhardt asked each visited vendor to share a bit about their company/products. Virtual attendees of the streaming session could enter a raffle to win a big bag of the collected swag. Though I missed the streaming session, I was able to watch the recording later. The virtual showcase proved useful as I learned more about a business book vendor I had missed at the in-person conference.

Session Highlights

There were many interesting sessions, with a solid representation of business librarians attending as speakers. As might be expected, there were several sessions on artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, the program covered a variety of topics, such as diversifying collections, research integrity, and transformative agreements.

Leveraging Library Collections to Cultivate Social Responsibility

In this session, Steve Cramer (UNC Greensboro), Valerie Linsinbigler (James Madison University), Rebekah Shaw (Sage Publishing), and Robin Vickery (The University of Arizona) discussed how they support student assignments and scholarly interest in social responsibility projects. Shaw described Sage Publishing’s study of social responsibility in business curriculum. Findings indicated that 88% of faculty include a social responsibility component in their courses and that 70% of librarians feel social responsibility is relevant to library collections. Following Shaw’s discussion, the three librarians each spoke to a specific prompt.

The prompts were as follows:

• What research skills and resources are essential for students assessing social impact in their assignments?

• What research skills, and resources are essential for students partnering with community organizations for hands-on learning?

• What research skills, and resources are essential for students developing sustainable solutions after graduation?

Each librarian discussed relevant skills and resources needed, using example assignments from their institutions. In terms of skills, information literacy, search strategy, data literacy, and conducting primary research (especially in community outreach projects) are important. Additionally, having a variety of resources in the collection will best support social impact assignments. Essential resources comprise news, company profiles, industry and consumer intelligence, datasets, and information curated by local and national government entities.

Resolved: Generative AI Will Make Academic Libraries Better (Hyde Park Debate)

In this session, Corey Seeman (University of Michigan) and Emily Singly (Elsevier) debated the proposition that generative AI will make academic libraries better. Moderated by Rick Anderson (Brigham Young University), the debate was formatted like an Oxford Union debate, in which one person argues in favor of the proposition and the other person argues in opposition to the proposition. Each person was given 10 minutes to make an opening statement and then 3 minutes each to respond to the other. The winner of the debate was determined using a pre-to-post poll to see how many people’s pre-debate position shifted post-debate. The pre-debate poll indicated that 63% of the audience were in favor of the proposition and 37% were opposed to the proposition.

Both Singly and Seeman provided thought-provoking arguments about generative AI. Singly, in favor of the proposition, argued that generative AI will help libraries better serve users by improving discovery, helping with accessibility, and opening unprocessed collections to the world. Seeman, opposing the proposition, argued that generative AI has negative consequences, and that generative AI will not live up to its promise to augment work. Specifically, generative AI will exacerbate resource scarcity (potential library budgets cuts because of institutional investment in generative AI), lead to fewer authentic interactions between librarians and patrons, and undermine human values with questionable ethical practices and loss of jobs.

After thoughtful rebuttals from each debater, the floor was opened to attendees to ask questions or provide additional comments on the propositions. The session ended with the post-debate poll, which showed that 49% of the audience were in favor of the proposition and 51% were against, thereby making Seeman the debate winner.

Expand Your Collections Horizons with Negotiation Skill Development to Address Today and Tomorrow’s Challenges

Katharine V. Macy (Indiana University) talked about the Open Negotiation Education for Academic Libraries (ONEAL) Project. The ONEAL Project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), provides freely accessible, self-paced training for academic librarians on negotiation. In my role as collections librarian, I negotiate with vendors over pricing and some licensing terms, with our Acquisitions and Eresources unit handling most of the licensing terms and approval process. Having this professional development resource, especially as a newer collections librarian, is indispensable. Currently, ONEAL offers content in 2 modules (Foundations and Issues). A new module (Strategies) and a new lesson for the Issues module is forthcoming. Additionally, Macy provided a four-page handout of resources for various library-specific negotiation topics.

Beyond Backfiles: Innovative Approaches to Year-end, One-time Spending

In this session, Steve Cramer (UNC Greensboro), Cynthia Cronin-Kardon (University of Pennsylvania), and Breezy Silver (Michigan State University) discussed some considerations around one-time purchases. This session was quite relevant to my role, and I found the discussion insightful and helpful. Each business librarian explained how funding for one-time purchases works in their particular library. In one case, funds are allocated for renewals with remaining money being used for one-time purchases. In another case, the provost office provides one-time money near the end of the fiscal year, so decisions must be made quickly. For selection strategy, it is useful to think about faculty research particularly data needs—interdisciplinary interest, bundling products for price discounts, and the time it takes for licensing. Also, it is important to plan well in advance, potentially get buy in from other librarians, and prepare a sales pitch for internal approvals.

The speakers also discussed considerations for working with vendors and how to communicate with end users. With vendors, understanding that negotiations have a context is useful. For example, institutions may have specific requirements for new vendors, and there may be restrictions on how certain funds can be used as well as funding deadlines and ongoing commitments. Also, vendors sometimes merge, content may get changed or certain products could be sunset. Given the context, librarians want to consider strategies such as starting the negotiation process early and looking into multi-year deals. Once purchases are made, thinking about how to communicate with users is beneficial. Librarians may want to consider who should be told and how to explain the decisions within the context of funding limits. After providing these insights, each librarian walked through some successes and failures with one-time purchases.

Extracurriculars

Beyond the sessions, Charleston Conference proved to be a valuable way to meet fellow librarians and to see librarians who I had previously met. There were ample opportunities to network with others during vendor events, the conference reception, and dine-arounds. I was able to meet several business librarians for the first time. The Charleston Conference has become very popular and applicable for business librarians over the last few years. Much of this—I am told by mentors and colleagues—may be attributed to work spearheaded by Steve Cramer (UNC Greensboro) and Cynthia Cronin-Kardon (University of Pennsylvania). I was also able to chat more with librarians I had previously met, including an in-person coffee meetup with a fellow business librarian with whom I have regular virtual coffee chats.

Charleston is a delightful city to visit in the fall, and it perhaps offers a reprieve for those from areas with colder temperatures. When I first arrived in Charleston, it was in the 60s and sunny. Besides the weather, Charleston is steeped in history, beautiful architecture, and good food.

Final Thoughts

Overall, attending the Charleston Conference was well-worth my time. Having access to both the in-person and virtual conference, I gained exposure to a wide range of topics and ideas. I like that Charlston brings together librarians, publishers, and vendors in conversation with each other. As a business collections librarian, this will likely remain a key conference I attend regularly.