The 37th Annual NASIG Conference was both in-person and online after two years of virtual only conferences. Due to continuing but reduced COVID-19 health concerns, the NASIG Board decided to offer the conference in both formats. The Program Planning Committee made an optional messaging channel available on the Discord platform to provide additional opportunities for attendees to interact. The hybrid conference took place over four days and included an opening session, a vision session, a vision panel, 25 live and recorded sessions, two vendor lightning sessions, and six virtual only sessions. Other online events included a ramble, an evening social, a crafters-makers-artists virtual gathering, and a first-timers reception. Out of 331 attendees, 105 submitted conference survey responses. Survey respondents could enter to win a $50 gift card. The winner of this year’s gift card was Christine Radcliff at Texas A&M Kingsville.
Respondent Demographics
NASIG members had the highest response rate (58% or 61 respondents). Similarly, to previous surveys, the majority of respondents (71% or 75 respondents) were academic library employees. 69% of respondents had at least 11 years or more of professional experience, suggesting that NASIG has the opportunity to expand outreach efforts to professionals that are earlier in their career.
Respondents were asked to “describe your work” using 29 keyword checkboxes (including “other”). They could check more than one answer. The top five responses were:
- Electronic Resources (55%)
- Acquisitions (42%)
- Serials (35%)
- Catalog/Metadata (33%)
- Collection Development (25%)
Overall Conference Rating
Respondents were asked to give ratings on a Likert scale of one to five, with five being the highest. The overall 2022 conference rating was 4.13, which is a decrease from previous years. It is possible this decrease may be partially attributed to fatigue of online meetings and conferences or because of higher expectations for online conferences and overall dissatisfaction with collaborative options.
The balance and variety of sessions received a 4.08 which was an increase from last year.
The ease of use of Sched was rated 4.23, which was almost the same as last year.
The usefulness of Discord channels was parsed out a little more this year and rated 1.96 for social interactions, 2.66 for discussion sessions, and 3.04 for finding information about the conference.
Opening and Vision Sessions
The 2022 conference included an opening session and a vision session. The Opening session, which was live only, was attended by 41 people out of the 105 that took the survey and the 25 comments were all positive. The local speaker at the Opening session also received mostly positive comments out of 29 total. The Vision session was both live and available synchronously online. Respondents were asked to indicate their agreement with statements based on a Likert five point scale with five being the highest. 68 respondents answered for the Vision session, giving an overall 4.58 rating that the keynote session was valuable. There were 21 comments, the majority which were positive.
Hybrid Sessions
NASIG 2022 offered 25 live sessions which were also pre-recorded and two live vendor lightning sessions. Respondents were asked to indicate their agreement with statements based on a five point scale. The majority of respondents rated the hybrid sessions at a 4 or higher. The sponsor lightning talks were rated on a 5-point Likert scale of one to five, with five being the highest. Monday’s lightning talks were rated 4.42 and Tuesday’s lighting talks were rated 4.38.
Panel Session
NASIG 2022 hosted the vision panel “Progress, Not Perfection: DEI Work within Information Organizations” presented by Ilda Cardenas, Dr. Kawanna Bright, Sarah Dupont, and Maha Kumaran. Respondents were asked to indicate their agreement with statements based on a Likert five point scale with five being the highest. 44 respondents answered and rated the session as valuable with a score of 4.51. Respondents rated the presenters as knowledgeable, organized, and easy to understand at a score of 4.53.
Virtual Only Sessions
NASIG 2022 offered 6 online only sessions, not including one informal session. 96 respondents answered this question with 35.42%, or 34 of those respondents, indicating that they had watched some of the sessions. Most of these sessions had few if any comments.
Future Conferences
The survey requested that respondents rate their likelihood to attend the 2023 NASIG Conference on a Likert scale of one to five with one indicating not at all likely and five indicating very likely. 95 people responded to the question. Of those, 22 respondents indicated they were very likely to attend, 18 indicated they were likely to attend, and 24 responded with a rating of 3 that they were somewhat likely to attend. For those not likely to attend in-person, the highest indicated reason provided was no professional development funds, and the second highest reason was that they plan to attend a different conference, which could also indicate limited travel funds.
The survey requested responses on what future topics attendees are most interested in based on a Likert scale of one to five with five being the highest. The top five rated topics from 93 respondents include:
- Issues related to electronic serials (4.15)
- Open Access (3.99)
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (3.95)
- Collection Development (3.90)
- Technology (3.87)
Report by 2022 Evaluation and Assessment Committee: Victoria Koger (chair), Kevin Balster, Elizabeth Derouchie, Brad Hanley, Jessica Harris, Bonnie Thornton, Madeline Kelly
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