We’re here with a quick update on AMICAL 2027 and a request for input. As a reminder: the event will take place April 8–10, 2027, at the Budapest site of Central European University (CEU). AMICAL 2027 aims to bring together library, academic technology and faculty colleagues for: Professional development – leveraging external and in-consortium expertise to create opportunities for knowledge sharing, in structured group settings as well as through informal peer interactions Collaborative project development – facilitating opportunities for members to collaborate and gather peer input on member-driven projects with multi-institutional or consortium-wide impact Audience & topical focus The main audience for the event will be: Library directors Directors of Centers for Learning & Teaching (CLTs) – or, if there’s no CLT, colleagues responsible for coordinating faculty development on their campus Colleagues engaged in campus-level AI initiatives Colleagues engaged in collaborations between librarians and faculty or technologists Detailed guidance for proposals will be announced in next month’s Call for Proposals, but session topics and design should be aimed primarily at professional development or collaborative project development for the audiences described above. Any topic related to AMICAL’s mission and strategy may potentially be of interest, but we’ll be looking in particular for sessions that support the following strategic priorities for the consortium: Engage strategically with AI Enable peer knowledge exchange Reduce costs for members Preparing for the Call for Proposals The Call for Proposals will be announced mid-November with a deadline expected to fall mid-December, leaving a 1-month window for AMICAL members to submit proposals. Special guidance for colleagues whose proposals were accepted for AMICAL 2026 will also be shared when the CFP opens. For those interested in re-submitting their earlier proposal, we will assist you and make this as easy as possible. Having a proposal accepted will be one of the factors we consider in providing financial support to attend the event. Financial support AMICAL will cover: Registration fees for all member attendees. Hotel accommodation for library directors, AMICAL leadership (Representatives, Executive Committee, AMICAL staff) and speakers/contributors to the program Airfare for colleagues in the above categories who are unable to obtain support from their own institution, within the limits of available funds. (Exception: Member institutions are expected to fund airfare for at least their Representative. In cases of exceptional need, as funds permit, we may accept requests for airfare funding for the Representative.) Suggest keynote speakers Who would you like to see speak at the Conference?

We’d like to wish you a great academic year and update you on what the AMICAL Consortium has accomplished together this year, and what we’re working on for the next. First some great news – while we were saddened by the circumstances preventing us from hosting the AMICAL Conference this year at American University of Sharjah, we are pleased to announce that Central European University (CEU) has graciously agreed to host the rescheduled Conference at their Budapest site, April 8–10, 2027. We’re also excited that we’ve raised over €50,000 in sponsorship for the Conference, much of which will go toward enabling participation by colleagues from member institutions. More information about the event, including a Call for Proposals, will be sent to members in November. Highlights from 2025-2026 500+ registrants for 25 events on timely topics: Campus-level AI initiatives AI in the classroom AI & information literacy Library leadership Library innovation & services Digital liberal arts & innovative pedagogy Organizational governance and development We facilitated complimentary access to partner and member-shared events: Open Education Conference (35 registrants) Research Methodology course, offered by Forman Christian College (74 registrants) Symposium on “The Enduring Value of the Liberal Arts in The Age of AI”, offered by the American University in Cairo (51 registrants) We helped reduce costs for member institutions through: 10 deals with library vendors resulting in an average of €4,500 total discount for participating institutions OCLC library management software offered at discounted prices (10-70%) €3,810 awarded by the Elisabetta Morani Funds for the professional development of library staff Discounts on professional development from the Chronicle of Higher Education and Library Juice Academy In parallel with these actions, we’ve been working on elements of organizational development that will enable AMICAL to be more effective in its collaborative work on the projects most important to members, while becoming more sustainable as an organization. Following on our Spring Summit on Consortial Development, for example, we developed a new consortial strategy, as well as a survey of member institutions' tools, support & interest for grant development.  What is AMICAL working on for 2026-2027? AMICAL’s new strategic priorities, as explained in a recent blog post, are as follows: Engage strategically with AI Enable peer knowledge exchange Organize a biennial in-person conference Reduce costs for members Two AI-focused interest groups are organizing events and shared projects throughout the coming year: Campus-level AI Initiatives AI Topics This fall we are inviting AMICAL members to participate in our Peer Advising Week (30 Nov – 3 Dec 2026) – a dedicated time for colleagues to connect and share challenges and advice through online peer-to-peer advising sessions. You can now sign up as an Advisor, and sign-ups for Advisees will open soon. A Call for Proposals for the AMICAL 2027 Conference will be sent out in November, describing the audience, topics and structure that the Program Committee is imagining for this event. And our E-Resources Committee and Library Resources Buyers Group will continue their good work on reducing the costs for library and academic technology resources of common interest across the consortium. Throughout the year, meanwhile, most of our member-driven groups are organizing events in their areas of focus, and information about these will be announced through AMICAL Connect and posted on our Events page as it becomes available. Thanks to our members! We are grateful to the many colleagues who volunteer through our 17 member groups to help organize these events and programs and ensure the sustainability of this network. Your generous contributions of time and expertise are what make AMICAL a vibrant community of peers across 28 international liberal arts institutions. We would especially like to thank our colleagues at American University of Sharjah and Central European University who have tirelessly worked to make our in-person conference a reality. Thank you all for being part of the AMICAL network – and hope to see you at an upcoming event!

What is the AMICAL Consortium working on over the next few years? And how will we be doing that work? Our revised Strategy Articulation Map (SAM) answers those questions and includes revision notes that explain the thinking that led to this new strategy document. In this post I’ll explain what the “SAM” is, summarize what it’s saying about AMICAL’s strategy, and point to a few ways this will hopefully make our work toward strategic goals more effective. The SAM is our foundational planning tool The SAM expresses the core elements of AMICAL's organizational strategy in terms of vision, mission and values, while outlining the scope of our work in terms of our member-driven community interests and four areas we’ve identified as strategic priorities. It articulates how those interests and areas are being addressed through consortial actions of different kinds, as well as how different groups take responsibility for the management, execution and governance of those actions.  AMICAL’s staff and Executive Committee use the SAM regularly throughout the year as a source of guidance on the design, implementation and evaluation of essentially all of AMICAL’s consortial activities. At key moments in the planning of their own activities, individual groups and committees are also encouraged to position their work in ways that support the consortial strategy expressed by the SAM.  Our approach to this revision The work on this new version was guided by the following revision objectives, established with the Executive Committee: Allow for greater flexibility in the creation and management of member-driven activities and initiatives Narrow our strategic focus to a smaller number of areas that combine clear member interest with AMICAL’s actual capacity to provide leverage in the given area Make the connections (the “mapping”) clearer between strategic priorities and consortial actions and their governance Enable accountability and more effective organization of work on AMICAL’s mission and strategic priorities  AMICAL’s staff and Executive Committee worked on this revision together from Fall 2025 through Spring 2026, engaging our Representatives and Program Leadership Council in a series of consultations and feedback processes.  AMICAL’s revised strategy With the new SAM, AMICAL continues its focus on developing and connecting libraries, technology and teaching at international liberal arts institutions, anchoring this work with the following values and principles: Building bridges of open collaboration across our institutions, across the consortium, and across the world Focusing on peer-to-peer relationships, enabling in-person exchange whenever possible Responsiveness to differing capacities of member institutions Social justice and sustainability in our work, pedagogy & scholarship AMICAL supports a rich array of member-driven communities ranging from library leadership to writing centers to AI initiatives, largely in the form of interest groups that organize online events and asynchronous discussion spaces on our member forum. We’ll continue to support this as our most flexible mechanism for facilitating peer-to-peer contact and knowledge sharing.  For 2026-2028, we’ll be giving particular focus as an organization, however, to the following four strategic priorities: Engaging strategically with AI – developing strategies/guidelines/initiatives that are locally driven, grounded in our institutions’ educational missions, and draw from the joint expertise of librarians, technologists and faculty Enabling peer knowledge exchange – build on our existing member-driven communities to develop robust channels for peer consultation and advising Organizing the in-person AMICAL Conference – at least every two years, organize the necessary resources and produce an in-person conference on libraries, technology and learning Reducing costs for member institutions – reduce costs for library and academic tech resources, and for professional development, through discounts or training grant programs Implications for groups doing consortial work When consortial activities develop sufficiently for its organizers to articulate concrete and measurable goals at the level of one year or longer, a Working Group can be formed. More sustained projects and programs may be worked on through a Standing Committee. That group or committee then gets supported in its planning and implementation processes by its chair’s participation in AMICAL’s Program Leadership Council. The Council’s periodic meeting and reporting exercises allow for sharing and peer workshopping of groups’ objectives and plans of action for achieving them. Active participation in those meetings and planning processes is critical for AMICAL staff to be able to effectively support the work of those groups and committees. AMICAL’s resources in this period consist primarily of staff time and the funds that have been donated toward specific programs like the AMICAL Conference and the Morani Grants program. With this revision of the SAM, we wanted to make it clear that these limited resources will be directed most systematically toward the projects and programs that we’ve identified as strategic priorities. Standing Committees and Working Groups are therefore being more clearly given both (1) responsibility for aligning their projects and programs with AMICAL’s strategy, and (2) the means and support to do so.  Interest Groups, whose primary activities tend to center on member-driven networking and knowledge exchange through online events and asynchronous forum discussions, have intentionally been given much more flexibility in their creation, management and governance. Interest Groups can be created around any topic or goal supporting AMICAL’s mission, and their activities are not obligated to connect with AMICAL’s strategic planning exercises.  I hope that this sheds some light on our new consortial strategy, especially for our groups and committees, but also for our institutional Representatives and member colleagues across the consortium. We’ll be following up soon with additional guidelines for groups and committees, but in the meantime members with questions should feel free to get in touch via contact@amicalnet.org. 

This fall the AMICAL Consortium is proud to launch our first Peer Advising Week – a dedicated time for members to connect and share insights through online peer-to-peer advising sessions (consultations). All AMICAL faculty and staff working in libraries, academic technology and pedagogy are welcome to participate. What to expect For Advisors: Share your expertise, experiences, know-how and insights in a format that respects your time – just 30 minutes per session, with little or no advance preparation needed. For Advisees: You can troubleshoot challenges, explore peer perspectives, and discover solutions with Advisors of your choice. For Both: Expand your professional network by connecting with colleagues from other international liberal arts institutions. Share your knowledge – sign up as an Advisor! If you’re interested in sharing your expertise or experience with AMICAL peers at this event:  Deadline for Advisor sign-ups: 5 October 2026 We will add you to the Roster of Advisors for the event, but you’ll have a chance to confirm or cancel your participation in the event before we finalize the Peer Advising Week schedule. Give us input on session design & advising topics We’d like to ask you to give us feedback on our proposed session design: Each Advisor will offer any number of 30-minute advising slots during the event’s days Advisees will book a session with them in advance, specifying the topics and questions they wish to discuss Advisors will have the opportunity to decline bookings that they feel they cannot adequately address Please reply to this email with suggestions about this format, or to suggest alternative approaches you would like to see. Within AMICAL’s scope related to libraries, technology and pedagogy, if you have specific topics you need help with right now as a potential Advisee, we’d also be interested in hearing what those are. We’ll do our best to recruit peer advisors with that specific expertise. Deadline for input on session design & topics: 5 October 2026 Watch for an Advisees sign-up announcement in October In October, we will share the list of available Advisors and invite members to book sessions with them as Advisees. A final advising schedule will then be shared by early November. This event is being organized by the Peer Knowledge Exchange & Mentoring Working Group.

While the AMICAL 2026 Conference had to be postponed, we’ve moved online several of its sessions that had a timely focus on consortial development. We’re calling this new event the Online Spring Summit. The Summit includes four sessions over three days primarily intended for AMICAL member group leaders. As explained below, however, one session is open to all AMICAL members. Consortial programs from ideas to action: Program and grant design workshop Open to all AMICAL members April 2 | 14:00 Paris time (see local time) | 90 minutes This workshop is focused on shaping concrete program ideas for AMICAL and pairing them with realistic grant and funding strategies in cases where this is needed. Participants should come with ideas for new initiatives, or for substantial developments for existing initiatives. The session will emphasize building momentum, laying the ground for continued work beyond the workshop. The workshop will be facilitated by Barbara McFadden, originally invited as keynote speaker and workshop facilitator for AMICAL 2026. Barbara led large-scale inter-institutional collaborations for the Big Ten Universities and has consulted widely on collaboration in higher education. To participate, complete at least the highlighted sections of the Idea Canvas worksheet and send it to contact@amicalnet.org by end of day April 1. We’ll reply with the Zoom link for the session. Even a rough or preliminary idea is welcome — the more of the worksheet you complete, the more you'll get out of the session. Note: Submitting your worksheet is the only way to receive the Zoom link. (If you don’t have a Google account, you can download and complete it as a Word Document.) Questions? Reply to this email or reach us at contact@amicalnet.org

Dear colleagues, In light of the evolving situation in Iran and the region, we have decided to postpone AMICAL 2026, which was scheduled for 31 March – 2 April at the American University of Sharjah. We want to ensure that all attendees feel safe at our events and, given the uncertainty, we do not feel we can proceed with the conference at this time. We will follow up with additional information as we assess further the situation and how we may be able to reschedule the event. Above all, we wish safety to all colleagues and their loved ones who may be affected directly by the situation. –AMICAL 2026 Organizers & AMICAL Executive Committee

There's still time to submit your proposal for AMICAL 2025 (May 19–28, 2025)! The conference will bring staff and faculty across the consortium to address key challenges and opportunities in libraries, pedagogy, and academic technology at American international liberal arts institutions. We’re particularly interested in proposals that address the following topics in ways relevant to AMICAL members: AI in teaching, learning, and institutional strategy Digital pedagogy and scholarship Leadership in academic support units Information and digital literacies Open education and resources Library services and technology Key dates January 24: Draft proposals due for Interactive Sessions February 13: Final deadline for all proposals Upcoming info sessions Join us to learn about the available session formats and to get feedback on your proposal ideas: Info Session #3 – 21 January 2025, 11:00 Paris time (see local time) Info Session #4 – 4 February 2025, 11:00 Paris time (see local time) Info Session #5 – 10 February 2025, 11:00 Paris time (see local time) Don’t miss this opportunity to share your work and collaborate with colleagues who understand your institutional context! View the Call for Proposals → Questions? Contact us at contact@amicalnet.org

Mark your calendars for AMICAL 2025, which will take place online May 19–28, 2025! AMICAL's annual conference aims to bring colleagues across the consortium to work on issues important to libraries, pedagogy and academic technology at American international liberal arts institutions. The majority of the program will consist of sessions proposed by members. Whether you're a faculty member, librarian, or technologist, you'll find opportunities to share inspiring work, discuss common challenges, and develop practical solutions alongside colleagues who understand your context. Call for Proposals The call for proposals is now open through February 13. We invite proposals that address the following topics in ways relevant to AMICAL members: Responses to & engagement with AI in teaching & learning Campus-level AI strategy & implementation Digital pedagogy & scholarship (incl. digital liberal arts, oral history, virtual exchange) Leadership in libraries, centers for learning & teaching, or academic technology Information & other literacies (AI, digital, data, media, etc.) Open education & OERs Library resources, services and technology Support for research & scholarship (incl. open access) Teaching writing & writing centers View the Call for Proposals → (Note that proposals using the “Interactive session” format must also submit a draft proposal by 24 January 2025.) We’ll be holding a number of information sessions. Here are the registration links for the first two: Info Session #1 – 17 December 2024, 11:00 Paris time (see local time) Info Session #2 – 9 January 2025, 11:00 Paris time (see local time) You can sign up to either of these sessions to learn about the available formats and how to submit a strong proposal. We will also answer any questions you may have and offer advice on any proposal ideas you wish to share for feedback. Suggest a keynote speaker As we craft the program, we're also seeking suggestions for keynote speakers who can offer inspiration and insight to our group on high-level, future-facing topics. Suggest a Keynote Speaker → Our recent survey of AMICAL member interests highlighted the importance of learning and sharing on the topics above. Help us build a conference program that answers that need!

We’re excited to announce that AMICAL has partnered with SPARC to provide a limited number of complimentary registrations to attend virtually the Open Education Conference, a hybrid event taking place 8–10 October 2024. The Open Education Conference is an annual convening for sharing and learning about open educational resources, open pedagogy, and open education initiatives. View the program to explore the diverse range of speakers, topics, and sessions. The majority of sessions are accessible to virtual attendees. Apply for a registration waiver by Thursday 26 September If you are interested in Open Education, and believe it would be valuable for your work to attend this event, you may request an AMICAL-facilitated registration waiver, which would allow you to register for the event at no cost to you. (The normal registration fee is $100.) We ask that applicants review the program, commit to attending the conference, and to share their experience with other AMICAL members. AMICAL will organize that sharing and may include posting take-aways on AMICAL Connect, providing feedback on the event, or participating in future AMICAL discussions on Open Education. Note that sessions generally fall between 9:00–18:30 US Eastern Daylight Time (15:00–00:30 Paris time). If you can’t attend the live sessions, you will be able to watch the pre-recorded presentations, and get post-event access to session recordings and materials shared by presenters. Because of the limited number of registration waivers available, AMICAL can only issue a small number per institution. Priority will be given to applicants nominated by their AMICAL Representative as being likely to have substantial impact on OER and Open Educational Practices at their institution. You may therefore wish to reach out to your AMICAL Representative to let them know you’re applying. The remaining waivers will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis and distributed equally across institutions. 👉 Apply for an AMICAL registration waiver for Open Ed 2024 The deadline for applying is 11:59 PM Thursday, 26 September. AMICAL will confirm if we can issue you a registration waiver by Monday, 30 September. Otherwise, we will send you instructions for self-funded registration. If you have any questions, email us at contact@amicalnet.org.

AMICAL 2024 is a wrap – thank you to everyone who joined us during these two weeks! Recordings & material from other presentations Recordings from all AMICAL 2024 presentations are now available. Access note: These recordings are limited to Conference registrants and colleagues from AMICAL institutions. Only the keynotes by Rainie Lee & Rebekkah Smith Aldrich are publicly available. So please share them appropriately. All slides and other material provided by the presenters are being added to the online schedule (Sched) as we receive them. Stay connected The best way to stay informed of AMICAL’s events and activities, and connected with peers across the consortium, is to sign up for AMICAL Connect, the consortium’s online platform. Registration is open to all faculty and staff from AMICAL members institutions, and only takes a minute. Colleagues from outside of AMICAL can register for our general mailing list. We hope you have a wonderful and restful summer, and we’ll connect again in the fall!