Upcoming Session

Communication Strategies to Support Collections and Budget Management

Wednesday, April 29, 2026
2pm Eastern (11am Pacific | 12pm Mountain | 1pm Central)
Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1XREO1QXRdWMf4_J4POkzw

Description:

As budget management grows more challenging, we will need to communicate as successfully as possible to achieve the best possible outcomes. Communication with departments and administration about budget management and related changes to collections can be crucial to maintain constructive relationships and to improve cooperative planning. Academic libraries often rely on librarian liaisons to communicate directly with departments, but additional communication efforts are sometimes pursued. Our library has recently focused on collections communication across a range of projects and audiences. These projects have included a budget reduction plan and major print deselection project, as well as ongoing, prospective budget management. The audiences have included the entire campus, an academic college, specific administrators, and various departments. The tools have included campus emails and news stories, a video, an online dashboard, and more. In this presentation, a panel from one library will run through a series of examples of communication strategies, tools and methods used to engage campus stakeholders with budget and collections management issues.

About the Presenters:

Evan Rusch is the Government Documents, Maps, and Reference and Instruction Librarian at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He serves as a library liaison to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Heidi Southworth is the Digital Initiatives Librarian at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She serves as a library liaison to the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.

Nat Gustafson-Sundell is the Collections Librarian at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He serves as a library liaison to the College of Business.

Lisa Baures is a Reference and Instruction Librarian at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She serves as a library liaison to the College of Business.

1. Go to registration page:   https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1XREO1QXRdWMf4_J4POkzw
2. Complete and submit the form.
3. A URL for the event will be emailed to you immediately after registration.