Last Updated on March 5, 2025, 1:56 pm ET
Professionals from across the United States and Canada met in Chicago-Rosemont February 12–13 to attend the 2025 ARL President’s Institute, “Ignite Collaboration—Thriving Multigenerational Libraries.” As the 2025 Julia C. Blixrud Scholarship recipient, I was given the privilege to attend the conference and learn how to leverage the unique opportunities of an age-diverse workforce by embracing multigenerational perspectives and practices.
ARL President Rhea Ballard-Thrower, dean of libraries and university librarian at the University of Illinois Chicago, began by recognizing the Indigenous stewardship and land of the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, and Illinois Nations on which the conference convened. At a conference dedicated to multigeneration collaboration, Rhea Ballard-Thrower emphasized the importance of information stewards actively incorporating Indigenous knowledge and collaborating with communities whose ancestors have lived on the land since time immemorial.
The Blixrud Memorial Keynote lecture by Senior Director Janet Oh and Director Duncan Magidson of CoGenerate began by looking to the past to demonstrate how the generational landscape has drastically shifted in the 21st century. We are currently the most age-diverse society in human history. In this unprecedented time, workplaces must foster beneficial cross-generational relationships, deconstruct ageism, and develop empathy to realize their potential. In pursuit of an equitable future for all, Oh and Magidson position age as a powerful unifier to bridge divides and cultivate collaboration.
Janet Oh and Duncan Magidson’s thought-provoking keynote speech prompted discussions among attendees who shared their perspectives on work-life balance, mental health, and power dynamics in multigenerational workplaces. These discussions were further fueled by a panel highlighting student perspectives on libraries. Moderator Matthew Hayes, managing director of Technology from Sage, was joined by panelists Maximilien Franck, Ryan Lemke, Roshan Panjwani, and Michelle Sosa to discuss their insights on the possibilities that multigenerational collaboration might foster.
Maximilien Franck is a postdoctoral researcher at the Université de Sherbrooke and a PhD graduate from Université Laval. His research focuses on aging and the immune system across diverse human populations.
Ryan Lemke is a senior from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), majoring in disability and human development and minoring in public health and public policy. She currently works as UIC Library’s first accessibility intern and is a Coelho Disability Law Fellow through Loyola Marymount Law School. Her dedication to creating an accessible and welcoming digital and physical library environment earned her the UIC Student Employee of the Year Award in 2023.
Roshan Panjwani is an MSLS student at The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and a first-generation immigrant from Pakistan. Panjwani currently works as a staff assistant at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University. As an undergraduate, they studied the social distribution of linguistic variables in LGBTQ+ BIPOC Southerners and found passion in documenting the political legacies of queer Southerners.
Michelle Sosa is an MLIS Student at San José State University who works full-time at the Long Beach Public Library (LBPL). Sosa’s public library position involves the management of the LBPL’s adult literacy program, where she engages with the local community and develops resources and services of invaluable support. She has been inducted into ARL’s Kaleidoscope Program and ALA’s Spectrum Scholarship Program.
The dynamic panel discussed the expanding role of the library as a place of refuge, learning, and community. Lemke emphasized the importance of libraries championing accessibility by collaborating with diverse disability communities to truly create a space of belonging. As a literacy advocate, Sosa spoke about the public library as a place of support and opportunity for newcomers and students to seek resources and form community. Franck recognized the inclusivity of the library as an accessible place of discovery and learning for both himself, a postdoctoral researcher, and his young child. Drawing from their experience as an instructor, Panjwani spoke about the importance of librarians modelling discernment and avoiding inflammatory language as we navigate a rapidly evolving world with emerging technologies, which pose both risks and opportunities for connection and creativity
Following the panel’s insights, Oh and Magidson asked attendees to reflect individually on the generational tensions at play in their libraries and their possible negative impacts. Moving into groups, issues of workplace professionalism, work ethic, and social norms emerged. Finding strength in shared challenges, groups discussed potential multigenerational solutions for attendees to take home to their libraries.
We then were fortunate to hear from experts across disciplines about how to foster and leverage multigenerational workspaces. Moderator Ixchel Faniel, senior research scientist at OCLC, was joined by Amber Dukart, Bo Ford, Hunter Old Elk, and Tyronne Stoudemire.
As a registered social worker (RSW), Amber Dukart has spent years developing intergenerational programs that bridge generational divides across Canada. Throughout her experience, Dukart is adamant that every challenge has a multigenerational solution as she fosters social care in schools, community centers, and residential care settings.
As the Digital Equity Program manager at the New Mexico State Library, Bo Ford unites communities and champions digital equity. Ford is equally committed to centering patrons’ needs by promoting civic participation, bridging language barriers, and providing communities with tools to exercise their rights and amplify their voices.
Hunter Old Elk is the assistant curator of the Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and a member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) and Yakama Nation. She serves as the vice chair of Native American Jump Start and sponsors youth in her home community as an alumna mentor at St. Labre Indian Schools. Her community-based approach recognizes the importance of kinship, respect, and reciprocity. Hunter Old Elk emphasizes how connection with communities takes time and dedication. By describing the success of the multigenerational archival initiative that pairs Elders and students together to transcribe stories and knowledge, Hunter Old Elk spoke to the power of listening to understand.
Tyronne Stoudemire is the senior vice president of Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for Hyatt Hotels Corporation and collaborates with the senior leadership team to leverage diversity and inclusion in marketplace strategies. Stoudemire said that, by diversifying partnerships, hires, and vendors, a workplace increases its perspectives, creativity, and innovation. Far from merely tolerating differences, Stoudemire advocates for intentional collaboration by finding shared purposes through curiosity.
Following the insightful discussion, Oh and Magidson returned to share insights on incorporating CoGenerate’s 4Ps: proximity, purpose, problem-solving, and power-sharing. Attendees designed a multigenerational experience in break-out groups and reflected on the potential solutions. From differing views of professionalism to navigating personal and institutional priorities, attendees found that applying the 4Ps refreshed their perspective and sparked new possibilities. Each member showed an enthusiastic willingness to leverage their colleagues’ ideas and take on new viewpoints. As Dukart says, every generational challenge has a multigeneration solution.
I am extremely grateful for the privilege of attending the 2025 ARL President’s Institute. As a first-year MLIS student, I am inspired by the attendees’ spirit of collaboration and their dedication to establishing community. As I begin my journey into librarianship, I’m motivated by Julia Claire Blixrud’s resilience, optimism, and commitment to librarianship, open access, and community outreach. At the closing of the conference, one attendee said he looks to his mother for guidance and resilience as she meets each day with determination. Despite living in times of uncertainty, one universal certainty is that we all grow older. And that certainly motivates the necessity of multigenerational collaboration.
