Duke Libraries Goes to Summer Camp

An annual professional development program helps staff learn both new skills and about each other

A woman paints a watercolor while two other women in the background look on
Meredith Parker-Terry paints a watercolor during Duke Libraries Summer Camp, a three-week series of professional development workshops to foster peer-to-peer learning and build connections across the units of Duke Libraries. Photo courtesy of Duke University Libraries

This summer, Sara Biondi was debating what to do about the fraying on one of her favorite cotton, plaid shirts. It’s so soft and comfortable that she hated the idea of getting rid of it. But how to repair the small hole at the corner of one front pocket and the threadbare strands along the edge near the buttonholes confounded her.

Fortunately, she brought it to work during Duke Libraries “Summer Camp” and found the perfect solution.

“How do you feel about visible versus invisible repair,” colleague Tracy Jackson asked, her eyes hopeful.

In the Libraries Summer Camp session on “Introduction to Mending” in mid-July, Jackson suggested that Biondi add a distinctive strip of fabric along the edge of the shirt to prevent further fraying.

Biondi, an Acquisitions and Approval Plan Specialist, loved it.

The mending session led by Jackson, a Technical Services Archivist, was one of the more popular learning opportunities in this summer’s three-week Summer Camp, a set of professional development workshops that foster peer-to-peer learning and build connections across the units of Duke Libraries.

Workshops this year included sessions on how to fight boredom with board games, how to “green” a workspace, researching family trees and improving presentation skills, among others.

An idea for professional development

The Libraries Summer Camp started in 2019 by the Digital Scholarship & Publishing Services department to increase understanding of digital scholarship work and raise awareness of staff expertise. In that first year, 104 individuals from 35 departments/units and four libraries registered for 21 workshops offered over two weeks.

A group of women sit at a semi-circular table listening as one woman stands and leads a workshop
Sara Biondi, an Acquisitions and Approval Plan Specialist, listens to Tracy Jackson, a Technical Services Archivist, suggest options for mending a shirt during a Duke Libraries Summer Camp workshop in July. Photo by Jodie Valade

“What we learned early on was that people just really liked getting out of their normal work routine and letting go of what they were doing,” said Liz Milewicz, now Director of Duke Librairies' ScholarWorks Center. “But being able to learn at work and also to connect with their colleagues – there was this real appreciation, and it flowed both ways.”

In its first year, classes were aimed more strictly at professional development and included workshops such as: Questionable Publishing Practices, Tips for Effective Data Visualization and Copyright Refresher and Basics.

The camp took a two-year hiatus during COVID, and when it returned in 2022, organizers saw a need for more workshops aimed specifically at strengthening social bonds.

“It really expanded with this second round to be much more of how do we connect with people? How do we learn the things maybe we thought we knew, but now we've forgotten?” Milewicz said.

In 14 workshops offered over four weeks in 2022, 82 individuals from 28 departments and three libraries registered.

‘Hungry for making stuff’

This year, the Summer Camp leaned even further into learning opportunities that were outside the library realm, and classes such as crochet and mending were among the most popular.

“People are hungry for making stuff,” Biondi said. “We’re all on Zoom so much. You’re sitting in meetings, and everybody is completely distracted because you’ve got your email open. But if your hands are busy, you’re actually paying better attention.”

Jackson said she learned about mending because of an interest in sustainability that merged with her “craft habit.” The result was an informative 90-minute session where Jackson walked around to each of the dozen attendees and offered specific advice on how to best resurrect a clothing item.

“2019 Liz would have been kind of like, ‘Huh, why are we doing that class?’ But 2024 Liz says, ‘Oh, I know why we're doing that,’” Milewicz said.

A man stands and smiles in front of classroom of bookbinding workshop students
Henry Hebert, a Conservator for Special Collections, stands in front of his bookbinding workshop for Duke Libraries Summer Camp in July. Photo courtesy of Duke University Libraries.

Among the reasons: It’s relaxing. It gives library staff members a break from something that is far from everyday work – but it’s still educational.

But there were also ways to merge library expertise with hands-on involvement. Henry Hebert, a conservator for special collections, taught a session on bookbinding that was so popular it had a waitlist. It was a variation on a presentation he has given to Girl Scouts for a bookbinding badge, he said, with a bit more complex instruction and a handcrafted journal to take home. Workshop attendees were thrilled.

“If you can convey very simple skills that you can then use on your own with a few hand tools, you can go home and you can fix a piece of clothing, or if you want, you can make a little book for yourself,” Hebert said. “You feel empowered with just like a little bit of knowledge to go out and make something for yourself, too.”

Milewicz said she’s learned more about her co-workers, too. For instance, seeing the care and attention to detail Jackson brought to her class “made me think if I’m ever on a search committee, I want Tracy on that committee.” And last year, Software Developer Derrek Croney taught a class on playing the recorder, and Milewicz learned he helps with the music at his church – a side of him she didn’t know.

For Milewicz, it's not just about what you learn at Libraries Summer Camp, but who you learn with. “An important part of coming to work is feeling a sense of connection with the other people that you work with,” she said.

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