Brewed Connections: Bringing Early Career Librarians Together through Virtual Coffee Chats

Early Career Librarians (ECLs) thrive on collaboration, informal exchange, and community elements that have been challenged by remote and hybrid work. In response, an ECL task force developed and implemented a monthly Virtual Coffee Chat project aimed at fostering informal nationwide connections among ECLs and Library and Information Science (LIS) students interested or involved in health sciences. Hosts provided discussion prompts while also fostering an open forum to discuss challenges and current events such as: AI, systematic reviews, faculty conversations, organizational structures, and training challenges. This poster presents the design, launch, and impact of the ongoing Virtual Coffee Chat project. This poster will share implementation strategies, participation rates, and preliminary qualitative feedback highlighting increased belonging, unexpected mentorships, and cross-organizational collaborations. Key challenges (e.g.engagement fatigue, chat expectations) and potential solutions will also be discussed. Poster presentation attendees will leave with a scalable, adaptable model that they can implement in their own organizational contexts to support ECLs and LIS students by building a culture of belonging, one cup at a time.