A strong network of partnerships is the lifeblood of the modern library system. The experience of the Gwinnett County (GA) Public Library System (GCPL) certainly supports the truth of this statement. GCPL is a fifteen-branch library system located in the Greater Atlanta area and serves a population of more than 900,000. Gwinnett County is one of the most diverse counties in the United States with no single ethnicity predominating. Our service population includes African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Caucasians. More than eighty different languages are spoken in the local schools. During the 1990s and early 2000s the library system expanded rapidly along with a growing population. However, the arrival of the Great Recession in 2008 brought this growth in funding to a sudden halt and led to a sharp retrenchment of many local government services. Over the course of three years the library lost almost 25 percent of its budget and funding levels have still not recovered a decade later. Therefore, it was imperative to develop an extensive array of partnerships to expand the library’s footprint in the community and bring our full range of services to the growing and diverse population. In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to leverage all the benefits of advancing technology to make the most of partnership opportunities.

Getting out into the community, participating and partnering with other organizations and institutions, requires considerable staff time. As you’ll read later in this article, the reward is most definitely worth the effort. But finding that staff time is not easy, and some libraries will need to get inventive in order to allocate scarce staff resources efficiently.

Some libraries will be fortunate. They’ll come up with a plan to reach out into the community, go to their funding agencies, and receive the money to hire new outreach staff. Or, perhaps, they’ll raise their local millage rate and fund the initiative that way. GCPL falls into the former category. We would only be able to implement our outreach plan by finding that staff time internally. We had to create internal efficiencies in order to push outward.

We started this internal review with the understanding that there were no sacred cows—everything would be examined for need and efficiencies. We looked at the technologies we were using, and we looked at the ways in which we deliver service to the customer. Everything was on the table, including the furniture used to deliver services.

The Help Desks

Walk into any library branch and what’s the first thing you typically see? A large desk with several occupied librarians. How much floor space does that desk occupy? How many computers? How many are in use most of the time? How many librarians are seated there? How many are engrossed in their work and how many look up and smile and say hello?

This was the situation at our library. We had very large, round help desks, most over twenty feet wide. Within this 314 square feet of floor space were between three and five computers plus two checkout stations and a cash register. Also present were library staff who sometimes would greet you and sometimes wouldn’t. To say the desks presented a formidable face to the entering customer would be a huge understatement.

Because we would be acquiring free-standing self-checkout kiosks, the checkout area of the old help desks was no longer needed. Getting staff out from behind the desks and onto the floor of the library to serve customers at their point of need was our goal. Technology, as you’ll read, made this goal possible.

But getting staff to give up the help desk—an institution of almost every library since time immemorial—would not be easy. We started planning for the desk’s retirement several months before the event, with branches being instructed to clean out all of the old paperwork and supplies that were no longer needed. A staff team was created to assist in this massive change project.

Over the course of several weeks, branch staff methodically emptied their desks of almost everything. Meanwhile, we brought in several change management consultants to give library leadership some advice on how to manage this change. In addition, these consultants spoke with many library staff, listening to their concerns and helping them to embrace the large project.

Mobile Staff

Simply removing the Help Desks and forcing staff from behind them would not be the sole answer. We needed to find a way to make staff mobile and equipped to answer the same questions that had been addressed from behind the desk. This included circulation and reference questions, along with the many directional questions we always receive.

Technology provided the answer. Only two years earlier it would not have been possible to replace those old large desktop computers with anything but a stout Windows laptop. But our library had recently acquired a browser-based staff catalog tool called Polaris Leap (now called Polaris Web Application). Not only did this new tool provide them with the needed functionality to replace the old Polaris Staff Public Access Catalog, but it was able to do so in any modern web browser, and on any device that could run that browser. This meant we were able to issue MacBook Airs, Google Chromebooks, iPads and Android tablets to staff, enabling them all to deliver the same high-quality customer service as they had previously, but away from the confines of the old help desk.

In order to address the need to serve and greet customers as they entered the building and throughout the library, we purchased two mobile laptop carts per branch—similar to the kind you typically see in a hospital. These carts, made by Ergotron (NeoFlex Laptop Cart, with basket), give staff a place to put the laptop, charging cable, library cards and several papers. Each branch positions one cart and library worker near the entrance of the branch in order to greet customers as they enter and triage customer needs. Many of these carts are equipped with wireless doorbells that can summon backroom assistance when needed. The other cart patrols the branch as needed, often working in the kid’s area when children’s programming is taking place.

These mobile devices also gave us an important and versatile tool to serve the community. When combined with wireless hotspots, staff are now able to take a tablet or small Chromebook and go to schools, club events, organization meetings, etc. and issue cards, place holds, waive fines and fees, and basically do anything that formerly required a staff desktop computer located behind a big desk.

Scheduled Assistance

We had been aware of the need to address deep one-on-one customer-staff interactions for some time. With limited staffing, our ability to spend large amounts of time with customers on technology and reference interactions was restricted. We needed some way to manage these important and meaningful interactions so that the library could get the best person available to serve the customer’s in-depth needs. The answer for us came in the form of an event scheduling and time booking product (LibCal by Springshare) that is entirely web-based.

With this time booking software we are now able to schedule interactions with customers, similar to how Apple manages their Genius Bar appointments. Some appointments are scheduled days in advance, but others are scheduled just minutes out, depending upon need and staff availability. The customer entering the library can speak with the staff person at the forward mobile cart and schedule an interaction with another librarian minutes, hours, or days later.

This same software is used to manage our makerspaces, meeting rooms, and conference rooms. It’s greatly reduced the paperwork and amount of time needed to reserve our meeting spaces and has given us back yet more staff time.

Self Service

The library’s RFID infrastructure was originally installed in 2004 and was long overdue for replacement. As part of this large project, the library decided to install modern self-check kiosks (Bibliotheca’s SmartServe 1000) at all branch locations. Branches would receive either two or three self-checks, all capable of taking credit/debit cards and at least one per branch able to take cash and coins.

Unlike the old RFID self-checks, the new units are able to add value and information to the checkout experience. They can make book recommendations based upon what is being checked out, and customers can place holds from within that recommendation system. In addition, library events are advertised via the calendar function on the kiosks, and customers can print event reminders or have them emailed.

The library also migrated from an old computer reservation system to a newer system (SAM by Comprise Technologies). This new system included one kiosk per branch that would allow customers to reserve PCs, buy merchandise and pay for copies and prints with credit, debit, cash and coin. The new system also allows customers to put money on their account—a popular feature with parents who want to allow their children to print or make copies.

By consolidating all of the credit, debit, cash, and coin to the new kiosks, we were able to retire all of the cash registers at the old help desks. Staff no longer need to handle financial transactions, a significant time savings. Moving to a fully self-service credit card system has also greatly reduced the library’s Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance complexity.

Unstaffed Hours

Our library has the benefit of being located near a major library services vendor (Bibliotheca) and through a partnership with them we installed a new automated service called Open+ at our main branch library, situated next to our administrative headquarters. This system allows us to open the library to the public without being staffed by any library employees. We open every morning at 8am and close at 10pm, seven days a week. Our open and staffed hours vary throughout the week, but Open+ allows us to maximize access to our cardholders. Those who sign up for this service can pick up holds, browse the collection, check out materials, and use library computers. We are also planning on experimenting with remote reference service as we expand Open+ to other branches in our system.

We’re also experimenting with a telepresence robot (by Double Robotics) that will allow our customer service center to provide remote assistance to customers during the Open+ hours. The robot, which uses an iPad, allows library staff to “move” throughout the building, offering video telepresence assistance to anyone.

Open+ also allows us the flexibility to deliver in-branch programming at untraditional hours such as early morning programming for young children and late evening career skills training for working adults. Programming can be offered in the branch without the need to staff other service points. The library also can hold late evening or early morning programming to reach audiences that had been unable to attend such programs during our regular hours.

Service Model and Staff Empowerment

Creating a truly community-oriented library requires a community where librarians are partners and players in a multitude of organizations and efforts. Achieving this level of partnership saturation requires top-to-bottom participation, from administration down to the branch library staff.

At GCPL, we’re taking the outward facing model to extremes by empowering our adult, teen and children’s services staff to go out into the community with frontline branch staff to form partnerships at any and all levels. We’re asking our makerspace staff to form partnerships with schools, musicians, artists, design houses, and other makerspace providers.

One of the ways we have done this is through a service model refresh that’s seen the number of different staffing positions reduced and job responsibilities consolidated from six positions to four. For example, we are in the process of phasing out the assistant branch manager job classification through attrition. The overarching goal is to make the whole organization less hierarchical and reduce levels of middle management.

We also undertook a massive reexam-ination of all of the library’s policies, rewriting many in order to reduce the number and simplify and clarify those that remained. Examples include a complete overhaul of our personnel policies to update and modernize them. A number of items were also moved from requiring board approval to be under the authority of the executive director in order to make us more flexible and responsive. Procedures were also greatly simplified in order to give staff the flexibility to solve most issues without needing to seek higher-level assistance. Examples of procedural changes include meeting room reservations, weather emergencies, and the performance evaluation process. All told, twenty-nine different policies or procedures were eliminated in this review process, often by simplifying and combining. By empowering staff to solve as many problems as they can, on their own, we have reduced the complexity that can often interfere with good customer service.

Our goal is for the library to be viewed as the go-to resource in the community for everything from K-12 educational needs to culinary literacy, technology startups, career development, and lifelong learning. Our strategic plan encompasses a broad range of goals aligned with addressing community needs and facilitated through community relationships. By including staff at all levels, we’ve been able to ensure buy-in and maximize successes.

Enabling Change

GCPL underwent a massive amount of change in order to facilitate this new outward-facing philosophy. The structural and technological changes enabled much of what we did—removal of the help desks; creation of mobile librarians equipped with a full suite of tools; increased access for cardholders through automated systems; Genius Bar–style reservation systems for connecting customers with highly trained library staff; and self-check kiosks that add value to each interaction.

While all of these technology changes may seem large, the biggest change was carried by library staff. Library administration knew early on that we would need to introduce staff to these changes in service philosophy in a manner that did not create fear or anxiety. We could not let the technology changes drown out the larger picture, which was the overall change in the library’s position in the community.

Communication and, especially, listening, was the key. The executive director and the GCPL leadership team held a series of webinars (using Google Hangouts) and in-branch meetings. The weekly webinars were used as an opportunity to discuss the project in depth and to answer questions from staff. The leadership team also visited every branch, sometimes two or three times. They sat in on many branch staff meetings, fielding questions and listening to concerns. To assist in this process, we brought in several outside change consultants to speak with various levels of library staff. Many of these meetings were held off site, in comfortable locations away from the library itself. The consultants walked staff through the coming changes, addressing concerns, and letting everyone know that what was being asked of them was not only possible but would lead to better library services for the entire community with library staff enjoying far greater job satisfaction.

A staff team was also created to go branch to branch to discuss the coming changes and how best to prepare. This team was comprised of branch staff so that frontline employees were hearing from their own peers and learning that the coming changes were going to benefit everyone.

The IT department deployed the new kiosks to the branch workrooms in the weeks leading up to the rollout. This allowed staff to practice on the new equipment prior to its deployment to the public.

By the time the library closed for a week to roll out the new technologies and service model, all staff had been involved in several conversations and meetings with peers, members of leadership, and the outside consultants. The week was used to practice using the new technology and perform inventories at the branches.

When the library reopened to the public we had a new brand and logo, new website, new technologies, and a new service model. Most importantly, we had a revitalized staff that was learning how to organize their time in new ways in order to get out and better serve the community. The results of these changes can be seen at our Grayson Branch which is discussed below.

Local Partnerships at Branch Libraries

Forming community partnerships should take place not only at the system level, but it also has to be a responsibility of employees at all levels of the organization. Ron Gauthier, manager of GCPL’s Grayson Branch, has been particularly active in taking advantage of the new service model and autonomy afforded to branch managers to take an active role in the community and form as many partnerships as possible.

Grayson Branch staff meet customers while mobilizing resources, advertising services with onsite training, and generally providing more availability and an immediate staff presence. Staff members have engaged with entrepreneurs and educators, agency program coordinators, and PTA members, all at vibrant tables teeming with activity and in aisles where customer contact happens in a deliberate manner. These meetings spur conversations about resources and possible programs that can be offered to customers at off-site locations. It has become apparent that structured wandering into the deep recesses of customer space and activity has resulted in associations that, as Gauthier reports, “have often expanded into more in depth and structured partnerships.”¹

Another component of GCPL’s new service model is that we more assertively engage the community with a progressive outreach strategy. By selecting resources tailored to the specific needs of the community, we can promote them to selected parts of the populace and use those resources to catalyze surrounding neighborhoods. Some examples of this approach include, bringing STEM apparatus and programs into local schools and teaching how to use specific databases at corresponding businesses, churches, and other organizations. The goal is to empower the public to use library resources in new and enlightening ways.

By earnestly observing the community and keeping up with the evolving demography in our various service locations, we have been able to devise targeted services and programs that fulfill the educational and enrichment needs of diverse populations across Gwinnett County. By offering more services and broadening the scope of outreach, GCPL has become more visible in the community, subsequently developing trust and dependability and an active collaborative relationship with our new partners. Many of our customers have learned, through our new service model, that we are more than just an appealing place with storytime, books, and computers. We are a bustling institution with innovative, cutting-edge technology and a broad, cross-cultural array of programs. GCPL’s branches are vital centers of learning to enhance knowledge in a multitude of disciplines and literacies, and a fun meeting place for all ages.

Partnership with GCPS

One of the most important partnerships GCPL has formed at the system level has been with our local school district. The Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) serve more than 180,000 students and is the largest school district in the state of Georgia. Early on we made a commitment to getting library cards in the hands of every student in Gwinnett County and realized that the only way to achieve this goal was through a close partnership with the schools. After setting up an initial meeting with school officials we proposed this partnership as a way of expanding access to library collections and resources. The school officials we met with were immediately positive about the idea but there was still a lot of work ahead to create the necessary Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to ensure that the responsibilities of both partners were spelled out. There were also a number of legal, bureaucratic, technological, and organizational challenges that would have to be overcome.

Library staff were fortunate to have a couple of school board members and senior members of GCPS administration who were strongly supportive of this endeavor. However, it took months of work to get agreement on all issues. Eventually we decided on a plan that would allow parents to “opt in” when they used the online portal to sign their children up for the school year. Essentially this would mean they would have to tick a box that would indicate they wanted their child to have a library card. Because all of the students at GCPS have to memorize their student ID number for access to school services and programs we decided to use this ID number as their library card. Using student IDs as the library card would make the program seamless and easy to use for parents and students. We also had to reach agreement with the school system’s IT department on the protocols to be used for data transfers of student information. There were legal issues regarding data security and confidentiality that had to be worked out. On the library side we created age appropriate “portal pages” on our website that would direct students to the materials most appropriate for their grade level. Eventually this resulted in the creation of an MOU that was approved by both the library board and Gwinnett County Board of Education which went into effect in the fall of 2016.

The results of this partnership have been quite spectacular, during the first year we had the program more than 100,000 students were signed up for library cards. As a result, this pushed the percentage of the total Gwinnett County population with a library card to more than 50 percent. The partnership has also benefited both institutions in other ways, the library has a higher-level relationship with the schools than it did previously, and we are much more involved in the schools’ teacher in-service and training opportunities. Access to our collections and other resources has been greatly increased for GCPS students and overall usage of electronic resources has risen sharply as a result of the partnership. Gwinnett County Board of Education Member Carole Boyce celebrated this partnership by saying, “We have families whose whole world will be opened up because of what the library makes available to them.”² Associate Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Patterson added, “It is a win for our students and teachers, as well as for the greater Gwinnett community.”³

Partnership with Goodwill of North Georgia

GCPL has also enjoyed a productive partnership with Goodwill of North Georgia for more than three years. Forged during the economic downturn, this relationship brought expanded job search, training resources, and educational opportunities to residents of the northwest Atlanta regional area. Long known for their excellence in job-coaching and hands-on training, Goodwill brought their expertise in developing these job readiness skills and we used them in combination with library resources such as “Book A Librarian” and for individual assistance with online applications, resumes, and multiple print and online job-related resources. The partnership grew into the Job Boot Camp program which offers recruitment events and workshops with speakers and representatives from Goodwill and GCPL presenting together to provide anyone looking for employment with the tools they need to secure a job. The library also partners with Goodwill on Veteran Success Workshops and Roundtable meetings. Residents quickly learned that they would receive the best information and advice available at no charge to them from these programs.

For example, people working through Goodwill of North Georgia to find a job would have access to Career Connector which is Goodwill’s job resource database. They could take advantage of job coaching, job fairs, and specialized training in welding, operating forklifts, and other skills. The partnership with the library brought availability of Career Online High School, Learn A Test, Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center, and Lynda.com, all library resources, to Goodwill’s clients. Jointly offered programs increased program attendance for both organizations due to cross promotion. Both the library’s and Goodwill’s brands are associated with convenient and quality community assistance. We have introduced Goodwill representatives to other Metro Atlanta library systems so that our success can be replicated.

The partnership still thrives today when jobs are more plentiful because it is based upon a powerful commonality: do everything you can to better serve your community. In 2017 the library was recognized by Goodwill as “Emerging Partner of the Year” as a direct result of this collaboration. From employment literacy and skills to quickly learning how to use new technology through Lynda.com videos for work or personal growth, this partnership supports not only economic but personal enrichment as well. The library refers its many customers who wish to donate used books to Goodwill’s multiple area donation centers. In a similar fashion, Goodwill refers its clients to the library for continued growth in their skills and knowledge.

Other Major Partners

Two other significant partnerships we have established include our local hospital, Gwinnett Medical Center, and the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. In partnership with the medical center we have offered health fairs, books for newborn babies, and we also supported the baseline concussion testing program that the hospital offers. The purpose of the latter program is to help better treat head injuries in children that are caused by accidents or sporting events. The baseline testing will create a record to show “normal” brain activity in a given child so that if they do ever suffer a head injury there will be a more clear path to treatment. The library provides space for the testing to take place and also helps with promotion of this worthy program.

GCPL provides speakers for many Chamber of Commerce programs, and we are recognized as the “go to” experts for business information. In the past, we have also worked with the Chamber to provide a series of programs on how to start a business, and library employees are represented on many chamber committees and work groups. Strong ties with local hospitals and the business community have been key to our growth and success. These are just a few examples of the community partnerships we have formed, but a full recounting of all of them would turn this article into a novel.

GCPL has also created partnerships with many other community groups and institutions. In all, the library has worked with hundreds of different partners over the last few years. For example, we have partnered with the Latino Association to reach out to the Hispanic community with bilingual storytimes, English language proficiency classes, immigration assistance and more. One of our senior administrators has become very involved in the work of the Gwinnett Health Coalition’s Food Committee. As a result, we have developed a much closer relationship with local food pantries and emergency shelters to meet the needs of our food insecure populations. We have also created a strong tie with the county’s Parks and Recreation department to provide senior programming and to assist with the distribution of free lunches to economically disadvantaged children during the summer months. The list of partnerships the library has created are large and ever growing, and we hope it will continue to expand in the future.

True Partnerships Benefit the Library and the Community

The benefits to the library and the community are growing and significant due to these collaborative efforts. Visibility and awareness of library programming and outreach across Gwinnett County has greatly increased. When library employees are working with the public or out in the community, we are finding more and more that citizens are aware of the work we do in conjunction with other organizations. In some cases, this has meant that the library has gained a “seat at the table” when important community issues are discussed (public forums to discuss transit issues are one example of this). In other cases, it has meant that we are the “table” organization that helps convene and bring different groups together to solve community problems. By working closely with others, GCPL can serve as a “force multiplier” accomplishing more through collaboration than we would ever be able to do on our own, while offering the same benefits to our partners. Library staff have also been able to gain a better understanding of community needs by being more active among the general public. In one instance, we formed a partnership with a local extended stay hotel to provide free books to the large numbers of children living there. Every week we restock these materials since the demand for them is so great. GCPL is changing lives with this sort of innovative outreach and our goal is improved health, wellbeing, and education for all of the citizens of Gwinnett County.

GCPL staff and the library as a whole have learned a great deal from these partnership opportunities. We have grown as a library and have learned far more about the issues and problems in our community than we ever thought possible. However, it is also important to choose partners carefully, each party must be able to bring something to the table and to uphold their portion of the arrangement. Once it becomes clear things are not working out, it’s acceptable to cut ties and move on to work with a different partner. The ultimate goal is community service, not just partnership for the sake of partnership. By the same token, one should not discount a smaller partnering organization simply because of size; they may have hidden strengths of community knowledge, donors, or staff that are not readily apparent. A good partnership requires careful deliberation and consideration by both entities. The agreement should not proceed unless both organizations stand to benefit, and it is in keeping with the strategic goals and vision of the library. Finally, there is no need to fear going outside your comfort zone. Growth can only take place when we stretch ourselves and strive for excellence.

References

1. Ron Gautier, email interview with author, Jan. 19, 2018.
2. Keith Farner, “Gwinnett Schools, Library Partner to Expand Resources,” Gwinnett Daily Post, May 6, 2016, accessed June 12, 2018.
3. Dr. Jonathon Patterson, GCPS press release, May 5, 2016.

The post Innovation Revolution at Gwinnett County Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

To limit participants and raise some money for the library’s Friends group, spellers pay a $5 fee to enter the bee. Audience members get in free, but can donate money to sponsor spellers who cannot afford the fee.[iv] Spellers can also purchase cheats at the time of registration, ranging from a $3 ‘Ask a Friend,’ where a friend in the audience can spell the word for them from their own knowledge, to a $15 ‘Mulligan,’ where a speller can stay in the competition after misspelling a word.[v] A “Big Cheat Deal” package gives contestants several cheats at a discount, and was so popular in the second year of the event that nearly everyone bought it, said Bonnie Brzozowski, a reference librarian at the library and one of the spelling bee coordinators.[vi]

These fees brought in enough money to allow the event to break even in its first year, after the Friends donated the proceeds back to the library’s programming budget. In its second year, with a change in venue, the event ended up costing the library $1000.[vii]  This year, the event cost between $500-750, Brzozowski said.[viii]  Although the event doesn’t raise as much money as it costs, the library will likely continue doing it in the coming years as it attracts a hard-to-reach demographic.”People react to the event as something to keep going because it brings people to a library event that we never see at a library event, the 20-  to 30-somethings,” Brzozowski said.[ix]

With the bee’s large number of contestants and the benefits of the cheats, a big challenge has been timing. In the second year, Brzozowski said the event lasted nearly four hours before a champion was crowned. This year, an “end-of-bee” round was introduced, in which 20 words are given and all remaining contestants at the end of the round are declared winners. This allowed staff to limit the event to two hours.[x]

Another important consideration is the bee’s word list. Official Scripps spelling bee lists are difficult to come by, so the library’s spelling bee committee makes its own list of about 500 words per year to challenge contestants.[xi] Committee members ask for suggestions of difficult words from friends and coworkers, look up lists of frequently misspelled words, and use their own leisure reading time to collect words. “Any word I find that’s a great spelling word, I write it down and keep a list all year long,” Brzozowski said.[xii]

References

[i] “Sip & Spell: An Adult Spelling Bee | Programs That Pop.” Library Journal.  Accessed June 22, 2017. http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2017/05/opinion/programs-that-pop/sip-spell-an-adult-spelling-bee-programs-that-pop

[ii] Bonnie Brzozowski, Reference Librarian at Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, in an e-mail interview with the author, June 22, 2017

[iii] Bonnie Brzozowski, Reference Librarian at Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, in a phone interview with the author, June 20, 2017

[iv] “Sip & Spell: An Adult Spelling Bee | Programs That Pop.” Library Journal.  Accessed June 22, 2017. http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2017/05/opinion/programs-that-pop/sip-spell-an-adult-spelling-bee-programs-that-pop

[v] “Sip & Spell Official Rules.” Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. Accessed June 22, 2017. https://cbcpubliclibrary.net/pdf/SipandSpellOfficialRules2017.pdf

[vi] Bonnie Brzozowski, Reference Librarian at Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, in a phone interview with the author, June 20, 2017

[vii] “Sip & Spell: An Adult Spelling Bee | Programs That Pop.” Library Journal.  Accessed June 22, 2017. http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2017/05/opinion/programs-that-pop/sip-spell-an-adult-spelling-bee-programs-that-pop

[viii] Bonnie Brzozowski, Reference Librarian at Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, in a phone interview with the author, June 20, 2017

[ix] Ibid.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Ibid.

[xii] Ibid.

The post Library Spells Success with Sip & Spell Event first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Thanks to the clear divisions in our country, there has recently been a lot of talk about bringing people together. In the spirit of that call for camaraderie, I’ve been reflecting on the opportunities the library has to partner with others on programs and efforts. We have strong partnerships with our local school department and our senior center as you probably do. It’s a great relationship to have, but in a lot of ways it’s the low-hanging fruit. They are our natural allies in town, ​but it’s important when possible, to go a step further.

Take a step back and look at the different groups that operate in your town or city, whether official departments, community groups, not for profit entities, or even local businesses that might be willing to partner. Here’s a few relationships that we’ve worked to develop in our small Boston suburb of Belmont, Massachusetts:

Recreation Department –

In the past we’ve offered library storytimes and mobile circulation opportunities in the community pool space and also at  a busy community playground. The local recreation department also uses space in our building to cover their programming needs.

Garden Club

On our site is a memorial garden that is open to the public. The local community garden club maintains the garden and they use space in our building for storage. They pay for the plants and we pay for the water. We also have agreed to split any further costs that arise. This small amount of funding and effort allows us to be regular partners with a large group of citizens in the community and often leads to joint programming and other partnerships.

Gallery of Art

We often work with our local Gallery of Art to promote their exhibits. This has strengthened our relationships with patrons interested in art programming and also has provided the chance to cosponsor events held at the gallery.

Veterans

By far the most enriching partnership we formed in 2016 was with the veterans department in our community. We wanted to redo some of the lettering on a stone slab in front of our building, as the previous copper lettering was decades old and in need of a refresh. Since our public library is actually a memorial building, we thought it made sense to reach out to the veterans department agent to see if he’d consider a rededication ceremony on the day the new letters were installed. Not only did he love the idea but we had 80 attendees turn up for the event.  Further, the agent contacted us the next week and asked if we’d lend some space for a Purple Heart ceremony to honor Purple Heart recipients later in the year. More than 50 people showed up that day, and we’ve determined that the library will now be the permanent home for the annual Purple Heart ceremony. Later in the summer, we nominated our veterans agent for an award at the state level. He won the award and the town government joined me at a ceremony to see him receive it. This has caused a great new relationship with our town’s veterans and it all came from a little idea. We will continue to look for these sorts of opportunities for partnerships and hope you can too.

The post Library Partnerships Bring People Together first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Libraries are different now than they were then. More than just books and a reference section filled with microfiche, magazines, and newspapers for research, they are community centers. Most offer Internet access and computers. Many offer makerspaces and other educational programs. Ideally, everyone would have access to a library close to home.

It’s happening in Chicago. Thanks to a partnership between the Chicago Public Library and the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), mixed income housing developments will house small libraries. “This is leadership and creativity at its best,” said Molly Sullivan, senior director of communications and media relations for the CHA. “We follow the lead of Mayor Emanuel on this. We will join a few other cities like Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Brooklyn [and] New York in [building] actual libraries that are co-located in publicly supported housing.”[1]

It’s a good financial decision, as building the libraries will be more affordable and they will be more accessible to patrons. The libraries will not just be mini-libraries filled with books either. They will all sponsor programs in their respective neighborhoods.

Social Workers

As part of the community outreach, social workers who specialize in providing social services for parents and children will conduct parental training and other workshops at the libraries. These workshops are designed to help patrons deal with everyday stresses associated with balancing work, children, and other family obligations. At the same time, libraries face other challenges. The same things that make them great leave them vulnerable, and keeping them safe and drug free can be a challenge. In this effort, social workers are often like first responders, helping detect issues and direct patrons to where they can get help.

Early Childhood Active Learning Spaces

Children will have access to great resources like makerspaces, technology, and the Teacher in the Library program. Undergraduate education students will assist children with their homework during after school hours. This not only provides children with more resources, but also develops a pipeline for “teachers in training” to gain hands-on teaching experiences. Libraries will work with local university teacher certification programs, as well as other programs which require students to acquire a certain number of  service learning hours. University of Illinois at Chicago was the first institution to participate in the program.

Teen and Adult Technology Support

The library will of course offer technology and teacher support to teens as well. Adult programs will also be offered including everything from financial counseling and job search support to writing resources, guides, and classes. Neighborhood artists and authors will be encouraged to showcase their work through events and workshops. Programs will on environmental responsibility also are planned.

Not only are these kinds of libraries good for the neighborhoods where they are located, but they are serving as a model for other library districts all over the country. The days of large central libraries may never be gone entirely, but small satellite branches in the neighborhoods where patrons live certainly seems like an affordable solution to making libraries readily accessible.

References

1. The Columbia Chronicle, “Mixed Income Housing To Be Co-located With Libraries.”

The post Bringing the Library Home: Mixed Income Housing and Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Futures of Libraries 11.0 and Nina Simon
The Futures of Libraries 11.0 conference happened at San Francisco Public Library’s Main branch on September 29th. Keynote Speaker Nina Simon asked some very relevant questions based on her experience with experimental community engagement in the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.  Perhaps her most provocative point was made when she posed a question related to community interaction, asking, “How do you build a radically collaborative institution?”

Our Knowledge/Their Awareness
Many libraries are expanding services and trying to create more active community spaces. However, getting patrons and stakeholders to understand how our changes better serve them can be an uphill battle. Fundamentally, this is an issue in communication. The question libraries need to ask when considering new programing is: how do we get our communities and stakeholders to not only understand this is happening, but also to be active participants?

Programming Versus Collaboration
Libraries aren’t always successful at promoting awareness, let alone encouraging community members to collaborate with us. Putting up flyers and sending out emails (our two most typical modes of communicating new goings-on) are often insufficient. Relying on word of mouth, Twitter, or Facebook is great, but these are hardly  consistent systems, and let’s be honest: are any of our Facebook posts going viral? Simon discussed the way building larger programs isn’t just about expanding them (turning one staff member with fifteen patrons into two staff members with thirty patrons) but converting programming into platforms we can provide to large numbers of people. This got me thinking about the difference between those two ideas. Libraries are comfortable providing programs and inviting people to consume them. But programming is, by its nature, a little stiff. It’s . . . well . . . programmed. Platforms are meant to be more involved; they’re meant for use and interaction rather than consumption. Maybe if we try thinking about collaborating with patrons instead of providing them with programing we will be able to reach more of our communities. Maybe the way to increase the reach of our programs is to stop thinking only about programming.

Making It Work
Creating awareness isn’t the same as encouraging collaboration, and, as Simon pointed out at Futures, collaboration is important for expansion. Building platforms for collaboration is one way we can invite new community members inside and interact with communities in a new way. That’s something libraries should be trying to do.

LINKS:

Futures of Libraries 11.0

Santa Cruz Museum of Art and & History

The post Collaboration vs Programming in Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

After hosting several open community discussions, HPL staff discerned that its users’ chief concerns included “public safety, community violence, and their relationship with the police” (Marcotte). It then responded to this clear need by hosting a series of three open dialogues between the police and Hartford residents of all ages. From these programs stemmed the idea to further bridge the gap between the two groups through less formal activities such as the aforementioned community theater and block parties. As a result of this initiative, residents felt that their opinions and concerns were being heard by the police, and they were more likely to question the mainstream media’s depiction of the force’s relationship with the community.

Because public libraries are typically well-respected and trusted fixtures in most communities, they are an excellent arena to help bridge the gaps between different demographics and community organizations. HPL’s initiatives were successful because of this trust; members of the public felt comfortable voicing their concerns freely and had a very real forum in which they could be heard.

Creating community-wide initiatives such as this one is possible even in the absence of a program such as LTC. The main requirements are an openness to hear your community’s needs and a willingness to interface with outside community organizations. Perhaps your residents are interested in learning more about their governing body and would benefit from a visit by an elected official. Alternatively, collaborating with a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) group or your local OEM (Office of Emergency Management) could help teach your patrons valuable lessons about emergency preparedness. The options are endless and vary depending on the community. The first step is allowing your residents to tell you about their concerns.

Building connections within your community not only helps your users, but it can help your library as well. By networking with other groups, you may begin to attract a new patron base or draw in residents whose library usage has waned over the years. Such connections offer a tangible positive to your community, which in turn provides good public relations and reminds your residents why the library is still relevant. These partnerships are also likely to improve your library’s relationship with the governing body and other local organizations, a feat that can never hurt when it comes to advocacy.

What has your library done to foster community relations?

Resources

Marcotte, Alison. “Hartford Public Library Builds, Strengthens Community–Police Relationships.” American Libraries. August 3, 2015. Accessed September 21, 2015.

The post Community Connections at the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

“The gate count is over 1,000!”

On August 8, 2015 we were two hours into our library’s first ComiCon and attendance was surpassing anything we had imagined. By the end of our four-hour event, over 1,700 had come to share their love–correction, passion–for everything that the heroes and villains of Sci-Fi, fantasy, comics, games, graphic novels, and gaming meant to them. Community “geeks,” obsessed with their hobby, had discovered our library!

How did four young library staff members, who share their love of geek culture and the literature that inspires this fandom, manage to stage such a fantastically successful event? Never have I met committee members on any project who spoke in such concert, who agreed on their goals from the start, and who never faltered in what they hoped to achieve. What follows is their collective voice relating how they brought the first Electric City ComiCon to our library. Perhaps the specific details and the actual process they went through will inspire you to host a Comic Con at your library.

OUR MISSION
We are fascinated with the geek culture, especially when fans bring their favorite characters to life from literature. We all promote literacy and already had formed a bond through social media. When we found out two years ago that the 2015 theme for Summer Reading would be “Heroes,” it hit us that a comic convention or Con would be the ideal way to culminate the program. Some of us had been to Cons and were already familiar with how they worked, but they were more adult-oriented. We wanted to offer a safe place to our library patrons in real space for their passion and interests, and what place better represents a safe haven to our community than our library! And, more importantly, we wanted to focus on our younger patrons, our Tweens and Teens. We wanted parents to come with their kids to find out what we have to offer, and we insisted that our Con be “family friendly.”

PERMISSION AND PLANNING
We pitched the idea, first, to the Head of our Children’s department. She gave us overwhelming support, became part of the initial planning stage, and was integral throughout the process. Next, we had to convince our library director, Faith Line. She was reluctant to let us hold such a venue without a lot more research on our part. Did we really know what we were getting into? As we worked on gathering more information, she took a leap of faith and gave us the go-ahead. She was a very exacting mentor, and we learned to think more from her position as director and to consider all the issues involved: Library Board approval, security, staffing, and a hundred logistical matters. Well in advance of our Con we had to write our photography policy and post it publically. We wanted to have those who attended in costume have the opportunity to be photographed digitally against the green screen with the background of their choice. Those photographed were advised that their digital photo might be posted on any of our social media sites.

Our learning curve was huge and the planning took us over a year to complete. We deeply appreciate the guidance Faith gave us and the hard work she put in with us, right up through the day of our event.

FINDING FUNDING, PARTNERS & SPONSORS
Faith sent some of us to Spartanburg, SC, to attend their SpartanCon. Their organizers graciously shared all their planning notes with us, but it was obvious from their event that they had a substantial budget while we had zilch to spend. We concentrated on where to find funding. Friends of the Library gave us money and we wrote an LSTA grant tied into the Summer Reading program to help pay for publicity. The Children’s department purchased a green screen for us to use for the photography part of the venue.

This was a brand-new library event and we had no track record to convince potential partners or sponsors. We developed a sponsorship packet, which didn’t turn out as effective as we wanted because we started too late in the year to approach big corporate sponsors. We had no way to judge how popular our ComiCon would be, so we couldn’t make solid projections or promises of return for their participation or advertising. We did a lot of pleading to our sponsors,and they too, had to take a leap of faith.

Books-A-Million and Planet Comics agreed to be our major partners. Smaller local businesses donated gifts for the panelists or food for our Green Room. The Independent-Mail, the local newspaper, provided free ad space. An up-scale downtown inn, The Bleckley, provided lodging for one of our guest panelists. People’s Bank, BlueRidge Security, Forx Farm, (ever taste goat’s milk fudge? Wonderful!), and the SC  State Library sponsored us in significant ways. We were fortunate that, as we evaluated the costs, we only had to use library funds for prizes for the FanArt and Cosplay contest.

PLANNING PROGRAMS
As lead-ups to our ComiCon, we engaged regional artist Enoch Vaughn to hold three Super Hero Creation workshops aimed at teens to adults. We also decided to sponsor a FanArt Contest, which we initiated two months ahead of the Con. FanArt is a huge part of the geek culture, as you can see when you go to Instagram and Tumblr and search the hashtag #fanart. Artists are constantly reimagining characters or placing characters in weird worlds and having character cross-overs. Although FanArt contests are not typically held at ComiCons, we used the contest as an inexpensive way to advertise our Con and to get our community engaged in the world of heroes. We were hoping it would appeal to our teen demographics; however, our contest was open to all ages. Entries would be judged on the day of the ComiCon. Two weeks before the Con, we only had a dozen entrants and we were worried that it wasn’t being well-received. In that last week the entries flooded in and we were blown away by their quality, in all age divisions.

We weren’t sure if the patrons understood what “cosplay” was—that it’s a combination word: costume + role play, not intended for a stage production. Our director bought a dozen or so books on cosplay topics and we set up a display. Those books were checked out immediately! To heighten interest we contacted Sybil Todd of White Knight Cosplay—who knew we had such an expert in our own backyard?–and she presented two “Getting Into Costuming and Cosplay” workshops for teens in early July.

GETTING PANEL PARTICIPANTS
Since our ComiCon was the culminating event of the Summer Reading program, we planned two sessions for our local young heroes in the Children’s Department on “How To Be a Hero.” These were presented by Heroes in Force, a regional group specializing in motivational activities for kids. Thanks to them, Batman made an appearance at our Con and wowed the kids. We scheduled their programs so that panel sessions would not be competing with them.

We sought experts for the authors, cosplay, and artists panels who understood heroic characters for young adults, and we wanted local or regional authors and artists. We also wanted artists of comics and graphic novels who could speak to young people about combining art with words.

We contacted local cosplayers to talk about cosplay etiquette, how to approach weapons and mask making, what steampunk costuming is, and what cosplay design involves. We already had been going where authors, artists, and cosplayers were appearing—the DragonCon and AnachroCon in Atlanta, SC Comicon, and other regional Cons—in order to make personal contact with them. We attended book signings. We sent them brief inquiries via email and told them what we were planning. We also sent out letters and made myriad phone calls inquiring whether stated fees could be waived. We worked on the philosophy of “why not ask?” and took a chance. Our mantra became, “They can’t come if you don’t invite them.” The trick was to get them all to come for free!

One of the most pleasant surprises was to find out how willing authors, artists, and cosplayers were to work with us once we told them our objectives. Those who responded “yes!” are great advocates of libraries and literacy and we were thrilled to have them as our panelists. We owe special thanks to David Weber, Megan Shepherd, Delilah S. Dawson, Robert Venditti, Tara Lynne, George Farmer, Allen Swords, Marla Roberson, Gypsey Teague, and Amanda Finley for their support of our event. On the day of our Con, we were very disappointed when Robert Venditti cancelled due to illness. Enoch Vaughn agreed to substitute and the panel went on as planned. ComiCon people do form a very cooperative community.

STAFFING AND DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITIES
We shared the responsibilities and all of our decisions were made by consensus, although we each had specific tasks we worked on. We didn’t move forward until we all agreed that what we were going to do met our basic goals. And we also knew that there was no way our library could hold this event without the help of staff.

The Summer Reading/Electric City ComiCon staff T-shirts were designed by Sara Leady. With special ALA approval, she modified the official library logo by dressing the Big L in a green superhero cape with mask. Each staff member who worked our Con wore a special T-shirt, with the same logo on the front as the Summer Reading T-shirt, but with the logos of all our sponsors on the back, a salute of thanks to them for their support.

VENDORS
You can’t have a ComiCon without vendors, but we had to get Library Board approval to waive the rule of no commercial activities in our library. We started looking for potential vendors almost two years ago. We visited vendor booths at all the major Cons, craft fairs, and through location-based searching on the internet. We narrowed our list of over one hundred down to thirteen—the number determined by our space limitations. One advantage for the vendors was that we did not charge a booth fee. The authors had booths and their books were available for purchase and autographing. Some of the cosplay panelists had booths dedicated to costume accessories. Our IT department installed an additional access point to our Wi-Fi so that vendors had internet access from their locations.

MAPPING THE FLOW
We mapped what we thought would be effective crowd flow. We had no idea how many people to expect and how much open floor space in our two-level library we would need for crowds. We wanted everything located in logical, accessible places, with freely-flowing traffic between events, without blocking the day-to-day routines—we performed normal library operations during our Con! For weeks prior, we posted signs throughout the building warning our patrons to expect a lot of noise on Con day.

We debated how we would set up the vendors and eventually agreed to assign them all to one space to allow equal access to the attendees. We had to deal with the main stairway and elevator ingress/egress to the upper level when locating the FanArt display, the panel tables, and audience seating. We were concerned that the activities in the Children’s area on the main level would be overlooked by those immediately going upstairs to the panel presentations and the gaming stations in the Teen Center. Our fears were unfounded. The huge attendance meant that all areas were visited by large numbers of people.

SECURITY
One major concern, of course, was security. Since our building is County-owned, our director arranged for two additional county deputies (three in all) to be on duty throughout the event. One deputy manned the main entrance as a weapons inspector. In cosplay many participants come with prop weapons as part of their costume, and we did see several really convincing Uzi’s in the hands of storm troopers! The deputy inspected and tagged each one to reassure us that they were not real.

The other two deputies circulated through each level during the event. They commented how well-behaved the crowd was. We understood why. For the most part, those who attend Cons come seeking others to bond with, to meet up with others who they may have already communicated with via various social media avenues. We saw several teens from several different schools laughing and talking with each other about their costumes. After all, a Con is a community of fellow-fans geeking together. We also planned a combination vendor supply room and public first aid/lost and found station adjacent to the vendor area and near the main entrance.

FOOD & REFRESHMENTS
We discussed having a public food concessions but our director nixed the idea for valid reasons. We had already bitten off a big hunk of this Con to manage, and having to deal with food, inside or out, would add another responsibility or headache, not to mention burden the clean-up crew. We decided that a Green Room for panelists and vendors would be sufficient for this year.

POST EVENT ANALYSIS
For us, the Electric City ComicCon was a mind-blowing success! We already have our second Con calendared for August 6, 2016, from 10-5. We learned a lot about how to improve our event:

HOURS AND ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING

• Add three more hours to avoid overlaps in the schedule and provide more time between panels.
• Relocate the panel stage to avoid crowd noise and traffic.
• Add a steampunk panel.
• Have an Artists Alley with prints and posters for sale.
• Host more lead-up events for Tweens and Teens.
• Provide more cosplay workshops.
• Have more comic books for sale.
• Readdress the location of photo station and traffic flow by it. It was such a popular activity that traffic got jammed up and blocked access to other areas for children.

STAFFING

• Involve more geek volunteers. (We had one enthusiastic volunteer this year.)
• Involve more staff in the preplanning.

PROMOTIONS

• Create a brand for our Con that is used on all our advertising and everything we print, display, or digitally broadcast.
• Consider selling Con T-shirts. Many, many attendees wanted to buy our staff T-shirts.

FUNDING

• Start early to solicit corporate partners and sponsors for next year. Funding will always be the big issue, but fortunately we’ll have this year’s impressive gate count to entice more sponsors for 2016!

OTHER ISSUES

• Consider shuttle buses to and from city parking lots to address limited parking issue.
• Investigate providing ATM access.
• Print more programs. We only printed 500 and had to run off copies on-the-fly.
• Encourage survey returns. We had a survey on our website and included a printed survey in the tri-fold program. Although the survey results were overwhelmingly positive–Bigger! Longer!–we didn’t get back a significant percentage of them.

We overheard one of our attendees say enthusiastically, “The library is interested in what I’m interested in!” That’s why we held our own ComiCon, not only to have people come through our doors, but to shift the attitude held by so many of what they think a library is into what we know it can be for them…to see the possibilities of libraries…the possibility of their library. For more information, contact us at: electriccitycomicon@andersonlibrary.org

Resources:

Banaszak, Mark. “Library Articles. Convention Development: Creating A Mini-Con At The Library.” Diamond Bookshelf. January 20, ? http://www.diamondbookshelf.com/Home/1/1/20/181?articleID=130000 (accessed August 28, 2015).

Cruz, Rebecca. “Comics, Super Heroes, Pop Culture, and Libraries.” Public Libraries Online. August 17, 2015. https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2015/08/comics-super-heroes-pop-culture-and-libraries (accessed August 28, 2015).

Hamdan, Kate Denwiddie and Kareemah. “We Put On a Comic-Con (And So Can You!).” Virginia Libraries. July-September 2013. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v59_n3/pdf/denwiddie.pdf (accessed August 28, 2015).

Lynne, Tara. “Introducing Electric City Comic Con!” The Geekiary. June 3, 2015. http://thegeekiary.com/introducing-electric-city-comic-con/25050 (accessed August 31, 2015).

MacDonald, Heidi. “How to Throw a Comic Con at Your Library.” Publishers Weekly. April 18, 2014. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/61940-how-to-throw-a-comic-con-at-your-library.html (accessed August 31, 2015).

Anderson County, SC website: http://www.andersonlibrary.org/

Electric City ComiCon Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/electriccitycomicon

Spartanburg, SC Spartancon website: http://www.infodepot.org/zReaders/Spartancon.asp

David Weber’s website: http://www.davidweber.net/

Megan Shepherd’s website: http://meganshepherd.com/

Delilah S. Dawson’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DelilahSDawson

Robert Venditti’s webpage: http://www.dccomics.com/talent/robert-venditti

White Knight Cosplay: https://www.facebook.com/whiteknightcosplay

Heroes in Force website: http://www.heroesinforce.com/

Enoch Vaughn: https://www.facebook.com/enoch.vaughn

George Farmer’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ArtofGeorgeFarmer

Gypsey Teague’s website: http://www.gypseyteague.com/

Amanda Findley’s Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/AmandaFinleyCrafts

AnachroCon, Atlanta, GA: http://www.anachrocon.com/

DragonCon, Atlanta, GA: http://www.dragoncon.org/

The post Geeking @ the Library: Con is Community! first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Our committee is a cross-section of talented staff from all departments and all levels, with a vibrant interest in our ACL MakerSpace project. We convened at the end of last year, and began by sharing what we knew. We first focused on gathering information, bringing examples from other libraries who have successfully built their MakerSpaces. After a month of envisioning where our MakerSpace would physically fit best and how we could finance it, suddenly we were stymied. We found ourselves considering a detour from our original direction. Why did we move from a project focused on Come-Do to one that invited How-To?

We couldn’t answer a major question: what would our adult patrons really want in the ACL MakerSpace? We already have some MakerSpace activities in both the Children’s and Young Adult Departments, like squishy circuits and Lego® challenges, but an adult-centered MakerSpace would be far too expensive to mount if based entirely on the philosophy of build-it-and-they-will-come. Our staff reflects the demographics of adults, ages 30 to 50, that we wanted to target, so months earlier we polled them about what they thought our MakerSpace should be. We found that although they showed a high interest in 3-D modeling and other technology-based activities, the majority chose more craft-based topics, more prescriptive and dependent on a set of ordered rules or directions. Would those activities lead to collaboration and experimentation inherent in an ideal MakerSpace? Again we wondered if we were heading in the wrong direction.

How could we reach our patrons easily to find out what they want to see in our library? One of our committee members suggested we hire someone to build a revolving, free-standing, four-sided, white dry-erase board kiosk, on which we would write questions to solicit patron input. It now stands in the space across from the Circulation Desk, and our Adult Programming Librarian monitors it. As appropriate messages are posted, she captures the input digitally and then erases the posts. She writes new questions on each side on a regular basis. We have gleaned a lot of patron opinion this way.

But what about our wider Anderson community? How could we reach them? A new business incubator project, e-Merge@The Garage, was coming to life in the remodeled City of Anderson garage. Its focus is to build and grow local and regional entrepreneurs, and is heavily funded with heavy-duty sponsorships. We invited the founder of e-Merge to share his vision with our committee. He offered his Grain Ideas, an open forum at his local pub, to help us find out what his clientele—who fit our targeted demographics—would like to see in ACL’s future MakerSpace. The forum was fun, and we established another community business ACL supporter, but unfortunately we did not gather enough representative feedback.

Each committee member had been searching for ideas as to what other libraries are doing to attract more residents to come to the library. Among all the interesting information we gathered was the article in American Libraries about Louisville (Ky.) Public Library’s first How-to Festival. Their schedule of presentations inspired us. If we held a similar venue, would it draw a large attendance? We could use our “How-To” to ask citizens what they thought a future ACL MakerSpace should be. “Yes!” we all agreed. “Let’s stage a How-To-Fair.”

Then cold reality hit us. The ACL calendar was already heavily booked with upcoming major events for the year: our Friends of the Library Spelling Bee, the Children’s Book Carnival, the Summer Reading Programs, the ComiCon, and our Friends of the Library annual three-day Storytelling Festival in the early fall. The only time when all our conference and meeting rooms were available on one day was in late April. We had less than two months to get it accomplished!

What did we need to do first? Find presenters to donate their time and talents? Advertising? Scheduling? All of it! One committee member quickly developed flyers to explain the nature of the event and to solicit presenters. Other members delivered them personally to community businesses as ACL ambassadors of the How-To Fair. We sent out emails to all staff members for suggestions as to anyone who knew someone who could do such-and-such. We made hundreds of phone calls and inquiries throughout the community. Key members of the committee created a presenter application form, a patron survey, the events schedule, plus a mapping of tables and locations, inside and outdoors. Within a month over 30 community presenters made firm commitments, and in less than two months our program was written in stone. With some trepidation and great anticipation, we held our first ACL How-To Fair on April 23^rdfrom 2-8 p.m. .

A local blacksmith set up his forge and made square nails. A local dog trainer demonstrated canine handling. The beekeepers association gave tips on local bee husbandry. Our genealogical staff helped visitors use online databases for family research. Reference librarians in our computer lab showed how to use Novelist and Mango. Rabbits cuddled in a conference room and chickens clucked in the Children’s patio area, as their breeders offered their expertise. Master gardeners talked compost, flower arranging, pruning, and heirloom seeds. Home Depot demonstrated cordless tools, how to make a sink backsplash, and summer garden preparation. Backpackers shared their love of trail walking. Lowe’s helped DIYs with deck treatment. AnMed Health sent a representative who spoke on advanced directives planning. There were demonstrations on making balloon animals, quilting, crocheting, origami, fabric bracelets, scrapbooking, how to brew the perfect cup of coffee, digital photography, how to pack a suitcase, how to repurpose junk, and how to jumpstart your creativity. The local theater group showed how to audition. Yoga sessions, kicking a soccer ball, and salsa dancing lessons added to the excitement! The Teen room ran continuous activity stations, like underwater painting, and the Children’s Department had Lego® challenges. Committee members were assigned areas to direct traffic, answer questions, and provided a hospitality room with refreshments for the presenters. It took every staff member who wasn’t at a service desk—our library maintained normal operations!–to work the Fair.

As one committee member commented, “We didn’t know where we were going, but we sure had fun when we got there.”

But, to where?

In our post-event analysis, we found that we had these positives:

• a collaborative and talented committee, seriously dedicated to staging the event, and newly emerging leaders;
• a successful and fierce social media blitz to advertise the event;
• enthusiastic presenters and attendees—a good start to amplifying community relations;
• a wide-variety of sessions of interest to a large cross-section of attendees;
• encouraging survey responses from both attendees and presenters, with calls for “do it again” next year!

But what about any 2^nd Annual ACL How-To Fair? What should we do the next time?

• Establish a How-To Fair Committee.
• Brand our How-To Fair and develop a logo for advertising, and even emblazon it on staff T-Shirts.
• Consult/contact other library systems that have held a How-To event. There is a lot of practical advice online from other libraries, but we reinvented the proverbial wheel. Learn what they learned.
• Plan far in advance. . . at least six months. Two months is not enough time to advertise effectively, communicate with potential presenters, and allow for last-minute scheduling adjustments.
• Appoint or elect a committee member to be the clearinghouse for presenter applications and contacts.
• Restructure the schedule to avoid clumping events in too narrow a time frame.
• Allow attendees more time to get from one presentation to another.
• Refine the presenter application and questionnaire.
• Encourage presenters to give multiple sessions.
• Consider soliciting local business sponsorships, perhaps to help with advertising, the hospitality room, etc.

Did we find out what our community wanted for the ACL MakerSpace? No, not really. We made the assumption that the public-at-large would know what a MakerSpace is, because we librarians know. MakerSpace terminology is so much a part of our active vocabulary that we neglected to provide something at the How-To Fair to explain it to our public. When we asked our attendees to fill out a survey as they left the venue, their focus and emotional involvement was with this How-To Fair and not necessarily with providing input for a future MakerSpace. We do know, however, that this sort of event truly appealed to them, and that alone was worth the effort.

And our ACL MakerSpace Committee’s future plans? We have refocused and are considering. . . ah, but that’s for me to tell you in a future blog.

References:

1. Kristin Fontichiaro & the Michigan Makers, University of Michigan School of Information, “What’s In Your Patron’s’ Dream Makerspace?” accessed May 20, 2015, http://fontichiaro.com/uploads/2014/booklist-makerspace-list.pdf.

2. “Grain Ideas-Growler House, Anderson,” accessed May 20, 2015, https://roundtown.com/event/2712891/Grain-Ideas-Growler-Haus-Anderson-Anderson-SC.

3. Judy Rosenfield, “Barbecue? Flamenco Dancing? Learning Gets Interactive in Louisville,” American Libraries, October 30, 2012, accessed May 20, 2015, http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2012/10/30/barbecue-flamenco-dancing-learning-gets-interactive-in-louisville/.

4. “eMerge @ The Garage: Driving entrepreneurship,” accessed May 20, 2015, http://www.emergeandersonsc.com/#!about_us/cjg9.

5. Website for Anderson (SC) County Library System: http://www.andersonlibrary.org

6. Link to Anderson (SC) County Library System’s How-To Fair: http://www.andersonlibrary.org/how-to-fair/

7. Facebook event page for Anderson (SC) County Library System’s How-To Fair: https://www.facebook.com/events/1593649477548555/

8. Facebook album for Anderson (SC) County Library System’s How-To Fair: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.952981931400316.1073741828.354814934550355&type=3

The post From Come-Do to How-To first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

New York City has over 730,000 homes without internet or broadband access. Unlike smaller cities like Chattanooga, Tennessee, that are making public broadband a reality through their local government, it is simply not feasible for New York’s large and diverse population to do the same thing. In this day and age, people do expect to have internet access anytime and anywhere, just like other public utilities (i.e. water or power). And although the FCC officially classified broadband as a public utility this past February, it will not involve itself in pricing decisions/negotiations. This leaves the cost of internet to be, on average, $60 per month, fundamentally turning a public utility into a luxury item for many.

New York City is trying to give the largest internet companies a reason to become more competitive. The city developed free wireless access points with mobile computer labs and Wi-Fi hubs, including underground and public spaces as well as defunct payphone booths. Unfortunately, many residents in New York are still being left out of these smart communities.

When an affordable internet connection is a problem, it can be extremely difficult to access important online resources from home when someone is unemployed or underemployed. It can be just as difficult for someone’s school-age children to do their homework or do research without online access. Some families struggle with these issues, but find relief in the accessibility of public libraries. However, when the local public library closes at 5pm on some days or doesn’t open at all, the digital divide widens. NYPL decided that all of their patrons should still be able to access online resources, even when they are at home.

Partnering with the Knight Foundation (along with Sprint), which awarded NYPL a $500,000 grant for this purpose, the library rolled out their hotspot lending program this year. And so far so good! A PBS story discusses one family’s journey into digital literacy growth because of the hotspot lending program. Since borrowing a hotspot from NYPL four months ago, a struggling single mother is now working on her nursing degree online, and her children can do their schoolwork at home instead of rushing to the library to complete their assignments before the building closes for the day. It’s clear that for this family and many others, NYPL has given them a sense of stability that most people take for granted.  There are other cities and public libraries developing similar lending programs for their own communities. Look into grants for your library and see your own community’s digital confidence and overall well-being grow!

Source

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/internet-scarcity/

The post Narrowing the Digital Divide: New York Public Library Loans Out Hotspots first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Attending the seminar New Uses of Public Libraries (organized by the Province of Barcelona with the Library Consortium of Barcelona, the IFLA Section on Public Libraries and the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment), I learned that these two libraries had kitchen and cooking programs. I emailed both library directors a few questions. [1]

Children’s Mexican Cooking Workshop at the Central Library of Castelldefels

Public Libraries Online: What made your library decide to start activities about cooking?

Mariona Chavarria Domingo (Biblioteca del Fondo): Seeing the multicultural context of the neighborhood, the municipality, [and] aiming for social cohesion, [we] thought about the idea of “cooking” as a central point to all cultures, and as an excuse to bring diversity together and build a community by creating mutual trust.

Marta Granel Dalmau (Central Library of Castelldefels): Our library specializes in cooking, [so] these activities are the ideal complement for our specialty. We complete our cooking programs with a collection of books about cooking, for kids and adults.

Children’s Mexican Cooking Workshop at the Central Library of Castelldefels

PL Online: What information, tools, and processes did you need?

Mariona: One of the halls of the library has a complete kitchen installed, prepared to cook and to perform cooking shows. It is equipped with a hotplate, electrical oven, microwave oven, fridge, [and] dishwasher. It is also equipped with enough kitchenware (a list of which was provided by a local Restoration School). We have gathered information about legal points to take into account (related to health and food security, hygiene, and first aid). A Commission has been established in order to think about the project named “Cuines del Món” (Cuisines of the World), which includes the kitchen and a section of the library collection (books and other document types).

Marta: We need professionals to do the activities, normally local collaborators, [as well as] multipurpose spaces and users interested in activities about cooking.

Children’s Mexican Cooking Workshop at the Central Library of Castelldefels

PL Online: How did you determine what activities to organize?

Mariona: The above mentioned Commission “Cuines del Món” (which includes: representatives of the municipality – politicians and technicians; representatives of social, educational, and cultural entities of the neighborhood; representatives of the University of Barcelona Campus de l’Alimentació – Food and Nutrition  and representatives of Fondo trading association as well as a well-known Chef, Víctor Quintillà, whose restaurant La Lluerna has been awarded with one Michelin Star during the last three years). The overall objective of the “Cuines del Món” Project is to be a tool helping to bring together diversity; bringing down walls of lack of trust; and, being a public library, to promote reading habits and skills. We have oriented the activities in three main directions or levels:

a) Academic level – about food, nutrition, science and cooking – inviting cooks as well as university lecturers;

b) Informative level – bringing together people from different backgrounds to share a cooking session while explaining similarities and differences of cooking, for instance about rice, potatoes, or about the use of species or different kinds of oil, etc.; teaching to cook nutritive meals to people with low incomes; teaching children cooking habits, etc.

c) Reading Promotion: the library, in collaboration with educational and cultural entities of the neighborhood, organizes activities connected to its own activities (storytelling for children and families, a reading club for adults, people learning Catalan or Spanish, etc.).

In some cases we offer the kitchen space for activities organised by others: i.e., by a psychiatric center nearby, or by other similar associations; by groups working with children with social risks, etc.

Marta: First we contact the collaborators and look for the activities, we want the activities to be attractive, easy, and possible to be done in the library, without fire. Normally we try to organize the activities in cycles, for kids and for adults.

Cooking Workshop at the Biblioteca del Fondo

PL Online: What challenges did you face?

Mariona: The main challenge is to implement good projects that keep the kitchen lively and used at its best. Linked to that, another challenge is trying to keep with a regular activity in the kitchen while not having enough library staff for that, having to work with volunteers (good on one side, but unstable on the other). Also the follow-up after the activities in the kitchen (the washing up and putting back stuff in the cupboards) is an unsolved problem. I wouldn’t call it a challenge but it’s challenging.

Marta: The challenge is making programs varied, attractive, and cheap.

PL Online: What kind of positive results have you had? (And, any negative ones?)

Mariona: We are “young,” yet the fact that this library, situated in such a popular neighborhood, has a kitchen, has put this place in the newspapers for something good and unseen before. It gives a new/better status to the surrounding area. The kitchen opens us easily to different collaborations (for instance with market stall holders or other commerce in the area, or the University Campus, lecturers, and students).

Marta: The results are very positive, the users are very happy and thankful about these activities. The are usually no vacancies in these type of activities.

Cooking Workshop at the Biblioteca del Fondo

PL Online: About how much time does it take?

Mariona: It takes a lot of time: meetings, contacts, preparation of the space, being close during the activities in case of any need, and collecting and washing the kitchenware.

Marta: We spend a lot of time to program these activities. First we look for the possible collaborators who could do the activities, and sometimes we have to pay for the activities. Then we have to do advertising and registration. Afterwards we send the participants an assessment questionnaire, as we want to know their feedback.

PL Online: What advice would you give a library wanting to do something similar?

Mariona: I feel it is too soon to be able to give any good advice. The only one I can think of is: don’t be afraid to start a similar project!

Marta: At the end of the activities the users are so thankful and happy!!

Sources:

[1] Mariona Chavarria Domingo’s e-mail to author (03/19/2015); Marta Granel Dalmau’s e-mail to author (03/25/2015). The interview questions were inspired by Kate Theimer, Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collections, Facet publishing 2010

The post Kitchens in Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Through a project titled Lunch at the Library, the California Summer Meal Coalition (CSMC) and California Library Association (CLA) are supporting the development of public library summer meal programs in California, exploring how these programs can help serve families and provide positive outcomes for the library, and creating resources to help more libraries implement successful summer meal programs.

The Need for Summer Meals

The USDA’s Summer Food Service Program, more commonly referred to as a summer meal program, ensures that children and youth in low-income neighborhoods continue to have access to healthy food when school lets out for summer vacation. Summer meal programs enable school districts, units of local government, tribal governments, and community-based agencies to offer free, healthy meals to children and youth age eighteen and under in low-income neighborhoods. Summer meals can be offered at a range of locations, including libraries, and are served to all children, without requiring parents or caregivers to complete any paperwork.

The need for high-quality, accessible summer meal programs is significant. A 2013 nationwide survey of parents found that more than 40 percent of low-income parents had a harder time making ends meet in summer than during the school year, with some respondents reporting that they did not have enough food during the summer break.¹ However, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), while more than 19 million children, on average, received a free or reduced-price lunch during the 2012–2013 school year, fewer than 3 million children participated in a 2013 summer meal program.² Some of the barriers that impede families from participating in summer meal programs are a lack of sites, or of sites that appeal to families, and a lack of awareness of summer meal sites. In addition, cuts to summer school and other summer programs have left many school, city, and community-based organization meal providers with another major barrier—a lack of activities and programming at their sites. Many parents and caregivers are looking for activities to keep children and teens engaged during the summer as well as nutrition support to help where limited summer budgets fall short.

Researchers at Washington University have traced the negative impact of poverty on brain development and highlighted the links between inadequate nutrition, poor education, and other conditions of stress on developmental outcomes.³ Summertime can add to those stressful conditions by creating a perfect storm for risk of food insecurity, obesity, and summer learning loss.
Our collective imagination of summertime is one of children outside playing. Yet for those living in neighborhoods with limited access to healthy food options and few safe places to play, summer can present a very different reality. In some neighborhoods, the omnipresence of unhealthy food options poses additional challenges for families. Research shows that children gain weight two to three times faster during the summer than during the school year; those already at risk of obesity are at even greater risk for excessive weight gain.⁴ The impact of inadequate nutrition on students’ ability to learn is significant. Although the relationship between food insecurity and childhood obesity is complex, both are associated with lower academic gains, increased absenteeism and tardiness, social and mental health problems, and “poor developmental trajectories.”⁵

For many children in families with low income, the learning opportunities they receive in the classroom end along with the nutrition provided by the school lunches when school lets out for summer vacation, leaving them to face uneven access to formal summer learning programs. Youth in families with low income fall further behind in academic skills, particularly reading, during the summer break, experiencing greater summer learning loss than their higher income peers and widening the achievement gap.⁶ Research shows that children in families with low income are nearly three grades behind their more affluent peers in reading by the end of fifth grade as a cumulative consequence of summer learning loss.⁷ Unequal summer learning opportunities during the elementary school years account for about two-thirds of the ninth-grade achievement gap, contributing to a lower likelihood that low-income youth will graduate from high school or enter college in comparison to middle-income students.⁸

Making the Case for Public Library Summer Meal Partnerships

The stark contrast between school year and summer child nutrition program data, and the increasing body of research on summer learning loss, has provided a call to action for many agencies, including libraries, which are proving to be natural spaces for serving meals to children whose access to lunch disappears when school ends. Libraries are community spaces at the heart of the neighborhood. They are rich with learning activities and opportunities, all free of charge to the user. And library staff members share a commitment to providing support to all members of the community, often acting as an equalizing force in communities divided by socioeconomic barriers. Moreover, libraries are trusted and valued by the community. The Pew Research Center reports that Americans believe libraries are important assets within their community and improve the quality of life. Libraries are particularly valued by low-income families and perceived as providing resources that parents cannot provide for their children at home.⁹

Lunch at the Library Program

After learning about communities that were starting to address the intersections between hunger and learning through public library summer meal programs, CSMC and CLA decided in 2013 to explore how to expand these programs across the state and gather a better understanding of what public library summer meal models could look like and achieve. While a small number of library summer meal sites were already scattered across the country, very little had been done to track their experiences and promote the value of libraries as summer meal partners. With support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and with Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding from the California State Library, CSMC and CLA developed the Lunch at the Library program to support, evaluate, and document summer meal programs in California’s public libraries, and to develop a body of knowledge that could be used to help libraries establish themselves as successful and meaningful summer meal sites.

In California, many communities are still trying to rebound from years of economic decline. Cuts to summer learning programs have meant cuts to school-based summer meal programs, leaving 50 percent fewer school-based summer meal sites between 2009 and 2010.¹⁰ Reflecting national data, in 2012 only 17 percent of children in California who received a free or reduced-price lunch during the school year also participated in a summer meal program; meaning that more than two million eligible children did not participate.¹¹ The state has proven to be the perfect ground for experimentation because of its size, diversity, and severe need. (Not to mention that we found a number of adventurous librarians willing to embark on the exploratory journey with us.)

Lunch at the Library has provided support to libraries in the form of funding, technical assistance, training, and the development of an information exchange. In return, participating libraries have experimented with their summer meal programs and provided us with generous amounts of feedback. In 2013, we worked closely with six branches within Fresno County, Los Angeles Public, Sacramento Public, and San Diego County libraries, and we were guided by staff at the Oakland Public Library who had started serving summer meals the previous year. The Lunch at the Library collaboration partnership expanded to include Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Kern County, and Riverside City in 2014, while also connecting with other efforts being made in libraries in Chula Vista, Redwood City, Riverside County, Salinas, San Diego City, San Francisco, San José, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo County, Santa Barbara, Solano County, South San Francisco, and Tulare County.

Replacing Trepidation with Enthusiasm and Impact

Full disclosure: There has been a fair amount of trepidation among librarians who agreed to participate in the project. There are plenty of legitimate things to worry about, ranging from how the program would work during the already busy summer months, convincing administrators (and staff) that this was really and truly a great idea, following the many rules of USDA summer meal programs, to the myriad “what ifs” of things that just might go wrong. However, libraries’ passion for and commitment to their communities outweighed the anxiety. And we’re thankful to report that the effort has paid off.

Libraries have proven to be very popular summer meal sites with families in California, and in some communities they became a daily summer destination. In 2013, our first Lunch at the Library sites served more than 24,000 meals. This coincided with a modest statewide increase of 11 percent in summer meal program participation in California.¹⁴ In 2014, more than 85,000 meals were served at 62 California public library sites through USDA summer meal programs, once again contributing to a continued statewide growth in summer meal participation overall. The need for such popular summer meal sites is clear. Of the 1,981 children and caregivers surveyed as part of the Lunch in the Library program in 2014, 19 percent reported that, during the summer, they ate lunch only at the library. An additional 11 percent reported that they ate lunch only at the library and at other free summer meal sites.

Library staff members at our project sites have focused on helping families feel healthy, both physically and emotionally, at the library meal site. They have created welcoming and safe environments, greeted families upon their arrival at the library, displayed kids’ artwork on the walls, engaged families in healthy activities like T-ball and jump rope, and presented programs on nutrition and healthy behaviors, and are achieving positive results. When surveyed in 2014, 77 percent of the 1,981 people surveyed told us that they felt happy at the program, 61 percent felt good about themselves, and 56 percent felt safe. In addition, families throughout the state reported how deeply appreciative they are of the program, saying, for example:

• “I would like to thank everyone for helping me learn to read, eat, and feel safe.”
• “It’s just nice to be part of a program that all-around cares :-)”
• “[This program makes me] feel like the community cares about us.”

Engaging New Families with the Library

The meal service has also positively impacted participating libraries. Library staff members have reported that their meal programs attracted new families to the library and provided opportunities to introduce children, teens, and adults to library services and programs. Lunch at the Library site staff seized these opportunities by engaging families attending the lunch service in one-on-one conversations about the library, handing out library flyers, signing families up for summer reading, and presenting activities and programs alongside the lunch service. Correspondingly, families who came for the meal service  reported having an understanding of the help and essential resources available at the library. At the end of summer 2014, 93 percent of people surveyed said they know they can find books and things to borrow at the library, 79 percent know they can find computers, 70 percent know they can find information, and 69 percent know they can find people to help them at the library.

In 2013, participating libraries reported a growth in summer reading participation at summer meal sites. At the Central Library in Fresno, summer reading participation rose nearly 19 percent from the previous year to 988 participants. Library staff said, “I believe the increase has to do with the summer lunch program and people learning about all the different services the library has to offer.” At the Los Angeles Public Library, 355 people took part in summer reading as a result of the Lunch at the Library program. Library staff said: “We signed a lot of kids up for summer reading and succeeded in helping parents see the library as a place that is multifaceted in its approach to serving families.” Sacramento Public Library’s Valley Hi-North Laguna Branch saw its summer reading program participation almost triple from the previous year, from 744 to 2110 participants. In addition, the branch experienced a 6.6 percent increase in issuance of new library cards over the previous year. The library did not hold a library card drive in 2013 and credits the meal program as the driving force for the increase. Staff said: “The summer meals program at Valley Hi-North Laguna was nothing short of transformational.”

Having a new mechanism to draw families to the library has enabled library staff to introduce previously underserved community members to library resources. Moreover, the program is bringing whole families into the library, which can be key when trying to engage children with both libraries and summer meal programs.

Librarians have also reported that the summer meal program helped resolve behavioral issues among regular library patrons by addressing the often hidden issue of hunger in the community. It is well-documented that hunger can impact attention, concentration, and behavior, and thus academic readiness. Participating librarians have observed improved behavior and attentiveness, a “sense of calm,” among children at their libraries and attributed the improvement to the lunch element.

Food Brings People (and Partners) Together

Library meal programs have also been successful in generating meaningful community partnerships for libraries and elevating the library’s profile as a key community partner when school is out. Libraries’ primary summer meal partners are the meal sponsors (such as school districts, county offices of education, food banks, and community-based agencies) that provide the meals each day and that promote the library through their own networks. In some communities, libraries and meal sponsors have also worked together on citywide summer kick-off events, and sponsors have provided staff to help operate the meal service at the library.

Participating meal sponsors have appreciated that libraries have adeptly followed the many program rules and reported that libraries were among their most well-attended sites. All of the libraries and meal sponsors that participated in the first year of Lunch at the Library extended their relationships to the following summer, and in some cases, extended their partnerships to include new projects such as providing meals to students at homework clubs, expanding to new library branches, and developing joint collaborations with other city and county agencies.

The summer meal service has also fostered other community partnerships. In Sacramento, the library partnered with Vision to Learn, an organization that provides free vision screening and eyeglasses to children in low-income neighborhoods. Vision to Learn’s mobile screening unit, which would otherwise have gone unused in the absence of school, visited the library to test kids’ eyes and distribute eyeglasses during the meal service. In Riverside, the local public utilities agency provided weekly conservation programming during the library lunch service. In San Diego County, the library partnered with the local health and human services agency to offer “Instant Recess” physical activities to keep kids moving. Firefighters and the police chief read stories to kids during the lunch service at the Contra Costa County’s San Pablo branch library. At Fresno County Public Library, the mascot from the popular minor league baseball team, the Fresno Grizzlies, took pictures with kids during the lunch service. And in many communities, partnerships with local health departments enabled libraries to offer nutrition education alongside the lunch service. Community partners were eager to work with the libraries because they too needed a vehicle to reach families and promote their services when school is out.

Partnerships in Rural Areas

Partnerships have been particularly crucial in rural areas, which face the added summertime burden of transportation issues, extreme heat, a smaller pool of organizational partners to work with, and sometimes a complete shutdown of schools, which limits both summer learning opportunities as well as summer meals. In Borrego Springs, a small town located two hours outside of San Diego, kids had very few summer options. The library partnered with the school district, the community pool, a local Boys & Girls Club, and community partners to combine resources to transport kids to different activities throughout the day, landing at the library for lunch and programming. Part of San Diego County Library system, the Borrego Springs Branch Library received meals through Feeding America San Diego, a local food bank. In addition, a food bank volunteer, impressed with the collaboration, drove weekly to the library to supply bags of produce (provided through the food bank’s produce program) for the children to bring home to their families.

Perhaps the most significant outcome of these partnerships is how they helped libraries, partners, and local leaders think more broadly about leveraging summer meal programs to help their communities work smarter and more collaboratively. After reading to children in Kern County’s Beale Memorial Library and seeing firsthand the value of the program, a county supervisor became one of the program’s biggest champions. In San Pablo, a local council member supported the program by regularly visiting the library to read to children and by helping to facilitate relationships with other agencies and leaders. From a local leader’s perspective, Lunch at the Library illustrates a best-case scenario: a city or county working together effectively to support the community.

Volunteerism Turned Youth Development Opportunity

Volunteers are essential to the success of library meal programs, and libraries’ experience and expertise in recruiting and working with volunteers has contributed to their success as summer meal sites. Volunteers have been invaluable for library staff already stretched thin with summer reading programs and activities, and regulars often provided continuity for the program throughout the summer months.

Although some adults served as volunteers (including parents who volunteered along with their teens and library staff), teens are the most commonly used volunteers, and were recruited through schools, community agencies such as Boys & Girls Clubs, library volunteer programs, library regulars, teens looking for community service hours, and teen-to-teen word of mouth. In Sacramento, the coordinating librarian said: “More teens then joined through word of mouth because of the positive environment (they came to work and hang out with their friends).”

When embarking on the Lunch at the Library project, CLA and CSMC had not anticipated the extent to which the program would impact youth in the community, yet participating libraries quickly demonstrated that summer meal programs can become meaningful youth development programs. Teen volunteers have helped to plan meal services, greet families, hand out meals, manage meal service logistics, and engage children and their families with activities. In Contra Costa County Library’s San Pablo Branch Library, teen volunteers designed their own nutrition education game to promote healthy eating and engage younger children in physical activity, in addition to helping manage the meal program. Most teen volunteers have come from the community that was being served and many are already skilled in working with younger children, thanks to having siblings of their own. Teens and young adults are indispensable assets to the program, and library staff have seen the program engage teens and spark a passion among them. In Los Angeles, library staff said: “The teen volunteers—in particular, one girl who came regularly every day—were essential. Because we had such a big group of staff working summer lunch, there were many people who only worked one day a week, and so we were constantly training and reminding them about procedures. The volunteers, because they were there every day, provided continuity and stability for the families—and often told staff what they needed to be doing.”

More than simply providing community service, teens are acquiring organization, management, communication, and teamwork skills crucial for a twenty-first century workforce. As a bonus, they are also able to eat the meals being served. In Los Angeles, the library has paid for teens to obtain food handling certificates, which will add to their employer desirability should they choose to pursue jobs in the food service industry. In Sacramento, a meal program volunteer coordinator hosted a workshop to help teens identify and articulate the skills they learned, discussed strategies for pursuing a job, and provided sample résumés and letters of recommendation. The coordinator arranged for the human resources personnel at Target and the executive vice president of a local technology company to give presentations at the volunteer appreciation lunch held at the conclusion of the summer, and library staff said: “That Lunch at the Library turned into a training ground for the teens was an unexpected bonus.”

Publicity

The relative novelty of offering food in the library has helped garner significant media attention for libraries offering summer meals, helping to raise awareness about food insecurity and summer learning loss. Previously, little attention had been paid to the issues facing low-income families when school was not in session. Media coverage has augmented library efforts to promote the service to families and provided opportunities to raise the visibility of the library and highlight library programs and resources. In Oakland, the noted children’s author Todd Parr visited the library on multiple occasions after hearing a story about the program in the local media. In Fresno, library staff said: “The promotion and publicity was great. We had a wonderful response from the media; we were highlighted in various news outlets, both in print and on TV. The media promotion helped draw people to the program and create an understanding of why we were offering a lunch program.”

Adding Programming to the Meal Service Idea

The most successful summer meal sites are those that offer programs and activities to complement the meal service, and libraries are ideally positioned to provide learning and enrichment activities before, during, and after lunch. By offering high-quality programming alongside the meal service, libraries can help to prevent summer learning loss as well as food insecurity within their low-income communities.

The wide variety of programming offered by libraries as part of the Lunch at the Library project includes storytimes, craft stations, art and writing workshops, Zumba, ping pong, nutrition education programs, and container gardening. A key theme that has emerged is the need for libraries to experiment with a range of activities to determine the type of programming that is the best fit for them, given the drop-in context, available staffing, and space. The Los Angeles Public Library has had great success with placing play kitchens in the lunch rooms, which were “ragingly popular with kids ages two to seven,” and with STEAM activity stations. The stations enabled kids to explore weight and measurement, investigate rocks with magnifying glasses, study magnets, build ramps, and predict distance and speed. Different activities were available each day and kids were given the opportunity to create experiments, make predictions, and record observations. San Diego County Library has offered a popular App Academy, enabling kids to use learning-based apps on iPads during the lunch program. Community collaborations have enabled libraries to offer a range of programming that did not require significant, if any, additional funds, and enabled them to tap into other community resources. These types of partnerships have also meant that libraries did not need to stray from their already-planned summer schedules but could add supplementary activities as needed.

It Wouldn’t Be Perfect without a Few Flaws

Even the most perfect diamond has a few flaws. The Lunch at the Library project has demonstrated that a summer meal program can be transformative for libraries in many ways. It has also exposed a range of challenges, some that could be addressed and others that require larger systematic changes.

The primary concerns reported by librarians participating in the project were related to USDA summer nutrition program regulations. Because summer nutrition programs are designed specifically to serve children and youth, there is no flexibility to also offer their adult caregivers a meal. This regulation was emotionally difficult for staff and volunteers in areas where adult food insecurity is also an issue and in an institution that prides itself on access for all. It also prevents families from eating together, a practice that can facilitate children’s healthy eating habits and is an integral part of many, if not most cultures. Some libraries worked around this issue by offering meals-for-purchase for adults or bags of produce for families to take home. Libraries without those options had clear signage specifying the regulation in an easy-to-understand way to help alleviate uncomfortable situations for patrons or library staff and volunteers.

Food quality is a concern in some libraries. In cases where menus became repetitive or food items were not well liked, libraries worked with their food partners to make improvements where possible. USDA summer meal programs operate through a reimbursement mechanism and providers must work within those funding constraints to provide food that is both healthy and appealing. Waste was a related issue. Regulations require that (with some exceptions) uneaten items must be disposed of to comply with health and safety standards. While some libraries were able to find workable solutions with their providers, such as sending fewer meals or improving quality, the issue remains one of greater significance within the food system. It is also a reminder of the unsolvable problem of finding the “right” amount of food for each individual child in a program designed to
feed many.

Some libraries have also had internal challenges to address: How would staff feel about being asked to do “one more thing” during what can be the busiest time of the year? Would library administration be supportive of the program to help ensure effective implementation? Was there really need in the community? Would this program be perceived as an effort only for the children’s librarian? How would other staff see this as part of their job, too? Not surprisingly, exposure was a key strategy to alleviating anxiety and resistance where it existed—providing staff and leadership with firsthand experience of the program enabled them to see its value, both to the community and the library. It was also helpful for all library staff to understand in advance that in many communities, the face of poverty has changed and “need” is not always overtly visible. The meal service provided many librarians with an opportunity to sit down with families and hear their stories, building a deeper relationship with the community.

Practice Makes Perfect . . .Or at Least a Good Teacher

“The project successfully linked healthy meals to summer reading and active play. [It] expanded everyone’s ideas of what happens at a library.”—Librarian

Capturing the experiences of California libraries participating in the Lunch at the Library project, and other California summer meal programs, has enabled CSMC and CLA to develop a knowledge base to help libraries become successful summer meal sites. We have developed a web-based clearinghouse that includes an overview of USDA summer nutrition programs, and information on getting started, programming and planning, working with volunteers, promotion to families, public relations, program evaluation, and troubleshooting. The site also includes a map of public library summer meal sites in the United States and a discussion list for library staff who operate, or are considering, a summer meal program at their branch. All libraries are encouraged to add their sites to the map and join the discussion list, all of which can be found at lunchatthelibrary.org.

Taking It Further in California

The last two years have provided a substantial foundation for library summer meal programs in California. However, there is  much more to learn, document, and share from libraries operating summer meal programs. Next, the California project aims to develop quality standards for summer meal-literacy programs, explore the impact of the learning activities that take place at public library summer meal sites, engage all California public library meal sites in a statewide evaluation effort, engage elected officials and city and county leaders with the project in greater depth, and explore year-round efforts to include afterschool meals.

The knowledge gained through the Lunch at the Library project has been limited to a select group of libraries in California. What were the experiences of other libraries operating summer meal programs? What are the best practices for rural communities? How important is it for a library to effectively engage in this type of effort? Many questions remain about how to implement summer meal programs that successfully meet community and library needs. And finding those answers comes from continuing to expand the effort to more libraries. The drive to further that exploration is the knowledge that there are many more communities in California and across the nation that can benefit from offering this type of service so that every child can enjoy a summer feeling nurtured, nourished, and confident, and can return to school in the fall, healthy and ready to learn.

Lunch at the Library is a program of the California Library Association and California Summer Meal Coalition. It is supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

References

1. Share Our Strength (SOS), “Summer Meals Survey,” Mar. 2013, accessed Dec. 10, 2014.
2. Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report 2014,” June 2014, accessed Dec. 10, 2014.
3. Joan Luby, et al., “The Effects of Poverty on Childhood Brain Development: The Mediating Effect of Caregiving and Stressful Life Events,” JAMA Pediatrics 167, no. 12 (Dec. 2013): 1,135–142.
4. P. T. von Hippel, et al., “The Effect of School on Overweight in Childhood: Gain in Body Mass Index During the School Year and During Summer Vacation,” American Journal of Public Health 97, no. 4 (Apr. 2007): 696–702; National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), “Healthy Summers for Kids: Turning Risk into Opportunity,” May 2012, accessed Dec. 10, 2014.
5. Diana F. Jyoti, Edward A. Frongillo, and Sonya J. Jones, “Food Insecurity Affects School Children’s Academic  Performance, Weight Gain, and Social Skills,” Journal of Nutrition 135, no. 12 (Dec. 1, 2005): 2,831–839.
6. Harris Cooper, et al., “The Effects of Summer Vacation on Achievement Test Scores: A Narrative and Meta-Analytic Review,” Review of Educational Research 66, no. 3 (Fall 1996): 227–68.
7. Summer Matters, “Why Summer Matters,” accessed Dec. 22, 2014; Karl L. Alexander, Doris R. Entwisle, and Linda Steffel Olson, “Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap,”  American Sociological Review 72, no. 2 (Apr. 2007): 167–80.
8. Kathryn Zickuhr, et al., “How Americans Value Public Libraries in Their Communities,” Pew Research Center, Dec. 11, 2013, accessed Dec. 13, 2014.
9. Carolyn Miller, et al., “Parents, Children, Libraries, and Reading,” Pew Research Center, May 1, 2013, accessed Dec. 22,
   2014; Matthew Sharp and Tia Shimada, “School’s Out . . . Who Ate? A Report on Summer Nutrition in California,” California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA), June 2011, accessed Dec. 22, 2014.
10. Matthew Sharp and Tia Shimada, “School’s Out . . . Who Ate? Data Highlights,” California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA), June 2013, accessed Dec. 22, 2014.
11. FRAC, “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation.”

The post Nourishing Bodies & Minds When School is Out: California’s Public Library Summer Meal Programs first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Salt Lake City Public Library is trying to do just that. Since 2011, they have been fighting the battle against illiteracy in early childhood with great results. “The library system’s Smart Start program, a community outreach project that serves more than 1,000 children each month, aims to cultivate children’s love of reading while giving parents and teachers necessary literacy-building tools.” (Oligschlaeger 2015)

Smart Start is active in seventy low-income classrooms throughout Salt Lake City. There are currently twelve librarians on staff who participate in the program. Basically they take breaks from their daily library jobs to travel to schools and programs, inviting the kids to participate in a full story-time and a selection of picture books. The classrooms range from pre-K to Head Start. “Smart Start’s reach also stretches beyond the classroom. Librarians regularly bring story-time presentations to children staying at The Road Home, the YWCA women’s shelter, and Odyssey House, a rehabilitation center with residential family programs.” (Oligschlaeger 2015)

One of the librarians who participates has said that he hopes the program will spur a ripple effect in other outreach areas, and I agree. Every library has its own niche with which to help the community. I work at an art reference library, and would love to create an outreach program that will help bring art into schools that may not have the funds for art education. I’d love to hear more about library outreach programs. Where does your library go in the community? Share your stories in the comments.

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The founder of Smashwords (Mark Coker) graduated from Los Gatos High School, making it the logical choice to begin a new chapter of libraries and e-publishing joining forces. Through a variety of connections, Henry Bankhead, the current acting director of Los Gatos Library, got in touch with high school English teacher, Tonya McQuade. They worked together to create an opportunity for students to not only write their own material but also be a part of the process of getting it published.  Thanks to a grant from the Pacific Library Partnership, two mobile labs were used to create these books. Each lab included 10 iPads, 1 MacBook air, a charging station, and Microsoft Office for all of the devices. The lab components were used mostly for creating art work but also for some of the actual writing.

“Last year’s students were the first to try this, and they really enjoyed being able to see their own work published,” says McQuade. Even more, the students enjoyed being able to be part of the process of seeing the whole book come together, from learning about self-publishing from Coker and Bankhead; to choosing a title and cover design; selecting poems to include and organizing them into sections; adding artwork; marketing the book, promoting the book through social media and news campaigns; and then finally, having our book launch party at the Los Gatos Library. There, several students read their poems for an audience of parents and students, as well as explained the process used to create the book. What’s more, on the day of the launch party, our book went to number one on Amazon’s Poetry Book List! The students were also eager to help out their freshmen class by contributing the funds raised to help support upcoming class activities.”

And the positive reactions didn’t stop with the teacher. A number of students during that first year learned not only writing and editing skills, but learned how the library can be an excellent resource. Aididh Finlayson said, “I’ve always loved the library, and this made me feel like the library was really trying to support our educational endeavors.” Another student added, “I do feel more connected to the library now.”  The success of the program is best summed up by Nitin Srivivasan, a sophomore who was in Ms. McQuade’s ninth grade English class last year. “Because of this project, I have developed a greater appreciation for literature in general, and I have grown more connected the Los Gatos Public Library.”

The tangible results of this collaborative work included the poetry anthology Windows to the Teenage Soul (available on Overdrive), as well as two short story collections, Stories to Remember and Collection of Inspirational Teenage Stories, both available on Smashwords. Due to the success of this project, Bankhead and crew will be working with the next class of ninth grade English students this year.

The post Teaching Teens Self-Publishing @ the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The true beauty of the initiative was the freedom for sites to design any type of Maker activity. After bouncing around several ideas at my library (Lee Memorial Library in New Jersey), we opted to hold our first annual Inventors’ Fair. This program hit on an unfilled need in our community: a science fair-like activity that would promote strategic research and experimentation, alongside important engineering skills local students may not be learning in school. Offerings from some of our neighbors included a Maker Faire; workshops with technology such as MaKey MaKey, littleBits, 3D printers, and Arduino; myriad craft sessions; and cooking lessons.

Because this was my library’s first true Maker event, the initial planning process was slightly overwhelming. Fortunately, the NJ Makers Day Committee was comprised of librarians from around the state who have already had hands-on experience with Makerspaces. Numerous planning webinars and trainings were offered in the months leading up to March 21, and participants received free literature to aid in preparation. Once we figured out the logistics of actually holding the event, reaching out to some of our dedicated volunteers helped tremendously in spreading the word. They were able to publicize the fair to various community organizations, in addition to putting us in contact with local science teachers who were willing to promote the program to their classes. Some were even willing to serve as guest judges.

Our next step was to enlist community partnerships. This turned out to be far less difficult than we thought. The first two businesses we approached, a tutoring center and children’s museum, were more than willing to jump on board. In return for putting their logos on our promotional materials and allowing them to have tables at the library on the day of the fair, they helped promote the program to their customer bases and offered free prizes to the winners. This was a great way to help both of these relatively new businesses feel more included in the community, as well as garner some potential new customers. For us, not having to spend money on prizes and accessing patrons we may not have otherwise reached was a huge boon.

NJ Makers Day was a huge success, not just in my library, but across the state as well. It brought the public new awareness of the Maker movement and how public libraries can fit into it. I am proud to say that my library was a part of it, and I look forward to running more Maker events in the future.

*Editor’s Note: The author of this article, Gretchen Kaser, was the director at the Lee Memorial Library in Allendale, NJ, at the time when this article was written. She is now the director at the Worth Pinkham Memorial Library in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ.

Photo Credit: Lee Memorial Library, NJ

The post New Jersey Hosts First State-Wide Makers Day first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Deciding to hold a Mini Maker Faire was easy. PPLD was in the process of opening a new location, Library 21c, with a heavy focus on the maker movement, and already had strong maker programs throughout the district. Having partners for this endeavor was important. When looking at the community, the Colorado Springs Science Center, the Colorado Springs Science Festival, and the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs Center for STEM Education seemed like natural fits to work with PPLD to bring a Mini Maker Faire to the area.[1]

Then, it was time to apply to Make for a Mini Maker Faire license. The application process requires quite a bit of information, including several short- answer questions, letters of support, and budgetary information. Once accepted, certain aspects of the Faire have to be handled in particular ways, like publicity being approved and specific websites being used. Carolyn Coulter, Information Technology Officer for PPLD, stated, “We felt that the branding and relationship with Make magazine was valuable to us, and we will continue that relationship in coming years.”[2]

At the beginning of planning, the team broke into sub teams to address various components of the Faire: funding, marketing, and programming. In the early stages, some of the items that had to be tackled included Faire website set up, Facebook profile development, marketing material creation, reaching out to makers in the area to attract participation, and maker fees. We also needed to come up with some criteria for vetting makers according to the goals for the event.

As we drew nearer to the day, marketing materials went out, including flyers, posters, and press releases. Members of the team attended events, like the Southern Colorado Manufacturing Expo, to tell people about the library’s Mini Maker Faire. The Faire was also publicized throughout the Colorado Springs Science Festival

Planning the building set-up was quite a task. Fortunately, several people involved with the planning had prior experience with large festivals. After the team walked the building, one of the PPLD staff, Sean Anglum, was able to create a map with all of the information on where we could set up tables, including power capabilities. Armed with this knowledge, we were able to assign the makers space according to their needs while also having a variety of activities spread throughout the building.

Volunteers were another big part of the day. Several high school students came to assist with set up, helping makers find their assigned table, and answering directional questions. To add to the festival atmosphere, we had food trucks in the parking lot and our café in the library provided snacks. Volunteers were given a credit that they could use to eat while helping with the event.

What were some of the cool things coming out of the Colorado Springs Mini Maker Faire? From Coulter’s perspective, “More partnerships and more visibility into what the library is doing and becoming. I felt a great deal of enthusiasm for this sort of programming and education at the Maker Faire, and people really seemed to be on board with our vision of continued growth at PPLD.”[3]

To see some of the highlights, check out our recap video.

Sources:

[1] Coulter, Carolyn, interview by Becca Cruz. Information Technology and Virtual Services Officer (January 9, 2014).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

Cover Photo Credit: Science Gallery Dublin (CC BY-ND 2.0)

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A few months ago, Arlington Heights Memorial Library’s Shannon Distel, Business Services Supervisor; Julie Kittredge, Business Services Advisor; and I ventured out to Chicago to visit five different coworking spaces. Our goal was to better understand the needs and values of entrepreneurs. If you aren’t familiar with coworking spaces, they are shared workspaces where entrepreneurs can have a place to work, meet, create, and collaborate. Chicago boasts more than 100 coworking spaces.[2] Some are geared toward start-ups while others cater to long-time entrepreneurs; you’ll find kitchens and showers in some and gyms in others. Additionally coworking spaces can act as tech-friendly incubators or artsy blank canvases.

Regardless of the space, the trend and message is clear: entrepreneurs want to work where it is quiet but also allows for collaboration; where they can get creative but have business meetings with clients. It is so important for libraries and librarians to recognize this fundamental need of so many entrepreneurs. The good news is that meeting entrepreneur needs simply means ascribing to the coworking concept. Here are some steps that Shannon, Julie, and I have taken:

• Host networking sessions. Shannon and Julie are starting networking sessions that are open to all small businesses, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and business enthusiasts. At these sessions, either Shannon or Julie will be in the library’s Business Center to provide information on business services and resources like the business book collections, business magazines and newspapers, investment newsletters, and library databases. Additionally, they will encourage these professionals to network and share business information. Something else that you can do before a business program or workshop is to encourage the participants to introduce themselves and share a little bit about their business and expertise. The important thing is that you are encouraging people to make connections. See more information on networking sessions at http://www.ahml.info/business.

• Rethink programming. This winter, I will have fashion students from a local community college bring their designs and collections to the library. In a casual environment where people can mix and mingle, participants will have an opportunity to talk at greater length with these fashion entrepreneurs and form meaningful relationships. Additionally, Shannon and Julie host quarterly networking book discussions for professionals to exchange business cards and have a thoughtful conversation.

• Share stories. At the Barrington Area Library, I have an ongoing entrepreneur podcast series in which I interview local entrepreneurs about their business path.[3] These recordings are posted on our website and social media. Additionally, in the ongoing Business: It’s Better in Barrington series, local business owners can share their story with the community in the form of videos.[4] Again, this is shared on our website and social media.

Human connections are the main reason that entrepreneurs are drawn to coworking spaces. These professionals do not want to work from home or at an anonymous coffee shop; they want to develop meaningful relationships, share their opinions, and receive feedback from peers. The library has an opportunity to be one of those places where entrepreneurs can succeed and thrive.

Works Cited:

[1] “The Difference Between a Solopreneur and a Side-Gigger (Infographic).” Entrepreneur. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239522>.

[2] “Has Co-working Jumped the Shark in Chicago?” Crain’s Chicago Business. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20141108/ISSUE02/311089997/has-co-working-jumped-the-shark-in-chicago>.

[3] https://soundcloud.com/balibrary

[4] http://www.balibrary.org/business/videos.html

The post Working Outside the Box: Meeting the Needs of Entrepreneurs first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

War Ink is an extraordinary and moving online experience presented by Contra Costa County Library (CA). The exhibit, created by Contra Costa County Library manager Chris Brown, together with Jason Deitch, expert and scholar in the combat veterans’ post military experience, brought together veterans from nearly every county in California, to describe, display and record their war memorial body art.

Check out the trailer for War Ink:

The finished project, body art and narratives, came together on Veterans Day 2014 in a finely conceptualized and equally masterful documentary-art experience, entitled War Ink. The public library exhibit, entirely online, was made possible by the support of partners who joined the vision shared by its co-creators to make possible the veterans’ war experience through the stories told in tattoos. Funders for War Ink included The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Pacific Library Partnership, and Cal Humanities. Support was also given in a variety of ways from Eureka! Leadership Institute, StoryCorps, along with generous businesses, and dedicated individuals.

War Ink provides an online storytelling platform for all veterans, their families, friends, and anyone who is interested in understanding the experience of war and its lifelong impact on returning veterans to all of our communities. Through documentary photos, personal and poignant stories told by veterans returning from war, War Ink visitors begin to understand why war experiences were documented as a permanent reminder to wear throughout a lifetime.

After your visit to War Ink you’ll understand why over twenty public libraries partnered to provide access to the exhibit for their public library communities. Veterans were contacted by both Chris and Jason after calls for entries were made in counties throughout California. This was accomplished by searching for veterans’ participation through online queries, sought from men and women veterans from all branches of the US military.  Veterans responded to the call and were selected on their unique story and the way in which their tattoos memorialized their unique experience. The exhibit required the participation of library leaders, veterans, partners and many others interested in supporting telling the veteran story.

This collaboration helped patrons spark an overdue dialog, truly hear veterans’ stories, and begin to understand how painful it is to return home with all of the war stories held inside. Visit War Ink About to experience a poignant and intimate glimpse into how War Ink’s production affected each veteran’s life.

The success of the project—and perhaps what makes the exhibit so visually moving—is the juxtaposition of the armor-clad warrior toughened by war with the vulnerable and intimate images displayed on their exposed skin. Veteran participants report that War Ink opened the door to tell their story, which was so impactful that they memorialize it on their body for a lifetime. Their stories surprised and touched both online visitors and those who are closest to them. But for everyone who visits War Ink, the stories delivered by this unique medium will bring a new awareness of the veteran experience. Patrons will be drawn in by the revealing portraits of war told by the men and women who survived and want to share their story with an audience.

War Ink unfolds their experiences in four touching chapters: We Were You; Changed Forever; Living Scars; and Living Not Surviving. Men and women recount the pain and loss of combat, how it changed their entire world, and describe the self-actualization that returning home often brings.

War Ink has been covered nationally and internationally by news media including Newsweek, Inked Magazine, PBS News Hour¸Veterans Today and continues to draw attention as a result of newspaper, radio and television coverage.

The Creators of War Ink

Chris Brown is the project director, grant writer, and co-curator for War Ink, and has the ability to create community by leading momentum for library projects that are relevant to peoples’ lives.

Jason Deitch is co-curator, a social researcher, and a veteran advocate. Chris and Jason recruited men and women veterans from every branch of the service by making calls, connecting with veterans’ centers and tattoo artists, and by driving up and down the state of California. Some meetings happened by chance and others by word of mouth. Chris feels that War Ink is a natural extension of public library service since libraries are in the story business, and veterans have stories to share as they re-enter civilian life.  Chris manages the Walnut Creek and Ygnacio Valley libraries at Contra Costa County Library.  His enthusiasm for the project and for making connections with grantors, partners, and dedicated community supporters created mounting momentum and strong supporters in and out of public libraries.

“…In an ideal world we would all recognize each other as rich and complex people, each deserving of respect and compassion.” –Chris Brown, Project Manager and co-curator, War Ink

“…Without shared understanding, the men and women who have served cannot come all the way home.” –Jason Deitch, co-curator, War Ink

The post War Ink: Veterans, Tattoos, and Public Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

If anyone doubts that libraries respond to their communities in times of emergencies, the Ferguson Municipal Public Library remained the one calming and stable constant in this Missouri town’s tumultuous life as schools, businesses, and other government agencies closed after the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown.

Even when sometimes violent protests erupted, the only librarian on staff, Scott Bonner, kept the library doors open. And when he reached out for help via social networking, many volunteers as well as supporters around the nation joined him in preserving the one glimmer of light during a very dark time in this community.

Although Bonner had only assumed his position in July, he had already developed a relationship with local businesses and the community by opening the library as a meeting space. During a recent interview Bonner explained he had “a very broad definition of librarianship.” [2] That’s why the Small Business Administration, through Bonner’s invitation, had previously used the Ferguson Library as a staging point to meet with business owners affected by storm damage in order to offer emergency loans.

As Ferguson’s sole librarian with a staff of several part-time librarian assistants and one part-time administrative assistant, Bonner operates in much the same way as many small public library directors.  Bonner wears many hats, library director, children’s librarian, reference librarian, all rolled into one.

In August, however, he could never have anticipated how broadly he would define that concept of librarianship, and as a result, elevated that concept, too.

As SWAT team police officers swarmed the streets of this divided community, the news media from around the world occupied every inch of space in this small town, and the Governor of Missouri declared a state of emergency, Bonner made the decision to keep the library open and hung this sign in its window instead:

During difficult times

The library is a quiet oasis

Where we can catch our

Breath, learn and think

About what to do next.

Please help to keep our oasis

Peaceful and serene.

Thank you.[3]

When area schools closed, with the help of volunteers, the library offered classes to up to 200 school children with nowhere else to go.[4] It offered computer access to residents who had none. It offered the news media a place of respite. With the help of some volunteers, Bonner created healing kits for children.

In one of many interviews, Bonner conceded that “if I had any sense, I should have shut down.” Yet he has continued to deliver an important message about libraries and being a librarian.  He emphasizes that what he did was “not notable, just noticeable”.[5]

In interview after interview, Bonner reveals the character, values, and strength of conviction that shaped his decision to remain open and that also shape his role as a librarian.  As he responds to the many questions asked about his decision, his responses always speak to the need to serve the community, to provide information services, and to foster free and open communication.[6]

In an interview with BuzzFeed, he explained that “this is totally, exactly, right in the wheel house of what any library does, what every library does. We have a dramatic moment, and a dramatic circumstance caught the nation’s attention, but this is exactly what libraries do every day.”[7]

Ashley Ford of BuzzFeed tweeted that the Ferguson library would be open and solicited donations.  “We all know that books save lives, please donate…”  Saves lives.  That resonated with the world in the midst of a town infuriated by the loss of life. Authors Neil Gaiman and John Greene joined her as did Reading for Rainbows.  It seemed that everyone admired this little library’s courage.

Donations keep coming in. Right now, donations exceed Ferguson’s $400,000 yearly operating budget. Bonner looks forward to hiring a Children’s Librarian this year.

Angie Manfredi, head of youth services for Los Alamos County Library System, NM, started a Twitter campaign soliciting books for the library. She created a wish list for FMPL on Powell’s,[8]

“Thanks to her efforts, we’re going to have one of the strongest collections in the state for civic engagement, civil rights history, and recovering from trauma,” beams Bonner.

No one can dispute his courage during the chaos and conflict in Ferguson.  Buildings burned several blocks from the library building and the doors still remained open.

As a librarian, Bonner’s courage extended well beyond physically opening those doors.  His actions, along with his insights about librarianship might have opened minds about the role of libraries.  It certainly highlighted the important role the Ferguson library played in the lives of that community in crisis.

One little library, one big librarian, one shared vision and dream:  Libraries can transform lives. They serve communities.Every day.

References

[1] Bonner, Scott. 2014. Twitter message from Ferguson Municipal Public Library. (#Ferguson Library@ferguson library). August 15, 2014, 6:07 PM.

[2] An Interview with Scott Bonner. (2014, January 1). (2014, January 1). The Magpie Librarian: a librarian’s guide to modern life and etiquette. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from Magpielibrarian.wordpress.com

[3]Ibid.

[4] Axelrad, J. (2014, December 10). Ferguson library, a community pillar during unrest, gets $350,000 in donations (video). The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/1210/Ferguson-library-a-community-pillar-during-unrest-gets-350-000-in-donations-video

[5] Miller, R. (2014, September 15). It’s What We Do: Service and sanctuary in Ferguson. Library Journal. Retrieved December 17, 2014 from http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2014/09/opinion/editorial/its-what-we-do-service-and-sanctuary-in-ferguson-editorial/

[6] An Interview with Scott Bonner. (2014, January 1). (2014, January 1). The Magpie Librarian: a librarian’s guide to modern life and etiquette. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from Magpielibrarian.wordpress.com

[7] Ford, A. (2014, November 25). Buzz Feed Books. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from http://www.buzzfeed.com/tag/books

[8] Axelrad, J. (2014, December 10).

Cover Photo Credit: Loavesofbread (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The post The Little Library That Lent a Hand: Ferguson Municipal Public Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Former executive-director of LIT and a former school librarian in a juvenile detention center, Jessica Fenster-Sparber, observes that “jails, detention centers, and prisons provide a unique opportunity to address young people’s literacy gaps…excellent school libraries are in dire need at these sites.”[2]

The Challenges

There is a lot more to consider than just encouraging reluctant readers to read. Challenges include:

1. Collection development.
2. Institutional compliance and cooperation.
3. Inclusion of incarcerated teens as part of the public library’s young adult/outreach services.
4. Collaboration with school, correctional facilities and public libraries.

Books for Incarcerated Youth

Public libraries need to recognize literacy’s role in empowering incarcerated teens. Dr. Ernest Morrell, Director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) at Teachers College, Columbia University, explains it best: “Literacy is not just about decoding text. It’s about becoming a superior human being that can act powerfully upon the world.”[3]

Public librarians can access many specialized lists such as The New York Public Library’s Incarcerated Teens: A Booklist and School Library Journal’s From the Underground column.

The good news, however, is that young adult librarians already have the tools to work with this population. Dr. Alfred Tatum, current Director of the University of Illinois Chicago Reading Clinic, calls for the use of enabling text, ”texts that [minority students], (60% of incarcerated teens), find meaningful and that will help them…move beyond some of the tur­moil-related experiences they encounter outside school.” Dr. Tatum stresses that enabling text can “serve as a road map for being, doing, thinking, and acting.” [4]

Incarcerated teens do not want a “one size fits all” collection. Yes, they want urban fiction, but fantasy and other young adult genres appeal to them also. It is up to the librarian to get to know each individual audience.

School Libraries/Public Libraries Partnerships

Collaborative efforts between school districts and public library systems increase programming efforts, too.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, Boys Totem Town, a juvenile detention center, was able to host Young Adult author, Francisco X. Stork, through a partnership with the Ramsey County Library, which helped fund the project. Stork spoke to students about his novel Behind the Eyes (Dutton, 2006), which deals with reform school. The Ramsey County Library’s outreach regularly visits the facility with both books and programs.[5]

Sabrina Carnesi is school librarian at a STEM magnet school in Newport News, Virginia. She promotes literacy services to many formerly detained youth. Her school library’s “Young Gents and Young Ladies” book discussion group addresses tough topics that these kids confront outside of their academic day. [6]

Young adult librarians and school librarians need to be attuned to teens inside facilities and those recently released. They share the same literacy concerns.

Innovation Gained Through Cooperation

Correctional facilities and public libraries are teaming up for pilot programs as new technologies emerge in library services. The correctional facility is a very important stakeholder in planning and is vital to program success.

Presently, Passages Academy has become the first school library to get iPads into the hands of its incarcerated students with, of course, the cooperation of the New York City Department of Corrections.[7]

Through the Urbana Free Library, the University of Illinois School of LIS and IMLS Mix IT Up, Joe Coyle offers a Teen Open Lab, a weekly digital music production program at the Champaign County JDC . The library and JDC hope that these pre-adjudicated teens will continue their library association through this program.

Promoting a Life-long Activity

In many states, teens as young as sixteen, are incarcerated in adult jails. Reading and literacy skills can be the one positive thing they leave jail with.

Barbara Roos, coordinator of teen services for the East Baton Rouge Parish Library in Louisiana and outreach coordinator to the local juvenile detention, gives them another—a Library Exit Packet. It includes an information packet about her library and its services, bookmarks for Text-a-Librarian and online databases, a coupon worth $5 at the library book store, a Fresh Start coupon to erase any fines they had, a previously approved library card, and a free book.[8]

Ms. Roos’ philosophy: We want to keep them reading.

Literacy and Education—The Better Alternatives

Whatever the reasons why they became incarcerated, promoting literacy and education are far better solutions than incarceration. One million dollars invested in incarceration reduces 300 crimes; one million dollars invested in education reduces 600 crimes.[9]  Literacy works.

[1] Chung, S. (2014). Literacy for Incarcerated Teens. School Library Journal, Fall (September). Retrieved October 13, 2014, from http://www.slj.com/2014/09/literacy/literacy-for-incarcerated-teens/#_

[2] Ibid

[3] Morrell, E. (Keynote Speaker) (2014, June 3). Cultivating Youth Voices: Literacy and Agency for African American Males. Building a Bridge to Literacy. Lecture conducted from School of Information and Library Science at UNC, Chapel Hill.

[4] Tatum, A. (Keynote Speaker) (2014, June 3). Bridge to Literacy. Building a Bridge to Literacy. Lecture conducted from School of Information and Library Science at UNC, Chapel Hill.

[5] Marta, M. (2013). Partners In Success. School Library Journal, 11(1) (January 2013), 23-28.

[6] (E-mail interview, 10/09/14).

[7] Fenster-Sparber, J. A.Kennedy, C.Leon, & Schwartz. (2012). E-reading Across the Digital Divide. Young Adult Library Services, 10(4) (2013, Summer), 38-41.

[8] Roos, B. (2012, Spring). Beyond the Bars Serving Teens In Lockdown. Young Adult Library Services, 10(2), 12-14.

[9] Knewton, Breaking the Prison Cycle through Education. Infographic. Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. 2013. http://www.knewton.com/prison-education/.

The post When the Prison Doors Slam Shut On a Teen: Hope in Literacy first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Currently, there are two programs exploring the writer/library relationship. They began in this past fall and both hope to continue in the future. Both the Public Library of Cincinnati’s “Writer-In-Residence” program and the “CHP in the Stacks” residency program from publishing company Coffee House Press (CHP) plan to offer stipends to selected writers to work in libraries and publicize their available resources.

Cincinnati Public Library hopes to show support for local writers and help to highlight their work through their residency program. The chosen writer will be given a monetary stipend and in turn will be required to teach a writer’s workshop, participate in library promotions, and speak at no less than four community events representing the library. Thanks to a donation from a local philanthropist, the library plans to continue the writer-in-residence program for three years.

Coffee House Press hopes that their writer-in-residency program will inspire other libraries to follow suit and collaborate with local writers. We’d love to hear about more writers-in-residency programs hosted by public libraries. If you know of one, tell us in the comments.

Sources

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2014/09/industry-news/libraries-welcome-writers-in-residence/#_

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These are five steps to becoming embedded in your business community:

• Create a list of groups, businesses, or business people that you might work with.  Think of  standard groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Village Hall Merchant Group, Small Business Development Center, and any local career places. Then think of the not-so-typical organizations: church employment ministries, entrepreneur forums, community colleges, and networking groups. Also check out meetup.com to find what types of business or entrepreneur groups are meeting in your area.
• Once you have a list of groups that you would like to connect with, get in touch with someone from that organization. Explain that you would appreciate an opportunity to attend an upcoming meeting to discuss some of the resources that the local library has for small business owners/ business people/ job seekers.
• Whether you have 10 minutes to speak or an hour, make your information relevant to your group. I try to refrain from mentioning typical library things like “we have business books” because that doesn’t surprise people. Talk about the type of resources that they would have no idea the library has: subscribed databases, technology training opportunities, meeting spaces, one-on-one appointments, workshops, and so forth. Make the presentation fun and interactive.
• The worst thing that you can do once you’ve got your foot in the door is to say “thank you for your time” and leave. You must create follow-up opportunities: promote an upcoming event at the library, offer to provide a group training session on a particular database or technology, and emphasize that you’re available for individual appointments. Have your business cards ready to pass out.
• Keep your face in the business community by attending as many opportunities as you are able. Try and think outside the box: ribbon cutting events, open houses, networking scrambles, exhibits, career fairs, job seeker series, etc. The same type of people go to these events so it’s a great opportunity to learn about the business community, find out what their needs are, and develop your reputation.

It’s important to remember that being truly embedded in your business community is not something that will happen over night. It will take time and a willingness to put yourself out there and listen to people’s stories about their business or career journey. The ultimate goal is to move from a mindset of “it’s strange that the library is involved in the business community” to a mindset of “it would be strange if the public library weren’t involved in the business community.”

Are you trying to reach out to the business community? What has your experience been like so far? Share your comments below!

The post Embedded Business Librarianship in 5 Steps first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Entitled “Building Inspiration: 21st Century Libraries Initiative: Reimagining The City’s Gateway To Information, Literacy, Economic Opportunity, And Civic Engagement,” this initiative is a model for collaboration among a large public library system, city government, and a local foundation. The William Penn Foundation contributed $25 million, with an additional  $35 million in total given by city and state government, and private gifts.

Strategic Priorities

How did this major gift take place? The William Penn Foundation’s Grant Overview application says it has “strategic priorities” for closing educational opportunity gaps, and that “it is more important than ever for us to allocate scarce resources for maximum impact.”  As the FLP press release emphasizes, this initiative will incorporate improving physical spaces through renovation and supporting outreach with new programs. The Free Library of Philadelphia is in a unique position to meet critical needs in the community, which makes it an ideal recipient for a significant grant.

In the library’s press release, Janet Haas, MD, Vice-chair of the William Penn Foundation Board of Directors, confirms that libraries are a logical entry point to strategically create meaningful change in communities.  “The community libraries, in particular, are becoming vital neighborhood centers, places where people come together to build community, engage with one another and use tools and resources needed to be successful. Libraries are places of life-long learning, which is why we are so pleased to be a partner in this important work.”

Here are some highlights from the initiative:

Central Branch

The FLP will construct two new areas at the main Parkway Central library, both of which have an entrepreneurial focus. One new area, The Common, will “serve as an active community space where individuals can gather to create, collaborate, and share.” The Business Research and Innovation Center will offer “incubator space for new projects and ideas” and support.

Neighborhood branches

The initiative will fund renovations and programming innovations at five city branch locations, by creating “hubs” to support specific community needs. For instance, the Tacony branch is “situated in the heart of a re-emerging commercial corridor,” so the FLP will focus on developing resources and space for small businesses and entrepreneurs. It should be noted that the five branch locations are prototypes, suggesting that evaluation and further development will continue to develop.

Partnership with City Schools

In addition to other partnerships with community organizations, the Free Library will strengthen its work with the School District of Philadelphia, “to ensure that all public school students receive the academic support they need to succeed.”  The FLP has already taken large steps to collaborate with the School District, including summer and after school reading programs, as well as completing an effort to make sure that all School District students have library cards.

For a deeper look at the initiative, see the FLP press release, or visit www.21stcenturylibraries.org for detailed plans.

The post Free Library of Philadelphia Building Inspiration Initiative— An Innovative Model of Library Service first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

FCPL is a pilot site for a newly developed program by SirsiDynix. According to Justin Swain, end user services consultant for SirsiDynix, FCPL was one of the library systems chosen to try the pilot program because of its openness to innovative services. “FCPL stays ahead of the game when it comes to providing new and unique services to their patrons,” says Swain. FCPL initially offered the dual use card just at their main branch but rolled out the program to all locations in the beginning of September.

I Love My Library Card is a Visa® prepaid card that has few additional fees for the cardholder, compared to many of the traditional options out there. Currently, about sixty cards have been given out at FCPL and about a third of the recipients have registered to use the debit side of the program. There’s hope those numbers will expand as the community becomes more aware of the platform.

“Customers have plenty of choices for prepaid debit cards, but this one offers a couple perks. For one, customers know that a portion of their fees are donated back to the library. For two, the card offers ‘Linkable,’ which is a rewards program that allows customers to get special deals from local and national businesses,” says Marie Slaby, FCPL’s interim manager of community and corporate partnerships office.

Swain agrees. He adds that patron privacy is upheld. It is up to library card customers to sign up for the debit card services. Library card information is not shared with the producers of the debit card and vice versa. “We ensure that all of our products comply with the most stringent privacy standards,” says Swain.

A third perk of the card is the involvement of the library with financial literacy programming. The card can be part of a larger lesson on financial responsibility. There are a number of “unbanked” individuals in the country and in Frederick County. Lower fees allow struggling patrons, who may lack the financial resources and knowledge many of us take for granted, to use the card. Also, no credit check is required.

It can be a bit of a challenge to educate library staff on the positives of this program. Although libraries and fundraising often go hand in hand, staff can be reluctant to understand the value of such a card. Slaby says, “Librarians are wary of offering any product that has a cost. We’ve offered things for sale before—t-shirts, used books, tote bags—but never a financial product. We are having to do a lot of education so that librarians know what prepaid debit cards are and how our card compares favorably to others that are available. But librarians often rise to the challenge of learning new roles in their communities.”

Swain says he is working with libraries in Mississippi and Illinois to implement similar programs, with the hope that other library systems will come on board in the future.

For a more in-depth article on this partnership, visit here.

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The 1,200 square foot exhibition is based on the original, which has been on display at the NMNH since 2010 and has been visited by more than 20 million people. The idea behind the exhibit–and its accompanying programs—is to provide the public with an opportunity to learn about evolution. To help create this open-minded atmosphere, the NMNH has assembled a panel of scientists and a group of religious and philosophical representatives from a variety of perspectives to develop programs related to the topic. Libraries that are selected to participate in this event will also need to form this kind of committee to assist with the programs.[2]

Some of the required programs include an opening event, a community conversation, a discussion specifically for the local clergy and community leaders, a half-day training for science teachers and other science education-related trainers, and a general lecture for the public on new research being done in the field of evolution. These programs are led by staff involved with the exhibition. The library is also required to hold other programs that fit the topic and are assisted in development by the local committee that is formed.[3]

To apply, each library must select a program director who will attend training in March 2015 in Washington, D.C. The proposal narrative has several pieces of important information that need to be taken into serious consideration, including possible presenters and members of the community panel, as well as detailed information on publicity, partnerships, and the exhibition space. And, did I mention the applications are due November 19?[4]

It’s not every day that an opportunity to bring a piece of a world-renowned museum to your patrons’ doorsteps. The application process and program planning will be detailed and may be a little intensive, but bringing such an amazing exhibition and discussion to your community will have the opportunity to enrich a multitude of lives!

Works Cited

[1]American Library Association. “ALA, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History Announce ‘Exploring Human Origins’ Traveling Exhibition Opportunity.” American Library Association. August 19, 2014. http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2014/08/ala-smithsonian-s-national-museum-natural-history-announce-exploring-human-0 (accessed September 17, 2014).

The post Bringing the Smithsonian to Your Patrons first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

My library system (Palm Beach County Library System) has two programs scheduled for September called Be Scam Smart. Tasha Carter, Director of the Division of Consumer Services under the Florida Department of Financial Services, will be leading an informative workshop for seniors, their families, and caregivers. The 90-minute workshop is part of Operation S.A.F.E. (Stop Adult Financial Exploitation) and will cover how to spot a scam, outsmart the scam artists, avoid identity theft, and more. Libraries are a valuable resource for patrons on many topics, and assisting senior citizens with keeping their finances and identity safe, is another opportunity for libraries to step up in our communities.

I encourage you to visit the FTC website and order their free folder with six articles and six bookmarks that you can display at your library. The materials are available in English and Spanish. It is possible to order more as needed. Maybe you do not have the time or resources to conduct a program, but you can link your library website (or blog) to the informational video that is also on their page. If your library has conducted a similar program, or you plan to conduct one, please reply in the comments section below with anything you feel is valuable to report to other library professionals. I believe we can all agree that it is unfortunate that rip-off artists exist, but it would also be unfortunate not to take advantage of these free resources to educate our local citizens.

The post Pass It On at Libraries to Help Seniors Avoid Scams first appeared on Public Libraries Online.