All too often, these days people seem to accept Tweets and Facebook posts as real news. Just to be clear, even though you like your friends, that does not mean everything they share on social media is credible. It has become increasingly more difficult to rely on the internet as a source for news and counsel about what is going on in the world.

Thankfully, statistics have found that people are turning to libraries to gather information and educate themselves. An admittedly limited but important example can be found at The New York Public Library. In 2017, they saw a 7% increase in circulation and a 150% increase in early literacy program attendance. Their 92 branches are packed full of people and their top checkout of the year was “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates.” (Marx 2018)  This book, written by the author to his teenage son about being black in the United States, is a prime example of people searching for real answers as opposed to relying on a hashtag to inform them. This is not a cry for people to only read nonfiction, political news.  Getting engulfed in a great work of fiction can do just as much to help shape and inform people.

Many libraries are following suit, as an example,  Brooklyn Public Library’s 2017 initiative to waive all fines that may be blocking patrons from using the library. This fresh start may be just what is needed in order to help people stay informed. As a community, we need to use our libraries to promote awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice and help our patrons find facts related to current events.

References

Marx, Tony. 2018. “In 2018, libraries to the rescue: Why Americans are right to crave facts, and books.” New York Daily News, January 01.

The post Finding Facts at the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

My library has an existing strategic plan, but I learned a tremendous amount about its implementation during the program. Creating a vision for your library is one thing, but actually identifying the necessary steps to make it happen, while getting staff on board in the process, can be difficult. Boot Camp gave me specific tools and strategies to help refine my library’s goals and put them into action.

Perhaps the information that stuck out to me most was the importance of acclimating staff to change and helping them see the benefits of the library’s goals and objectives. The costs associated with change do not merely deal with money or facilities; there is an emotional component to it as well. By taking the time to understand how employees are feeling and address any questions or concerns they may have, a manager can help ensure his or her plan’s success.

Another rewarding aspect of Boot Camp was the small group format. This year’s class was the largest to date, featuring eighty librarians from throughout the country. Because the group was not unwieldy, participants were able to get to know each other and collaborate throughout the week. While it is very easy to become insulated in your own county or state, this setup forced us out of that habit, helping us to see how libraries operate in different areas.

For more information about strategic planning, I highly recommend instructor Sandra Nelson’s book Strategic Planning for Results, available through the ALA Store. This information contained in this work, part of the PLA Results series, mirrors much of the content covered in Boot Camp and is a necessity for any public library working towards a strategic plan.

Have questions about PLA’s other continuing education and professional development offerings? Visit http://www.ala.org/pla/education.

The post Results are What Matters: PLA Bootcamp 2015 first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The annual program begins each year at ALA Midwinter, to be held in Boston in 2016. Emerging Leaders also present their work at a poster session during ALA Annual Conference, which will take place in Orlando. Additionally, participants may get the chance to participate in an ALA committee or taskforce.

Applications and references must be submitted online no later than August 1, 2015. Applicants may elect to seek sponsorship from a number of ALA divisions in order to help defray the costs of attending the required conferences, although this is not required.

Thanks to its robust reputation, Emerging Leaders is a great opportunity for newer librarians to gain experience within ALA, network, and add to their resumes. As 2015 Emerging Leader Anna Coats, Head of Youth Services at Livingston (NJ) Public Library, states, “The point of Emerging Leaders is to get you more involved and in an upward trajectory in ALA.” Many former participants go on to serve on ALA committees, in addition to securing leadership positions. The program is also a great way to collaborate with people and organizations outside your normal day-to-day work environment. This can be truly inspirational and have a positive effect on your regular work.

To help your application stand out, Coats suggests discussing any leadership experience you may already have, and to be specific while doing so. It doesn’t necessarily have to be running a department or singlehandedly chairing a committee; the little things like volunteering to take on a project that no one else wanted or mentoring a library school student count as well. Additionally, she advises to be clear about your goals and what you hope to get out of the program. Of course, it is also important to thoroughly look over your application before submission in order to make sure it is as clear and succinct as possible.

For more information, including specific selection criteria, visit ALA’s Emerging Leaders website.

The post Deadline Approaching For 2016 Emerging Leaders Program first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Brian Gambles

From August 12-13, 2014, the IFLA Public Libraries Section held a satellite conference, Public Library Futures in a Global Digital World, at the new Library of Birmingham, England. Its director, Brian Gambles, opened the conference with a keynote speech about change. “Leadership has to be hungry for change,” he stated. Small steps were made: a redesigned organization, a new dress code, shared desk space and welfare facilities, as well as new working practices. But change is not embraced by the whole organization: according to the 20:60:20 rule, 20% of staff agrees, another 20% is against. For Gambles, this last minority has to be left alone and “invited to exit the organization.”

The conference confirmed that these are the days of a “renaissance of space.” Here are four experiences of new spaces built by incredible staff and successful branding.

 Vera Binz and Sarah Dudek presenting the “Themenraum”

Themenraum

If you had an empty room in your library, how would you use it? 3D printers? The latest high-tech gear? Games? No way! Imagine a book display on a specific topic and let it explode in different dimensions. At the “Themenraum,” or “topic room,” at the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek (Berlin, Germany), web links are next to print bibliographies, while printed books sit next to a Twitter wall and news items. The topics, often inspired by the latest news or important anniversaries, change every month. The patrons’ favorite ones so far have been the Leipzig Bookfair, fairytales, the diversity of Islam, and “poor and rich.” The Themenraum shows how digital curating has emerged as a new skill required by librarians, as well as the public’s need for digital literacy.

Corinne Hill presenting the 4^th Floor

4^th Floor

“Transformation” is one of the main values of the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Public Library’s mission. The 4th Floor is a space in continuous transformation, thanks to a high performance staff. Before a chaotic repository of unused materials, now the 4^th Floor hosts programs and events about coding, genealogy, STEM, and makers. Print collections are still relevant though: “responsive collections” is another strong value of theirs.

Henriette Dybdal and Allan Thomsen Volhoj presenting the FolkeLab

FolkeLab

Public and academic libraries in Aarhus and Roskilde (Denmark) created a project with six temporary innovation spaces, such as TechLab, Wastelab, or GuitarLab. The lessons learned can be summed up in a decalogue: (1) people are not reduced to just guests; (2) people are more important than technology; (3) people have opportunities to engage at different levels; (4) people determine the clout of the maker culture; (5) people create together; (6) staff must be willing to change the frames and expand the ideas; (7) staff uses its own creativity and skills; (8) staff must assure different thresholds; (9) learning is something also done with the hands; (10) creativity comes from chaos and mess.

BiblioTech

BiblioTech in San Antonio (Tex.) went far beyond the library as a book repository, eliminating books completely. Despite being a recent pilot experience, BiblioTech enjoyed terrific global press coverage as the first “bookless library” [1]. The advancement of digital literacy, intended as something more than knowing how to use technology, is one of the main goals. The equipment includes 600 e-readers for external circulation, 45 iPads for internal use, and four surface tables. The library’s success is based on its programming (for seniors too), community partnerships (i.e. with the San Antonio Spurs Foundation), and an attractive brand.

Jens Thorhauge, the guru of the 4-space model, ideally closed the conference describing how the traditional role of public libraries has been challenged during the last 20 years. His provocative assertion that “access to information is not the librarian’s business anymore” hit the mark, considering it preceded by just a few days the launch of the Lyon Declaration on access to information and development.[2]. Thorhauge highlighted that nowadays libraries struggle to compete with fast-movers in the media market (i.e. Facebook), and with commercial media streaming services (Netflix or Spotify). He can’t see a new standard model for libraries though, so the discussion continues.

Table tennis at the Library of Birmingham

References

[1] BiblioTech – An Entirely Bookless Library, by Elena Rivera on February 21, 2013. BiblioTech opened in September 2013. Two satellite facilities were opened more recently.

[2] The declaration will be one of the main advocacy tools for IFLA in the next months.

The post Report From the IFLA Public Libraries Conference first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

First of all, Gwyn and I decided to host a virtual library conference on Google Hangouts after attending the 2014 PLA Conference in Indianapolis, IN. I don’t know if you’ve been to PLA before but it’s such an amazing opportunity to meet and learn from fellow public librarians. One of my favorite parts was participating in Spark Talks (link to article about SparkTalks: https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2014/04/fast-five-my-experience-as-a-spark-talks-presenter/). Gwyn and I discussed using Google Hangouts On Air to livestream library programs. We received a lot of positive feedback and had so much fun learning new ideas from other librarians that we wanted to continue the conversation.

Fast forward a couple of months and we decided to experiment: we would use Google Hangouts On Air to connect with librarians in a virtual conference, which we named Library OnConference. The conference would include a keynote presentation and then small group hangout sessions based on topics of interest. It would be free and since it was on Google Hangouts, there were no travel costs.The support that we received from fellow librarians was truly amazing: R. David Lankes agreed to deliver the keynote presentation and nine different librarians agreed to moderate small group hangout sessions that included Digital Librarianship, Business Librarianship, Community Engagement, and Reader’s Advisory.

We also created a website for the conference and a Twitter account. After that was in line, we asked people to spread the word and were pleasantly surprised to see that over 60 people registered for the conference from around the country.

On conference day, R. David Lankes delivered an incredible keynote speech that focused on continuous learning in librarianship (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB3Ewz79cKA) and participants broke up into small group hangout sessions afterwards. The whole event went surprisingly smoothly and it was fun to read the Twitter feedback from participants. We sent post-conference surveys that had both positive feedback and suggestions—both of which was very encouraging.

The Pros: It was completely free! Aside from buying the domain for the conference website, there were no start-up fees and absolutely no cost to the participants. Additionally, unlike other virtual conferences where people listen to a presenter but don’t really get to interact, the small group hangout sessions allowed people to share ideas.

The Cons: Like any other online video conference host, you will have your occasional background interruptions or connection issues. Additionally, ensuring that participants had proper training and equipment, like headsets and microphones, was a challenge.

So would we do it again? Absolutely. It was a great learning experience for everybody involved in the conference. There are things that we will change and tweak for a future Library OnConference, like improving pre-conference training sessions and the registration process. But we definitely want to do this again!

Should you host a virtual library conference? Yes! It’s challenging but also energizing to see library colleagues from around the nation connecting with one another. Even if you just use Google Hangouts to “hangout” with people that you’ve met at an in-person conferences, it’s a fantastic, free way to continue to build library relationships.

Learn more about the conference and the moderators at www.liboncon.com. Are you interested in organizing in a virtual conference?  Share your thoughts below!  

Cover Photo Credit: Scott Maxwell

The post A Free Virtual Conference for Librarians? It’s On! first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

“Career Online High School is committed to preparing students for careers and post-secondary career education by delivering high-quality, supportive, and career-based online education and have the objectives:

• To offer students an affordable, flexible opportunity to earn their high school diplomas
• To prepare students for careers and employment based on employer-driven academic requirements
• To create a positive academic environment that facilitates all students reaching their maximum potential
• To be at the forefront of providing online, career-based academics in the United States
• To maintain a dedicated team of certified academic coaches and certified teachers” (Career Online High School 2013)

The library setting may perfectly minister to those who aspire to get their diploma. Many students left high school for a wealth of reasons and may feel that going back to a traditional high school is not the best alternative for them. Attending classes in a space that has more positive connotations for them, like the public library, offers a more appealing option. in a . In addition, the library provides a space where these students can not only take the online classes, but also meet with other students to discuss their schoolwork Plus, they can use the library’s resources for additional assistance with their assignments.

Earning your high school diploma is not the only thing these classes will do for the student. The program is hoping to tailor its studies to inspire students to continue their education after graduation. Upon enrolling in the program, students will be required to choose a career path. Career Online High School then individualizes the participant’s curriculum geared toward an identifiable conduit that each student can continue on after acquiring the diploma.

For the Los Angeles Public Library and any library in the future that will follow their lead, this means one thing—planning. A plan will have to be made to educate the staff, to realign the space of the library to accommodate these new students who may need additional private study rooms, and to purchase and develop software to work with the program. But what may be the most important plan, and the one that John Szabo, the Los Angeles Public Library director, is most excited about is how to plan for the graduation ceremonies for these students. (Watson 2014)

References

Career Online High School. 2013.
Watson, Julie. “ABC News.go.” ABC News. January 09, 2014. (accessed January 19, 2014).

The post High School Diplomas with your Public Library Card first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

At this time, the options available are plentiful and range from free online courses to expensive  classroom experiences. Any and all topics can be found with standalone courses, certificates, and degree programs in excess. But, the range of quality is just as vast and it seems the old adage, ‘you get what you pay for,’ is no longer true. I’ve personally experienced fabulous free courses and useless ones I’ve paid dearly for.  The same has been true for my colleagues. Before signing up, or at least before providing payment, evaluate your prospective course AND course provider. Even a few hundred dollars is too much to waste. Before taking that class:

1.  Investigate the credentials of both the instructor and the course provider.  I recently had a teaching contract rescinded for a subject I’ve successfully taught for over fifteen years.  The problem was the course provider believed he understood the topic better than I.  When I tried to explain he was factually wrong, he found another instructor that would teach what he wanted, regardless of its accuracy. I was relieved at the cancellation of the contract, not wanting to teach false information! But this experience poses difficulty for students who don’t know the subject to begin with. Thus, it’s not enough to investigate credentials, but it pays to dig deeper.

2. Research the course provider, not simply the glowing reviews provided by the organization or website.  There is no harm in asking for contact information from “real” former students.  Search online and ask around.  Most of us are member of listservs or other groups. We are constantly told to network, here is  a perfect opportunity.

3.  Look for accreditations AND their status.  Many programs will tell you, truthfully they are accredited. What they won’t tell you is if that accreditation status is tenuous. Often a quick search will provide a clue, but there is nothing to stop you from checking on the status with an accrediting organization.  Checking with the Better Business Bureau may also provide insight.

4.  Consider the course description carefully. Even if you know nothing about the subject, does it seem reasonable the course can provide what it claims? Does it seem incredible that so much information can be provided in such a short amount of time? If the course sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

5. Ask a question and evaluate what kind of response you get. The question, and the answer, is not as significant as the nature of the response. If your response is slow in coming, unclear or convoluted, or worse case, rude, this is a clear indication of the manner in which the course will be conducted.  If you are not satisfied with the response, find a new course.

The post Evaluating Continuing Education Courses first appeared on Public Libraries Online.