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WSL Updates for March 22, 2018

Thursday, March 22nd, 2018 Posted in For Libraries, Grants and Funding, News, Training and Continuing Education, Updates | Comments Off on WSL Updates for March 22, 2018


Volume 14, March 22, 2018 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) CHAOS WITH A PURPOSE

2) ALL ABOARD FOR STORYTIME

3) PROMOTING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

4) WHAT’S HIDING IN YOUR LIBRARY?

5) GRANT – ACTIVATING COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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1) CHAOS WITH A PURPOSE

It started off with a simple idea: bring your NERF gun (or use ours), and a friend (or make some here), and let’s battle! What began as a serendipitous brainstorm has grown into one of the library’s most successful teen programs. Middle and High School students are invited to the library after-hours and enjoy a monthly event that encourages exercise, friendly competition, and teamwork. Join us for NERF Squadron: Chaos with a Purpose, as we discuss best practices, what scenarios you can play, and how you can adapt and scale the program for your library. Presented by Nick Madsen, Community Library Network, Idaho. Sponsored by the Washington State Library.

First Tuesdays is designed as a continuing-education opportunity for library staff in Washington State. This free web presentation allows attendees to share their skills and successes and learn about new topics. The special-subject presentations are recorded so that others may listen at their own convenience. Tuesday, April 3, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. PDT.

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2) ALL ABOARD FOR STORYTIME

Registration is still open for All Aboard for Storytime: Preparing for Kindergarten Readiness.

  • Join the Washington State Library (WSL) for this workshop on what children need to know before they start kindergarten and how libraries can support families so their children are ready.
  • Share what your library is doing and find out what other libraries around Washington State are doing.
  • Dive into the importance of intentional planning, including how Every Child Ready to Read and Supercharged Storytimes can help you support kindergarten readiness in all your programs.
  • Explore how the six domains of the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) can be integrated into storytimes.

You will leave with a myriad of fun ideas, activities, and booklists that you may begin using immediately. This workshop will also cover ways to share readiness information with parents, caregivers, teachers, and childcare providers. These trainings provide an opportunity for youth services staff to invite their local early childhood workers to come with them and refresh skills together.

Trainings are located in both Eastern and Western Washington on a variety of dates from March 27 through April 27. WSL supports these trainings with Library Services and Technology Act funds supplied by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Register at sos.wa.gov/q/AllAboard.

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3) PROMOTING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

Public library workers, both professional and paraprofessional, are invited to participate in virtual focus groups this spring. The purpose of the research is to better understand the challenges and rewards of providing health information in public libraries.

The focus groups will happen by telephone, will last 1.5 hours, and will be scheduled on all days of the week except Sundays. Audio tapes will be made of the sessions and only members of the study team will transcribe the tapes. No individual person or library will be identified in the transcripts or publications. As a token of appreciation, each participant will receive a $25 Amazon gift card (which can be donated to the library if employees are not permitted to be compensated). For more information, or to sign up: apply.ala.org/plahealth/1focus-groups.

Your participation and input is very much appreciated and is valuable and important in knowing how best to support public libraries regarding health and wellness. Thank you! Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health/National Network of Libraries of Medicine and the Public Library Association.

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4) WHAT’S HIDING IN YOUR LIBRARY?

OCLC presents What’s hiding in your library? How to tell which print monographs to preserve and which to remove. During this session, you will learn:

  • Why deselection and deacquisition are considered best practices in the library profession;
  • How academic libraries of any size and focus can benefit from responsible deselection;
  • The value of visualizing your data and efficiently reviewing circulation counts and bibliographic information to inform decisions;
  • Methods to uncover unique or rare materials that need preservation.

Details:

  • Venue: OCLC Webinar
  • Date: 27 March 2018
  • Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PDT
  • Register to attend

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5) GRANT – ACTIVATING COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting grant applications for Activating Community Opportunities Using Museums/Libraries as Assets now through May 14, 2018. Museums, libraries, and archives, as well as universities and non-profit organizations with experience in museum, library, or archives projects and expertise in community development work, are eligible to apply. Award amounts will range from $25,000 to $150,000, and a one-to-one cost share is required. More details can be found in the application guidelines.

This grant is part of IMLS’s Community Catalyst initiative, which examines how libraries, archives, and museums can work collaboratively with their communities to improve community wellbeing. The funding opportunity encourages applicants to use innovative, collaborative approaches and to explore new project partners within their communities. The definition of a proposed project’s community and desired impact is unique to each applicant. Successful proposals will draw on collective impact methodologies, social well-being indicators, asset mapping, and other approaches from the community development field.

IMLS invites all interested applicants to attend an informational webinar on Monday, March 26 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PDT.

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6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

Monday, March 26

Tuesday, March 27

Wednesday, March 28

Thursday, March 29

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DISCLAIMER: The State Library regularly highlights third-party events and online resources as a way to alert the library community to training and resource opportunities. By doing so, we are not endorsing the content of the event, nor promoting any specific product, but merely providing this information as an FYI to librarians who must then decide what is right for them.

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WSL Updates for September 28, 2017

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017 Posted in For Libraries, News, Training and Continuing Education, Updates | Comments Off on WSL Updates for September 28, 2017


Volume 13, September 28, 2017 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) SENSORY STORY TIMES

2) REGISTER FOR THINK, DO, SHOW

3) PAVE THE WAY

4) MAKE BETTER DECISIONS

5) IMLS RELEASES PUBLIC LIBRARY DATA

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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1) SENSORY STORY TIMES

While libraries strive to be welcoming places for all, children with special needs may not always thrive in traditional story times where crowds, bright lights, and sudden noises can overstimulate and overwhelm. Parents of children with special needs can often feel conspicuous and unwelcome in a library setting.

October’s First Tuesdays program will address these issues. One small town library welcomed these families by establishing a story time structured around special needs. The program became so successful that a second session of it was necessary and the library saw an increase in library use by patrons with special needs, adults and children alike.

First Tuesdays is designed by the Washington State Library as a continuing-education opportunity for staff of libraries in Washington State. The special-subject presentations, lasting about 60 minutes, are recorded so that others may listen at their own convenience.

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2) REGISTER FOR THINK, DO, SHOW

Registration is now open for the “Think, Do, Show – Telling the Library Story with Data” workshops, brought to you by the Washington State Library. To register, visit the WSL online training calendar, and advance to November. The workshops will run from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the following locations and dates:

  • November 13, Timberland Regional Library Service Center, 415 Tumwater Blvd SW, Tumwater
  • November 15, Whitman County Rural Library System, 102 S. Main Street, Colfax
  • November 17, King County Library System Service Center, 960 Newport Way NW, Issaquah

In this free, all-day workshop, you will learn practical, strategic methods for evaluating your library’s programs and services. Through a series of interactive exercises, you will discover how to collect and analyze your data, use your results to inform your strategic planning, management, and communication with stakeholders, and visually present your statistics in infographics and other formats to demonstrate your library’s impact.

Questions? Contact Mary Campbell at [email protected] or 360-570-5571.

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3) PAVE THE WAY

Is your library working to help advance student achievement? Registration is open for the 2017 Pave the Way conference set for October 19 at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Registration is $110 and includes continental breakfast and lunch on the day of the event.

The annual conference organized by the Washington Student Achievement Council focuses on strategies to advance equity, increase college readiness, and broaden access to higher education in Washington. Pave the Way aims to ensure students receive the support they need to succeed, regardless of income, race, or other potential barriers.

The conference brings together educators, policymakers, and community partners from across the education system, from preschool through college. It features interactive group sessions and offers workshops focused on policy and practice in college and career readiness, culturally responsive teaching and learning, student transitions, collective impact, and more.

For more information and to register, visit www.wsac.wa.gov/pavetheway.

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4) MAKE BETTER DECISIONS

How can we use data to inform good governance? What is the art that accompanies the science of data, especially when we apply it to policy decisions that affect constituents? This webinar, “Using Data Visualization to Make Better Decisions,” will look at decision-making that is informed by data as well as the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to advising leaders on how best to use—and to avoid the perils of misusing—your data.

Educational objectives; in this webinar, attendees will learn how to:

  • Interpret and distill data;
  • Depict complex findings using visuals, interactive visuals, and other tools;
  • Communicate results to decision-makers in a compelling and informative way.

Event details:

  • Sponsor: MRSC (Municipal Research & Services Center)
  • Date & Time: October 19, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PDT
  • Cost: $35/person
  • Register

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5) IMLS RELEASES PUBLIC LIBRARY DATA

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) recently released two key information products: the latest data from its annual Public Libraries Survey and a new report on the previous year’s data. The Public Libraries Survey examines key indicators of public library use, financial health, staffing, and resources. Explore the FY 2015 data and the FY 2014 report via this shortcut: sos.wa.gov/q/IMLS-data.

The FY 2014 report provides a national overview of trends and a snapshot of a variety of indicators for the year. In particular, it demonstrates how public libraries are faring financially since the last recession (December 2007 to June 2009) and how public library services and resources have evolved over the decade.

Other key findings include:

  • Indicators for financial health and staffing of public libraries increased slightly from 2013 to 2014, but remain below 2009 levels.
  • Public libraries’ collections are adapting; the majority of the total collections (66%) were still print materials, but e-books (18%), audio (10%), and video (6%) made up the remainder of our nation’s library collections. The number of e-books per 1,000 people also increased 2,140% between 2005 and 2014.
  • Although there is a decline in the use of traditional library services, attendance at public programs is increasing.
  • In response to the interest, public libraries offered 4.5 million programs, a 1-year increase of 5% and a 10-year increase of 68%.
  • Over the past 10 years, public-access internet computers increased 55%.

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6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

Monday, October 2

Tuesday, October 3

Wednesday, October 4

Thursday, October 5

Friday, October 6

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DISCLAIMER: The State Library regularly highlights third-party events and online resources as a way to alert the library community to training and resource opportunities. By doing so, we are not endorsing the content of the event, nor promoting any specific product, but merely providing this information as an FYI to librarians who must then decide what is right for them.

Subscribe to WSL presents: News from Washington Libraries!

The Washington State Library has gone social! Friend/follow us at:

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An archive of past updates is available at http://list.statelib.wa.gov/read/?forum=wslupdates