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WSL Updates for November 16, 2017

Wednesday, November 15th, 2017 Posted in For Libraries, Grants and Funding, News, Training and Continuing Education, Updates | Comments Off on WSL Updates for November 16, 2017


Volume 13, November 16, 2017 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Note: WSL Updates will take next week off in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. You will find the following week’s schedule of CE events in this week’s edition.

Topics include:

1) KEEPING IT PRIVATE

2) SUPERCHARGED STORYTIMES

3) SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS

4) ECLIPSE PROJECT RESULTS

5) DISCOVER EXOPLANETS

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT TWO WEEKS

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1) KEEPING IT PRIVATE

Washington State is very open with the way it shares data within the public trust. Our state has one of the most advanced public records laws in the nation, and most public meetings are subject to the Open Meetings Act. At the same time, citizens have a right to privacy under the state’s Constitution. On the private side, hackers are stalking personal data and data brokers are collecting and selling it. You may be putting your privacy at risk simply by leaving your phone unlocked or by sharing personal information with an organization that then makes it publicly available.

First Tuesdays – Keeping It Private: Navigating the Balance of Public Data and Privacy Protections is a workshop sponsored by the Washington State Library and funded in part by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Details:

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2) SUPERCHARGED STORYTIMES

“Supercharged Storytimes for All” will create a free and openly accessible training program for library trainers, staff, and storytime practitioners. The program, which kicks off this November and runs through April 2019, builds on WebJunction’s successful Supercharged Storytimes pilot project which partnered with the Washington State Library and Thrive Washington, using strategies developed by Project VIEWS2.

This winter, the WebJunction team will update the program’s core curriculum. New expanded materials will cover foundational early literacy concepts and ensure that “Supercharged Storytimes for All” aligns well with other library training that educates parents and caregivers about their role in supporting early literacy, e.g., Every Child Ready to Read. The curriculum designers will also draw on the expertise of project partners such as The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading to add training on effective community outreach to children and families from diverse backgrounds to the program. Finally, the course will include instruction on using PLA’s Project Outcome evaluation tools to capture the community impact of programming and services.

Watch for learning opportunities in 2018:

  • Train-the-trainer training – starting in May, 2018
  • Self-paced course for individual practitioners – available October, 2018
  • Library staff facilitator training program – starting in November, 2018

For more information, use this link: sos.wa.gov/q/for-all.

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3) SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS

Now that you are using social media to engage with your community, how do you know if it’s working? If you don’t know where to start when planning your social media metrics, attend this webinar to learn the best methods to measure your library’s social media outcomes. During this event, you will learn how to establish measurable goals, identify key performance indicators (KPIs), and evaluate your social media results.

“Social Media Analytics: What to Measure and Why” is part two in a series hosted in collaboration with TechSoup. Details:

  • Thursday, November 30, 2017; 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PST
  • For more information and to register: sos.wa.gov/q/analytics

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4) ECLIPSE PROJECT RESULTS

The 2017 Eclipse Project, conceived by three astronomers (Andrew Fraknoi, Dennis Schatz, and Douglas Duncan), paved the way to the single largest distribution of free eclipse glasses in the United States. Now dubbed as the “Super Bowl of Eclipses,” public libraries played a key role in the success of the event by helping to distribute nearly 2.1 million pairs of eclipse glasses to their communities in addition to conducting nearly 35,000 science programs before and after the eclipse.

Congratulations to all participating libraries! For the rest of the report, visit sos.wa.gov/q/eclipse.

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5) DISCOVER EXOPLANETS

The National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) at the Space Science Institute (SSI) is seeking eight library and museum partner sites to host the inaugural national tour of the interactive traveling exhibition Discover Exoplanets: the Search for Alien Earths. Public libraries and small museum partners in rural areas and those serving rural populations and underrepresented groups are especially invited to apply.

Discover Exoplanets is made possible through NASA’s Universe of Learning. NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.

Applications must be completed and received by no later than 11:59 p.m. on January 5, 2018. Also, stay tuned for a registration announcement for the pre-application webinar which will be held on December 6, 2017.

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6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT TWO WEEKS

Monday, November 20

Tuesday, November 21

Monday, November 27

Tuesday, November 28

Wednesday, November 29

Thursday, November 30

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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 March 9, 2017

Wednesday, March 8th, 2017 Posted in For Libraries, News, Training and Continuing Education, Updates | Comments Off on WSL Updates for March 9, 2017


Volume 13, March 9, 2017 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) SERVICE EXCELLENCE IN YOUR LIBRARY

2) JOIN NASA IN CELEBRATING EARTH DAY

3) SUMMER MEALS PROGRAM

4) TRENDS ANALYSIS

5) CONFRONTING MISINFORMATION

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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WSL Updates for February 9, 2017

Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 Posted in For Libraries, Grants and Funding, News, Updates | Comments Off on WSL Updates for February 9, 2017


Volume 13, February 9, 2017 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) SERVICE EXCELLENCE IN YOUR LIBRARY

2) WSL GRANT DEADLINE EXTENDED

3) USER EXPERIENCE WAIT LISTS

4) VOLUNTEER AT MLA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

5) EZRA JACK KEATS MINIGRANTS

6) BECOME A NASA@ MY LIBRARY PARTNER

7) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

Read the rest of this entry »

La Connor Regional Library teams with NASA

Friday, September 10th, 2010 Posted in Articles, For Libraries, For the Public | 1 Comment »


robots-thinking The La Conner Regional Library was awarded a pilot project from the Aerospace and Biotechnology Academy of NASA. The Aerospace and Biotechnology Academy pilot project will train the La Conner Regional Library staff to serve as a resource to assist middle school students explore science through robotics. The La Conner Regional Library will receive kits which will be checked out to middle school teachers whom the library will recruit.

The pilot will run from October through December of this year. Director Joy Neal says the final project will be a robotics day in the library showing off what the students have learned. Three additional rural libraries in Montana, Vermont, and Maine also received grants as a part of the pilot project.