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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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All Aboard for Storytime!

Friday, February 16th, 2018 Posted in Articles, For Libraries, For the Public, Training and Continuing Education | Comments Off on All Aboard for Storytime!


Picture of a school bus and a blue sky with cloudsFrom the desk of Carolyn Petersen

In the spirit of it takes a village to raise a child Washington libraries offer preschool storytimes because attending storytime has been proven to increase the kindergarten readiness skills a child needs.

This spring the Washington State Library will debut a series of trainings, All Aboard for Kindergarten, around the state.  The trainings are intended to strengthen youth services staff skills around the five key early literacy practices.

Sing, talk, read, write and play are all essential building blocks for early literacy.

The Every Child Ready Read program which was developed by the Public Library Association identifies those five practices as essential.

Sing: When an adult sings with a child, it slows down language so children can hear the smaller sounds in the words and learn new words.

Talk: A conversation between adults and children should feature open ended questions that open up a child’s world to more than the here and now.  Children should be encouraged to tell and retell stories themselves.

Read: Shared or interactive reading is the single most important activity to enable children to be ready to read.  Reading with children on a regular basis while they are young in an important predictor of success in school as well as the practice of reading itself.

Write: Drawing helps with fine and gross motor skills. Drawing shapes and letters and pictures prepares a child for abstract concept and connects spoken language to abstract ideas detailed in written language.

Play: When a child plays with a toy, they learn its properties (it is hard, soft, make noise, taste good). As they mature they begin to test out roles (You be the policeman, I’ll be the teacher) as they play. Language and many other skills are enhanced through play.

The trainings are also an opportunity for youth services staff to invite their local early childhood workers to come with them and refresh skills together.

Registration for the six hour workshop is now open.  Workshops will be held at Anacortes Public Library, Colville Library, Longview Public Library, the Kennewick branch of the Mid-Columbia Library, Neal Public Library and at the North Central Regional Library Service Center in Wenatchee.

Stars credit from the Department of Early Learning will be available.