Volume 12, December 22, 2016, for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) HOW TO DO A TEDX PRESENTATION

2) YOUTH PROGRAM AWARDS

3) GREAT STORIES CLUB GRANT

4) EARLY CHILDHOOD PARTNERSHIP TOOLKIT

5) SEASON’S GREETINGS FROM WSL VIA NORAD

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Volume 11, September 24, 2015 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) HR – LOOKING OUT FOR RED FLAGS

2) STEM LSTA GRANT CYCLE OPENS

3) IMPLEMENTING WIOA IN RURAL AREAS

4) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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1) HR – LOOKING OUT FOR RED FLAGS

Most supervisors are surprised at the amount of time they spend on human resource issues. Do you have questions about Family Medical Leave, overtime/comp time, or how to deal with difficult employees? Join us for a First Tuesdays session with Pam Ward and Lynda Ring-Erickson of LRE Solutions as they tackle the topic “Things Librarians Should Know about Human Resources.” Bring your questions; as consultants they have worked through these issues and can help you find the answers.

First Tuesdays webinar: October 6, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. For more information, visit sos.wa.gov/q/FirstTuesdays. Instructions for joining the session are at sos.wa.gov/q/FirstT.

First Tuesdays was designed as a continuing-education opportunity for staff of libraries in Washington State; this free web presentation allows attendees share their skills and successes and learn about new topics. The special-subject presentations, lasting about 60 minutes, are recorded so that others may listen at their own convenience.

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2) STEM LSTA GRANT CYCLE OPENS

The Washington State Library (WSL) is pleased to announce “The Future STEMs from Reading” grant cycle. The recent recession resulted in cuts to many school library budgets. Since materials in science, engineering, technology and math (STEM) fields become dated quickly, budget shortfalls mean that many school library STEM book collections were particularly hard hit.

In response, WSL is providing an opportunity to help school libraries update their STEM collections. 230 STEM book collections aimed at elementary, middle, and high school students were put together from lists of award-winning books as suggested by an advisory committee of teacher-librarians.

230 STEM collections will be available. Of those, 120 will be awarded to elementary school libraries, 55 to middle school libraries, and 55 to high school libraries. All collections will contain 50 titles plus three professional development titles. The majority of copyrights are within the last 3 years. The book collections will be shipped to successful grant awardees.

All public school libraries are eligible to apply. The collections will be awarded via a one-page grant application process that will be made available at sos.wa.gov/q/grants. The grant cycle will open on Monday, September 28, at which time the application forms will be posted. Applications are due by 4 p.m. October 30, 2015. For questions, contact Carolyn Petersen [email protected].

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3) IMPLEMENTING WIOA IN RURAL AREAS

The WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) is federal legislation. This webinar will focus on what’s different about making workforce investment for youth meaningful in rural areas. Rural areas face challenges related to widely dispersed populations and distance from places to access goods and services in addition to poverty, lower educational attainment, and lower earnings.

In the webinar you will hear how the White House and the Administration are focused on rural areas, the goals and strategies of the Domestic Policy Council on rural affairs, and the important role the workforce system plays in helping young adults meet their education and employment goals. The new law provides opportunities for rural areas to establish regional strategies for youth service delivery, to coordinate planning across workforce system partners, and to use technology to ensure access to workforce services in remote areas. Hear about promising approaches that local youth service providers in two states have taken to solve some of their rural challenges.

The “Implementing WIOA In Rural Areas” webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30, at 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Pacific Time. Use this link: sos.wa.gov/q/WIOA. A WorkforceOne site registration is required.

“Implementing WIOA In Rural Areas” is the eighth webinar in the “Enough is Known for Action” series for the youth community, hosted by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Division of Youth Services and Regional Offices, to inspire strategic planning and action now as the system is in the early stages of implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The full series is available on the WorkforceOne website via this shortcut: sos.wa.gov/q/Action.

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4) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

September 28

• Teacher-Librarian News Night (Teacher Librarian Virtual Cafe); 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. PDT
• ProQuest Research Library – With so many publications, how do you find the right one to search? 11:00 – 11:30 a.m.

September 29

• Reading Nooks that Encourage Writing Too! (Georgia Public Library Service); 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. PDT
• How to protect the freedom to read in your library (Sage); 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. PDT
• Boundless Libraries: A Look at the 2015 New Landmark Libraries (Library Journal); 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. PDT

September 30

• Total Boox and New Ebook Pricing Models (Minitex); 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. PDT
• Getting Your Slice of the Pie – Identifying the Assets You Need in Your Community (4Good); 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. PDT
• Enough is Known for Action: Implementing WIOA In Rural Areas (WorkforceOne), 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., PDT
• STEAM & Día: Offering Informal Learning with a Mind Toward Diversity (Texas State Library and Archives); 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. PDT
• Libraries & Technology: The Librarian’s Online Management System (American Association of School Librarians); 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. PDT

For more information and to register (unless otherwise linked above), visit the WSL Training Calendar at sos.wa.gov/q/training.

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

• Facebook: on.fb.me/FBWSL;
• Twitter: twitter.com/WAStateLib.

The State Library’s Lego kit which is traveling around Washington state was last sighted in Davenport where the library hosted a “Block Party”.  A Block party?  Well Lego blocks of course.  Librarian Katy Pike sent us a report and some great pictures so we thought we would share. In this small town of 1,682 the library program was attended by 10 kids, 6 adults and 2 teenagers – quite a turn out. The first 30 minutes focused on structural building and designs. During this time kids were encouraged to use any building materials that were available to make tall structures. The majority of the building materials came from a STEM kit that the State Library purchased in 2011 They explored what makes some structures more stable and compared the various types of materials used for building.  After all the building came… The un-building.  Katy reports that they had as much fun demolishing their structures as they did building them. Well yeah, isn’t the purpose of building a block tower to have the joy of knocking it down!

Next came the Lego Challenge.  Kids drew a random challenge card and had to build what was suggested on the card. Among these creations: houses, space ships, skate parks, a flower, and a pirate ship. The last hour was spent free building or designing your own mini figure. Later programming included stop animation with the free Lego Movie Maker App, Blindfold Block Building, “Around the Block” Poetry, and other activities. One look at the pictures and it’s very clear that these kids had a grand time playing with the Legos; so much fun they probably were unaware of all the great learning going on.

The kids are back to school and things are kicking into high gear for training librarians. This fall promises to be a busy and educational season for library staff. With our Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) we are gearing up to offer high impact trainings this fall, both on the ground and online.

On September 24, library staff are invited to attend the 2-hour webinar, Legal Research for Information Professionals. Taught by Kim Ositis of the Public Law Library of King County, this webinar will equip library staff with practical skills that will help them to answer challenging legal questions. Kim’s legal webinars have been sponsored by WSL for a few years now and continue to draw crowds.

In October, Arta Kabashi from Amigos Library Services will be coming to Washington State from Texas to train staff in rural libraries on the eReader landscape. Her full-day workshop on All You Need to Know about E-reader Services in Your Library will introduce the concepts and tools necessary in implementing and delivering e-Reader services to library users. E-readers continue to gain in popularity and this interactive workshop is aimed at helping library staff better serve our customers.

In addition to new technologies such as e-Readers, the need for training library staff in traditional skills continues. One of the most requested training topics is Customer Service. Therefore, WSL contracted with Kate Laughlin, Library Consultant, to offer multiple trainings around the state in 2012-2013 on Service Excellence in Your Library. In November, Kate kicks off her full-day workshops in the Tri-Cities. Additional workshops will be scheduled after winter break into spring 2013. Kate’s workshops are guaranteed to be engaging and practical. Our library patrons are sure to benefit as a result of this excellent customer service training.

Continuing to partner with our colleagues is important. As part of a series of joint workshops and webinars, we are pleased to offer a webinar in October about WTBBL (Washington Talking Book & Braille Library) Youth Services. Mandy Gonnsen, the new youth services librarian at WTBBL, looks forward to enhancing services there for children and teens.

In addition to these trainings, WSL continues to offer a monthly webinar series on the first Tuesday of each month called First Tuesdays. Upcoming topics for First Tuesdays include the eReaders: Best Practices,  Summer Reading and Burnout: Avoiding the Flames. Archives of previous First Tuesdays webinars are available at http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/libraries/firsttuesdays/default.aspx.

As the kids return to school, librarians are continuing their education as well through these and many other training opportunities.