The conference will be held from 8:45am ’till 5:00pm CST on Friday, February 28, 2014.
Speaker bios can be found on the Speakers page.
8:45-9:00am
Welcome to the Conference & Introductions
9:00-9:50am
Non-literary collections – Why?
Natalie Bazan – Library Director – Hopkins District Library and Dorr Township Library (MI)
Why would I want to let patrons check out knitting needles? What would those cookie cutters do for me? Let me tell you how it has increased our non-fiction circulation, spawned new programs, and helped get our community excited about the library!
10:00-10:50am
Character Quest: Book Club for Struggling and Reluctant Readers
Hope Decker, Director, Cohocton Public Library (NY)
Partnering with the local elementary school, the Cohocton Public Library created a dynamic, fun, hands-on program for struggling and reluctant readers ages 6 to 10 years old. Readers were engaged and enthusiastic. Character Quest was based on graphic novels that a variety of ages and reading abilities would enjoy. The cornerstone was the hands-on activities that the Library developed to accompany the books. The goal was to have positive reading experiences and to get struggling readers hooked on a book series. An overview of the program, suggestions on community partnerships, and the 4 week plan will be given.
11:00-11:50am
You Can Q! Using Q Method to Understand Community Needs for Small Libraries
Mary Wilkins Jordan, Assistant Professor, Simmons College GSLIS (MA)
What is Q Method? Not widely known in the library field yet, this is a research method that lets you reach out to patrons in a new way to get their opinions on your services, materials, and/or programming. After developing a set of ideas you want to get feedback on from your community, you might be tempted to try sending out a survey and asking people to rate everything on a scale from one to five. But this is boring! And the results are ultimately not as useful as they could be in helping you to make decisions. Q Method is a forced-ranking process, where your patrons have to make decisions about things they like more and like less. Then you run everything through a statistical program, and end up with reams of interesting and useful data you can use to impress your stakeholders with all your evidence-based decision making!
12:00-12:50pm Lightning Round!
How to Start a Great Teen Advisory Board
Danielle Rasmussen, Director, Garland Public Library (UT)
How do you get teens interested in coming to the library? Get them involved!! I will talk about how we started out Teen Advisory Board and some fun idea’s to keep it going strong.
Celebrity Readers of the Week
Heather Kavan, Librarian/Teacher, East Butler Public Schools (NE)
Looking for a new display idea or discussion starter? One idea from last August’s Heartland Library Conference started off well and gained momentum for us! I’ll share how we got started, and the potential it has for being bigger. Join me for some discussion on how a simple t-shirt might change your world.
How to Stretch a Small Budget – Consider Buying Used Books
Eric Palo, Library Director, Renton Technical College (WA)
Significant savings can be had by sometimes purchasing used books instead of new for your library. Think about it – a standard used book is in the same condition as one already on your shelf that has been checked out once or twice. Purchasing used books also usually gets the books to you faster. Hear some practical tips on how to do it, and what to look out for, from a librarian who spends thousands of dollars every year on used books.
You Can Have The Coolest Library Cards in Your State…For Free!
Bob Jones, Milton-Freewater Public Library (OR)
Really cool, high tech library cards are expensive, but even a tiny library can look Big Time with cards that feature impressive graphics, barcodes, magnetic stripes, and whatever else you want. Best of all, you can do it fore free, or very close to it. My library was the first in eastern Oregon (maybe in the whole state) to have card-and-keytag sets, way back in 1994. To day our patrons get a card and two keytags, with identical barcodes, and all it costs us is a little staff time. Find out how you can do it, too!
Scanday
John Sarnowski, Director, The ResCarta Foundation &
Laura Kayacan, Adult Services Librarian, Door County Library (WI)
The ResCarta Foundation has been assisting libraries in Wisconsin to collect, index and display culturally important local materials. We call them ScanDays. The foundation provides scanning equipment, digital cameras, software and training. The local library provides marketing, the space to hold the event and volunteers to man the scanners. In a single day hundreds of local photographs, pamphlets, audio tapes, and historical objects captured. One of the formats we cannot handle during a ScanDay is microfilm. Laura will tell you how the Door County Library has taken open source software and partnered with the county IT department to create and host the Door County Newspaper Archive, an online collection of newspapers printed in Door County between 1862 and 1941.
1:00-1:50pm
The People’s Library: rebuilding the collections of one rural library in the Ozarks
Rachel Reynolds Luster, Librarian, Myrtle Library (MO)
Four months ago, I took the position as the librarian for the Myrtle Library, a small rural outpost library of our county’s system in the southern Missouri Ozarks. Shortly after starting a reporter called me requesting an interview and the trajectory of my efforts to rebuild our collections was forever changed. Now with two NPR stories about our little library under my belt, I have had the privilege of receiving hundreds of calls and emails from around the country from people sharing their library stories, visitors wanting to tour our small one-room library and donations from local residents, book lovers across the world, and other libraries. Our 632 sq ft. library has become a people’s library reflecting not only the materials that local patrons want and need but also has been shaped by the perceptions of urban dwellers of what our rural library needs.
I wish to speak about these experiences and how this has shaped the contents of our library and how it is used.
2:00-2:50pm
How to Make Money on the Internet For Your Library
Mary Rayme, Director, Pioneer Memorial Public Library (WV)
Learn how to make money for your library by selling books on Amazon, using PayPal, writing book reviews online, and monetizing a blog. Using the Internet and social media, this is a quick guide to get started raising cash in cyberspace.
3:00-3:50pm
Be Novel!: Fresh, Fearless, & Affordable Library Programming
Sharlene Edwards, Program Director, Bradley Public Library (NJ)
There is no avoiding it: the library landscape has been changing. We are dealing with slashed budgets and insufficient staffing while attempting to meet an increased need for innovative library programming. As librarians from small libraries, we may be reluctant to shake things up with new ideas because of the high price of failure. So how do we stay relevant in the 21st century? This presentation is a how-to guide for utilizing local resources, establishing valuable community partnerships, and decreasing costs while increasing participation in fresh, fearless, and affordable library programming.
4:00-4:50pm
Motivating Library Employees in Tough Times
Samantha Hines, Head Librarian, Missoula College Library @ the University of Montana (MT)
Doing more and more with less and with raises hard to be found, libraries may find their employees stuck in a thankless position, at least as we see traditional forms of thanks in the workplace. I will look at some of the current thinking on how to motivate employees in the workplace, including Daniel Pink’s recent book, Drive, and translate them to a library audience. Attendees from any type of library will learn ways to make their employees feel more appreciated, from the volunteer to the manager to the board (or even how to motivate yourself!)