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January 2024 |
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Adult Services Notes |
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Library of Virginia Training |
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Help Plan 2024's Get the Most Out of Find It VA |
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We will be developing a new series of training on Find It VA resources this spring, and as part of the planning, it would be helpful to get a sense of what you all would like to know more about in terms of the Find It VA resources.
Please fill out a short survey about Find It VA training to help shape the 2024 series. As always, your assistance is appreciated! |
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News from Library Development & Networking
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It is projected that by 2025, over 190,000 Virginians will be living with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia and currently, over 300,000 Virginians age 45 or older report dealing with some subjective cognitive decline.
Join Library Staff across Virginia to learn how to better serve them and their care partners by accepting the Dementia Friendly Library Challenge! |
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This challenge will consist of a live webinar kick off with Nan Carmack, Director of LVA Library Development and Networking and Pat Sullivan, a care partner to her husband John and a dementia educator.
Challenge activities total of about 8 hours of learning and will include:
A virtual experience demonstrating what it might feel like to have dementia
Articles, videos and podcast episodes
Exemplary library practices
Reflection opportunities Those who complete the challenge will received Dementia Friendly Library stickers and a purple Dementia Friendly wristband.
Join us for the Live kick off webinar on Thursday Jan 4 at 10 am, which will be recorded for those who cannot attend live.
Register at: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlceyhpj0uH9DjmsurlmRjNXgsVdkt417x
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The link to the full challenge will follow in late December and be available on the LVA Niche Academy |
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Do you want to make your digital resources more findable? Try putting MARC records for database content in your catalog to increase the opportunities users have to find them.
Many of the Find It VA resources have MARC records that you can download, customize, and add to your catalog. You will want to work with your Tech Services colleagues to make sure that you have the correct urls for your library's resources in the MARC =856 field, and if you need help with location IDs or finding the best url to use, please reach out to Barry at barry.trott@lva.virginia.gov.
Here's how to get started:
Access Video Just for Kids -- You can add records for all teh Just for Kids content
Gale -- You can add MARC records for the individual content in Gale in Context Elementary or Topic Records for Gale Legal Forms.
EBSCO -- You can add MARC records for any or all of the content in MasterFILE and Read It!. You will need to have EBSCO Admin access so talk to your database person about getting these records or contact Barry Trott at LVA.
Login to EBSCO Admin. Click the Database Title Lists tab. Use the MARC21 tab (default). Download the Full Text Only file for either MasterFILE or Read It! or both. In order to ensure approriate authentication, your cataloging staff will want to add this to the end of each url, &authtype=ip,geo,cpid&custid=[EBSCO Site ID for your library].
Transparent Language -- You can add a single MARC record for Transparent Language that includes subject fields for all the languages available.
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Recent Training: Indigenous Perspectives
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Indigenous Perspectives is a new exhibition at the Library of Virginia that runs from December 5, 2023 through August 17, 2024. It highlights Virginia’s Indigenous history and reflections from tribal citizens.
This free multimedia exhibition features excerpts from video interviews with citizens of Virginia’s tribes, archival records from the library’s collections, and objects contributed by the tribes that reflect their traditions and culture. |
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The Library of Virginia has also produced three courses in Niche Academy that compliment this exhibit:
Introduction to Virginia's Recognized Indigenous Tribes
Census and Indigenous Communities at LVA
Locating Indigenous Records at LVA
Use this Niche Pathway to view these courses. |
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Niche Academy is open to all Virginia library staff members and library associates such as trustees and Friends board members. If you do not have a Niche Academy account, please use your library email address to sign up. If you do not have a library work email, you may register with a personal email, and we will contact you to confirm that you are affiliated with a Virginia library.
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RUSA Online Training Reports
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In partnership with ALA's Reference and User Services Association, LDND is delighted to offer training opportunities for Virginia library staff. This year, we awarded 50 seats in RUSA online training classes.
Scholarship recipients are asked to report out on key points or topics. Read the most recent reports below.
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Project Management Allison Forbes, Loudoun County Public Library; Helen Conley, Smyth County Public Library
While I have some project management knowledge, I learned about the Think, Investigate, Plan, Respond (TIPR) method. I think this is an important method to use not only to help solve solutions to problems, but I think it can also help in planning programs. I also learned my stye of influence is mainly collaboration. I value my team's feedback and want their buy-in on projects/solutions. In order for projects to be successful, as a project manager it is important to know the roles people play on the project, have a timeline of when things need to be completed by, tasks that each team member is responsible for, and provide updates to the stakeholders involved. Lastly, at the end of a project, it is important to get together with the team to discuss what went well on the project and what improvements/adjustments need to be made.
By taking this class I had hoped to learn how to lead a project team efficiently and effectively. I have been involved with many projects at my library through the years but have not had the opportunity to lead one.
Diving into the subject matter, I learned that according to the literature, most librarians are not taught how to lead projects during their classwork. Having not been schooled in Library Science, I was unaware of this. That made me feel a bit better as I proceeded with the required reading, as I felt maybe I wasn’t as far behind as I thought. I do believe that it should be taught in some shape or form though as I learned a good deal of practical information that will help moving forward. As I continued reading, I learned that there are four steps to project management and each set has further in-depth steps to set up the complete project:
Definition - you need a clear plan of what needs to be achieved. This step will also outline what each member of the team is responsible for, so no one is left trying to figure out what they need to do at the last minute.
Planning – this is the step where the roadmap is constructed. The is how the where, when, and who of the project gets put together. We learned how to do a Gantt chart to help with this step. A Gantt chart shows the action to be taken, the timeframe for the action, and who is working on that action.
Implementation –this is the step where any test or pilot project is done, marketing and public relations take place, and an important time to provide status updates to everyone involved.
Assessment – look at the outcomes. Did problems occur that were not expected? Were there good outcomes that were not expected. This is the period to take the outcomes and rework the negative aspects into positive lessons learned and proceed with corrective steps.
One of the most important and helpful items that we were instructed on was how to make a Gantt Chart. A Gantt chart shows the action to be taken, the timeframe for the action, and who is working on that action. This is very helpful in looking at how long a project is slated to take and can also help show how far you have come. These charts are a visual reminder of where you plan to be as well as a tracker of what you have completed. It can be adjusted as necessary – meaning adding steps you may have forgotten or updating the dates if needed. The project that I used is a current project we are working on with our Digital History Collection. It was wonderful to see just how far we have come in the process.
Another subject that was covered in the class was the topic of Influencing in the form of how to get team members involved and to “buy in” to the project. There are 8 different styles of influencing – Autocratic, Collaborative, Logical, Emotional, Assertive, Passive, Marketing, and Bargaining. There isn’t one specific way that is better to use for everyone and many times a combination can be used. Different types of influencing can be tied to the four main personality types: leader, listener, talker, and follower. Again, no one strategy works well with all the personality types and all types of personalities are useful in a project team.
I enjoyed the class taught by Debra Lucas-Alfieri, would suggest others take it, and would like to leave you with the main benefits that she lists for learning Project Management:
It helps ensure that the manager and upper administration share a common goal.
Projects are more successful in implementation when the plans, objectives, and outcomes are agreed on.
Project management guides the process of inception, implementation, and completion in an efficient, expert, and cost-conscious manner. |
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Will Eisner Graphic Novel Grants |
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Are you looking to build or expand graphic novel programming or services?
The Will Eisner Graphic Novel Grants for Libraries "facilitate library-generated programs and services that will promote graphic novels to library patrons and to the local community."
Find information and application.
Application deadline is 1/28/2024. |
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Readers' Advisory Tips and Tricks
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Nonfiction Readers' Advisory |
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We often focus on fiction when we think about connecting readers with books, but there are lots of library goers whose primary interest is in nonfiction, and we should not forget about them in our RA work. Here are some tips to connect with your nonfiction reading community:
Build book displays that blend fiction and nonfiction, for instance a display of cozy culinary mysteries (always a popular topic) could also include cookbooks or a display of international fiction could include travel guides.
Look at your circulation data to see what areas of the nonfiction collection are of most interest to your readers and be sure to do some displays to bring those titles to the forefront. |
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Look for ways to bring together different parts of the nonfiction collection that might otherwise languish on the shelves. For instance, there are lots of great memoirs dispersed among the various Dewey areas--sports, music and arts, business, travel, etc. Bringing them together in a display or, even better, in a reading list, helps your nonfiction readers more easily locate books to enjoy and reinforces the library as a place that supports their reading interests.
Finally, to keep up with the various subgenres of nonfiction, be sure to check out NoveList. Try going to NoveList from your library's website, choose Browse by Genre from the top menu, and select Nonfiction from the New and Popular dropdown menu. |
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Passive Programming for All Patrons |
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A recent issue of ALA's "Programming Librarian" newsletter reminds us that passive programming can be a great way to connect with all type of library users.
Among other great ideas to consider is to be sure to have a variety of options with different levels of complexity for users with different abilities. Also, be sure to include pieces that engage different sensory options--touch, sight, sound, etc.
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Featured Virginia Programs
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Galax Carroll Regional Library
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Adult Cold Case
Mysteries are always popular, and what better way to engage your mystery (and true crime fans) than with an opportunity to be detectives.
In this program, adult users gathered at the Galax Public Library to put their amateur sleuthing skills to the test to solve a cold case murder. | For more info, contact Tara Northrup, tnorthrup@galaxcarroll.lib.va.us |
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Newport News Public Library
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Public libraries serve all the users in our communities, and Newport News Public Library has developed a fascinating program that offers users with intellectual disabilities to connect with the library and with each other.
Meet Up Mondays is a monthly program for adults with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers. Each month the library offers different activity. Past programs have included movies, craft sessions, dance parties, bingo, ukulele concerts, and more.
It's a great opportunity to connect the library with a niche user group and to help support caregivers. |
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For more info, contact Jacqueline Brown-Whitley, brown-whitleyjr@nnva.gov
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Alleghany Highlands Regional Library
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Each Halloween, our community hosts a Hometown Halloween event in which area businesses set up tents to hand out candy to all the kids. Our student board representative gathered some of her club members from the high school and we prepared 1,000 bags of goodies to hand out at the event! The goodies are sponsored each year by our Friends of the Library group. We also include a library events flyer in their goody bag.
This year we also held a staff pumpkin decorating contest in the library during the month of October. We posted all of our pumpkins on our Facebook page and had viewers “like” their favorite pumpkin. It was such a hit we decided bring the fun to Hometown Halloween as a way to engage the kids and their families during the event. We set up jars in front of each pumpkin and had kids and adults vote for their favorite pumpkin by placing a candy corn in the jar. After the voting was tallied…Pete the Cat was our winner! There were over 2,000 participants of all ages at this event! |
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For more info, contact Lisa Sponaugle, lsponaugle@ahrlib.org
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Recent articles on topics of interest to Adult Services |
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