Virtual Conference Programs

Through a commitment to Truth and Reconciliation, Calgary and Edmonton Public Libraries have prioritized engagement and relationship building with Indigenous communities. Welcoming spaces and services provide opportunities for community members to build connections, honouring Indigenous knowledge, culture, ceremony, history and language, further enhanced by the collaborative, province-wide Indigenous digital storytelling space. Learn how two urban libraries are building staff and community understanding and knowledge through developing services to build kinship with Indigenous communities.

How well is your staff trained to practically engage with Intellectual Freedom issues? Do they bury the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition in the sand or blush at bodice-rippers? Join us as we outline our purposeful method and format to train library staff to be conversational about issues concerning access, privacy, inclusiveness, diversity, and equity. Experience firsthand why attendees consistently say this is the most engaging training they’ve experienced and leave with tangible takeaways.

At the height of the pandemic the Charleston County Public Library leveraged staff talent to successfully reboot their strategic vision, centered on Equity. This panel demonstrates how libraries of any size or scale can utilize staff to successfully create their own strategic vision by listening to staff input to create a true sense of teamwork, providing the resources to set staff up for success, and communicating the organization’s ultimate vision and direction to staff.

Don’t know how to introduce a podcast? The Downers Grove Public Library’s “Cover to Cover” models how a podcast can humanize staff and services to your community. We’ll talk about how DGPL’s podcast has grown from discussing services to larger conversations around hot topics such as EDI initiatives. Find out how podcasts can be an effective marketing tool for creating community buy-in and a way to start difficult conversations in and out of the library.

Outreach services focus on providing equitable access to typically underserved populations with barriers to traditional modes of using libraries. These unique populations experience barriers related to income, physical ability, mental health status, and beyond. This presentation will guide understanding toward providing safe, appropriate, compassionate service based on healthy boundaries with these populations.

How confident are you when faced with behaviors that disrupt the operations of your library? Now, more than ever, library staff need effective tools when responding to disruptive behaviors. Learn what Baltimore County Public Library has done to create a structure for addressing security incidents and facilitating communication when disruptive behaviors arise. This presentation will encourage staff to develop and implement strategic guidelines, leading to enhanced safety and security for staff and customers alike.

Completing a high school diploma is the key to further education and better jobs. In Pueblo we have safety nets in place for learners under 21, but what about our adults? Career Online High School has allowed us to support adult learners in returning to work at better jobs and heading toward new experiences in college. We have built strong community partnerships to support our program with funding and resources.

Are you one of a few BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) library workers in your institution? Build your network to connect with other BIPOC library workers and share your experiences in a safe, open space. We’ll teach best practices to create and maintain a BIPOC library workers’ affinity group that empowers members through community and leadership development via recruitment and methods of engagement during meetings. This session is for people who identify as BIPOC.

The Boston Research Center, a public-academic partnership between the Boston Public Library and Northeastern University Library, supports community-driven history to bring underrepresented stories to a larger audience. This partnership enables both institutions to deepen relationships with community groups by partnering on neighborhood history projects. In this interactive session, learn how public and academic libraries can empower community members to add their lived experiences to the historical record, creating a more inclusive history.

In this workshop, the presenters will discuss practical and impactful ways in which to improve library spaces. The disability community is unfortunately often overlooked when considering public library spaces. By building more inclusive, diverse, and welcoming spaces, public libraries can meet the needs of all members of their community. This proposal is based on the results from an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant.

Have you ever wondered if your Summer Reading/Learning program is making the desired impact? Join librarians from the Durham County Library to hear about how they evaluated and ultimately redesigned their Summer Reading/Learning programs. Realizing the current programs did not demonstrably promote literacy and learning in minority populations, DCL staff created an initiative that directly targets underserved youth and will share the inclusive, adaptable learning experiences they developed that encourage innovation and opportunities for success.

Do you wish your library staff was more diverse? Spoiler alert: wishing isn’t going to solve your problem. Come hear from transgender and nonbinary library staff and managers about what makes an agency or position attractive, how a workplace can be inclusive and welcoming, and ways employers can recognize the value of transgender and nonbinary staff at all levels.

The presenters speak directly to the training, policies, and library culture supports needed to implement and maintain an accessible digital footprint. Compare your library to 200 others on key accessibility success indicators. Learn how to scale accessibility training whether your library is small and/or rural, or a much larger institution. We’ll also discuss the skills and supports needed by managers, tech staff, and those on the front lines.

In August 2019, the Burnaby Public Library formed a Transgender Inclusion Working Group to identify barriers trans and nonbinary staff and patrons face in the library and to make recommendations to remove these barriers. In this session, we will discuss the formation and successes of the Transgender Inclusion Working Group, the challenges of our first year and beyond, and the processes and supports we relied on to bring meaningful change to the library.

Scrambling during the pandemic to find ways to provide library services to individuals in or recently returning from correctional facilities, Outreach teams from Queens and Brooklyn Libraries used the upheaval to provide a new collection of services to system-impacted individuals. Learn from us as we discuss QPL’s Immediate Access program, which provides phones and assistance to people on parole, and Library Hub on tablets, which provides informational content and library services to people in jail.

The BIG IDEA is Toledo Lucas County Public Library’s roadmap to build, improve and grow in the areas of inclusion, diversity, equity and access. This presentation outlines its three phases: build a foundation on awareness, assessment and conversations; improve through application and grow with execution and measurement. The roadmap is the strategic guidance for TLCPL to ensure substantive and measurable change in recruiting, hiring, training, collection development, programs, digital access, physical investments and organizational strategy.

Borrowing at the East Hampton Public Library has risen 72% since 2017. Even during COVID-19, when many libraries’ circulation plummeted, East Hampton's borrowing increased 3 to 12% compared to the same months a year before. This presentation will outline how East Hampton has been successfully increasing borrowing, what it has meant for their library budget and why circulation is still an important metric. Participants will leave with strategies to increase circulation at their own libraries.

Public libraries must constantly adopt and manage policies. Crafting legal policies means wrestling with multiple considerations. Should considerations include the impact on specific communities such as immigrants, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, the elderly, and the disabled? How should the needs of these populations determine amendments or shifts in policy? This session looks at library policies through the lens of minorities, particularly the BIPOC community and provides drafting tips and suggestions for libraries striving to be more inclusive.

How do we reimagine library spaces and services to meet evolving community needs? Carroll County Public Library (CCPL) in Maryland will share how they worked with the community to open a new, innovative library space, Exploration Commons at 50 East, offering a high-tech makerspace, commercial teaching kitchen, and meeting and classroom spaces. Hear how CCPL navigated design, fundraising, construction, staffing, partnerships, and opening this unique library space focused on education and workforce development.

Library staff quickly pivoted to connecting online with colleagues and patrons in response to COVID-19, and this experience came with both winning and challenging moments. The lessons learned in this transition to virtual meetings and programs can be applied to a hybrid approach to running meetings, creating programs, and onboarding staff. Learn about adult learning theory concepts and tools, and discover resources that can be used to foster optimal engagement in a hybrid environment.

Diversity audits have been a hot topic in the library community for a few years now and there’s an increasing amount of literature and guidance on how to conduct an audit. In this panel we will discuss what happens after the audit is complete. This presentation will explore how libraries can use their data to assess collection development practices, form initiatives, and inform trainings with the ultimate goal of creating meaningful, long lasting change.

They say money can’t buy happiness, but community investments do. Evidence indicates community success hinges on economic AND wellbeing indicators. The Gross National Happiness (GNH) policy identified 9 domains that promote community wellbeing; libraries contribute to the success of many. Hear how Santa Monica established happiness indicators and Richland (SC) is working towards them. Participants will understand the foundation of the Happiness Policy, the role of libraries and the collaboration required to ensure community happiness.