I was able to attend the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) annual conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The opportunity to meet with and talk to other libraries from small and rural areas is invaluable. We struggle with many similar issues, and it was incredibly beneficial to get to talk through things with them and [...]
It was such a pleasure to attend an in-person conference! Librarians and media specialists gathered from around the state, though primarily attendees were from the Twin Cities. I enjoyed time connecting with vendors from book distribution and publishing companies, authors and librarians. I attended two workshops on the topic of organizing school libraries by genre. [...]
The Library Director Crash Course program, provided by the ALA, was filled with great, useful information. My primary goal was to learn more about budgeting, but I also gained information on staffing, benefits, working with board members and capital (building and property) concerns.Three things I learned about budgeting is that approximately 50% of our operating [...]
I enjoyed this presentation and felt it was beneficial for seeing MANY new books and first books of series. In addition, the presenter also shared many valuable websites that I foresee using. Though she was unable to "book talk" every book in her manual, the manual has reviews for each and every book that's included. [...]
Scheduling conflicts made it such that I couldn't attend any live MLA sessions (besides the one our Library Director, Michele Leininger and I presented), so I am grateful that the recordings were made available for viewing at more convenient times. I plan to watch and review some more over the next few weeks. Lots of [...]
Over the month of October, I attended the ALA eCourse “Genealogical Research for Librarians”. Each week, I was given the opportunity to explore a number of public records as well as free and proprietary resources that help people uncover the past and make connections in their family trees.One of the most interesting things that the [...]
Look What I Found at the Library: virtual merchandising ideasThe librarians at Scott County shared what they have learned during the pandemic on how to do a wider variety and different types of displays. They started with reminding us to think about what we each like and are attracted to when we are out shopping [...]
This was a great three-week course presented by Library Journal and School Library Journal. The presenters came from both school and public libraries and described how their successful partnerships came to be. It was inspiring to hear how libraries worked together to create special programs that connected children in the community to resources. Following are [...]
My 3 Fav Sessions: Minnesota Author Project: Celebrating the 2021 winners, I love, love, love listening to authors talk about themselves, their work, and this session did not disappoint. It was thrilling to listen to each and every one. Look what I found at the Library was full of all sorts of marketing and display [...]
I attended the three days of the fully virtual MLA 2021 conference. Since I attended many of the class sessions, I will highlight a few sessions that stood out to me.The MLA Public Library Division Meeting: Since I am currently not an MLA member, I typically have not attended the board meeting sessions. However, since [...]