ALA Annual registration information

 ALA Conference Registration Opens March 1, 2021

If you wish to participate in the virtual conference, SD&T must receive your completed and signed funding requests by  

5 p.m. on Friday, April 8, 2021

Visit the ALA website to view registration rates and get more information about the virtual conference.  You can also register for email updates on this page.

https://2021.alaannual.org/registration/registration-rates

The conference program is not complete at this time, so try to be as specific as you can in your goals statement without this information.  What is your overall goal of participating?  What do you expect to learn?  What do you hope to do with the knowledge you receive?

Supervisor signatures can be provided by email if you are not currently working on site.  Contact SD&T if you have any questions.

ALA announces 2021 Annual Meeting will be Virtual

 The following message is sent on behalf of American Library Association President Julius C. Jefferson, Jr.

CHICAGO — The American Library Association’s Executive Board announced today that the 2021 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition scheduled for June 23-29 in Chicago will take place virtually.

“We hoped that by this summer, it would be safe to meet again in person. However, that is clearly not the case. Despite the promise of vaccines, the pandemic continues to devastate our country. For the safety of everyone involved, we will be moving our Annual Conference to a virtual format,” said Julius C. Jefferson, Jr., ALA president.

Jefferson continued: “Given the success of our just-wrapped virtual Midwinter meeting, I am confident that Annual will be just as dynamic, engaging and inspiring. As always, we will have big name speakers, a full online exhibit floor, and more events and opportunities to network, learn and grow that I know participants will love.”

ALA Annual attracts some of today’s most highly regarded keynoters and authors, and speakers will be announced early this spring along with additional information on programs, sessions, meetings, and exhibits. Registration will open March 1, 2021, and advance rates end April 16. In the coming weeks, presenters who submitted program proposals will be contacted by ALA representatives with more information about next steps for the online format.

“COVID-19 has profoundly changed the library world – and, of course, the wider world around us. But I’m buoyed by the incredible determination, resilience and community-building I’ve seen in the past year,” ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall said. “As a body, ALA has proven nimble and unflappable in the face of adversity and we will continue to prioritize safety, even as we strive to innovate the digital conference experience to widen attendance and deepen engagement well after this period. Based on the incredible response that Virtual Midwinter 2021 received, we look forward to a dynamic Annual Conference program guaranteed to illuminate, inform and inspire.”

Julius C. Jefferson Jr.

2020-2021 ALA President

New email for program announcements -- epfl.classes@prattlibrary.org

 As SD&T continues to expand our online/webinar/virtual training options, it seems our email output is becoming an issue.  To help mitigate this problem, SD&T collaborated with the Systems department to create a new email for offering these non-Pratt training opportunities.

The new email is epfl.classes@prattlibrary.org, and you now receive program and webinar announcements from this email.  This is also the place to send program announcements for us to share with the staff.  Registration requests, funding paperwork, and any other questions still go to me or to the training email as usual.

We are also trying to put the announcements in a digest form, so that you receive one email sent once a week rather than one email for each announcement.  This should make it easier to differentiate important SD&T announcements and internal programs from general course announcements and find the program information that is of interest to you.  

SD&T will continue to send individual emails for time-sensitive events, conference deadlines, and for programs suitable to age-specialists and other groups.  

I hope this makes it easier for you to find interesting and helpful programs and webinars.

Lisa

MLA/DLA Conference 2021 registration now open

Registration is now open for the 2021 combined Maryland and Delaware annual conference. The conference will be held the first week in May, and will be virtual again this year.

If you wish to receive funding to attend the conference you must complete the "Request for Authorization for Leave and/or Expenses" (Form 354), and submit that to your supervisor along with your goals and intentions statement and a copy of your completed registration form.  The forms may be sent by email to the required supervisors.

Your goals and intentions statement must include at least 6 sessions that you will attend at the conference, along with a strong rationale for each.  What do you hope to learn at/bring back from each session and what do you hope to do with the knowledge you gain?   You may substitute other programs during the actual event, as long as you attend at least 6.

You must also include a justification for any pre-conferences you wish to attend, with the same information.  Please include your MLA membership number on the form if you are a member.

Applications must be received by March 19, 2021 to be eligible for funding.

If you have any questions, contact SD&T.

 

MLA/DLA Annual Conference 2021

May 3-7, 2021

Here is a link to the brochure:

https://www.mdlib.org/files/docs/conference/MLAProgram2021.pdf 

Here is a link to the registration form:

https://www.mdlib.org/ev_calendar_day.asp?date=5%2F3%2F21&eventid=115

LATI updates

The LATI oversight committee and new coordinator have upgraded LATI and created a wonderful new program for our library associates.  If you are unfamiliar with LATI or haven't heard about changes I hope you find this information helpful.

LATI is a state-mandated training program the library associates must complete within two years of their hire date.  It is also connected to participation in the State retirement system

The new program is divided into two sections:

1.   The Expanded Early Start Program (EESP): a 12 week, self-directed, online program based on OpenLMS which should be completed within 120 days of hire.

2.   Advanced LATI:  a 9 week, blending learning course combining face-to-face sessions, virtual synchronous sessions and online homework and reflection. The virtual and online components are offered through OpenLMS.

LAs are now registered for EESP as soon as they are hired and once EESP is finished they are registered for the Advanced LAT.  Currently, all LATI programs are being held virtually.

I also wanted to share the information that with the new program, non-LAs are now eligible for the  Expanded Early Start Program. With supervisor approval, non LA staff members may participate in  EESP which focuses on learning about your library, model reference behavior, and basic resources for reference questions.  Non-LAs are not eligible for Advanced LATI at this time.

On the Forms page of the blog I've posted a brief presentation with more details and a link to the current LATI handbook.

Continuing Education Hours for Staff Presented Programs

If your department or office is providing training to other staff members I wanted to remind you of a few things.

Any training that offers continuing education hours for staff needs to be approved by SD&T for those hours to count for r-certification.

Just send me a draft of your CEU form before your program and I'll check that it meets state requirements.  Forms not meeting the requirements will be discarded when they are received by our office even if staff have completed the program.

Actually, if everyone remembers to do this it cancels out the other things I wanted to mention.  Just be sure that I get a look at your forms before you send them out to participants.  Thanks.

Lisa

Learning Portfolios Presentation Now on the Forms Page

I created a brief presentation to go over the process of the Learning Portfolio creation and approval.  You might want to view this before you download the Learning Portfolio forms and instructions.  As always, direct any questions to SD&T.

Lisa

Learning Portfolio Form

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X9pbM4AlJujmqDPIAonLVygEIez1UCnS/edit#heading=h.gjdgxs