Downloading SD&T Forms for submission

If you click on a document link on the Forms page and your document opens as "View Only," there are several ways to open the document in a form that you can edit.

On the File drop down menu are two easy options.  The first is "make a copy," whereby you can save a copy to your drive. 

You can also "Download as" and save the document in Word or Excel.

Either way, you can save the document/form to your computer, and complete the forms before printing them for submission.

If you have any problems, please contact SD&T.

Working with Patrons from Poverty

Today we held another successful session of the "Understanding and Working With Patrons from Poverty" program.  For those of you who could not attend, or those who might be interested in more information on this topic, here is a link to a curated list of books on this subject:

https://www.bestmswprograms.com/50-best-books-on-poverty/

Many of the books on this list are in our collection, although some are only available as ebooks.

Other books on this topic include Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, and Evicted:  Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, which are both in our collection.

MLA 2018 - ALA Advocacy Bootcamp

I attended ALA Advocacy Bootcamp training at the MLA/DLA Joint Conference. In it, we learned the power of storytelling. There is no more effective tool in communicating the value of libraries to members of your community or to those of the political class. 

Remember – the library story is not about the books, or the computers, or the programs. Who cares? It’s about the hero journey. What keeps you in the seat at the movie theater, not counting the exorbitant ticket cost?  The answer: wanting to know what happens next. To who? The hero, that’s who. For our purposes, our hero is the library user. 

Here’s the story structure. Use it.

1)      Give me a real person.

Ex: Caiden was 3 years old.

2)      Give me the problem

Ex: He stuttered. 

3)      Give me a library intervention.

Ex: The library offered a “Read to Dogs” program.

4)      Give me a happy ending (no Greek tragedies here, people).

Ex: Caiden doesn’t stutter anymore.

5)      Give me one fact.

Ex: Hundreds of libraries offer this program.

6)      Give me a phrase that pays.

Libraries transform lives.

Other phrases-that-pay are Libraries transform communities, Librarians are passionate advocates for lifelong learning, and Libraries are a smart investment.

If you had your choice, people who actually use the library are the best advocates. Look to your Friends group or regulars who love your library and have a story to tell. The process: “Find the advocate. Give them the speech. Let them practice it with you. Book it five times in your community.”

 If you have to tell the story yourself, you now have the structure. Go tell some stories.

Morgan Stanton
Edmondson Avenue Branch

MLA 2018 - Creating and Managing a Human Library

My favorite workshop this year at MLA/DLA 2018 was the one on Human Libraries  “Creating and Managing a Human Library”   sponsored by ACRL-MD and aims to help libraries develop a design or plan for a human library of their own.

One of the hand-outs was A Baltimore Sun article which stated “ ‘Living books’ that can be ‘checked out’ by area residents with a goal of dispelling stereotypes is the basis for a worldwide initiative that will make its debut in Howard County on March 11.”  It was a very practical, informative session with colleagues presenting programs they offered and tips for offering a Human Library program.

Laksamee Putnam of Towson University and Ali Jessing of Howard County Public Library, along with other colleagues shared their experiences starting and offering this program twice each.

Alan Simpson of Howard County was the one who initiated the program there, which was the first public library in Maryland to offer it.  Robert Wetheral, State Dates and eBook Coordinator for the State of Delaware talked about how to get buy-in to start a program.

One of the most valuable pieces of information was a Human Library Toolkit with specifics that could be adapted or used as-is for other libraries. This saves “re-inventing the wheel” in several areas of planning and implementation.  It includes the categories:

 Book Recruitment Resources

 Event Management Resources

 Supplemental Resources

Examples are offered for Recruiting/Marketing, to interviewing and training Human Books, to event preparation lists and  google forms, sample letters to invitees and participants, outlines, and more.

Human Library Toolkit:

www.bit.ly/HumanLibraryToolkit

Human Library would be a good program to offer at multiple branches at Enoch Pratt and have multi-branch marketing.  We’ve done programs at multiple branches and marketed them as a series or wider program, such as Art at the Pratt (including Peabody musicians), films (at several branches) yoga etc.

In the Enoch Pratt Strategic Plan the vision of the library is “The catalyst empowering people and communities.”   Borrowing a Human Book goes along way toward fulfilling this vision.

Jeanne Lauber
Business, Science, & Technology

MLA 2018 - Table Top Gaming in Your Library

For Jacob Hutton, Harford County Public Library, tabletop gaming is a fun and educational way of getting people from various backgrounds to play together. There are tabletop games for every style and every age. The three major categories that work best in the library are: trading cards,t role playing, and board games.

I focused my attention on board games which are numerous and diverse. On the one hand, there are many advantages in bringing board games into the library. The many genres make it fairly easy to find a few that will appeal to our specific users. In addition, they are a relatively low-cost investment. Once you purchase the game, you do not need to buy anything else. More importantly, players are all starting with a similar amount of resources and potential.

On the other hand, even the best board games become stale after playing them for a while. There are lots of potential pieces that can get lost, and they only allow a limited number of participants.

When choosing a game, Jacob’s advice is to keep in mind your target audience (children, teens, or adults, beginners, intermediate or advanced players), and the number of participants. If your audience is made of children and families, it is best to choose simpler games with familiar themes that will last no more than 15-20 minutes.

I noted a few of the presenter’s advice in order to run a successful program:

During the selection phase, ask your customers what kind of games they like, try the games yourself, learn the rules, and go to local stores to get recommendations. Often, they will give out games they cannot sell anymore.

During the program, have one adult in charge for each board game.

Be one of the players. It builds a bond between the players and you.

Try only one type of game at a time (i.e., only trading card games, or only board games), but have both a beginner board game and an intermediate in order to adjust to your audience’s skills.

Have a clear beginning and end time of the gaming session.

For game recommendations, reviews, and additional information, explore the following sites, all recommended by Jacob Hutton:

Exhaustive listing of children’s board games with descriptions and reviews: https://boardgamegeek.com/childrensgames/browse/boardgame

Role playing games, specifically written for young children: http://www.playgroundadventures.net/

Dragon Talk- Official Dungeons & Dragons Podcast by Wizards of the Coast:
http://dnd.wizards.com/dragon-talk/podcast-hub

http://games.ala.org/international-games-week/

Sylvie Merlier-Rowen
Children's Department. CEN

ALSC conference funding deadline

Any staff member who is requesting funding to attend the ALSC conference in September must submit signed and completed paperwork to SD&T by June 8.  

If you have questions about completing your paperwork, please contact us.

MLA 2018 - More from the Embedded Librarianship workshop

At the MLA Conference, I also attended the “Embedded Librarianship” session, and I wanted to add to Heather’s excellent summary the “Tips for Success” that the presenters gave us.

Have a vision and make sure that vision is shared with other staff, partners, and management.

Make sure you know your system’s policies. For example, do you need a written agreement to enter the partnership or not?

Ask feedback from your partners, and the people you are reaching.

See if volunteers would be allowed to do what the librarians do.

Make sure the relationship does not rely only on one staff member. Have several points of contacts for your partner.

Have ongoing training and meetings to evaluate the strengths of your program and opportunities for growth.

Don’t over commit. Work out the details such as: How many times will you go to the partner’s site, at what time and which days, for how long?

What will your signage and publicity look like.

Look for grant opportunities and long-term budgeting.

Keep track of how many people you talk to, how many books you read and/or give away.

Have hotspots that will allow you to sign up people for a library card.

Expect that some partnerships will evolve or deteriorate, that your staffing level may change, or that you will lose your funding. Always have plans A, B and C to face whatever issue arises.

Sylvie Merlier-Rowen

Children’s Department