MLA/DLA 2019 call for program proposals - Technical Services Division

The Technical Services Division of the Marlyand Library Association is inviting submissions for programs to be presented at the Annual MLA/DLA Conference (Cambridge, MD, May 1-3, 2019)

Part of the MLA-TSD’s mission to is “provide quality opportunities for updating skills and knowledge in acquisitions, automation, cataloging, preservation and all other areas of technical processing.”

This is an excellent opportunity for anyone to present on new programs, cooperative ventures, innovative techniques, problems solved – if you are proud of the work you have done, consider letting the rest of us know about it!

You can submit program ideas using this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KDG6BS7

Preliminary conference program approval forms are due to MLA by Oct. 12, so please get your submissions to us by Sept. 17 so we have time to review them, make selections and get all of the details worked out. If you have any questions, please get in touch!

Cheers,

David Brennan, MLS Head, Technical Services & E-Resources Librarian 131 Hoover Library McDaniel College 2 College Hill Westminster, MD 21157-4390

Kids are Customers, Too 2018

Registration is now OPEN for Kids are Customers, Too! 

If you wish to attend, your paperwork must be received by SD&T by September 14.

Kids are Customers, Too 2018

Start Date: 10/18/2018 8:30 AM EDT 
End Date: 10/18/2018 4:00 PM EDT

Venue Name: BCPL - Owings Mills Branch

Location:

10302 Grand Central Avenue
Owings Mills, MD  United States  21117

Event Website: https://www.bcpl.info/locations/owings-mills/

Organization Name: Maryland Library Association

Contact:

Christine Freeman
Email: Christine.Freeman@montgomerycountymd.gov
Phone: 301-820-1244

Sponsor: Children's Services Division

The “Kids Are Customers, Too” conference is an opportunity for staff working with children in public libraries and school media centers throughout the state to meet new people, renew contacts, and learn the latest information affecting the diverse field in which they work. Join us at the Owings Mills Branch of the Baltimore County Public Library on October 18th from 8:30am-4:00pm as we feature a day’s worth of presenters sharing fresh ideas and practical tips that can be applied directly to day-to-day programming and services.

Mid-winter ALA due date

Completed applications for funding for ALA mid-winter attendance are due by Friday, October 12.

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