Last November, the Wisconsin Library Association Conference was held in Green Bay. Four SCLS member library staff received full scholarships to attend the conference. Here are a few highlights from their conference experiences.
Chris Baker, Portage Public Library
- How to Position Your Library as a Partner in Workforce Development: Staff Training, Marketing Resources, and How to Use Them presented by Tovah Anderson, Cole Zrostlik, Rebecca Kilde, and Jennifer Savino
This presentation offered a comprehensive overview of the three-year Libraries Activating Workforce Development Skills (LAWDS) project; LAWDS has resulted in a thorough web of collaboration throughout the state of Wisconsin between diverse service agencies and workforce development offices.
Why was this presentation meaningful? Since transitioning from my Teen Services role at the Portage Public Library to the Adult Services Librarian, I have heavily focused my energies on the development of partnerships between area service agencies and Workforce Development in Columbia County; Mark Jochem and I, in tandem with other service figures, have created the Portage Area Workforce & Service Connection (PAWSC). PAWSC includes the Portage Public Library, Forward Services, Columbia County Health & Human Services, the Workforce Development Board of South-Central Wisconsin, River Haven Homeless Shelter, WorkSmart Network, and more. Similar to LAWDS, the hope for PAWSC is to eliminate service redundancies, facilitate better communication, streamline the service/benefit process for clients and patrons, save money, and reach more people-in-need, better. It goes without saying that I’ve learned a lot from LAWDS and have tried to implement some of the resources and strategies that they’ve found success with. This presentation was an excellent opportunity to harvest information, learn from my (and their) mistakes, and identify opportunities that I can bring back to strengthen PAWSC.
Courtney Cosgriff, Waunakee Public Library
- Barriers to Equitable Hiring Practices in Libraries and How to Unmake Them presented by Adriana McCleer and Nick Demske
Wow! I loved this session. The presenters suggested a great barrier to librarianship is the MLS degree. There are so many great community members who would make great librarians, but only like .01% of them have the degree. You should still hire people with MLS degrees, but don’t make it the end all be all to candidates. I have already suggested this to my director and will be discussing it for our future hires.
- Public Libraries and Fake news: How to Educate and Connect With Your Community presented by Barbara Alvarez and Samuel Molzahn
I also loved this session! It was great that they started off with the definitions of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation. This is such a relevant and hot topic and I love that the speakers gave tips on how to diffuse any frustrated patrons during the program. Presenters made doing a program like this at your library completely feasible!
Andrea Halbersma, Lester Public Library of Vesper
- We've Got Style, Yes We Do! We've Got Style, How About You? presented by Jennie Fidler and Lissa Radder
This was presented by staff from the Oconomowoc Library, they discussed how to create a style guide for your library, where to go to get inspiration for it, and the importance of having a cohesive style throughout the library. I have been working on a marketing plan for the Vesper library and this is a huge part of it. It made me realize how important even just having the same font and color scheme on your flyers, postings, etc. and how it can be used to make the library recognizable.
I have already started working on a style guide for our library. I spent time pouring over fonts and decided on 3 main ones, like they recommended, and choose colors that speak of the interior of the library and our logo to represent it in all our social media and hard copy postings. I also began making a template for flyers, so they are easily recognized as a flyer from our library regardless of content.
Lisa Renier Thomas, Spring Green Community Library (now at George Culver Community Library)
- Rethinking Library Services and Design in a Post-COVID World presented by Gregg Baum, Emily Kornak, and Bill Wilson
The Lake Geneva Public Library, a Taliesin Architects building located in a lakeside park, was planning for a large-scale expansion and renovation. When the pandemic hit they scaled back to focus on: creating a healthy building, weeding, and reevaluating their service model.
Creating a healthy building: upgrading HVAC system to include air filtration (at least MERV 13) and increased fresh air intake.
Weeding: Changes to the library layout needed to be made in order to reflect the current ways patrons interact with the building and staff. In order to make this happen, major weeding has begun. “Just in case” collections are being discarded. Instead, they are focusing on what patrons have been utilizing over the past three years. The goal is for 95-99% of the collection to be actively used.
Service model reevaluation: Fortress-like circulation desk in the center of the library replaced by smaller one along the edge, adjacent to staff areas. Staff areas moved from lakefront to street-side of building, so that patrons can enjoy best views. Bookshelf height reduced, and huge, original magazine display removed to improve sightlines. Two study rooms are to be added. Local artist creating large, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired stained glass separators to define seating areas and deflect the noise. Paint and other new décor will reflect the building’s Prairie style.
The Spring Green Community Library is also a Taliesin Architects building with some of the same challenges (linear design, no study rooms, outdated HVAC). Spring Green’s 100th birthday is fast approaching, and I have been encouraging the board to consider investing in improvements to mark the occasion.
Interested in attending a conference? Scholarship applications are currently being accepted for the Public Library Association Conference in March of this year. Deadline extended through January 21, 2022. Scholarships for the spring WAPL Conference will be available later this spring.
*Image by Laura Sauser, Executive Director of WLA, shared from the Whova App.
