Up next in our Social Library series, we're shining a spotlight on five libraries who are using Facebook in innovative and engaging ways, to tell their library and community stories. This edition includes not-so-quiet library learning, Janis Joplin, the Shetland Islands, patron stories and an epic #BookFaceFriday. If you'd like to see your library featured in an upcoming edition, please let us know via social@webjunction.org or find us on Facebook.

Blount County Public Library in Tennessee shared their Libraries Aren't Quiet Anymore post which includes a series of statements about the ways the library connects patrons to multiple not-so-quiet... Read more

It's hard to believe January has come to an end, but we're moving on to a new month, and a fresh chance to bring some learning to your library work. This month, with 86 webinars and two all-day online conferences, covering 19 topic areas, you're sure to find a session or two that can help recharge your toolbox and bring you some fresh perspective. This list is collected by the Wyoming State Library and updated monthly on the Free Training page, where you can also view the offerings by category.

For additional training, check out the WebJunction Catalog, free and... Read more

Anna Souannavong, Assistant Director of the Gates Public Library in Rochester, New York, perceived a need for discussion and education in her local community on opioid addiction and the widespread crisis happening across the region and throughout the nation. Her research lead to the discovery of widespread frustration of navigating both prevention and recovery services, but ultimately the misinformation of data and more particularly a misunderstanding of substance use disorder and its impact on our communities, neighbors, friends, and families.

Using her position as a librarian who specializes in programming, she responded to a sense of urgency to orchestrate a community... Read more

Slides and related resources for a session presented at the 2019 ALA Midwinter conference in Seattle, by Betha Gutsche and Jennifer Peterson.

Studies show an increase in loneliness and depression because of too much time spent online. Communities experience steady erosion of the bonds formed when people share real-time activities together, which affects our health and well-being. As a magnet for social connection, libraries offer that sense of community and shared place that humans as social animals crave. Active learning programs that offer participatory activities to enhance individual learning can go further to cement social connection when people are learning... Read more