As we look beyond the first year of living in the time of COVID, libraries and their communities continue to move through uncharted territory. Fortunately, the field is committed to sharing what's being learned through multiple online platforms. Take a look at this month's list of over 90 free webinars, symposia, festivals, workshops, and forums, covering 22 different topic areas, from advocacy to volunteers. Thank you to the Wyoming State Library for collecting this list of learning opportunities! It's updated monthly on the Free Training page, where you can also view the offerings by topic.

For additional training, check... Read more

As libraries continue to look for ways to create meaningful community connections during the pandemic, it was exciting to see this wonderful idea shared in the Programming Librarian Interest Group on Facebook. Thank you to Paula Wagner, Reference Services Manager at the Barberton Public Library in Ohio, for outlining how she implemented a collaborative puzzle art project.
 
Like many of the ideas gathered from the Programming Librarian Interest Group on Facebook, I had previously seen someone else post (thank you to that person!) about a successful puzzle project at their library. It seemed like the perfect program to engage... Read more

In the spring of 2020, the 15 small and rural libraries participating in WebJunction’s Small Libraries Create Smart Spaces project were on the verge of activating their newly transformed smart spaces with collaborative community programming; then the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Libraries closed their physical doors and the smart space efforts froze in time. With months of planning now on hold, participants engaged with the project in an unanticipated way: they turned to each other for support through the cohort discussion forums and virtual live sessions, first to share their realities and emotions, and then to begin to reimagine what... Read more

After opening up a world of possibilities with community discovery and ideation brainstorming, the Small Libraries Create Smart Spaces libraries were ready to move on to the next step in the design thinking process: prototyping. Creating a prototype is a great way to bring an idea out of your head and into a tangible, physical reality. Prototyping is an opportunity to test, revise, and test again before committing dollars and resources to a project.  A protype doesn’t have to be complicated or high tech; creating a small-scale model of your idea with materials like paper, cardboard, LEGOs, or other crafting... Read more