On Thursday February 27 I attended the all day online conference sponsored by the Nebraska Library Commission and to co-sponsors IMLS and the Association for Rural & Small Libraries*
Some of the speakers from libraries across the U.S. put our Raquette Lake Free Library, serving 132 people in a league with others. Remember Brant Lake’s one room stone building on the water? We saw pictures of how the Wall Community Library in South Dakota, re-invented their 600 sq of space and made it look big and most importantly functional. They also did this in phases with very little money.
In light of the Summer Reading program and the need to collaborate with community partners, I found Natalie Bazan ‘s A Community Working Together presentation to be a great reminder of who to partner with and why.
Schools: Literacy partners, teachers (for classes @ library), media outlets, bulk purchasing partners, grant partners, tech help!
Community groups: Fund raising, grants, instructors, audience
Some new community groups to consider…FFA and Hell’s Angels or maybe the Americade
Clubs: They meet in your library, do you cater programs for them, do you have books to meet the needs of the club?
Governmental Organizations: attend their meetings, good will, advocacy, etc. they are good (or should be) at writing policy – get their opinion.
Attending their meetings helps you know your community’s issues and you (the library) can be on the planning committee or at least at the table
Businesses: help to support local businesses (LocalLiving, LocalHarvest, Chambers, Business Associations.) they can provide materials, volunteer time, funds, be class instructors (design a class), good will, local interest page or links on website
The remainder of the conference consisted of very practical, step by step instruction on how to run different programs in your library. From Oldies night to community video productions; youth-led newspapers to yoga and kitchen “Maker Space” where make your own bagels are the talk of the town.
As soon as the recording is available, I will share it.
*Consider joining – it is affordable and seems like a group that you can share many ideas with
Heintzelman Library, Brant Lake picture taken by Diane Cordell