AzLA Virtual Conference 2019

“What You Don’t Learn In Library School”

April 4, 2019

9:00 am – 4:30 pm

What is The AzLA Virtual Conference?

The AzLA Professional Development Committee, in partnership with the Arizona State Library, is proud to present the Conference Program for this year’s Virtual Conference, “What You Don’t Learn in Library School”, focused on front-line and paraprofessional staff considering pursuing a professional career in library science.

Attendance is free of charge. All presentations will be recorded and posted to the AzLA YouTube channel after the Virtual Conference. Registration for the Virtual Conference is now open.

Programs will be offered on two “tracks”, both via WebEx. Participants may sign up for programs on each track and switch back and forth throughout the Virtual Conference. They will receive individual logins for each program they choose to attend.

Register for the Virtual Conference here!

Schedule

Presentation Descriptions

9:00 am – 10:00 am

Kendra Davey

Supporting Early Literacy – Kendra Davey

Early literacy is what children know about language and reading before they learn to actually read. These skills are the critical foundation for reading success. Literacy does not emerge without help. Parents and caregivers play a vital role in helping literacy develop. In this presentation, you will learn about early brain development and how to help parents and caregivers lay a successful foundation for their child.

Kendra Davey is the Literacy Initiatives Program manager for Pima County Public Library. She oversees system-wide programs and services for children and teens ages birth to 18 and their parents. Kendra is passionate about providing the young people of Pima County with the skills and experiences they need in order to become successful adults.

Alyse Jordan

Bridging the Gap Between Graduate School to an Information Specialist Career: What I Wish I Knew About Mentoring – Alyse Jordan

Mentoring plays a role in developing and advancing an information specialist career. Mentoring in the early stages of an information specialist will assist new graduates in developing their career plans. This is an interactive presentation that will provide insight into what to expect from mentoring and provide mentoring, leadership, and scholarship resources.

Alyse Jordan, Ed.D serves as Associate Librarian at Arizona State University. She conducted a quantitative study of LLAMA mentoring participants from 2010-2015 for her dissertation project, and will use the results of the study to address the role of mentoring in information specialist careers.

10:15 am – 11:15 am

Chris Coolman

Chloe Hernandez

Dive in to Immersive Library Programming – Chris Coolman & Chloe Hernandez

Learn simple ways to create memorable all-ages programming that will get your patrons to return time and time again. Programs discussed will include Harry Potter Book Night, Escape Rooms, Star Wars Reads Day, Science of Flight, and more!

Christopher Coolman has been the Youth Services staff member at the Foothills Library in Yuma, Az for the past five years. In that time he has been instrumental in the creation and implementation of numerous immersive all-ages programs as well as inclusive special needs programming.

Chloe Hernandez has worked in the Yuma County library district for eight years, and has been working in the Foothills branch for three. During this time, she has worked with many age groups on a number of types of programs.

Mary Catherine Lockmiller

Vocational Awe or Awful Vocation? Rethinking Library Policies – Mary Catherine Lockmiller

In this presentation, we will define “vocational awe” and then consider how this phenomenon affects library practice. We will think about the many ways that libraries have failed to uphold and protect the rights of marginalized communities, especially for persons of color, LGBTQ+ persons, and persons with low incomes. This means taking a realistic look at the damage done by organizational policies including no-sleep and no-food rules, rules about patrons’ names, late fees, and attempts to be “neutral”.

In doing so, we hope to learn about the dangers of vocational awe, how traditional assumptions about libraries are unrealistic, and how refusing to critically assess librarianship leads to burnout among librarians. We also will reflect on our individual practices, and how we can use the power we have to change library policies and resist structures which harm the people we exist to serve.

Mary Catherine Lockmiller is a Health Science Librarian at Northern Arizona University’s Phoenix Biomedical Campus. She focuses on increasing health outcomes for underserved and marginalized communities.

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Blitz Sessions (2-3 presentations per time slot)

Blitz Hour A: Teen Services

Amanda Coltman

Caitlyn Zaksheske

Reading Without Walls – Amanda Coltman and Caitlyn Zaksheske

Looking for passive programming in your school library? Students have been challenged at the Yuma Union High School district to follow the 2017 initiative by Gene Luen Yang. The challenge is as follows: 1) Read a book about a character who doesn't look like you or live like you. 2) Read a non-fiction book about a topic you don't know much about. 3.) Read a book in a format you don't normally read for fun. This presentation will discuss what we have done so far in the 2018-2019 school year, as the challenge is ending April 2019.

Amanda Coltman is the MLIS Cibola High School Librarian in Yuma, Arizona, and winner of the spring 2017 Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grant, as well as recipient of the 2017 AzLA Youth Summit grant, 2018 Education Foundation of Yuma County Board grant, and the 2018 Dollar General Literacy Grant. Caitlyn Zaksheske is the Librarian of Yuma High School, a member of the 2019 Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards, and the assistant chair of the young adult jury for the 2018 EGL Awards.

Jill Thomsen

Lupe Portillo

Teen Work and Go Volunteer Program – Jill Thomsen & Lupe Portillo

Peoria Public Library’s Teen Work and Go program was designed to create more volunteer opportunities to engage teens in the library. This program allows front-line staff to register teens to volunteer, schedule and oversee their workflow, not only providing the library with extra hands to do simple tasks that require little training but also mentoring and empowering front-line staff with the ability to learn new leadership skills. If your library has requests from teens who have to volunteer 5 to 20 hours, this lecture-style program might be for you.

Jill Thomsen is Library Operations Coordinator and Lupe Portillo is a Library Specialist at Peoria Public Library. Both Jill and Lupe have worked with library volunteer programs for over 20 years evaluating and reinventing programs to fit the changing needs of the library and staff.

Blitz Hour B: Public Service

Jeff Fisher

Kara Rumble

They Didn't Teach Me To Do This! Customer Service Instruction for the Classroom and Public Library – Jeff Fisher & Kara Rumble

For both classroom teachers and professional librarians, some things can't be taught in a classroom. This session will provide an overview of the practical skills two former teachers, now librarians, found they most wished they'd known when they began working in libraries.

Jeff Fisher and Kara Rumble are former public school teachers now employed at Sequoyah Regional Library System in Canton, Georgia.

Davida Larson

Care of Yourself and Your Customers: How to Have a Better Experience on Desk – Davida Larson

In this customer service refresher, participants will learn practical tips and skills for customer service in public and academic libraries, delivered in an honest and relatable manner.

Davida Larson is a Library Information Associate at the University of Arizona Libraries. She has 20 years combined experience in retail, social services, and libraries.

Allinston Saulsberry

The Library Belongs to Whom? : A Political Overview – Allinston Saulsberry

Libraries occupy a unique space in our society. This blitz will explore how important it is for information professionals to be aware of the politics inside and outside of libraries. It will highlight how the library fits into the overall structure of working for a city or county government.

Allinston Saulsberry is an Assistant Archivist for Distinctive Collections at Arizona State University.

2:15 pm – 3:15 pm

Shelly Black

Kenya Johnson

What About Me? Bringing Diversity and Inclusion In Your Library Marketing – Shelly Black & Kenya Johnson

Why should diversity and inclusion matter to us? As the cultural makeup of our population continues to change, a lack of diverse and inclusive marketing may send the wrong message or make library patrons and employees feel unwelcome. From print collateral, to signage, videos, photography, tone and voice, and social media, embedding diversity into marketing is often overlooked.

Learn how to intentionally incorporate diversity into our marketing stories, content, and collateral. This presentation will showcase examples of marketing strategies that the presenters have implemented at the University of Arizona Libraries and offer tips and resources to help library staff create a new marketing toolkit.

Shelly Black is the Associate Marketing Specialist at the University of Arizona Libraries in Tucson, Arizona, and has 10 years of experience in communications and marketing. She has a BFA in photography, is currently pursuing her MLIS, and is a Knowledge River scholar at the University of Arizona.

Kenya Johnson is the Marketing and Communications Manager at the University of Arizona Libraries in Tucson, Arizona. Her background includes 25 years in marketing, communications, and community engagement in the public, private, non-profit sectors, public libraries, and higher education.

Cheryl Cuillier

Copyright Basics & Where to Find Free Resources – Cheryl Cuillier

Confused about copyright, open access, open educational resources, and Creative Commons? This presentation will cover important aspects of copyright and how Creative Commons licenses, open-source software licenses, and items in the public domain enable free use of vast resources.

More than 1 billion free images, ebooks, videos, music files, sound clips, audiobooks, textbooks, software code, 3D printing models, journal articles, and entire college courses are available online. Depending on the license, content can be revised, remixed, translated, and reshared. Some of it can even be used commercially by businesses.

This presentation will review what library staff and customers should know about copyright, where to find free content, and how these resources can benefit students, teachers, lifelong learners, businesses, non-profits, anyone!

Cheryl Cuillier is an instructor in the Open Textbook Network’s Certificate in OER Librarianship. She completed the Creative Commons Certificate Course in 2018.

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Carla Stoffle

Gina Macaluso

UA School of Information: What DO You Learn In Library School? – Gina Macaluso & Carla Stoffle

This informational webinar will focus on an overview of the UA School of Information Master of Library and Information Science degree and the Accelerated Master’s Program for those without undergraduate degrees. Professor Carla Stoffle and Assistant Professor Gina Macaluso will share about the application and admissions process, financial assistance, Knowledge River, and answer questions you may have about a new step in your career!

Gina Macaluso joined the University of Arizona’s School of Information as the assistant professor and manager for the Knowledge River program in 2013. Since its inception, Knowledge River has become the foremost graduate program for training librarians and information specialists with a focus on Latino and Native American cultural issues.

Carla Stoffle was Dean of the University of Arizona Libraries from 1991 to 2013. At the same time she held the rank of Professor in The School of Information Resources and Library Science where she intermittently taught the Library Foundations course. From 1999 to 2001, she concurrently served as Interim Director of SIRLS and again in the Fall 2013, she assumed this same role.

Janet Crum

Practical Management: Tips, Tricks, and Survival Skills for Library Managers at All Levels – Janet Crum

Do you manage people and/or projects? In this session, Janet Crum will share the practical tools and strategies she has found most helpful in her career as a manager and supervisor. She’ll also share her favorite resources for learning more, since a one-hour presentation can barely scratch the surface of these topics. This presentation will talk about:

· Personnel management: How to manage employees effectively so they can do their best work

· Project management: Approaches to help you plan and carry out projects effectively

· Change management: What it is and how it can help you make projects more successful

· Self-management: Time management, saying no, carving out time to focus on important vs. urgent things.

Janet Crum is Head of Content, Discovery, and Delivery Services, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Janet has held administrative and managerial roles in three libraries in the last 17 years, during which she has made many mistakes, learned many lessons, and faced many challenges.

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