11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.
Get Charged Up: How to Build Community Support for your Construction Project
Monica Sumner, Brandstetter Carroll, Inc. and Chantelle Phillips, Campbell County Public Librar
North Hall
Designing renovations, additions and new construction is "easy". What's not so easy is getting buy-in from the community and its elected officials. This interactive session will walk you through how to build strategies for stakeholder and community engagement to help make your next project a success.
Programming for America250: How to Use Commemorative Events to Recharge your Local History Services
Maggie McAdams, Boyle County Public Library
Hotel Conference Room
Join us to learn how your library can program for America250 and beyond. Commemorative events, like America250, provide new avenues for community engagement and help to get the community excited about history. Hear how the Boyle County Public Library Story Center is preparing for and programming for America250, and take home ideas to get your community excited about your local history services.
Fighting Fire with Water: Crisis Management Planning for Libraries
Morgan Mullins and Emory McClain, Rowan County Public Library
Ballroom A-B
Marketing and public relations are key to establishing, growing, and maintaining a library brand—but what happens when bad actors don't respect your reputation or the services it represents? Community goodwill can be hard-won and quickly lost, so it pays to have a plan in place if someone starts slinging mud. How do you build one, and what will yours be?
The Backyard Portal: Lessons Learned from Virtual Reality
Dalton Bennett, Paul Sawyier Public Library
Ballroom C-D
Today, libraries are leading the way in connecting communities to 21st-century technology. In 2024, Digital Services Specialist Dalton Bennett began introducing virtual reality programs for adult patrons—despite starting with very little knowledge of VR and no clear roadmap for implementation. What followed was a year of discoveries—both technical and human—that shaped our approach and transformed how patrons engage with the library.
This session, an anthology of lessons from our first year with VR, combines practical guidance with human-centered insights. Participants will gain strategies for integrating VR into library programming—covering budgeting for equipment, effective scheduling, and troubleshooting common challenges—while also exploring the human side of VR. From hesitant first-time participants to enthusiastic regulars, VR created moments of curiosity, excitement, and connection that went far beyond what any manual could predict, shared through lessons like “How Not to Pick a Nose!” and “Health, Transparency, and… My Grandmother?”. These experiences highlight the unexpected, often humorous, and always valuable insights that emerge when technology meets the people who use it.
Whether launching a new VR program or enhancing an existing one, attendees will learn how immersive technology can energize a community, spark conversation, and strengthen the library’s role as a hub for learning and engagement.
Kentucky Libraries Unbound: State of the Consortium
Katie Justice, Boone County Public Library
Ballroom E
The annual state of the consortium address; including an overview of KLU's collection and statistics, upcoming enhancements and changes from Overdrive and future consortium wide projects.