Community Engagement

We all know that filling a library up with materials is more than just picking at random. If only it were that easy. But then again, we would not have classes like collection development.😉 I have asked myself what is it that people want in a collection? Then after giving that much thought, I had to take it one step further and ask, what is it that is missing from our Spanish collection? Who comes and uses the collection and services? How are their needs being met? What do they have to say about it?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BEOviSngyvmzGerCvqUoJ7g0v5OwOP4obeDBzLaQymA/edit?usp=sharing

A guide on how to archive and preserve raw video and audio footage with a social-justice framework. The guide includes how to create, transfer, acquire, organize, store, catalog, preserve, and share raw footage. This guide is useful to anyone archiving and preserving raw video and audio footage. The guide is also available in Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese.

English: https://archiving.witness.org/archive-guide/

Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese: https://library.witness.org/product/activists-guide-to-archiving-video/

Diversebookfinder.org provides "a comprehensive collection of children's picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC). We've cataloged and analyzed trade picture books fitting this criteria, published since 2002." They have also recently developed a "Collection Analysis Tool" to help librarians diversify their picture book collections. We Need Diverse Books provides resources for promoting diverse books for children of all ages, including links to a number of websites that support specific diversity goals. They also feature resources for collection building, and have published multiple anthologies which are available in eBook and audiobook formats. Social Justice Books "identify and promote the best multicultural and social justice children’s books, as well as articles and books for educators. It builds on the tradition of the Council on Interracial Books for Children which provided a social justice lens to reviews of children’s literature." They provide guides and reviews of anti-bias books. 

Identify & Explore Multicultural Picture Books. (2018, December 10). Retrieved from https://diversebookfinder.org/ 

We Need Diverse Books. (2021, April 15). Retrieved from https://diversebooks.org/ 

 Multicultural and Social Justice Books. (2021, January 27). Retrieved from https://socialjusticebooks.org/ 

Libraries are some of the best places for bringing communities together. They provide education, socialization, and technological access to all patrons, all for free or low cost. However, many library collections and programs do not necessarily represent their communities or meet the needs of everyone using the library. This site is intended to provide resources for all librarians to use to create more diverse collections and programs for the communities that they serve. 

https://sites.google.com/sjsu.edu/diversityresourcesforlibraries/home 

Whenever most of us want to relax and enjoy a few hours of leisure time, we grab a book to escape to a variety of different places and adventures! However, as strange as it may seem to us, many people choose to sit on the couch and binge watch TV shows! When you sign into popular streaming services like Netflix you are given a flashy, easy to read and operate way to choose what you want to watch. Since this is a common way to relax and unwind, why not use this same idea for finding books? 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1d6Vd0SIy9bjYpwjE21I7XGGRgg084_IV8SwuScx8Pjw/edit?usp=sharing

Archives Library Information Center (ALIC) Genealogy is a selection of resources for instruction on how to do genealogical research, and guides users to genealogy resources around the world. The list also includes searchable genealogical databases. The resources either focus on specific event histories or are general websites.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wN5Gdy1vUHrJUtrvjKpKQBn4JR5BA5nHU9A08y-gCKs/edit?usp=sharing

Most librarians will come to a point where they need to create an online tutorial. Many will find it is simply the easiest method of transmitting information to large groups of people. For example, maybe you are a high school librarian who serves 2000 students. Meeting with individual classes to teach students how to access your database, for example, is not feasible. Creating online tutorials allows you to duplicate yourself. You can create a tutorial, share it with the teachers who then could share it with their students. This allows you to be in many places at once. Creating online tutorials also allows you to fulfill special requests for teachers. For example, a teacher might request you create a tutorial on database research for students working on a climate change project. You can easily personalize your tutorial and make it more relevant to those specific learners. 

https://sites.google.com/view/bullard-library/teacher-resources/how-to-make-a-video-tutorial?authuser=0

This blog has a comprehensive list of available virtual museum content in an effort to combat the drop in museum attendance due to Covid-19. This resource includes portals, virtual tours/online exhibits, history museums, natural science museums, natural parks, online exhibits, E-learning, children’s content, art and cultural collections, science, and history collections with access to digital archives & libraries.

https://mcn.edu/a-guide-to-virtual-museum-resources/

https://sites.google.com/sjsu.edu/language-resources/home

This article provides tips on facilitating/moderating virtual conversations.

https://programminglibrarian.org/articles/tips-facilitating-virtual-group-conversation

We created an Instagram account to act as a functioning proof of concept for the potential usage of a popular social media platform. It serves to show how a library can assign its management to a staff member or in a larger library system to a social media coordinator, as a means to advertise themselves while servicing their community. Our art/book club was designed to suit the chosen social media platform by understanding the type of user it attracts. The platform is highly visual and engages its users via photos and hashtags to demonstrate association. Therefore, the art aspect is used to serve this visual medium by showcasing artwork created by users who wish to participate in the club by using an assigned hashtag. 

Our Project: https://www.instagram.com/bookclubartweek/ (requires Instagram login)

Instagram Tutorial: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17VpPhAkbB_Z-ZrhxchU6yhTVmS6XBWePKzdYuqGP7A8/edit?usp=sharing

Are you looking for information on virtual libraries? Would you like to contribute to your library's virtual development? If so, you'll be glad to know the Virtual Library Learning Tree is here for you and your community. To learn more, check out https://sites.google.com/sjsu.edu/virtuallibrarylearningtree.

In the era of prolific adoption of Web 2.0 technologies, patrons are used to a reciprocal relationship with their online services. Currently, users cannot actively engage in libraries’ online public access catalog (OPAC), its contents are for the most part static and displayed without user input. By turning a library’s OPAC into a forum for active conversation, libraries can broaden patron engagement, increase usability by allowing patrons to collaboratively attribute unique tags, establish a deeper connection to the collection, and increase the library’s awareness of user needs. This presentation provides an instructional guide on how to turn your library’s OPAC into a dynamic conversation with your patrons.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1r69s-dvAXDluX5EuCcfNIWCVCt3uo9v0W5A-YLZkxTA/edit?usp=sharing

A proactive and user-friendly online presence is critical for the long-term sustainability of all library types. Library websites are a crucial resource, embodying the public face of the institution. The library’s website provides the means to connect patrons with the institution's diverse services and online public access catalog (OPAC). It is essential that librarians are provided the resources to create and maintain an online presence that delivers the necessary materials to patrons in a visually appealing and user-friendly manner. This curated collection of free resources is intended to provide librarians with the initial tools to easily develop a simple professional website. 

https://sites.google.com/sjsu.edu/websitedevelopmentresources/home?authuser=1

This fun infographic was created by the IMLS, which is the Institute of Museum and Library Services. They have created this to share how they have found to help keep their seniors involved with the library. Grunenwald has used the information provided by the IMLS to make the infographic and share it with other libraries to make sure they don't get forgotten. They have also shared collectively the ideas that seniors can be vital to the brick and mortar and the digital library.Lastly, Trudi Jacobson is the head of the information literacy department at the University of Albany now. Jacobson is a teacher, librarian, and author. She has worked in many Universities, but the current is the most fun. The infographic was created by a few different groups, which helps the library reach certain groups to get them in the door to the library. There are three groups that this infographic is geared towards, and they are the Spanish Speaking Community, the youth community, and the senior citizen community.  These were added to the infographic because a lot of times, these communities are overlooked or ignored. Some of the reasons they might be missed are no one at the library is fluent in the language to communicate with the district.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dN4V27ng87FHAeoVNYWNP7fY7CqwzXf_/view

This blog post relates to approaching virtual library programming.

https://programminglibrarian.org/blog/presenting-virtual-library-programming-uncertain-times

During COVID-19, many libraries have been forced to close their locations. Some libraries have started doing a sidewalk pickup option so that patrons can still check out materials safely while staying at home. This page is intended to share how some libraries have been able to do that so that branches considering opening their doors can get an idea of what the process is like, some alternative options for patrons who need it, and also how to share information with their patrons.

https://sites.google.com/sjsu.edu/librarysidewalkpickup/home

This article provides information and resources about preparing for a pandemic, including library-specific policy suggestions and more universal resources on pandemic education, prevention and preparation. Some of the resources are specific to seasonal influenza outbreaks and the 2019/2020 COVID-19 pandemic but can be used more universally to help educate and inform decisions on pandemic prevention and preparedness. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sLVyq9BXeVMVW2bsc6dvcpLdFB_8BCN5R5tmtmIU-q0/edit?usp=sharing

Public, school, and academic libraries often have “special areas” within their collections. These special collections are often resources in a variety of formats that are distinctive and have intrinsic value to the institution. Special areas can include rare books, genealogy materials, archives, local history, theses, and books from local authors. The selection of materials for these special areas should be consistent with the institution’s mission, policy, and history, as well as the user’s needs. The selection criteria should include guidelines that build on the preservation and enhancement of these important collections. The policy addressing special collections should include the scope and specific purpose of the collection. Special collections often have unique attributes that require libraries to limit access, control the physical environment, or deny circulation. Security is not based on controversial content but rather the value, rarity, or fragility of the item. 

https://sites.google.com/view/opening-special-collections/home