Building Library Advocates Through Shared Learning

***BEFORE YOU REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR PLEASE REVIEW IMPORTANT REGISTRATION INFORMATION BELOW***

In the last five years, Iowa has seen an overwhelming number of library averse bills in the state legislature. As a way to combat misinformation and build community trust, Ames Public Library created a program for library advocates called Library Champions. Through this four-part series, library staff teach community advocates about library principles, policy, and procedures; then give participants a chance to use the knowledge they’ve learned through engaging exercises. From a peek behind the curtain to fun interactive activities, the Library Champions series has engaged library supporters in new ways.

This webinar will share how the Library Champions program was created, the outcomes of those sessions, and how your library can create a similar cohort of library advocates.

Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Use new methods of community engagement to build library advocates; 
• Understand how advocates can help build trust and share vital, truthful information about the role of libraries in their community; and 
• Know how building a core group of advocates can benefit their library as well as benefiting broader library advocacy efforts. 

Who Should Attend

This webinar is intended for public directors and administrators, library board members,and friends/foundation directors and members.

Panelists

Megan Klein-Hewett (she/her) is the adult services manager at Ames (IA) Public Library (APL). Prior to joining APL in 2019, she spent the first eight years of her career at Omaha Public Library in Omaha, NE. In Omaha, Megan served in a wide range of positions, from library aide to borrower services manager.

 

Sheila Schofer (she/her) is the director of the Ames (IA) Public Library. She returned to her home state of Iowa in 2019 after spending much of her professional career at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York City, where she oversaw the staffing, public services, and building operations at fifty-eight diverse neighborhood branches.

 

Tracy Briseño (she/her) is the customer account services manager at the Ames (IA) Public Library. She's worked in libraries since she was fiften, doing everything from home delivery and preschool storytimes to teen services and driving the bookmobile.

 

Alissa Dornink (she/her) is the resource services manager at the Ames (IA) Public Library. She started working in academic libraries in college and made the switch to public, where the books are much more fun.

 

Brianne Anderson’s (she/her) love of libraries started early as she often helped her librarian mother shelve books in her elementary school library. Nearly twenty years later, that passion for helping kids find books has only grown. Now the youth services manager at the Ames (IA) Public Library, Bri is dedicated to connecting kids with reading, building early literacy skills, and partnering with community organizations to ensure patrons have access to the services they need. She believes deeply in what libraries stand for: free access to all. When she's not recommending books, you'll find her quilting, reading (obviously), and chasing her three kids through their many activities.

 

Important Registration Information

Log into or create your ALA eLearning account

An ALA eLearning account is required to register. Don’t have an account? Create one for free by going to the “Log in” menu located at the top right corner of your screen. No membership is required to create the account. If you encounter any issues registering for this webinar, then please email ce@ala.org for assistance.

Redeem your signup code to complete your registration

Once you’ve registered for this webinar, a signup code will be added to your ALA eLearning account and emailed to you. Find the signup code on your signup code page, then redeem it on your account’s dashboard to complete your enrollment in this live webinar.

• Need to purchase registration on behalf of a colleague?
• Need to register a group of 3 or more?
• Need to register with a purchase order?

Review the ALA eLearning FAQ if you need more information.

Accommodations

This live webinar will be captioned in English (United States). Zoom desktop client or mobile app is required to access captions.

Attendees using screen readers are advised to turn off speech prior to joining the Zoom event because PLA webinars make extensive use of chat functionality. Attendees who find chat distracting may wish to disable it in the Zoom event, as PLA moderators will verbally highlight important topics raised in chat and chat transcripts will be provided post-webinar.

If you have a physical or communication need that may affect your participation in this webinar, please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752) at least two weeks prior to the webinar. Without prior notification of need, we may not be able to provide appropriate accommodations for the live event.

Attendees are prohibited from using any artificial intelligence, machine learning, large language model, automated decision-making tool, or any other software or tools to record this event and from using this event to train, develop, or improve any artificial intelligence system, machine learning model, or similar automated technology. This does not preclude attendees' personal use of AI notetaking tools for accessibility purposes.

Archived Recording

If you're unable to attend this live webinar, an archived recording will be available to all registrants typically within 1–3 business of the live event. Access to closed captions will be provided in the webinar recording.

Tech Requirements

This webinar will be presented using the Zoom platform. Please review Zoom technical requirements and support information, and test your connection.

Once you've joined the webinar, there are two ways to connect your audio: via computer (VoIP) or via telephone. No microphone is required. PLA works with its webinar platform provider to assure the highest quality audio is being delivered to attendees. However, variables over which PLA has no control—such as the speed of your Internet connection or traffic on your local network—can affect the end quality of the webinar audio delivered by your computer. Each webinar’s audio is also available by telephone via a toll number, so we recommend you have access to a long-distance enabled phone as a backup in case you experience audio issues with VoIP. If you do encounter any problems during the webinar, you will receive a link to its archived recording within a week of the live event and can review anything you missed.

Contact

This webinar is presented by the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

Questions about this webinar? Please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752).