Securing funding for the library benefits from a multi-faceted approach: staff are becoming savvy in how to demonstrate the library’s value to the community, seek grants for specific initiatives or projects, organize effective fundraising activities, and pursue strategic partnerships. Explore what WebJunction Illinois has collected to help you in your exploration of those options in this edition of “What’s New @ WJIL.”

Contents: Resources | Courses and Learning | Community | What could I do with…? | What’s New RSS Feed

“What’s New” RSS Feed

Want the latest “What’s New @ WJIL” to come to you? Add the RSS feed to your blog reader.
[http://webjunctionworks.org/il/blog/index.php/category/new-wj-il/feed/

Resources

Sampling of Library Funding, Grants and Partnerships

• This overview includes a variety of useful resources in the areas of news, grants, strategic partnerships and fundraising for libraries.
• Path [Library Management » Funding]

Guide to Selected Funding Resources

• Includes practical information such as a elements of a good grant proposal, fundraising during an economic crisis and resources related to grant opportunities.
• Path [Library Management » Funding]

From Awareness to Funding: A Study of Library Support in America

• Principle contributors Cathy De Rosa and Jenny Johnson from OCLC outline why targeting marketing messages to the right segment of the public is key to support for U.S. libraries.
• Path [Library Management » Funding]

Community Relations Resources on WJIL

• Communicating the Library’s value, connecting with stakeholders and promoting lifelong learning at the library are part of this section of WJIL.
• Path [Library Management » Community Relations]

Courses and Learning

Winning Library Grants - Webinar Archive

• Resources and archived presentation from this May 4th Webinar by Stephanie Gerding.

Grant Writing Basics

• Getting the right grant can make a huge difference in the programming and resources you can offer your community. But if you’ve never done it before, the whole process of finding the right one for your situation, navigating the application process, and writing a compelling case can be daunting. This course created by UNT-LE@D will walk you through all the critical steps from finding a grant source, understanding the commitments required, writing and submitting, and finally beginning to implement.

Community

Browse the Discussion Forum on the WJIL Funding page to spark your creativity for this topic – or add your own question for community feedback.

What Could I do with…Tips on Library Fundraising?

Although we would want it to be different, exploring creative angles for fundraising is very much a part of the current library landscape. If you haven’t already done so, take the chance to talk to your library supporters in the community to convey once again the value of the local library and its services. Then ask them if they are willing to partner with you to brainstorm ideas that will help to ensure that the library and its valuable resources remain available for everyone.  You never know until you try!

This week’s What’s New @ WJIL highlights the wonderful variety of new and useful resources, courses and learning that can be found on WebJunction Illinois. Everything from video tips for dealing with difficult online patrons, how to plant the seeds of economic growth in your community, a comparison of online job search tools and as always – a host of  free online learning opportunities!

Contents: Resources | Courses and Learning | Community | What could I do with…? | What’s New RSS Feed

“What’s New” RSS Feed

Want the latest “What’s New @ WJIL” to come to you? Add the RSS feed to your blog reader.
[http://webjunctionworks.org/il/blog/index.php/category/new-wj-il/feed/

Resources

5 Tips for Difficult Online Patrons

• We have all seen inappropriate or rude comments left on websites, and they make us cringe—but what do you do when those are on your own library's website? In the first of a series of short videos created for WebJunction, digitally savvy member David Lee King gives us five tips for responding to difficult patrons online. Watch for more "5 Tips" videos from David to be posted in the coming weeks and months.
• Path: [Technology » Website Development]

Create A Smart Wireless Network for Your Library

• In this article, Louise Alcorn suggests we adopt a culture of Yes when thinking about wireless networking, so that we don’t just supply wifi, but enthusiastically embrace the technology and take steps to make sure it works well for our patrons.
• Path: [Technology » Networking » Wireless Networking]]

Economic Gardening

• What is “Economic Gardening” and what do Libraries have to do with it? In brief economic gardening focuses on “creating a nurturing environment for growing local entrepreneurs rather than ‘hunting’ or recruiting businesses from elsewhere.” It identifies entrepreneurial initiatives that provide the greatest impact on economic growth. Find out more about how you can plant the seeds in your community with this article.
• Path: [Library Services » Workforce Resources]

San Francisco Public Library: Best Practices for Patron Tutorials

• The San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) has begun to actively design and create online tutorials for patrons. In summer 2010, as part of a project with WebJunction, a tutorial was developed for patrons to help familiarize them with online job search sites. As part of that project, some best practices and suggestions for doing similar work at other libraries was collected and is available for review. Dom’t miss this resource that incluedes a practical step-by-step on how to create an online tutorial using Camtasia.
• Path: [Library Services » Patron Training » Research]

Providing Excellent Service to Teens

• This article includes lessons learned from two libraries include how to attract teens to and keep teens interested in your library, promote an atmosphere of inclusion for your teens and your library staff, and develop successful library programs.
• Path: [Library Services » Populations Served » Young Adults & Teens]

Comparison of Online Job Search Tools

• This spreadsheet compares free and fee based online resources available via Careeronestop.org, Optimal Resume, Career Transitions and Learning Express.
• Path: [Library Services » Workforce Resources]

Courses and Learning

Recent Webinar Archives posted on WebJunction Illinois [Video archives are available at any time for your convenient listening and viewing.]

• Serving the Young Adult Population: It’s not Just About Video Games
• Dealing with Difficult Patrons
• Technology Planning for Libraries

Online Research Strategies for Librarians - New Course!

• Increasingly, libraries have become the “go-to” place for help with all kinds of things. Because you are the librarian, people expect you to either have all the answers, or to at least know where to find them. This course will provide you with some of the tools to help you do this and do it well. You will learn how to use search engines effectively, so that the results are both relevant and reliable. You will learn how to identify what is and what isn’t a reliable source of information.

Web 2.0 Fundamentals

• This course provides an overview of what Web 2.0 is and the role that the Web 2.0 technologies play. Specific topics covered include an introduction to Web 2.0, the impact of social networking, and Web 2.0 development technologies including HTML, XML, JavaScript, Ajax, mashups, SOAP, web services, and Representational State Transfer (REST) services.

Don’t forget to check the L2  calendar for upcoming free WebJunction webinars.

Community

WebJunction is expanding its collection of training resources for you to downlowd, adapt, and reuse. Be part of the broader library community and help contribute to this project by sending your lesson plans, handouts, slides, links, or tutorials to Stephanie Gerding. All materials will be posted to WebJunction with credit to you and/or your library, and will be available for free download for noncommercial use.

Stephanie will be hosting a free webinar on December 14 to share the results of these collection efforts and cover tips and techniques for incorporating these materials into your public training programs. Visit L2 for additional information and to register for this webinar.

What Could I do with…5 Tips for Dealing with Difficult Online Patrons?

If your library has an online presence of any kind through email, Twitter, Facebook or even just a website it’s likely that you have encountered the occasional difficult patron comment or interaction. Viewing these short tips from David Lee King will give you ideas for how to respond without losing your cool. A great resource for a quick and useful staff training exercise!

Through a 2009 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), WebJunction and the State Library of North Carolina (SLNC) launched Project Compass, a one-year initiative to work with state libraries in support of public libraries’ efforts to meet the urgent and growing needs of the unemployed. This work has resulted in a rich collection of material on Workforce Resources. Find out more about what a year with Project Compass has accomplished and what resources are now available to you on WebJunction Illinois in this edition of “What’s New @ WJIL”

Contents: Resources | Courses and Learning | Community | What could I do with…? | What’s New RSS Feed

“What’s New” RSS Feed

Want the latest “What’s New @ WJIL” to come to you? Add the RSS feed to your blog reader.
[http://webjunctionworks.org/il/blog/index.php/category/new-wj-il/feed/

Resources

A Year with Project Compass: Libraries Provide Direction in Tough Times

• This 18-page report summaries the key activities, accomplishments and learning from the one-year grant-funded project to support libraries providing direction in tough times.
• Path: [Library Services » Workforce Resources » Project Compass]

“As we enter the last quarter of 2010, the U.S. economy is still in crisis and the workforce is still taking the brunt. Communities are struggling with continued job losses, high levels of unemployment and other problems related to the financial collapse of 2008. People are still turning to their libraries as their North Star, seeking guidance from this trusted community institution to help them navigate the storm.

From the onset, state libraries and public libraries have responded with energy and leadership, and continue to do so as the crisis persists. Project Compass launched on October 1, 2009, to investigate job seekers’ specific demands on public libraries and what could be done to address their demands more eff ectively, particularly through state library initiatives.

Funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), WebJunction and the State Library of North Carolina (SLNC) formed a strategic partnership to complete this a one-year project.  Over the past year, the project has spotlighted state and public libraries’ value to the workforce, promoted the exchange of knowledge between state libraries, and concentrated participants’ attention to future actions. Building on the experience state libraries have with pursuing partnerships, the project brought forward creative new insights on potential partners and strategies for successful collaboration with workforce agencies.”  (Excerpt from “A Year with Project Compass: Libraries Provide Direction in Tough Times”)

Key resources from Project Compass

Showcases of Accomplishments

• Listing of the showcases delivered at the Project Compass Summits to highlight states’ accomplishments in response to patron needs in tough times.
• Path: [Library Services » Workforce Resources » Project Compass]

State Library Projects for Workforce Recovery

• Participants in the Project Compass summits identified projects to enhance libraries’ support of workforce recovery in their states. This list of projects is organized by category.
• Path: [Library Services » Workforce Resources » Project Compass]

Compass Snapshots

• Every state faces its own set of challenges in the economic hard times. Project Compass  collected unemployment data and compiled a “snapshot” of each state.
• Path: [Library Services » Workforce Resources » Project Compass » Compass Snapshots]

Workforce Resources

• Here you will find examples of programs, services, and tools that your library can use to assist the unemployed and job seekers in your community. This section also includes descriptions of statewide initiatives and partnerships that support library services to the local workforce.
• Examples include Programs and Training for Job Seekers, Economic Gardening and Small Business Support, Partnerships and Collaboration
• Path: [Library Services » Workforce Resources]

Courses and Learning

Webinar Archives Related to Economic Recovery

WebJunction hosted a number of online webinars related to economic recovery. Each webinar is available as an archived recording and can be reached through the link above.  Topics include:

• Libraries and Economic Development Series
• Helping Job Seekers: Using Electronic Tools and Federal Resources (ETA)
• Effective Partnerships between the Public Workforce System and Libraries (ETA/IMLS)
• Re-tooling Frontline Staff with E-government Resources
• and many more…

Community

A new group has been formed on WebJunction – Libraries and Business Community Connections. This group is open to anyone who is interested in discussing or pursuing projects for library support of small business development as a route to workforce recovery.  Click on the link to join the group and the discussion.

What Could I do with…Project Compass?

Prompted by the onset of the recession, Project Compass, through an IMLS grant and numerous partnerships, set out to assist libraries in their support of economic development and workforce recovery. Even now, although experts indicate a slowing in the recession indicators, the jobless rate remains high and libraries are seeing some of their highest statistics for usage in all areas.

What can you do at your library to help in the economic recovery? Through Project Compass and the resulting Workforce Resources, WebJunction has put a number of tools into your hands . Take the time to use what you can, your community will thank you.

Find your storytelling voice by enrolling in the latest LibraryU addition to the WJIL Catalog – There will Always Be Storytellers. Use a new series of programs from the State Library of Kansas to find out more about Everyday Ethics for Libraries and plan to register for the upcoming  webinar mySkills, myFuture: A Free Tool for Job Seekers.

Contents: Resources | Courses and Learning | Community | What could I do with…? | What’s New RSS Feed

“What’s New” RSS Feed

Want the latest “What’s New @ WJIL” to come to you? Add the RSS feed to your blog reader.
[http://webjunctionworks.org/il/blog/index.php/category/new-wj-il/feed/

Resources

Everyday Ethics for Libraries

This series of programs presented by the Kansas Regional Library Systems and the State Library of Kansas, Division of Library Development explores how library professional ethics, as presented in the Library Bill of Rights, along with intellectual freedom concerns and privacy, impact library operations, collection development, policies, planning and customer service.  Resources  linked here include a video overview by Pat Wagner, a national library trainer and 9 additional webinar archives accompanied by supplementary resources covering the following topics:

• Everyday Ethics for Libraries: An Overview by Pat Wagner (Online video serices and handouts)
• Ethics of Facebook, Brenda Hough, Northeast Kansas Library System.
• Serial Killer in the Library, Paul Hawkins, director South Central Kansas Library System.
• Ethics of Collection Development, Angie Maycock, ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom.
• Ethics of Weeding, Harry Willems and Chris Rippel, Central Kansas Library System.
• Are You Trustee-Worthy? - Ethics for Trustees, Gina Millsap, Director, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.
• Ethics of Answering Questions, Lisa Kelly, Director of Information Services, Nebraska Library Commission.
• The Ethics of Access, Kim Rutter, Southeast Kansas Library System.
• Can Mary Kay or VITA Use the Meeting Room, Carol Barta, North Central Kansas Libraries System, Lee Dobratz, Council Grove Public Library and Jamie Kelley, Marysville Public Library
• A Wrap-Up with Pat Wagner, Pattern Research, Inc.
• Path: [Library Management » Customer Service & Interpersonal Skills]

CONTENTdm Metadata Working Group’s Best Practices Guide

• This document represents the efforts to develop best practices guidelines for providing metadata both useful to the local community and suitable for harvesting externally.
• Path: [Library Services » Technical Services » Digitization & Preservation]

Preserving and Conserving Archived Photographs: An Annotated Bibliography

• Photographs have been as important a tool for the teaching and understanding of history as diaries and journals, and conserving or preserving these priceless artifacts of exact images of history has been, and will continue to be, a critical task for whoever has been charged with storing, monitoring, and keeping well-preserved original photographs for the enjoyment of public viewing or the research of authors, historians, and more. This bibliography includes articles that detail important programs and procedures for minimizing the deterioration of photographs and have, for the most part, been published between the years 2000-2010, with a few relevant articles from the 1990’s, that were written to relate modern techniques used in recent history to preserve, maintain, and store non-digital photographic images. The articles were chosen to display both time-tested methods of preservation that have been used for decades and those that are still used today. 
• Path: [Library Services » Technical Services » Digitization & Preservation]

Courses and Learning

All courses listed are free to eligible and registered users of WJIL.

There Will Always Be Storytellers - New LibraryU Course on WebJunction Illinois

• What does it mean to be a Storyteller? As an experienced Storyteller, Nancy Tolson will help you find the story, identify your storytelling style, then give you practical tips on how to adorn and make that story personal. Along the way she will share some of her favorite stories with you to inspire and spark your own creativity. This course is intended for anyone who would like to increase their ability to tell captivating, enlightening and inspiring stories to audiences of all ages. Don’t miss this latest LibraryU addition to the WJIL Course Catalog.

Upcoming WebJunction Webinars

(All webinars are free of charge. Click on the links below for additional information and registration)

• The Rural Library Trustee: Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships, Sept. 14, 2010
• Real Library Solutions Using Competencies, Sept. 16, 2010
• Using Technology to Move Your Small/Rural Library Forward, Sept. 21, 2010
• mySkills, myFuture: A New Tool for Job Seekers, Sept. 29, 2010

Community

This fall resolve to build your network of colleagues on WebJunction Illinois. Use the following resources to help you find and add “Friends,” then log in and go to your “My WebJunction” tab to view your “Updates.” From here you can follow what your friends are doing on WJIL to help you hunt down the latest discussions, best courses, and helpful resources on the site. 

• WJIL Registration and Social Networking
• Find and Add Friends on WJIL

What Could I do with…”There will Always Be Storytellers”?

“In the beginning was the word and it was oral. As long as we have been in existence we have found ways to communicate and probably right after drawing pictures within caves, in the dirt, and carving up trees; once we realized that charades caused frustration when team members couldn’t figure out that a dinosaur was about to eat the village, oral communication came into affect. And from that time to today stories about family, adventure, wars, births, and just living have been told from one person to another, from one village to the other and so on and so forth.”

So begins the latest LibraryU addition to the WJIL Course Catalog – There Will Always Be Storytellers. You don’t have to be a Children’s Librarian to enroll in this course, you just have to love a story. Enroll today and start your storytelling journey.