Continuing Education to Print and Share
Review our Continuing Education by Competency or Track. Don't miss an opportunity to share our one-page CE @ a Glance with your staff and colleagues.
NEO-RLS Website Search Box Now Searches Our Website!
As of today, the Search box in the upper right corner of our website now searches the NEO-RLS website rather than taking you out to a Google search. There are a few needed tweaks remaining but we feel this will allow you to find items on the website easily and quickly. Happy searching!
Do You Have a Tech Project You Want to Share?
Share your tech project with a poster at the Emerging Tech Symposium on May 20, 2020. For more information, contact Holly Klingler. We look forward to seeing what you are doing at your library!
Do You Have Something New to Share with Your Fellow Teen Librarians?
Do you have a unique or innovative teen programming idea or club? Have you had a huge success in serving your teen patrons? Would you like to share these with your fellow teen librarians? Then we want you on Thursday, April 7, 2020 at the Northeast Ohio Teen Network workshop in Medina. We are looking for 6 to 8 people that are willing to speak about teen trends in their library. You would have 10 minutes to speak. Please email Melissa Lattanzi if you are interested in participating.
COVID-19 Resources Provided by EveryLibrary
Dealing with COVID-19, the disease caused by the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) raises many questions for librarians. We hope these resources will help you be more prepared as well as answer general questions and help you inform the public.
If you're looking for resources, training, and webinars on libraries and pandemics and specifically the COVID-19 virus, we put together this resource page for you.
Of course, the biggest role libraries can play in a national response to the emerging COVID-19 threat is as information specialists. We've already seen government agencies advise the public to ask their public libraries for information.
That's why we've included links in this post to things like comics and posters that you can print for your library to help better inform the public.
Customer Service Experience Boot Camp
“Walt Disney is known as the ‘Father of the Customer Experience’ because he had the vision to create Disneyland as the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’.”
Customer Experience is defined by interactions between a customer and an organization throughout their business relationship. It encompasses much more than just a transaction of a service or product, an experience impacts how customers feel and their emotions throughout their journey with the library.
This interactive and fun Customer Service Experience Boot Camp is a hands on day of information and experiences that will help you to engage and connect more effectively with your customers as they use and experience your library. Don't miss this opportunity on Thursday, April 23, 2020 at Stark County District Library in Canton. |
A Note From the Executive Director
 We frequently hear from many of you about how you have been inspired by something you learned at a workshop or in a webinar and how you have applied the ideas in your own library. However, we don’t normally hear about situations where a library is utilizing one of our learning opportunities as part of a bigger initiative. Thus, we were very excited when we found out the Akron-Summit County Public Library had mandated census training for their entire public service staff using our archived webinar, 2020 Census and Libraries: Key Details and Strategies, as part of that training. In addition, the library’s Census involvement also includes a variety of other activities to get the word out. Every one of their locations is doing something related to the Census on Census Day, April 1, from open houses to dedicated computer workstations for the Census to a workshop on using Census data for genealogy research. In addition, all locations with exterior signage with messaging capabilities will feature the following information: Complete your US Census form here. Everyone counts! Lastly, members of Summit County’s Complete Count Committee will hold a press conference at the Main Library on the morning of April 1st to draw attention to the Census and how important it is to complete the survey. We are pleased to know that a learning opportunity we provided to the libraries in our region is part of a multi-pronged approach in making certain that everyone is counted. Together we are maximizing library potential!
Betsy Lantz
Less than a Month Away - Toby Greenwalt
 Hear Toby Greenwalt at this year's Critical Conversations: Building Empathy to Build Community on Thursday, April 2, 2020 at the Hilton Garden Inn, Twinsburg.
Toby Greenwalt is Director of Digital Strategy and Technology Integration at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Exploring the intersection of community-building and pervasive technology, Toby works to create memorable library experiences for users in the physical space and the virtual space – and everywhere in between. A founding member of the advisory committees for the American Library Association’s Center for the Future of Libraries and the Public Library Association’s Task Force on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice, Toby currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Public Library Association. Toby will be discussing "Elements of Digital Empathy."
Libraries are havens for humanity in its purest form – with all the strangeness and friction that entails. We pride ourselves on our ability to engage with patrons from all walks of life, with clear-eyed understanding and without judgment. How can we maintain that spirit of empathy in our virtual spaces? Is it possible to be a leader for civil engagement for an extremely online audience? In this presentation, we’ll explore these questions and provide attendees with several opportunities to examine opportunities for digital empathy in their own spaces.
Free Books from The NEO-RLS Book Discussion Circuit
NEO-RLS’ Book Discussion Circuit will cease as of June 30, 2020 and the libraries that had subscribed to the Circuit have made their selections of book titles. The remaining titles are on this list and are available to our region’s libraries for FREE. Please go to our website for authors and brief descriptions on the titles.
- Each title has a set of 10-12 books and many include discussion materials.
- Requests will be honored on a first come, first served basis.
- Requested materials will be delivered through statewide delivery or via pickup at the NEO-RLS office.
- We will take requests until March 15, 2020 after which date unclaimed materials will be offered to libraries throughout Ohio.
- Submit your requests to Debbie Blair if you are interested in any of the titles.
We hope to find good homes for our approximately 200 book titles.
Dollar General Youth Literacy Grant
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation has released its 2020 application for the Dollar General Youth Literacy Grant. See the foundation’s Grant Programs page for full details:
www.dgliteracy.org/grant-programs
These grants support:
- Implementing new or expanding existing literacy programs
- Purchasing new technology or equipment to support literacy initiatives
- Purchasing books, materials, or software for literacy programs
The maximum grant amount is $4,000, and applications are due by May 21, 2020. |
