It is becoming increasingly important to collect the stories and images from our community members as the pandemic continues to impact on our daily lives.  In June we offered an excellent webinar entitled, COVID-19: Documenting the Pandemic in your Community, which is available in our Archived Webinar Library.  The presenters from Wright State University talked about how to educate, engage, and empower your local community in recording history as it happens, how to develop strategies and programming for collaboration with K-12 school classes and community groups and how to collect, document, and make available historical materials on the pandemic. In the new November/December issue of American Libraries, there is an article, “Collecting Coronavirus Stories,” which talks about what libraries around the country are doing to encourage their communities to preserve this important moment in history.  Online collections and resources are provided along with suggestions for processes.  There is even a sidebar on the expansion of the Community Web project through the Internet Archive thanks to new funding.  If you’ve been thinking about how to capture the experience of your community during the pandemic, I encourage you to view our archived webinar and check out the AL article.  Stay well and have a good week!

Betsy Lantz

Please take a moment to share CE at a Glance with your staff.  There is something for everyone.

11/12/2020
Organizing Chaos: Training for a Library Service Platform Migration
12/1/2020
Youth Book Buzz Presented by Penguin Random House
12/8/2020
Adult Book Buzz Presented by Penguin Random House
12/10/2020
Back Porch Tips: Encourage Literacy, Learning, and Laughter with Library Videos for Young Children

Click the calendar to see all of our continuing education opportunities.

2021-2022 Letters of Intent Due December 31st Thank you to the libraries that have already returned their Letters of Intent for 2021-2022!  We appreciate your timely response and your continued support.  If you haven’t already returned your Letter, please do so by December 31, 2020.  Together we are maximizing library potential!

NEO-RLS Statewide Salary Survey Update The NEO-RLS Statewide Salary Survey is in the process of development.  The survey will be deployed in early spring 2021 as requested by the majority of libraries interested in participating.  Results will be available in late spring/early summer.  Updated information will be provided as we near the distribution date.  We encourage your participation in order to collect a robust data set which will serve you well.  Contact Betsy Lantz if you have questions.

Looking for Summer Reading Tapas Learning We plan to have a Tapas Learning page dedicated to summer reading.  If you have an idea or a program to share around summer reading, please contact Melissa Lattanzi.  This page will be for all ages:  children, teen and adult.

In the interest of supporting digital collection work in our own corner of the world, today we are launching the 2020 Survey of Digital Collections and Preservation in Ohio. The survey is designed for all types of libraries and cultural heritage organizations, whether currently working with digitization and digital collections or not, so take a few minutes to fill it out today. We’ll be able to share the aggregated data in early 2021 so that you can see what others in Ohio are up to, but we’ll also be using it to shape the support that the Ohio Digital Network and the State Library of Ohio provide to all.

A lot of ideas come up at the weekly youth services meetups, and one is for children’s/youth librarians who use YouTube to share the link to their YouTube channel with each other. This will let colleagues around the state check out your YouTube channel for ideas, and will also give you more views!   There is a simple Google document to collect information about library YouTube channels. Please add your YouTube channel, and subscribe to the listed channels if you want:.  Click HERE for the document.

It’s that time of year again!  It's the time that everyone begins their search to find the best toys for their loved one, friends, or even themselves.  Learn about the new emerging tech products that your patrons may likely want, have questions about, or even bring into your library for assistance.  Indeed, there may even be some fun, new emerging tech tools that you might consider for your library!  Join Holly Klingler on Friday, November 20^th to explore tech toys for the holidays.

Once again, it is time for every Ohio public library system to complete E-rate forms for OPLIN, specifically a Letter of Agency (LOA) and a Form 479. In some cases, we may also need a form reporting off-premises use of your OPLIN connection.
 
All libraries are required to submit these forms to OPLIN annually, regardless of whether or not the library itself participates in the E-rate program.
 
The process for submitting these forms is as simple as we can make it.
From any library computer, go to https://oplin.org/erate and follow the instructions there. (You must be in the library to access this site.)

Warren-Trumbull County Public Library has several toner cartridges available.  Click this link to see what is available.  Contact Tony Romandetti if you are interested.