February deadlines are looming for several American Library Association and Public Library Association initiatives. These exciting opportunities include a free course in advocacy, a webinar on how to creatively market the small library, and a program to help capture the stories in your community.
Details about each of these and more are below. Note the dates, as some deadlines are fast approaching!
Library Advocacy Course
Course offered: February 2-March 23
What knowledge and skills do you need to build an effective advocacy program for your library? How do you frame messages and build relationships? How can you develop an actionable plan?
A new “massively open online course” (MOOC) from the University of Toronto will help you answer these questions. The ALA has partnered with the Canadian Library Association (CLA) and the University of Toronto iSchool to offer its popular course: “Library Advocacy Unshushed: Values, Evidence, Action,” beginning Feb. 2, 2015.
The course, taught by Wendy Newman, Senior Fellow and Lecturer, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, will feature guest speakers sharing their ideas and recommendations.
Watch the course intro video to learn more and visit the edX website to enroll.
StoryCorps @ your library
Deadline: February 6
Communities are rich with people’s stories, and StoryCorps, one of the largest oral history projects, has collected thousands of individual interviews since 2003. The nonprofit’s mission is “to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives.”
The project has captured stories about building bridges and ways in which people support the families of soldiers lost in battle. There are stories about caring for people with disabilities, and even one about how NORAD’s Santa Tracker came to be. By sharing these stories on its website and on NPR’s Morning Edition each week, StoryCorps hopes to remind us of our shared humanity and strengthen and build the connections between people.
Now, with a grant offered by StoryCorps, in partnership with the American Library Association Public Programs Office and with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), 10 public libraries will be selected to capture the stories of their communities. The program is the second phase of the project, which began with a pilot program in 2013-2014.
The selected libraries will receive equipment, training, promotional materials and other resources to help them develop community documentation projects. Each interview participant receives a copy of their recording, and with permission from the participant, local libraries will be able to retain copies of interviews, as will the Library of Congress.
Interested libraries can learn more and apply at the StoryCorps website. The deadline is February 6.
PLA Webinar: How a Very Small Library Created Programs With Huge Success
Register by February 23; Webinar: February 25
With a bit of creativity, a small library with a very tiny budget can be very successful at promoting its programs.
The PLA will host Leslie Scott, director of the Prosper (Texas) Community Library, who will share some big ideas about marketing a small library on a limited budget. Details about her presentation, “Passion and Partnership: How a Very Small Library Created Programs with Huge Success,” are available on the PLA website.
The cost is $28 for PLA Members, $31.50 for ALA Members and $35 for nonmembers. Groups of any size can register for $129. Deadline to register is Feb. 23, by 11:59 p.m. Central.
John Cotton Dana Award for Outstanding Public Relations
Deadline: February 28
The ALA is accepting online entries for the John Cotton Dana Award (JCD), which is named after the father of the modern library and honors outstanding library public relations. Eight recipients are awarded $10,000 each year. Library public relations programs can be nominated by the library, Friends group, consulting agency or service provider and can recognize rebranding efforts, awareness campaigns, community partnerships and other strategic library communications programs.
The awards are sponsored by the ALA and EBSCO Information Services and granted by the H.W. Wilson Foundation. Winners will be announced at the annual Awards Ceremony at the ALA annual conference.
More information, including entry documents can be found at: https://johncottondana.nonprofitcms.org/a.
PLA Call for Proposals
Deadline: April 17, 2015
If you can help your fellow public librarians Be Extraordinary, consider submitting a program proposal for the 2016 Public Library Association conference, to be held April 5-9, 2016, in Denver.
The PLA has opened the call for proposals for either preconferences or programs. Preconferences are in-depth educational sessions offered at extra cost to conference attendees. Programs are 60-minute session during the conference. If you have expertise or knowledge to share in any of these topics, you should consider presenting: Administration/Management; Collections/Tech Services; Facilities; Leadership; Marketing/Advocacy; Serving Adults; Serving Youth; Staffing; and Technology.
Details are available on the PLA website.
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