ARSL 2013 Journal Day 2

Thursday

Kicking off with a wonderful continental breakfast .. They do provide ample food in the Midwest.  (481 registered, 37 states represented).  I spent some time chatting with Linn E. of Geek the Library and Kathleen G. of Webjunction prior to the keynote from Lee Rainie of Pew Research .. While you can check out the Twitter feed at #arsl2013 for tidbits, here are my takeaways:

• Rural libraries are gaining momentum through digital literacy training efforts, yet there is still work to do.
• Consider libraries as a platform .. Do what you do best and link to the rest!
• 98% of people interviewed like libraries .. It is like a job interview,everyday.
• Libraries have rebranded themselves as technology hubs.
• Because access to information is ubiquitous, libraries have to change their approach.
• Public libraries give everyone a chance to succeed; promote love of literacy and reading.
• A public library improves the quality of life in a community.

The question a library should ask is what is the franchise, rather than what is the commodity. For slides, report go to http://libraries.pewinternet.org.

Then we moved into the workshops for the day.  For workshop handouts and highlights go to http://arsl.info/2013/09/2013-program-and-handouts/

Here are few notes:
Gaming was presented by Idaho's Josh Barnes and Jezmynne Dene of Portneuf Library District.  They provided a great overview of how they initiated a gaming program which includes both board and electronic games.  Friday night they will host a gaming session for conference participants.

Community Connections focused on how three different libraries focus on an important aspect to engage their community:  schools, businesses, and community groups.  Take always include work closely with your school district to discover a niche to fill, including special programs such as GED, refugees/migrants, or inter generational programming.  Examples of programs include story walks, Pinkalicious and Stinky Feet parties. http://www.crete-ne.gov/index.aspx?NID=41

Seward Memorial Library focuses on their business community to facilitate a wide variety of ongoing activities (http://arsl.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Becky-Baker-Handouts.pdf).  They focus on a variety of scavenger hunts which take readers to businesses throughout the community to gather clues to solve a puzzle.  When they have the answers they return to the library for their reward.  At the end of the year the library hosts a business after hours for all business partners as a thank you!

Finally Kilgore Memorial Public Library focuses on partnering with community groups in their library programming.  This includes heritage organizations historical groups, cultural organizations and service groups.   The best idea that came out of this discussion was another library that facilitates a Scarecrow Contest, raising over $500 for their library.  They charge $10 for a group or individual to create their scarecrow during the Halloween season.  They then split the funds raised with the organization or individual.  Last year they had almost 100 scarecrows .. What community engagement .. Pretty scary!!!

All in all another informative day, filled with great networking opportunities