NCLA Conference Reflection

I won a scholarship from the State Library of North Carolina (SLNC) to attend the 63rd NCLA Biennial Conference in Winston-Salem, NC on October 15 through October 18. I've had my master's for ten years, but this is the first time I attended a conference. I had a great time attending sessions, catching up with other youth services people, eating, and even attending a fun bookstore event.

This post will be all about what I learned. I am planning a second post about all the fun I had in Winston-Salem. Over the four day conference I attended nine sessions plus the opening and closing keynote speeches.

You can see full schedule and download the presentations at the official NCLA Conference website.

Show Me the Money! Grant Writing Made Easy - Lauren Clossey, Jackie Haske, Amanda Johnson, and Catherine Prince (SLNC)

This was an intensive three hour session that provided a general overview of grant writing. The topics covered were Grant Project Design and Development, Identifying Funding Opportunities, Grant Management, and LSTA Grant Overview. I've written a few small easy grants in my time, but I found this session extremely useful. It's been a while since my grant writing class in graduate school and this was the perfect refresher. The LSTA Grant Overview was particularly useful as that's the grant program administered by the SLNC. This session was interspersed with hands-on group exercises that really made me think.

Building Vital Connections: The Iredell Public and School Library StudentAccess Program - Dr. Antony Chow (UNC Greensboro), Chris Baker, (UNC Greensboro), Dawn Hall (UNC Greensboro), Kathy Hurley (UNC Greensboro), and Julianne More (Iredell County Public Library) 

It was highly interesting to hear about this program as it's a way one library system in NC has found to work with the schools to get library materials into students' hands. My library system already has a bookmobile so a version of this program might be possible in my area. Some children will never visit the library or attend programs. I address the latter by visiting the schools and The Iredell Public and School Library StudentAccess Program has found a way to address the former. Lots of food for thought in this session.

YALSA's Teen Services Competencies for Library Staff - Lisa Donaldson (Henderson County Public Library) & Sandra Hughes-Hassell (UNC Chapel Hill)

I've been aware of YALSA's Teen Service Competencies for several years, but it was very informative to hear them explained and think about whether or not I'm using them already when I interact with teens. I really liked that YALSA's main points for the Competencies are teens first and teen driven. I already do some of this in my programs. I ask my teens what programs they want and then do my best to provide them. In addition, one of the branches in my system  has a very active TAB that plans activities for their teens. 

Library Marketing from the Ground Up: Creating a Cohesive Plan to Maximize Your Reach - Jenny Levins and Julianne Moore (Iredell County Public Library)

This session was so eye-opening. I'm in a small system where we have four branches, a bookmobile, and myself, the youth services librarian. Our system as a whole puts together a monthly calendar of events that's a tri-fold brochure, but each library, the bookmobile, and I am responsible for creating the marketing for our individual events. I love the idea of coordinated and branded marketing. This is definitely something I want to pursue for our system. 

I Have a StoryWalk® at My Library, Now What? - Noah Lenstra (UNC Greensboro), Susana Goldman (Alamance County Public Libraries), and Emily Nanney (Charlotte Mecklenburg Library)

This session was a conversation starter so it was more of a collaborative session. The moderator guided the speakers to give us an overview of StoryWalks® and then opened it up for questions. I've been interested in having a StoryWalk® in each of my towns since they first because popular a few years ago. This session provided me with valuable insight. The conversation covered getting started, considerations and upkeep when dealing with a permanent StoryWalk®, assessment, funders/partners/media, and fun twists on the concept. During the conversation I thought of several ways to incorporate temporary StoryWalks® into already established events to see how the community responds. 

Why Does My Summer Reading Manual Look Different?!?!: Changes to the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) - Chrissie McGovern (Gaston County Public Library) and Jasmine Rockwell (SLNC)

This session provided an overview of CSLP (what it is and how it works), talked about how librarians and library staff who work with youth can be involved, and finally touched on changes to the CSLP manual in 2020 and going forward. This session was very interesting and I've decided to be more involved hopefully in two ways: join a CSLP committee and submit an idea for the 2021 manual. I also enjoyed meeting Chrissie and look forward to interacting more with her in the future. 

Libraries: Spaces to Encourage Early Literacy Collaborations - Lisa Finaldi (NC Early Childhood Childhood Foundation), Sarah Miller (Gaston County Public Library), Donna Phillips (Wayne County Public Library), and Lynn Thompson (Southern Pines Public Library) 

This was another conversation starter session. We divided into four groups and moved around the room to interact with the four speakers. Each speaker asked us to respond to a question. The questions were:

• What early literacy activities are already happening in your community? 

• Who is invested in Early Literacy in your community? 

• Parent Engagement: How do we get parents actively involved in early literacy initiates? 

• Data Gathering and Outcomes: How do we evaluate program efficiency and effectiveness?

It was fascinating to hear about the ways other libraries are facilitating early literacy collaborations. 

You Want Me to Write What?! Teaching Creative Writing to Patrons Like a Boss - Joel Ferdon (Stanly Community College)
I attended this session primarily because I like creative writing and I've always been interested in hosting creative writing programs for children and teens. This session covered three areas: Writing Prompts, Teaching/Giving Information, and Workshopping. It was informative and fun. As part of the session, we participated in two writing prompts.

Programming with Intent: Planning Storytimes through an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity Framework - Sophie Kenney (Aurora Public Library)
This was a very timely session. When I attended the Youth Services Section (YSS) Retreat in October 2018, one of the presentations was about this very topic (Serving Youth through Inclusive Collections - Jewel Davis, App State). Sophie's presentation was great because it brought the idea of inclusiveness down to storytime level. Storytime is one of the main functions of my job. Her presentation had five parts: Why Diversity Matters, Benefits of Inclusion, Evaluating Materials, Planning Your Storytime, and Connect Your Audience. One of the best tips Sophie gave was to make a list of diverse books and note the themes that the books would work with. This makes it easier to include diverse books in themed storytimes. Also she emphasized the importance of starting with a book not a theme. Choose a diverse book and build your storytime around it. Another profound point she made was that the goal of including diverse or multicultural elements in your storytime is exposure not acquisition. I have so much to learn and I'm excited.

Opening Keynote: "Library as Studio" by Melanie Huggins, Executive Director of Richland Public Library in Columbia, SC 

Melanie's keynote was fascinating and timely. Libraries are about so much more than books and reading. By evaluating the learning needs of your community, you can better understand how the library needs to be designed to meet those needs. The concept "Library as Studio" has so many more components under it: vibrant cafe, art gallery, pop-up, performance space, nook social club, maker space, classroom, and coworking center. There are even more possibilities when you look at your own library. Look at the values and needs of your community, map them to outcomes that are in line with your strategic plan, and then design the library. What Melanie has achieved at her library may seem fantastic and unachievable due to budget or staff constraints, but I think that by using her concept "Library as Studio" as a guide it would be easy to implement changes for the better at the tiniest, most underfunded libraries across the country. 

"Celebrating the Power of Our Stories: Building Community One Story at a Time" by Jaki Shelton-Green, North Carolina Poet Laureate 

Jaki is a powerful speaker. Story was a great topic to choose when addressing librarians. We're all about books, reading, stories, and storytelling. Here are a few quotes I thought were particularly profound. "Celebrate our stories from a perspective to legacy." "We continue to celebrate in the telling...the evolving." "Own your voice. Own your story."