In 2023, the American Library Association’s Public Programs Office launched the largest grant initiative in the Association’s history—the Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Accessible Small and Rural Communities grants.
During the first round of funding, 240 small and rural libraries, located within towns with populations of under 25,000 people, received awards of $10,000 or $20,000 to improve the accessibility of their facilities, services, and programs. American Libraries spoke with five libraries that participated in the program’s inaugural year about their projects’ impact on those they serve...
As artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in work, creative pursuits, and the generation of online misinformation, public libraries have a major new role to play in digital literacy
“Make your photos pop with Magic Editor” reads the landing page for Google’s new Pixel 9 smartphone. The new artificial intelligence (AI)–powered feature enables users to “move, remove, and resize people or objects in an image, plus change the background” or even “reimagine your photos, right on your phone.” In an August article aptly titled “No One’s Ready for This,” Sarah Jeong, features editor for TheVerge.com, described how “it took less than 10 seconds” for her to use one of these new phones to generate convincing “reimagined” photos of a cockroach in a box of takeout, a woman sitting on a floor strewn with drug paraphernalia, a crashed helicopter in the woods, and what appears to be a bomb in an empty Brooklyn subway station...
ADVOCACY CENTER
Sign Up with the Virginia Library Association as an Advocate!
Click HEREand sign up for the VLA Advocacy Center Mailing List to make sure you're receiving Virginia action alerts and updates on policy issues related to the library field. This will help you keep abreast of legislation that could affect your local library and community.
UNITED FOR LIBRARIES RESOURCES
Virginia library staff and stakeholders (folks like you!) have access to a whole host of resources from United for Libraries.
Advocacy is always a good solid topic; in today’s political climate, the ability to be the advocate who tells your library’s story in a positive way is a tremendous advantage, and it helps reframe the negative (and incorrect) information about libraries that is pervasive due to the politicizing of libraries through program and book challenges.
The good news for all of us is that libraries remain one of the most trusted civic entities even if we sometimes struggle to gain community support when facing challenges. At the heart of getting our message out and motivating positive action among our supporters is our ability to hone and tell our stories in compelling ways that inspire our community partners.
This highly-interactive webinar will focus on elements of successful storytelling for library commission, board, and foundation members, aka library advocates; provide specific techniques for effectively developing and telling those stories; and provide plenty of resources for those who want to continue developing their ability to tell engaging stories that inspire positive action among library supporters.
Every library should have a plan for raising funds to pay for extras not covered by the budget. The easiest way to get started - an annual giving campaign! If you want to fundraise for your library, but are anxious about asking people for money, an annual giving campaign is an effective way to identify potential donors while also providing a vehicle for giving.
We all receive mailers from nonprofit organizations asking for donations during the end-of-year giving season, so how can your library be part of the mix? During this webinar, we'll go over all the steps to plan and execute an annual giving campaign - from where to get a mailing list to writing an appeal letter to keeping track of donors to stewarding donations. You'll leave the webinar confident that you can organize an annual giving campaign for your library!
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Meeting Makeover: How to Maximize Your Time
Meetings: love them or hate them, they are a critical part of how work gets done, and frankly – they’re not going anywhere.
But we’re all busier than ever, and calendars are maxed out. It’s time to audit and streamline your meetings so everyone who attends is making the most of their time.
Hiring a new library director is the single most important decision of the library board. Finding and retaining a good library director is vital to creating excellent library service for your community. This presentation will provide you with step-by-step instructions for this significant hiring process. From forming a committee to board approval, we'll navigate each crucial step together...
Crafting and Maintaining Effective Patron Policies for Community Success
Effective library policies are essential for setting clear expectations, defining responsibilities, and establishing boundaries for both patrons and staff. This session covers the ten most common patron-facing policies and offers guidance on selecting and tailoring them to meet your library and community needs for safe and effective operation...
Please note, if you register with a non-library issued e-mail address, someone from the Library of Virginia will follow up with you to confirm that you are affiliated with a Virginia library before you can access the content.
BOOKS
titles
Click on the image to learn more about each title, and then use your local library to request them from the Library of Virginia.
The Alexandria Library has earned the Gold Standard of Excellence from the Virginia Public Library Directors Association. The award is the organization’s highest honor. Library Director Rose T. Dawson accepted the award at the 2024 Virginia Library Association conference in Norfolk, VA.
“I’m proud to say that this award reflects our staff’s dedication to superlative service,” Dawson said. “Our daily focus is on exceeding the expectations of our patrons and community, so we are honored that the VPLDA and VLA have acknowledged our work as well.”...
November 12, 2024 - The UncommonWealth Public Library Spotlight
Since 1966, the motto of the Lynchburg Public Library has been “a library for all citizens.” It’s one thing to repeat it for nearly 60 years, but how do you show it?
That was the question we asked ourselves last fall. I had just stepped into my role as the Public Engagement Coordinator, where my goal was to create deeper community partnerships. It was exciting for us as a staff. We had a list of people we immediately wanted to partner with. If you’ve ever started a new role that you’re passionate about, the feeling is probably familiar. Realistically, I knew I needed to start small to get my feet wet...
QUOTED
"Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived."
This newsletter is brought to you by the Library Development & Networking Division of the Library of Virginia. Funding for this is provided through the Virginia General Assembly and the Institute for Museum and Library Studies (IMLS).
