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March 2025 | |
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Adult Services Notes |
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Upcoming Library of Virginia Training |
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Southeast Collaborative
Online Conference |
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Join colleagues from around the state and southeast region March 11-13 for a free online conference.
The 2025 Southeast Collaborative Online Conference is a collective effort by the Georgia Public Library Service, State Library of North Carolina, South Carolina State Library, Tennessee State Library & Archives, and The Library of Virginia to offer innovative and useful online learning experiences for library staff at all levels through a convenient online conference. |
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This year's presenters include a dozen Virginia library staff from both public and academic libraries, covering topics including using data, building collaborative relationships, AI Salons, time management, new approaches to book clubs, and building teen spaces. Keynote will be Catching Library Joy with Mychal Threets.
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Recently Added LVA Training
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Burnout in Public Libraries: A Three-Part Series
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LVA recently added the Burnout in Public Libraries training in Niche Academy. This Niche Pathway uses first-person narratives to explore causes of burnout among public library workers, drawing examples from rural, medium-sized, and urban libraries as well as libraries in four other countries. Each part includes multiple approaches to relieve burnout from experts inside the profession.
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The series, produced by Sonya Schreyer Norris, also looks to other fields for what we can learn from them to reduce burnout including social work, nursing, and teaching.
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Niche Academy is open to all Virginia library staff members and library associates such as trustees and Friends board members. If you do not have a Niche Academy account, please use your library email address to sign up. If you do not have a library work email, you may register with a personal email, and we will contact you to confirm that you are affiliated with a Virginia library.
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News from Library Development & Networking
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Promoting Universal Class
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Did you know that you can promote individual Universal Class courses? Directing users to specific classes can be a great way to get the word out to niche audiences about content in Universal Class that would be of interest to them.
In the Universal Class admin tool, click the Promote Courses button. In the window that opens up, you can either use the dropdown menu to look for a course url or download a spreadsheet with all the course urls.
From there, you can use these links to specific courses on your website, in eblasts, and on social media. You can gather multiple urls to create curated lists of classes around a particular topic or area of interest.
Each Virginia library has an admin account in Universal Class, so ask around your library to see who can help you get these links and use them to get the word out about all the great, free, online training that is available to your users.
Questions? Contact Barry Trott at LVA. |
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Strong Men & Women in Virginia History Travelling Exhibit Available
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Only 6 exhibition slots left!
The 2025 edition of Strong Men & Women in Virginia History, an annual travelling exhibition that honors African Americans for their contributions to the Commonwealth, is open for bookings! This is a pull-up banner exhibition created by the Library of Virginia and Dominion Energy.
Honorees for 2025 are:
Winsome Earle-Sears, Winchester, Lieutenant Governor Damien Geter, Chesterfield County, Composer, Conductor, and Bass-Baritone Kelly L. Knight, Fairfax County, Professor and Forensic Scientist Virginia Young Lee, Roanoke, Librarian Don Scott, Portsmouth, Legislator and Speaker of the House of Delegates
For more information about bringing this exhibit to your library, please email Barbara C. Batson, Exhibitions Coordinator, Library of Virginia.
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Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death |
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March is the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech at Virginia’s Second Revolutionary Convention, held in what is now known as St. John's Church, in Richmond.
The Library of Virginia has added new entries on Patrick Henry’s speech and other events of the Revolutionary War era to Document Bank of Virginia, our online resource for teachers and students.
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Virginia Humanities Juneteenth Sponsorship Awards |
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Virginia Humanities is seeking applications for grants to provide funding for Juneteenth programming happening in communities across Virginia.
Libraries are eligible for these grants as units of municipal government or as 501(c)3 organizations.
The awards are up to $2,000 and may not exceed more than 50% of an event’s total operating budget.
Deadline for applications is 3/31/2025 |
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Virginia Humanities is also sponsoring grants supporting events around the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
Applicants may apply for up to $10,000, and a 1:1 match is required. Funding decisions will be made by the VA250 Commission. |
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Libraries are eligible as units of municipal government or as 501(c)3 organizations.
Eligible projects could include:
Community forums and public discussions, including book or film discussion programs Community history projects, including oral histories Exhibits—physical and/or online Festivals and interpretive performances Lectures and lecture series Deadline for applications is 5/16/2025 |
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Readers' Advisory Tips and Tricks
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RUSA Book and Media Awards |
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Every winter, ALA's Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) announces a host of awards for books and audiobooks across genres and topic areas. These titles represent the best books published in the previous year, and can serve as great readers' advisory (and collection development) tools
From outstanding genre fiction to best reference books, the RUSA Book and Media Awards offer a wonderful selection of titles to recommend to your reading community. |
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Check out all the great award titles: |
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Virginia Library Projects
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From the editor: This is a new feature in the newsletter to share interesting projects that Virginia libraries are implementing to improve access to resources or improve services to users. If you are interested in sharing a project your library is doing, please reach out to Barry Trott, barry.trott@lva.virginia.gov, to discuss writing it up.
This month's feature is from Nottoway County Public Library and looks at thow they are using programming to promote library collections. For more information, contact Nottoway Library Director Jackie Zataweski, jzataweski@nottlib.org.--Ed. |
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Promoting Databases through Programs
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In a rural county such as Nottoway in south central Virginia, it's difficult to effectively communicate all that the library has to offer. Whether it’s flyers posted locally, press releases, or social media posts, there’s no single way to reach everybody, or even the majority of our service population. Many of our community members think of libraries as they used to be; if they're not readers, they're not likely to visit and so do not have that opportunity to learn about all that is available to them. They don't know about other resources, so they don't visit. They don't visit, so they (frequently) don't know about those things we offer beyond books.
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One way we have worked to get out of this catch-22 situation is to offer programs community members might not expect to find at their local library. We've offered seasonal nine hole putt-putt golf courses, we continue to offer weekly yoga instruction, and we have offered escape rooms. All of these have brought in people who are new to us, and many of them have signed up for cards and have continued visiting.
In the fall of 2024, the Nottoway County Public Library System offered its first escape room, and the majority of those who passed through the doors were new to our library. Wanting them to get an idea of all that we have to offer, we plotted their escape route to go through every area of the library, and we made it necessary for them to visit and search our catalog.
Before opening the event to the public, we asked a member of the Friends group to test it out to ensure no mistakes had been made while creating the puzzles. That Friend happens to be the Nottoway County High School librarian, and after she’d finished the trial run, she asked if we could plan a similar program for use in her library. We talked it through and set some goals; she wanted to make sure that her students were familiar with not only her library, but with the resources available from Find It VA.
The plan is for the “escape” to take place during club time, and if all goes well, it will be used to familiarize freshmen with library resources at the beginning of the next academic year. Some students will be directed to use NoveList Plus to find title read-alikes; others will need to create custom blends or peruse the Must-Read lists. We plan to ensure the students are - or become - aware of the resources to be found on Explora, too. In one version, they will first be instructed to select Life Skills and then be told to visit Financial Literacy. Students taking another path who initially visit the Health topic will next visit a sub-topic like Relationships or Hot Topics.
Looking ahead, I’m thinking about how to shine a light on other resources in this way. Do high school students - or our patrons - realize how many titles are available from Magzter? Or that JobNow’s SkillSurfer offers lessons on time management and media literacy? Do they realize they can learn ASL at no cost to them on Transparent Language? Probably not. Should they? Absolutely! |
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Featured Virginia Programs
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Loudoun County Public Library
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Makerspace for ESOL Learners |
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As part of Loudoun County Public Library's ESOL programs, the Adult Services Department partnered with our Makerspace staff to do monthly "Makerspace" projects to help the patrons become more comfortable using the space while practicing English.
Projects we have done include ink transfer to a puzzle, embroidery, glass etching, making an iPad stand with the Carvey, and creating and applying a vinyl decal to a glass tumbler using the Cameo Cutter.
We create a handout with basic English vocabulary words and step-by-step directions. Patrons work with each other and staff to make that month's project. |
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For more info, contact Allison Forbes, allison.forbes@loudoun.gov
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Books and Brews was a brand-new event for the Lynchburg Public Library, combining the feel of an adult book fair with a neighborhood block party. We hosted activities such as a book swap, book-themed trivia, book-and-beer pairings, and genre themed tables. The library partnered with Parks and Recreation, Economic Development and Tourism, and the Downtown Lynchburg Association and the event was held on a Thursday evening at our community market. A local brewery sold beer and local vendors joined, offering cozy reading-related goods. It was a wonderful way to share our love for books with the community.
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For more info, contact Beverly Blair, beverly.blair@lynchburgva.gov
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Recent articles on topics of interest to Adult Services |
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This newsletter is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. It is published by the Library of Virginia Library Development and Networking Division.
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