 All right everyone, this is Michael Christa and Laura at the Nebraska Library Commission if you are just joining us We are in the last hour. I almost feel like I'm announcing a telethon at this point With our oh no, it was free didn't cost you a thing just some of your time And I got to say this has been one of the most amazing days I've had in quite a while Again hashtag BTSL we are recording all of this and if you have any questions Go ahead and submit that in the questions area. Thanks one last time to our sponsors Crosponsors ARSL library renewal all this put together through through the graciousness of the folks who said Yeah, that sounds like a great idea to us here at the Nebraska Library Commission I'm just gonna start with a quick story leading in And yes, thank you to all the speakers. Thank you Christa one last time I Will say some of our presenters from in talking to them This was one of the first presentations they've given and I think I just do a round of applause Everybody has done an amazing job Yes, and and to my little story here and coming up on the at the end of January I was still trying to fill all the slots for this Event and I had the last slot of the day and I walked over to Laura's office I said we still need somebody at the end of the day to close this off and she said well, you know this morning I saw that they just announced the 2012 best library in America From library journal and it's the independence public library in Kansas and I went oh Could that be more perfect or not? So I I use the Google machine and I found the website for the independence library in Kansas And I got a hold of their director Julie Hildebrand who I am going to Bring up here in just a moment Yeah, there there's give me one sec here audio You know you think I'd be good at this by the end of the day here Okay, we're seeing we're seeing your screens and I've unmuted your mic Julie. Are you there? I'm here. Okay, and your slides are working. So Well, well, well, just a minute isn't watching right now. Um, we're having some technical issues earlier So Julie, I am I want to thank you for doing this for us Congratulations on best small library in America 2012 and I'm just gonna let you go right ahead and share your story with us Okay, thank you I'm very excited and honored to be asked to give this presentation and I want to thank Michael for inviting me to participate My name is Julie Hildebrand and I am the director of the independence public library in Independence, Kansas And as you've heard our library was chosen as the 2012 best small library in America First I'd like to share a little bit about our library's history We received funds from a quality of life bond issue in 2007 and we're able to open our newly expanded library which increased our public service area by over 300% We were fortunate to have a library director who had previous experience building new library facilities He brought ideas to our library that have made our building perfect as a community center Second, I'd like to tell you a little bit about our town Independence is a beautiful rural community with a population of just under 10,000 We have a strong unified community that prides itself on being family oriented and being hometown proud The down the downturn in the economy has hit us very hard We actually have one of the highest unemployment rates in the state So now I'm going to tell you a horror story with a happy ending Our story may not be exactly like yours, but you may be facing many of the same problems. I Started as the library director in October of 2009 When I saw the financial statements for the first time I was in shock I could not believe what I was seeing. I Realized that we didn't have enough cash on hand to continue business as usual We would not be able to keep our library open through the end of the year Unless we acted swiftly I called in all the financial officers that we worked with From the city our district and our library board. We brainstormed ideas on how to avert this crisis It came down to drastic cuts and difficult decisions As a service organization our largest expense is personnel So the first thing we had to do was to cut about half of our staff We have put a freeze on all spending even taking on our own maintenance Which in turn had an effect on the local economy So what was the cause of this catastrophe? It was due in part to reduced income because of increased delinquent taxes This of course was an effect of the Great Recession There was also a dramatic increase in unexpected expenses We were in a fairly new building, but we had multiple repairs on our new equipment that of course had just gone out of warranty Only through clear lines of communication and transparency Were we able to survive and now thrive? But as you can imagine this caused very low morale among our staff Due to reduced staff everyone had to take on more responsibility This of course had an effect on morale On any given day you might come to our library and see the network administrator mowing the lawn Or the library director cleaning the toilets We also had to put a freeze on all vacations during the holiday season So how do you raise morale under these conditions? First of all the staff that remained on board were hand-picked due to their positive attitudes and their willingness to do anything That needed to be done to benefit our library We created a new teamwork approach No more micromanaging and no more stringent rules As the director I still oversee and approve projects, but I definitely don't dictate and remove This is not only less stressful for the staff. It's a heck of a lot less stressful for the director Train and then trust that is our new team slogan. This is our team We have eight full-time team members We now have a brief staff meeting each morning where we find out what is happening that day or that week and How we can help each other with our different projects We also have a weekly programming meeting where we brainstorm ideas Work out all the details of each project and the marketing tools that we will use We also delegate duties to all team members so that we all share the workload Another important aspect of the meeting is to work together to develop partnerships within the community that bring our ideas to life These meetings also create teamwork and forge close relationships We also have three part-time team members Joe now is our newest member who helps us with interlibrary loans and transfers These have increased dramatically since we have become a part of our system consortium Like many libraries throughout the country We're experiencing a higher demand for our services during these difficult economic times As a community center, we not only have an increase in circulation But we also have become a place for social connection when we opened our new building We have more computers more computers brought more kids and more kids created more problems They were carving in our new furniture Vandalizing our elevator and generally just running a muck There was even physical and verbal abuse toward one another and toward the staff We spoke with local law enforcement, but like us they were understaffed. So what was the answer? At that time we decided that we would hire a security guard When we had to cut expenses the security guard had to go But that wasn't all bad With the security guard at the library things had calmed down, but the library just didn't have that friendly atmosphere So we had to be innovative and we decided we'd move YA away from the adult area So that the teens have more room and freedom to socialize and As Diane said in the previous presentation, we too found that our teens were being underserved We decided to cut expenses further in order to have the funds to hire a new part-time team librarian Who could engage the teens in a safe monitoring environment? It was so effective that we have suits made that position full-time While things aren't perfect where there was once a stern security guard, we now have smiling teens Everywhere we turned we found new problems When we called the local police department about some homeless men that were sleeping in the bamboo behind the library They told us that they would have to that we would have to issue a restraining order for them to be able to do anything about it Well, we didn't want to prevent them from using the library. We just wanted to prevent them from camping in our backyard So first thing we did was we cut down the bamboo But then they started hanging outside the front of the library all day long So we told them that we had a policy against loitering and while we wanted them to be able to use the library We didn't want them sitting outside all day Well, they were very upset one of them even came in and looked up the word loitering to see what it meant They went and complained to a local minister The church representatives then came to our library angry that we were not allowing the homeless to use our library Well, after we cleared up that misunderstanding We asked them to speak with these men and explain that we're not the enemy and That we want them to be able to use our library, but it must be in a proper way Now they are regular patrons who come in daily and benefit tremendously from our services Instead of being entirely focused on the library We decided to fully integrate into the community which hadn't been done in the past We encourage staff to join local civic groups so that the library has a presence in the community and at local events This was done out of selfishness We use these opportunities to promote our library to recruit volunteers and to create lasting partnerships Some of our best programs have been by volunteers who we have met at these meetings and Getting involved with city events is the perfect way to get the library out into the public and It's a lot of fun in the past. We tried to get involved with the Chamber of Commerce We hosted a chamber after hours, but unlike local businesses. We couldn't serve alcohol We found that most chamber members felt that the event was boring and lackluster We went to our city commission and got approval to serve wine and beer at the library during adult programming when it was appropriate We have since served alcohol at several events including a special ladies night out a local business that makes candles came in and After a night of fun food music and trivia our ladies all went home with the handcrafted candle that they made themselves And our local business ended up with new potential customers Not only that but the library some many new faces and I have to admit I love my new candle The needs in the community can change as quickly as the weather It is one of my most fervent beliefs that libraries need to remain flexible and be willing to change as the needs in your community change For example after we won the American Dreams Fertiture Library Grant, which allowed us to offer ESL classes We were surprised to see people from Colombia, Burma, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Afghanistan, Guatemala and Turkey To name a few all coming into our library We were excited But then we began to hear comments of cultural intolerance within our community When we realized that there was a need to create programming that introduced the public to cultural diversity and to promote tolerance We began what we call our meet me in series Where volunteers in our community come to the library and present information about the countries where they are from or have traveled to At each program we also offer cultural refreshments Our first meet me in program was Mexico We had a local Mexican restaurant that donated a huge five gallon bucket of salsa We don't have to tell you we have plenty of that left over This has become one of our most successful adult programs It's a great way for people to learn about another cup country and culture and the food is always great One of our new ideas is called club to cafe a Social and cultural club for speakers of Spanish and those who would like to learn Spanish We meet once a month for people to practice their English and Spanish skills in a friendly casual environment We also offer mango languages Which allows our patrons to learn 54 languages from any internet connection just with their library card You can now even learn to speak pirate and Since my daughter is deaf. I was thrilled to hear that soon they will be offering sign language as well We love to mango One of the most special things about independence is that we host the largest celebration in Kansas called Neowalla This is Halloween spelled backwards So every year as the nights get darker and the days get colder the library gets in the Halloween spirit, too Together with the friends of the library and our local animal shelter a wall We host ghost stories in the park Spooky tales are told for all ages hot beverages are served and in exchange for bales of hay that the audience sit on Our local animal shelter received supplies Which are the suggested but never required admission fee So for a roll of paper towels people in our community can experience a unique Halloween treat Another need we saw in our community was for an annual Christmas event with a community tree and fun for the kids But it needed a library hook We decided that for each book that a child read in the month of November that they would earn a library buck The money they earned reading books could then be used to buy gifts for their friends and family at our new Christmas tree lighting and holiday festival This was much more successful than we ever could have imagined It is like putting on another summer reading program because the kids read thousands of books during the month of November to earn their bucks There was no way that the library could afford to put on a wonderful program like this and be able to provide Gifts for all the books read So we hit the ground running We received donations from local businesses and with generous support from the friends of the library We are now able to do this program annually So every year the people in our community to enjoy a performance by our award-winning high school ensemble See the lighting of our beautiful 16-foot Christmas tree and they get to eat all the homemade Christmas cookies that they want There is always fun things for the kids at the holiday festival But this year we wanted to offer something for the adults while the kids were enjoying their activities We decided to incorporate a holiday market We invited local artists to set up booths with items for sale We wanted this to help promote local business. So we did not charge any fee Next year we plan to offer a civic group fair Where they will be able to set up a booth and share information with the public about their organizations and offer door prizes The festival continues to grow in popularity In 2011 we had over 500 people that came to our library to enjoy the festivities One thing I would like to mention is that we rely solely on volunteers to help us run this event Without their dedication, we would never be able to pull off a festival this size at our library These are a few of the programs that we have had recently or have will have coming up soon You may feel that your library wouldn't be able to conduct programming on the scale because You already have so much to do But you can do it too by developing partnerships with local businesses, citizens, civic groups, and city officials Who are usually very willing to conduct programs at the library for the public By becoming involved with organizations in your community You become aware of diverse needs that you can address Such as helping people save money by using an extreme couponer to teach a program on couponing Or offering help with employment by having an employment agency conduct a workshop on interviewing skills The possibilities are endless If you develop partnerships with local businesses, you not only help your local economy But you help your library by advocating that you are an indispensable community center One of the needs we have seen in our community is the need for summer programs that the entire family can enjoy Our school district had to cancel summer school for the past two years due to reduced funding So we have focused on filling this gap Some people may ask what having the food theme carnival has to do with library services Well, I would tell them that young families are the future and if we don't get them involved in using our library We become irrelevant When we offer these programs we see our regular patrons, but we always have new people signing up for library cards We often have people who are astounded at all the fun things that our library has to offer The more people you have using the library for whatever reason, the more support that you will see in your community The way you advertise the program can make or break it An eye-catching poster or handout is one of the most important aspects of marketing This is one of my favorite handouts We had a local comic artist, Mike Hall, design this super cool advertising tool That targets teens to get them motivated to participate in our new year-long nutrition program that we call kids versus plants The kids are very excited about it and so are we When you design a year-long program, it's important to design a handout like this to let them know what's happening Keeping things consistent helps It is also important to remain flexible because as we all know stuff happens And you also need to realize that not every program will be successful, but honestly don't sweat it If you don't try new things, you will miss out on so many opportunities Take your library apart piece by piece And figure out how you can use social networking to promote awareness for all your services By putting all the pieces back together using a social network, it creates a new organism that includes not only the library But thousands of other people from everywhere Now I'm going to show you our library cat Trixie's blog and Facebook page To give you an idea of how you can create a rapport with your patrons So this is Trixie's blog Here she says, in case you didn't know, I'm the library cat at the Independence Public Library in Kansas Thanks to me, the library was named the 2012 Best Small Library in America And here is Trixie's Facebook page And as you can see, we have patrons that comment or like nearly all of the posts Here she said, we play music in the library, but not my favorite kind, which is punk rock We had six people that liked this comment Trixie has a number of faithful followers that read her pages daily Trixie's blog and Facebook page are updated by Trixie with the help of our children's librarian, Glenn Sheffield Your Facebook page doesn't have to just list your programs, like book discussion tonight, 7.30 Ask questions, share interesting stories and links, whatever you can do to get the conversation started We play a lot of Facebook trivia and give out prizes that are donated by local businesses It's a win-win You are no longer just a building full of books Interaction gives your library a beating heart One of the things we have been trying to do was to design an advocacy campaign for our library We spent many hours shouting out slogans like, get brain punched at the library Honestly, most of our ideas really sucked Then, OCLC created the Geek the Library campaign, which was the solution to our dilemma I'm just going to share one of their videos with you My best friend asked me to join his jump rope team in high school I thought it was a joke at first A year later, we were performing at NFL stadiums Jump rope requires athleticism, precision and creativity When you get that adrenaline rush from performing in front of a thousand people, you know you love what you're doing My name's Nathan and I geek jump ropeing And then at this is geekthelibrary.org And this is the public website If you go to get.geekthelibrary.org This is their website for librarians Once you sign up to participate, they send you a kit to get you started Loaded with promotional items like t-shirts, posters, bumper stickers and more Anything and everything that you will need for an effective advocacy campaign is included in their website We couldn't be happier with our geekthelibrary campaign People are excited and constantly asking us for geekthelibrary promotional items One of the best investments we ever made is our button machine It hasn't earned much income as a fundraiser, but it's been priceless in advertising for our library We make buttons for all of our major programs and hand them out when we go to community events We have also created several designs that we sell at the circulation desk I always get a kick out of seeing our buttons when I'm out and about in independence All of our hard work has paid off We hear positive comments about our library every day We finally feel like we're a part of the community and we've been welcomed with open arms Even during these tough times in our community Our community supported an increase in our budget so we can expand our hours and continue to offer our great services How to prepare for your presentation to funding authorities is quite involved And I won't go into that now But I will have some information available online for you and I'm going to share that link later And because of our community involvement, our friends organization received a substantial endowment Which we hope will allow us to do even more None of this would have happened without effective advocacy and partnerships And if we can do it, I know that you can do it too But it's just it's not just your local community that can help you A couple of our best resources are the state library and our regional library system Our system library offers grants advice and support which has been a tremendous resource for us Without help from our system director and consultants Things around here would be much different We have also joined our regional consortium Which has allowed us to offer an expanded level of service that we could not have afforded otherwise Writing a grant can be very intimidating But honestly, it's easier than it looks Again, if we can do it, you can do it And when your funding sources see that you're exploring additional funding options They are going to be more inclined to support you I had no experience in writing grants But I was still able to pick up skills and have been awarded some very nice ones Be creative, brainstorm ideas, collaborate And if you need help, there's a webinar for that One of the reasons we have been so successful is that we have a very supportive board I keep them informed about all the good stuff Let them know about the not so good stuff And try to keep it interesting and fun At your board meetings, try to bring some new information to share with them That will help them to be more effective in their roles I am constantly learning about what the board's role is and the librarian's role And when those lines get crossed, it can create chaos Be a particular who you recommend for your board Getting one negative voice brings the whole vibe down Check to see if your state library offers public library board certification And get your board certified Even if your state doesn't offer certification It's important to offer training and orientation for your trustee One great resource that we've used is called trustee trouble Created by the Wyoming State Library These fun innovative videos have been a hit with our board members To remain relevant, libraries must keep up with technology We are in an information age where people can transfer information freely And have instant access to information that would have been difficult Or impossible previously This digital revolution has changed our economy and our workforce As libraries, we need to be aware of this evolution And provide access to information in ways that the public expect and need Not only that, we must help with workforce development As jobs that will traditionally middle class Are beginning to disappear because of outsourcing and automation These workers must learn new technologies to remain employable Or many times they have to settle for low wage jobs or remain unemployed One great resource to help with this issue is Web Junction Web Junction's project compass program Is to help support public libraries efforts to make the urgent and going needs Of communities impacted by the economic downturn Sometimes people expect librarians to know everything We know that that's not possible, but with the right resources we can certainly try Like many library directors and small libraries, I do not have my MLS My background is in business, accounting and computer science Although it is my goal to earn my master's degree I have to ask myself what will benefit our library more now Spending my time working toward my degree Or taking classes and training that will teach me the skills that I need to know now One of the things that I admire most about this profession is the collaboration This online conference is a perfect example of timely instruction that will benefit our library now Before I was asked to be a speaker, we have already signed up three of our staff members to attend We take advantage of continuing education opportunities for all of our staff One of our future goals is to partner with the Science and Technology Center here in Independence To create our own fab lab Lauren, I want to thank you for your inspiring presentation I had previously viewed your YouTube videos about the fab lab in Fayetteville, New York And was so excited, I've been telling everyone I know about MakerBots There are some kids that come to our library that have advanced computer skills I would love to see what they can do if they were allowed to test out new cutting edge technologies Every day there is a new opportunity, challenge or experience Embrace change, try new things, explore opportunities I am setting up a new blog that I'll use to share many of the resources that have helped us It will be 2012 BSL for bestsmalllibrary.blogspot.com I will post a copy of this presentation for you to review, including my notes that coincide with all the slides And I'll try and keep this updated with more information and current information as we find new things And hopefully you will share resources with us that have helped your library Feel free to email me with any comments or questions And you can friend me on Facebook, I tend to share a lot of library-related links on my personal Facebook page Our library's website is iplks.org You can find links to our social media, our new online book discussions And all of our new program information This is our next Meet Me In program, Meet Me in Iran on March 1st We're looking forward to that I love working as a librarian, you know there are bad days and it's not always easy But I tell you it is never boring Facing difficulties with a positive attitude, creating a collaborative environment And fostering teamwork will help all of us be successful So I hope this horror story with a happy ending has inspired you And has shown how a library can come back from the dead So now I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have Julie, thank you so much, that was wonderful I will tell everybody listening that as I asked each of our speakers I kind of suggested a topic Or you know I heard you're going on this topic So I really had, at this end we didn't have really any idea what all of our speakers were going to be actually saying We didn't see their slides in advance, we just had a general topic And Julie that was spectacular, it tied it all together I think wonderfully We're just going to sit and look at each other here going, this was perfect And to all of our speakers it's been wonderful I do believe we have a couple of questions for Julie A couple of questions, some rather practical nitty gritty kind of questions When you have the events where you serve alcohol, how do you handle the insurance? Insurance? Okay I guess it's going to take your locality We have a staff member who checks IDs We only allow people in the program that are 21 and older We only serve half a glass usually per person So there's really no issues And the city commission has approved that we can serve alcohol here at the library Yeah, check with your local constabulary or city council or whatever as to what the rules are in your location I would believe Where was, I think it was in the Chicago suburbs where you could get a one event liquor license Omaha Public does that too? Yes, that's where it is They can get a one day liquor license, so maybe that's something that people do Okay, we have somebody who wonders about the security guard You said at one point that you had one, but you kind of had to let him go Have you had more security issues or do you feel that you've handled them now or have you rehired a guard? We have not rehired a guard and we don't plan to Actually, we've moved the teen area up to the third floor They have more room up there They can make more noise And it doesn't affect all the rest of the library We also have the full-time librarian who's right there with them And so she's able to handle most everything Of course we still do have some issues and sometimes we have to ask the kids to leave the library But it's a lot less often than it was in the past Great, somebody is saying was there one particular program that helped you, that you feel helped you get the 2012 small libraries award? Well, it was a number of things If you go to their website, you'll see what the requirements are And one of the things I think that they were looking for was a library that was a community center And a lot of the things that I mentioned in the program today has to do with how we are providing services to our community More than just your typical library And I think that's one of the things they were looking for Also, we provided a number of statistics which I think they were pretty impressed with We were involved in the impact study which was a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation study And that talked about the technology usage in our library and it was pretty impressive It surprised us even Great Okay, and I have a comment here, thanks for the ideas, Julie I just started at my library two months ago and I'm feeling like I'm bringing it back from the dead So thanks again So you've been an inspiration Yeah, you're welcome Well, anything I can do to help Okay, someone is especially interested in your program called Sunflowers and Stories and the oral history street fair Can you tell, say a little bit more about that? Well, the Sunflowers and Stories is a fairly new program This will be our second year We have, this year we're going to have a professional storyteller come and tell stories We do this outside and then afterwards she's going to be conducting a storytelling workshop for local teachers and librarians in our area We also have a number of sunflower related crafts and games like a sunflower seed spinning contest and things like that So the kids absolutely love it They have a lot of fun They have a lot of fun What was the other program? The oral history street fair What was the other program? The oral history street fair Yes, this is something brand new that we haven't done yet but that we're planning on And we plan on closing off the street in front of the library And setting up groups where patrons can come and scan documents, will record family histories That we'll be able to take photographs and record audio as well And we're just in the planning stages So we're not exactly sure what all we'll be doing But we'll be partnering with a number of organizations and independents And it will be an annual event Sounds great Anything else? No more audience questions? Not at the moment Alright Julie, thank you one more time That was wonderful Really appreciate all the time and the effort that you put into this And congratulations on the award Most definitely Thank you For finding the time to do this for us So with that folks, I think we are going to wrap up the day We've never done an eight hour webinar before And so let me just do a little bit of a switch around here And we're going to put that there You're not showing anything Okay sorry, all that There we go We want to thank everybody who attended today This was something that we've been putting together over the last couple of months A bunch of work went into it And we were hoping we would pull off the day with kind of a minimal amount of technical difficulty And I think we hit the threshold of minimal amount of technical difficulty A couple of issues here and there But we got around them and actually pretty much stayed on schedule That's the other thing Thank you again to all the speakers for helping us to do that I want to thank again ARSL and Library Renewal Our co-sponsors for helping us with marketing and putting this show together And special thanks to the folks here at the Nebraska Library Commission For allowing us to put this together Laura, Krista, and I I think all appreciate that We have been according to the software recording all of this So everybody cross your fingers And we'll see tomorrow morning how the recording and the processing of the recording happens And then we get to start editing this all down So please give us some time to get the presentations together The extra links together Especially the videos with our travel schedules and things coming up It might take possibly up to three weeks But we will get stuff up online as fast as possible About an hour after we finish this Everybody who registered and attended and logged in Will receive an email that is your kind of proof of attendance Should you need that for any sort of CE from your state And also we'll contain a link to a survey monkey survey evaluation of the event We really do want to hear from you about what you thought of that If for some reason you don't get that email First thing tomorrow morning we'll make sure that on the website As we're showing you here now That we will get a link to that survey up Everybody got the login emails Somebody's probably not going to get the evaluation email The system does what it does And you know spam filters catch it and things like that So Krista or Laura do you have anything Have I missed anything do you think No it's been a great day I hope people have enjoyed it as much as we did Oh I'm jazzed I thought I was going to be okay I'm exhausted I will admit that I'm running this thing But I'm just really excited And yeah I picked up some great ideas Krista do you want to say anything You're good thank you she's smiling So we'll do that Alright thank you very much We're going to officially call this a day and an event Thank you all for attending And we will go to webinar kind of up and running for the next few minutes As people log in Do you have a last question that says Next to your question mark Next to your question mark I got to tell you I'm excited This both took more and less work than you might expect On things Let's just say I have intentions It's not out of the realm of possibility Yes it has been discussed And we're going to go through the evaluations One of the questions on the e-mail is If we did this again what would you like to hear about So we are actually considering it So ask us again after we've had a good night's sleep Which really would like to hear your evaluations Because actually that's probably what will determine whether we do it again Next year And do check back on the website That's where the recordings will be When we get them edited And if we have more news We'll probably put them there And there will be a presentation page My plan is to kind of have a page for each session Underneath that where we'll have the recordings We generally do audio versions Links, PowerPoints Anything we can get from our presenters We'll coordinate with them And just look for it there We have no intention of taking the site down in the near future And if we do it again We'll probably just continue using the same site So thank you all It was a wonderful day We're going to go ahead and stop the recording And say goodbye Thanks a lot