 Are we good? Yeah. Hi. All right. Everybody. Thanks for joining us today. I'm David Kealy with cornerstones of science We are one of about four or five organizations that are involved with NASA at my library It is a five-year project. We're in year three Other organizations that are involved the lead organization. It's a space science Institute out in Colorado with a National Center for Interactive learning EDC is the project evaluator and NASA naturally is really interested to know whether we're having the intended impact that we hope to be having through NASA at library We have the Pacific Science Center is also a partner in this COSLA the chief officers of state library agencies is also very involved and you can see here on this slide that we have a Number of state library agencies that are involved all these acronyms across the bottom there are 18 of them and we also have 75 public library 49 states, so we Were well into the project. We're delighted that you could join us today Vivian and Heather are going to really help us understand how it is you can bring space science experts into your public libraries And with that I turn it back to Vivian Right It would you like me to go ahead and start talking about the NASA night sky network? Sure. Is that all right? I think that's our next slide here. Let's see how that works. No, that would have been too easy to shakes Right So welcome everybody. I am so excited to partner with the libraries across the country. My name is Vivian Met many of you a minute ago. I'm with the NASA night sky network at the astronomical Society of the Pacific here in San Francisco and The NASA night sky network has been around about 15 years and we are a group of about 440 amateur astronomy clubs across the country and amateur has have any of you ever worked with amateur astronomy clubs? You can say so in the chat if so They are some of the most dedicated enthusiastic space science nerds enthusiasts I use nerds in a kind way being one myself and and we are Thrilled to share the night sky the day sky And space science specifically NASA space science with the general public So I've got on the slide here a few different Resources that you can use to reach out to amateur astronomers in your area a Couple of things on the bottom right. You'll see the network of All the different clubs if you go to the home page Two shakes Let's see if that works There you go you go to the home page you can see on the right hand side You can put in your zip code in your current location and find the closest amateur astronomy club to you there are they are all over the country as you saw on the map and You can find upcoming events that they're having and also just Clubs that are near you who would might be available to come and be a resource for your library So just going back a couple of things that you can do you can certainly from the Web page many of them will allow you to request an event Directly it's great to go and check out one of their local events to see what kind of things are going on to see what they're already offering It's a nice way to give your patrons something to do after you Have some kind of space event say hey if you're really interested and you want to learn more go check out your local amateur astronomy club they have Telescopes and usually speaker sessions so you can learn a lot about astronomy with a lot of other enthusiasm that way the night sky network though is more than just a Depot for amateur astronomers. We also have a lot of outreach resources. So from that front page you can find many dozens and dozens of Informal astronomy activities a lot of those are great for use in libraries. So if you search for libraries You'll find quite a few different Activities designed specifically for use in libraries including connecting them with books and How to partner well with what with your amateur astronomy club if you're a library some things to consider There's also a night sky planner So if you're looking for this year for things you'd like to do space related You can look up things that are happening this month. You can look up things that are happening this year You can see what the sky will be like in your area when there's going to be the next full moon for example things like that The night sky planner gives you all sorts of great resources for finding out what's up in the night sky There's also on the 15th of every month. We publish a one-page Article called night sky notes that is just Telling about what is what are some great things to see in the night sky in the next month and how NASA science is related to those things? so There we go So you're welcome to the little bit.ly right below that bit.ly slash night sky notes is the way to get there You can see the most recent one that just went up last week and Oh One other thing on here. I was going to show you in the middle here are lots of Handouts you can find handouts if there is if there's a moon Observing night or if there's a meteor shower coming up You can find handouts that are very easy just to pass out to your audience that allow them to know more Information about what's going on in the night sky. So there are a lot of different resources I would say that the amateur astronomers are some of the best. They love to bring their telescopes out. They're often keen to have an ask an astronomer Evening or set up a small presentation or do some outreach activities the night sky network provides the amateur clubs with Activities and demonstrations that they can do with the general public and so that's an Easy way for them to connect and do some activities that have been tested all over the country and are easy for the public to understand So that is probably I think all I have for the amateurs Heather and I have put together a document that we'll be sending out afterwards that have tips for partnering with amateur astronomers and solar system ambassadors So with that, I think I'll stop sharing and see Heather if you want to go after me, I'm gonna Take a look at the chat, which I couldn't see while I was on here But I love that so many amateur astronomy clubs are working with libraries already. That's great One thing I didn't mention is there are also many Library telescope programs and there's information on that if you look up library telescope program You can find plenty of information where you can have a library and Telescope to check out in your library. I definitely Recommend that if at all possible. So I'll stop there and hand it over to Heather. Are you on? Yes? Can you hear me? Great. Yeah, great. And you want to share your screen? I will do. Thanks for that Vivian That's awesome as always Let's see. I guess I'm gonna share desktop one Let's see All right, can you see my screen? Looking good. All right So I would work with the solar system ambassador program, which is very similar to the night sky network and my name's Heather Doyle I also have another person Kay Ferrari who's been working on the program for about 20 years now since its inception So she's also a big part of the solar system ambassador program But we have about a thousand volunteers nationwide and they are individuals who are basically NASA in your neighborhood So they get science briefings directly from NASA scientists and engineers on a monthly basis Usually two to three a month With the latest in NASA science as well as we do Obviously like with the Apollo 50th. They're they're getting briefings about that and looking back as well as looking forward So these folks were hand-chosen. They went through a very rigorous application process to become a solar system ambassador Now we call their references and everything And then they're continuously trained on NASA science and then they're tasked to run four events a year So that's part of what their requirements are for volunteering So an event could be with a library obviously and they already do partner with a lot of libraries But also with schools with troops with clubs So there's about I think in the last 20 years. I just look this up There have been over 43,000 events by ambassadors reaching over eight point two million people directly So they're well-versed well-trained and ready to help you with all of your events so I wanted to kind of Share with you a couple of things a couple of ways to get To find your local ambassador and then some of the resources that they have once you find them So we have our website, which actually I'll warn you we're going to get an upgrade this year, but if you go to Solar system dot nasa.gov SSA it will take you to our solar system ambassador website where you can watch this video of an ambassador So you can kind of get a gist of what they do and then if you want to find an ambassador near you Or if you want to find an event near you, which you probably wouldn't but it's just another resource The general public can use to find events that ambassadors are running and if you have an event at the library you could advertise it there but mostly you'll be clicking on the directory and Here is a list as it is by state so you can look up ambassadors by state or if you happen to know an ambassador's name You can look it up by name So it's taking a little while to load But there you can see all the pins just in California alone You have a lot of ambassadors and when you find one that's near you and you want to click on the pin You'll see their picture And then when you when you click on that picture you see a little bio so you can learn about Where did they go to school? What was their degree in and you can look at some of the previous events that they've either hosted or been a part of So you can get a good gist of what this person is like I can see their address and remember you won't be able to see that but I'm logged in as an admin so You'll be able to contact them through a form that you'll see there That says email this ambassador So you'll click on that and you'll be able to send an email and then you can correspond directly in exchange You know phone numbers and stuff like that if you want to but we don't we just don't put their information out there for everybody to find of course So once you contact that ambassador As Vivian mentioned there are some tips that we put together for you so that you can have a really successful event So things that you need to coordinate with the ambassador like telling them what type of audience you have You know is it kids is it adults? Is there a specific theme that you'd like or would you like them to kind of come up with their own theme? So they they're very flexible and one of the other resources that they do have is we created a flyer for them So this image over here or this PDF is actually the front is just a general explanation of what the solar system ambassador program is But then the back is the what who went when where what why type of Where the event is happening so they have resources like this to be able to easily advertise the event So besides advertising on our website, they can give you a ready-made flyer And typically you can't use the NASA logo. So I got special permission on this one So that's that's kind of fun, but that just means no other logos can go on it. Unfortunately So with the ambassadors you can do just a one-off event or you can plan a series There you just have to work out with them exactly what they can do as far as time commitment But they are always really excited when you reach out to them because as I mentioned They have four events to do a year. So when you reach out to them, it helps them accomplish those It gives them one less thing to worry about and they love talking all things NASA so they're happy to come into the library and Help you with whatever you need One other thing I wanted to mention. I don't think it's on this here But if you have any other questions or if you have any Issues with reaching an ambassador sometimes we need to update their email address in the system You can always email me at Ambassador a m b a s s a d so it's like ambassador without the OR at Jpl.nasa.gov and that I think that website is actually on this page here So you can contact us and we'll help you find someone local as well But I think that's all I had to share on ambassadors Thank you so much Heather Okay, I think next we have Sarah post also from cornerstones of science and Sarah, can you let's see if we can hear you? Hello, how are you? Yeah, absolutely So I don't have any slides, but I'm gonna just really a quick hello from the NASA at my library project team and Cornerstones of science. I'm here in Brunswick, Maine. So not not so sunny today, but very very chilly Um But I just wanted to let you know that if you are in one of the 18 states that are part of the NASA at my library project they have two STEM facilitation kits that are available to public libraries They'll be circulating so you'll just need to request those from your state library agency I can just show you here. This is a STEM facilitation Guide for the first one. This is the Sun Earth Moon connections And the second kit is be a NASA detective Expanding your senses. So a lot of fun activities and science tools specifically for librarians or you can bring in and work with a Astronomical club member to come help you do activities or solar system ambassador that can help as well So I just want to let you guys know that those resources are available and you want to track those down with your state library agency or a lot of great activities through the STEM activity hearing house That's an online resource with lots of activities as well and I'm gonna put in the chat two links to the introductory videos of those two state kits for you guys to kind of watch a little bit of What's what's exactly in those kits? So you will track those down with your state library agencies and if you're not one of the 18 then Again, there's so many resources out there. You're gonna have fun Finding them on the STEM activity clearing house or working with the night sky network and the solar system ambassadors So and also one more thing quarter stones of science We do a library telescope program so you can maybe check us out online as well for your library telescope Thank you. Oh Excellent, that was me that wasn't muted. I was trying to mute everybody Thank you so much Sarah and I think we have one more presenter Kathy Lancaster Kathy. Can you introduce yourself? Sure, I'm Kathy Lancaster with the library of Michigan. I'm new services coordinator here for our statewide library services Department and we are one of the original four in the cohort of NASA at my library for state libraries And I believe now David correct me if I'm wrong that we are at 15 state library agencies 18 all together So Chances are your state library Might be participating and you probably heard about this webinar today through your state library But be sure to go to their website and take a look At your state library's site for more information on NASA at my library Including links to all these resources talked about today We link to the clearing house from star net libraries. We link to Sarah's videos and of course we link to night sky network and solar system ambassadors And so make sure you contact your local state library for information on that a lot of state libraries are offering training throughout their state on STEM and space science so Check in with them to see when the training might be coming to their area in Michigan We did those back in September and we trained nearly 200 librarians So it's really fun really exciting program and we're just grateful that NASA and Space Science Institute and everybody involved here Was looking to partner with libraries. So thanks so much This is great. Thank you everybody for joining us. Okay. I'm going to hop out of here So maybe you can see everybody else's picture Um Thank you. Thank you so much. I am really excited to be partnering with all of you And I hope that you have lots of good questions I see a few coming in if you have any more questions go ahead and put them in the Q&A section There and let's see Brittany says can we distribute the planner and monthly notes to the public absolutely please do we would love that You're welcome all of the NASA materials are free to the public You have paid for them already with your tax dollars and we thank you very very much Margaret talked about can we locate a bilingual English Spanish ambassador via the website and Heather did you want to take that? Sure? We do have some bilingual ambassadors and if you look at their bio You can usually tell it doesn't explicitly state it and that is actually a really good point for our new Website that we should have maybe a legend that says what languages they speak So thank you for bringing that up, but you can usually tell from their bio and But if you want specific help with that you can certainly email me at the address that I mentioned before Ambassador at jpl.nasa.gov and we can hook you up with someone. We know that specifically has those skills. I Wanted to mention to that Solar system ambassadors and night's my network club members. They are not doing this for the money This is actually something they do for the love of space and so that these are volunteers that you can ask to come to your libraries and But as such they are volunteers So there's not if there may be times that they can and can't make it So it's best to plan a little bit as early as early as possible I would give them at least a month notice, which is probably pretty good for Libraries who do planning pretty far ahead as well sometimes the schools they say hey, can you come on Tuesday? And that's that's a little hard sometimes to them to do because they are volunteers with day jobs and It would just love to share the night sky and astronomy so Also as such if there's any kind of thank you like a card that you Could get from the participants to sign it said hey, thanks for sharing your time and and your knowledge We really appreciate that I've seen some libraries who Check out an astronomer. I don't think that's actually the right term for it But they have an astronomer who comes kind of like they have a tax preparer who comes there's a name for that Trying to remember it like check out an expert When full of good information also, this is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing many of the amateur astronomers Began their obsession with space right around that time so many of them were young people at that time And now they have really amazing memories of what propelled them into space exploration So they might be really great people to have if you're having any sort of commemorative Talks about that they are really fabulous To share their knowledge around the 50th anniversary of the space exploration human space exploration Let's see. We have a couple more questions here Lori says to the clearing house help libraries get telescopes and libraries are libraries interested, but funding is tight Lori the clearing house Well, Sarah, did you want to talk about that? I think the clearing house Yeah, yeah, the stem activity clearing house is mainly a place to go find activities See how to how to do some of the activities they provide how-to videos You know, so it's not necessarily a place to go find library telescopes There's there's actually a number of library telescope programs throughout the US and some of them are, you know, local astronomy clubs who are either donating or Do mainly excelling at costs, you know a modified telescope so you can have a telescope in your library they'd either stays in your library for programming or You could even circulate them out to patrons like you do a book So there's quite a few programs if you need some help Finding one that's maybe local or again cornerstones works nationally So you can you can contact me if you want to find out more information about that But there's a great a number of great clubs for instance Aldridge Astronomical Society in Massachusetts has a huge program The St. Louis Sesh Phenomical Society. I could I could kind of go on and on but there are some really amazing ones that are Localized the New Hampshire Astronomical Society. So yeah, you can contact me or Again contact your local club to see if they have anything going on like that And let me jump in here on the question of funding. Um, so your state library might be doing Grants through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. So check with your LSTA grants coordinator at your city library. And I will mention that the fund scope that goes in the via Detective via NASA detective. I believe that was what Sarah was that that's around $90 It's pretty expensive and we like that one. It's just it's a small telescope, but It's a good starter one to just kind of you know, not not it's not huge Kind of feel okay, especially if you're new at it And then a typical library telescope that a lot of the libraries are using is a what we call a 4.5 inch and It's also not not all that big but just a little bit bigger and You it's a mighty one I tell you you can have a lot of success and I think that's the key To using a telescope or binoculars is that you're successful with it in a short amount of time and again a lot of these Astronomical clubs are using the that specific 4.5 inch telescope as the library telescope Go to because it is so so powerful and small and that one typically ranges I think anywhere from 200 to To 350 depending on if you're gonna get a fully modified and you know books that go with it and everything so yeah So a lot of public libraries here in Michigan Have access to LST LST a grant funding right now the applications are coming in and that will be for summer reading funding and This NASA my library program has been great because they gave us access to the notebooks that come in the kits And quite a number of public libraries in Michigan have told me they're looking at funding Their own kits that they will keep in their library to do outreach with Thanks to the LST a dollars So, you know definitely take a look at what your state library has to offer to support you in this And I will say too that many amateur astronomy clubs help libraries get set up with that and they become kind of the The person in charge of the telescope I know I have two telescopes in Berkeley that are my telescopes that I work with that I keep up to date and I Make sure they're aligned and things like that. So, you know do some kind of quarterly maintenance on them I put a link in the chat. That's for a library telescope dot org There was a question about is there a preferred Telescope to use That's not something that we can really comment on it's not There are clubs that use different kinds of telescopes But that place that I sent you library telescopes or they do have some recommendations there and and there are some modifications You'll want to make to make it as unbreakable as possible So I recommend partnering with your local astronomy club on that because they are experts in this and can help you with the eyepieces you might want or Locking everything down so that nothing gets fiddly to be broken with Yeah, there were a lot of other questions and a couple here for Heather great Heather does the ambassadors site list the requirements to come to become a volunteer ambassador. Oh We're unmuted There we go, I think I'm unmuted now It does list the requirements every September. That's when the application process opens besides that we have the application Process hidden through the rent the rest of the year So if you're interested in becoming an ambassador You can still email me and I'll add you to the interested list that we'll send out an email probably late Well, usually early September Once we the application is open Then we have a whole list of people that we email that to whose email list throughout the year and said hey How do I become an ambassador? So if you want to be on that list just send me an email and This other question from Rebecca is probably apropos both for Vivian and Heather about knocking on the door Is this the travel question from Rebecca? I contacted Travel yep. Yes. Yeah, so although there are many ambassadors and clubs if they're not really close to you That can be an issue. We we do say that an ambassador can ask if it's more than 50 miles from them they can ask for help with gas or accommodations in that regards so you could offer that if You're having a hard time with one person But yes, most of the time in the directory I see like, you know seven emails because I get every email that goes through the directory so I can monitor for spam So a lot of times I'll see like five to seven go through at once Because someone's obviously reaching out to a bunch of folks in their local area hoping that one will say yes So that would be the best strategy. I think is reach out to a bunch of people See it like, you know fishing and see which one you can get And again, if you have issues with contacting people you can also reach out to K or myself and we can we can help you with that, too Yeah Montana unfortunately is just one of the least pop or I guess Least dense people states so there are not as many clubs or ambassadors in Montana as say New Jersey But we Definitely would love to help you coordinate with them if there's any way to you can send us an email to our emails are on that We'll send out a list of links and emails so that you have all of that at the end along with our best practices for working with NASA subject matter experts like the solar system ambassadors and the night sky network All right that about it I think we're good Vivian Heather Kathy Sarah. Thanks for For supporting us today Absolutely Thank you. Thanks for having us. Thank you everyone. Make sure you contact your local state library for more information, too Good Thank you so much. Thanks. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye