Northeast Ohio Regional Library System

Northeast Ohio Regional Library System - Event Information

Event Name:
Staff Development Week: Staff Care as Community Care


Description:
Monday, January 24, 2022
10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Taking Care of Self, Staff, and Community
Self-care is important. Everywhere you look there are articles promoting the value of self-care: eat healthy, get plenty of sleep, exercise regularly. It can be exhausting just reading about all the things we should be doing to feel better! How can we help self-care feel less like a burden and more like genuine kindness and nurturing? What if we could tap into our larger community to bolster our own well-being while increasing social cohesion for all? There is a continuum – from self-care to staff (workplace) care to community care – that gets stronger as it fans out from solo activity to broader inclusive action and impact.

Learning Objectives:
  • Reflect upon what genuine and meaningful self-care looks like
  • Describe the connection between self-care, workplace well-being, and community care
  • Take actionable ideas for community care back to your library
The presenters will share program and activity ideas and examples, and you will be encouraged to think about your own unique interests and how they could connect to the needs in your community. There will be opportunities to share what is already happening in your library and community and to make plans for building supportive connections moving forward.
References: https://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/taking-care-of-self-staff-and-community.html 
 
Presenters:
Brenda Hough is a librarian, writer, and learning professional with 25 years of professional experience working in and supporting libraries by providing training and consulting services. She is the author of Crash Course in Time Management for Library Staff and the co-editor of WebJunction’s Competency Index for the Library Field. She is an adjunct instructor for Emporia State University (KS). She has worked on projects for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WebJunction, the Public Library Association, Infopeople, California Libraries Learn (CALL), the State Library of Arizona, the State Library of Oregon, the Northeast Kansas Library System, and more. She is the owner of EluciDare Learning.

Since joining OCLC’s WebJunction team in 2005, Betha Gutsche has contributed to library staff training through compiling the Competency Index for the Library Field, developing curricula, delivering training, and exploring new strategies. In addition to leading many grant-funded projects, Betha created curriculum and training for Small Libraries Create Smart Spaces, Supercharged Storytimes, Wikipedia + Libraries, and Creating Pathways to Civil Legal Justice. Betha received her MLIS from the University of Washington Information School and interned with the Gates Foundation U.S. Libraries Program 2002-2004.

Tuesday, January 25. 2022
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Words Matter: Mindful communication that creates caring connections
Employing mindful communication strategies creates opportunities to demonstrate caring and enhance connections within the library community. Utilizing mindful communication can also avoid retraumatization for those individuals who have experienced trauma.

Learning objectives:
  • Participants will learn about the characteristics and effects of trauma on the individual.
  • Participants will learn about mindful use of language that will avoid retraumatization for individuals.
  • Participants will become aware of professional resources that provide guidance on non- discriminatory language
Presenter:

Meghan Harper, Ph.D. Director and Professor, School of Information at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.







Wednesday, January 26, 2022
10:00 am - 11:00 am

Library Safety as Burnout Prevention: Reframing Safety and Security for Staff Sustainability

Learning Objectives:
  • Tools to handle acute problems that influence burnout including principles of service, de-escalation phrases, and established boundaries
  • Proactive preparations to avoid or mitigate incidents that cause burnout including interdepartmental communications and establishing community partnerships
  • Unmasking how vocational awe makes us handle safety and security issues poorly and inequitably 
Presenter:

Eddie Kristan ran the Safety & Security Team at Warren-Newport Library in Gurnee, IL for nearly 7 years before finishing his MLIS to become a reference librarian and staff training coordinator in 2020. During his time as Head of Security, Eddie re-wrote procedure and advised on policy to turn a distrusted and counter-productive security team into a force of support and empathy for staff and the community. With the help of Ryan Dowd (author of "A Librarian's Guide to Homelessness") and Warren Graham (author of "The Black Belt Librarian") Eddie was able to balance a need for confident enforcement of policy with a desperate need for trauma informed services and empathy in all things. He was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in the Community Builder group in 2020 and Herbert Goldhor Award Winner for Public Librarianship by the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences in 2021. As Staff Training Coordinator, Eddie has developed monthly content for his library on a wide range of subjects including Person Pronouns, Trauma Informed Services, Material Challenges, and Bystander Intervention.

Thursday, January 27, 2022
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Self-Care: How to Increase Productivity while Avoiding Burnout

Increasing demands from our public for various library services can and will create an environment for burnout as a result of heavy workloads. While some stressors are unavoidable, prolonged exposure to it can cause detachment, pessimism, and a loss of enjoyment in the public library profession. During this session we will explore approaches on how to identify and overcome stressors while retaining optimal levels of efficiency during our workday.

Learning Objectives:
  • Identify signals of Physical, Behavioral and Emotional barriers that leads to burnout
  • Understand methods to mitigate stressors caused by public service demands
  • Learn how to adopt self-care techniques at work.

Presenter: 
Nicole BryanMLS Neighborhood Library Supervisor, Brooklyn Public Library
Nicole has spent some of her career within the social services arena, developing programs and meeting constituents' needs. Currently, she assess the delivery of library services, by employing trauma-informed methods, to transitional populations in public library branches and homeless shelters in Brooklyn, N.Y. She received her MLS degree from Long Island University.


2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Be the Change: Improving staff morale from within
Presenter Haley Holmes from the San Antonio Public Library will talk about her experiences leading staff from all levels of the organization to create an environment where everyone has the opportunity to be heard. Operation Transformation was a three year project that resulted in more staff engagement, recognition, and innovation. Haley will explain how the project started and outline several of the initiatives that were created as a result to address the need to improve morale in a workplace with over 500 employees in 30 locations.
 
Learning Objectives
  • Participants will come away with a better understanding of organizational health.
  • Participants will be given specific tools and examples they can use in their organizations to gather staff feedback concerning morale in their work locations.
  • Participants will learn how to turn staff feedback into meaningful change.
Presenter:
Haley K. Holmes, Ph.D., is the Central Library Public Services Administrator for the San Antonio Public Library overseeing Reference Services, Childrens, Texana/Genealogy, the Latino Collection and Resource Center, and Circulation. Haley has been with the San Antonio Public Library for 17 years, serving as a branch manager for 7 years and Coordinator of Services to Adults for 3 years. Before moving to San Antonio, she worked in academic libraries and at the Library of Congress. She is the coauthor of Library Programming Made Easy, part of the “A Practical Guide for Librarians” series and a 2020 Library Journal Mover and Shaker.
 

Event Date:
1/24/2022 - 1/27/2022

Event Time:
There will be webinars Monday - Thursday

Location:
Online via Zoom
UNITED STATES

Contact Person:

Details:
Who should attend:  All staff
Competency:  Customer Service, Safety & Security

Non-Member Cost:      $50
NEO-RLS Bronze Member Cost:  $37.50
NEO-RLS Silver Member Cost:  $25
NEO-RLS Gold Member Cost:    $10

Contact Melissa Lattanzi if you are interested in registering your library.
Archive links will be available only to participating libraries and individuals who have registered.  The archived content will be made available to everyone in 2023 through our Archived Webinar Library.

This event is supported by the State Library of Ohio with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

It’s never too late to save your library money. NEO-RLS Memberships are pro-rated! Call us today to join.