Drag and Storytime! Joyful inclusivity for Libraries and the Whole Family is a poster in the 2020 PNLA Virtual Poster Session. We encourage you to engage in discussion by leaving a comment on the page. The author of the poster will respond to comments the week of August 4-7, 2020.

Presenters: Amelia Jenkins & Miss Gigi Monroe

Track: Public Libraries

Abstract:
Drag Queen Storyhours are becoming popular around the country. What are these? Why are people doing them? And how do you host your own? A youth services worker at the Juneau Public Library and a world famous drag queen will share what they have done and answer your burning questions.

Poster:

About the Presenters:
Amelia Jenkins is a life-long Alaskan. She received her MLIS from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and has worked in academic, state, and Forest Service libraries before finding her home in youth services at the Juneau Public Libraries where she has worked with children of all ages for the past 20 years.

Gigi Monroe: Beginning in Atlanta, then from South Lake Tahoe to Los Angeles, Richmond, VA, and southern Oregon, and all over the country, now based in Juneau, Alaska, it’s been a long, strange, trip…. Gigi absolutely loves her job. It’s the best thing in the world to bring entertainment, joy, and a place to escape to so many people. Thank you to everyone who allows me to show you my heart for a living.

 

Gracious Greetings is a poster in the 2020 PNLA Virtual Poster Session. We encourage you to engage in discussion by leaving a comment on the page. The author of the poster will respond to comments the week of August 4-7, 2020.

Presenters: Jacqueline Highfill, Chikae Shavers, Jose Lira Pedroza, Vivian Kwan, Gretchen McClusky, Wing Tang, Shin Park, & Luyi Yang

Track: Public Library

Abstract: Gracious Greetings is a virtual series that enriched public library staff with the ability to warmly welcome and assist patrons in our buildings. These were developed by the Gracious Greetings Facilitators team who shared their expertise in their native tongue with their fellow staff members. Through this program the facilitators learned new technical skills on how to utilize Microsoft Teams to host a meeting. The facilitators also gained skills in leadership, feedback and facilitation. The facilitators developed their own program through video meetings and Power Point presentations independently while taking feedback from their participants and their fellow facilitators. Gracious Greetings included the following languages:

• American Sign Language -ASL (hosted by Gretchen McCluskey)
• Cantonese – a dialect of Chinese (hosted by Wing Tang)
• English – for ESL Staff (hosted by Vivian Kwan)
• Japanese (hosted by Chikae Shavers)
• Korean (hosted by Shin Park)
• Mandarin – a dialect of Chinese (hosted by Cira Yang)
• Spanish (hosted by Jose Lira Pedroza)

Suddenly finding ourselves working from home, we discovered that COVID-19 presented us with a unique opportunity. Jacqueline Highfill suggested that those who felt comfortable sharing their knowledge amongst their staff members could host language learning sessions. 6 staff members volunteered their work time and energy to help staff practice their language learning skills. Each facilitator oversaw a discussion and presented basic vocabulary focused on using the library. These sessions provided a safe space where staff could practice welcoming and assisting patrons with day-to-day transactions.

This time period will leave an everlasting impact on how staff viewed one another as teachers, coworkers and team members too.

Poster:
Suddenly finding themselves working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, staff members of the Northcentral Region of the King County Library System (KCLS) sought to create a conducive learning opportunity as they worked with Microsoft Teams. Knowing that our diverse staff provided an invaluable resource of being multilingual and realizing that there were staff interested in language learning sessions. Jacqueline Highfill suggested that those who felt comfortable sharing their knowledge amongst their staff members could host language learning sessions. 6 staff members volunteered their work time and energy into making a temporary program to assist staff practice their language learning skills. Each facilitator oversaw a discussion and present different words to help greet and welcome patrons into their libraries. These sessions also provided a safe space where staff could practice welcoming and assisting patrons with day-to-day transactions. Some phrases included, “Welcome!,” “How may I help you?” , “Where are the (items)?” and “Goodbye!” Some facilitators even shared how to utilize the Language Line telephone translation service, allowing staff members to easily transition to get immediate translation help.

Each session lasted for an hour. Usually there would be a demonstration on how to speak these phrases and the participants would be given time to practice and mirror the facilitator. The sessions went on for 7 weeks from April 21 to May 27. Some facilitators went above and beyond and hosted additional “office hours” to answer grammatical questions or “conversational sessions” that went beyond the basic of greeting and helping patrons in the library.

The English sessions operated differently in that they were for staff in which English wasn’t their first language. Vivian shared about the different English language learning resources available to staff on KCLS’ and on other reputable sites. Participants would learn how to “check in” with one another, where to access movies, news, podcasts as well as how to build confidence while speaking in English.

After every week, the facilitators would meet once a week for an hour to discuss how the sessions went. This helped establish accountability and trust among the team when they went to developing their sessions. Most of the facilitators attended each other’s sessions to learn and improve their own classes. Staff members who participated (in a non-facilitator role) felt more kinship and that they had been able to exercise a new skill among their peers. The sessions also allowed all staff members to learn more cultural insights into their languages, fostering empathy.

The Gracious Greetings sessions were innovative as they were developed by staff with no formal training on how to lead a language class using new software that allowed staff members to connect and learn with one another. This time period will leave an everlasting impact on how staff viewed one another as teachers, coworkers and team members too.

About the Presenters:
The Gracious Greetings Facilitators team consists of seven public library employees, including Jacqueline Highfill (Operations Manager), Vivian Kwan (Library Technical Assistant), Jose Lira Pedroza (Library Technical Assistant) ,Gretchen McCluskey (Library Technical Assistant), Shin Park (Library Technical Assistant), Chikae Shavers (Library Technical Assistant), Wing Tang (Library Technical Assistant) and Luyi (Cira) Yang (Library Page).

 

Be a Hummingbird: Successful GLAM Partnerships in a Rapidly Changing World is a poster in the 2020 PNLA Virtual Poster Session. We encourage you to engage in discussion by leaving a comment on the page. The author of the poster will respond to comments the week of August 4-7, 2020.

Presenters: Devon Tatton & Caitlin Ottenbreit

Track: Public Library

Abstract: The Be a Hummingbird series was a curated collection of programs that explored the themes of environmentalism, responsibility and courage. Inspired by Haida author and artist Michael Nicholl Yahgulanaas’s book Flight of the Hummingbird, and in support of Pacific Opera Victoria’s original opera based on said book, this program series exemplifies GVPL’s pre-COVID-19 community arts partnerships. These partnerships remain a foundational element of GVPL’s programming, and this session seeks to share our experiences developing these programs, bolstering our partnerships throughout our mutual COVID-19 closures, and planning ways to take these relationships into the future.

Poster:

GLAM at GVPL

About the Presenters: Devon Tatton & Caitlin Ottenbreit are Public Services Librarians who lead the Arts, Culture and Heritage programs and services (aka the fun stuff) in beautiful Victoria British Columbia.

 

We Empower Discovery is a poster in the 2020 PNLA Virtual Poster Session. We encourage you to engage in discussion by leaving a comment on the page. The author of the poster will respond to comments the week of August 4-7, 2020.

Presenter: Meghan Alcala, Lauren Hayes, & Timothy Madsen

Track: Public Library

Abstract: During the time of our district closure, the Community Library Network developed a plan of action to stay connected with the communities we serve; to keep families and youth engaged in their library during a time of unforeseen circumstances, while maintaining safety and distancing guidelines. We implemented district-wide services, some of which started as early as the week we closed our doors.

When our Summer Reading Program began June 1st, we conducted weekly virtual programs with coordinating “Grab & Go Kits,” which were made available curbside at all seven library locations. Weekly programs included story time, outdoor gardening, STEAM-based activities, and LEGO club. Other programs included Readers Advisory, Summer Reading presenters, KaBoom! Science, and Adopt a Dragon.

To make programs feel more familiar, we created separate Facebook Groups for several programs, where members were encouraged to share photos of their completed crafts and activities. The group pages allowed staff to engage with our members more easily and they could communicate with each other. To best serve everyone, each “Grab & Go Kit” included materials and instructions to complete the activity, meaning members could participate with or without access to the virtual programs. Libraries also had additional LEGO and STEAM kits available for check out.

The Community Library Network Youth Services team focused on keeping our communities positively engaged with their libraries and each other during a time when we could not physically connect. Families across the district have responded with gratitude by participating and enjoying the opportunity to still share some time with the public library.

Poster:

About the Presenter:
Lauren Hayes has worked in Youth Services at the Community Library Network in Hayden, Idaho, for 8 years specializing in outreach and in-house services for early learners. She attended Washington State University and earned a Master’s of Science in Information Studies from the University of Texas.

Meghan Alcala is a Youth Services Specialist at the Community Library Network, where he specializes in both outreach and in-house services for children and their families. Meghan has her BA in English and has earned a Master’s of Library Science and Information Studies.

Timothy Madsen is a Youth Services Specialist at the Community Library Network, where he focuses on STEM activities. This includes hands-on learning, classroom visits, and after school programs. Tim has an AA in American Sign Language studies and is working towards his Bachelor of Science in ASL/English interpreting.

Look for the Helpers: Public Libraries and the Homeless is a poster in the 2020 PNLA Virtual Poster Session. We encourage you to engage in discussion by leaving a comment on the page. The author of the poster will respond to comments the week of August 4-7, 2020.

Presenter: Kellian Clink, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Track: Public Library

Abstract: Mr. Rogers is famous for “looking for the helpers” when misfortune happens. There are a million ways that people end up homeless and a lot of ways that public libraries respond. This presentation will review the recent literature and offer up ideas from public libraries about policies and programming. During the pandemic, many have been inventive about serving patrons through wi-fi available in their parking lots, and afterwards? After an overview of homelessness in the PNLA region, this will briefly describe notions from public libraries on services for homeless children and families taken from the pages of our library literature and news sources to generate ideas for after, as I am calling it, bugtime.

Poster:

Supporting Material: Look for the Helpers: Public Libraries and the Homeless: A Literature Review

About the Presenter: Kellian Clink has been a librarian for 34 years, 2 of those years while on leave at a public library in Geneva Illinois. Kellian has been a volunteer at the homeless shelter for two years.