Category Archives: Professional Development Office (PDO)

Indiana Library Leadership Academy 2023 wrap-up

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The Professional Development Office, along with the Professional Development Committee, recently wrapped up the 2023 Indiana Library Leadership Academy. We had 13 participants and five coaches this year. Our facilitator for the Academy was Cathy Hakala-Ausperk, who has written several books about library leadership. She also teaches for the iSchool at Kent State University in Ohio.

The five coaches shared their library leadership journey with the participants and gave tips for growing as a leader. The 13 attendees will be working on and completing a project they have chosen to help their library and community. There will be three check-in meetings with the coaches and attendees where they can share their progress as well as ask for advice, if needed. The attendees were divided into groups and each group worked with one coach. These relationships will be ongoing as they work on their projects throughout the year. I feature the projects in additional blog articles as they complete them as well as our Indiana Library Leadership Academy webpage. The projects are due by May 2024.

The Indiana Library Leadership Academy participants come from all over the state of Indiana and allow valuable networking experience, not only with their coach but also the other INLLA participants. These relationships last and the benefits to the Indiana library community are great as they grow in their career. We have had several participants go on to be library directors or managers and the ripple effects and benefits of the Indiana Library Leadership Academy continue long after the program is finished.

This blog post was submitted by Kara Cleveland, Professional Development Office supervisor at the Indiana State Library.

Solar eclipses on the horizon

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The coming year is a big one for astronomy enthusiasts – the United States will see two solar eclipses in the span of just six months! An annular eclipse will occur on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, and a total eclipse will occur on Monday, April 8, 2024.

An annual eclipse takes place when the moon is further away from the earth in its orbit, and it cannot completely cover the sun. In this case, while most of the sun is covered, there will be a bright ring around the moon. This October, the western U.S. will be in the path of this annular eclipse; in Indiana, it will appear as a partial eclipse, meaning a large portion of the sun will always be visible.

2023-24 eclipse map, courtesy of NASA.

In April 2024, however, Indiana is directly in the path for a total eclipse. A total eclipse takes place when the moon is just the right distance from the Earth, and it covers the entire sun when it moves between the sun and Earth. In this case, the path of the total eclipse will move from Northeast to Southwest Indiana; just after 3 p.m. Eastern Time, Indianapolis will experience the total eclipse. See what time the eclipse will occur over your town, as well as whether it will be a total or partial eclipse from your position, on this website.

Eclipses capture the attention of everyone, young and old alike, and many libraries want to offer programming surrounding this exciting event. STARnet, part of the Space Science Institute, has created a program called SEAL (Solar Eclipse Activities for Libraries) to assist with this. Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, SEAL is offering in-person and virtual trainings that highlight activities libraries can do with their patrons.

While Indiana’s in-person SEAL training is now full, library staff can access virtual resources provided by SEAL in several places:

Additional resources include:

No matter where your library is located within Indiana, you’re sure to have patrons interested in the eclipses. With STARNet’s resources, your library’s programmers can “shoot for the stars!”

Submitted by Beth Yates, Indiana State Library children’s consultant.

Helpful tools for libraries

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As a library employee, do you ask yourself these types of questions:

“I wonder what website development software other libraries are using?”

Or…

“I know I heard about a new tool for tracking reading logs – what was the name of it?”

Or…

“What are some platforms for e-books, e-magazines and digital videos?”

We all know that in this ever-changing technological world, it is hard to keep up. Especially, if you have a zillion things on your to do list. And you might hit a brick wall when doing a Google search for library-related tools.

I was having a hard time keeping up with of all of the new techy tools. I had an idea brewing in my head – kind of a one stop shop for a list of techy tools. So when the world stopped meeting in person back in 2020, I had some extra time to put my idea into practice.

In August of 2020, I started the Helpful Tools for Libraries webpage on the Indiana State Library’s Continuing Education page.

This is a list of tools that might be helpful to your library. I wanted to curate a list in one place of these tools. It has since broadened to include things like a link to library internships, library security videos and much more. These tools aren’t endorsed by the Indiana State Library and there are certainly other tools out there that I don’t know about. Some of the tools are free and some have a cost. But, they are used by many libraries in Indiana.

This list is not meant to take the place of the library Listservs. Those are invaluable to being able to ask questions in real time and to collaborate with other library staff.

If you know of a tool that you have found to be useful in your library job, just let me know and I might add it to this list. I can be reached via email.

Enjoy the tools!

This post was written by Northeast regional coordinator Paula Newcom of the Indiana State Library Professional Development Office.

Adult literacy resources

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I recently had a request for adult literacy kits that could be checked out for use by public libraries. Although that is a great idea, it is not something that the Indiana State Library currently offers. So, I started searching the internet and found online resources that could be helpful for libraries wanting to start an adult literacy program or wanting to offer additional free online adult literacy resources.

According to a study completed by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies in 2019, 43 million people in the United States have low literacy skills. The good news is Indiana has one of the highest percentages for literacy rates at 92% giving it a rank of 12th-highest in the United States. But this doesn’t mean we should stop striving to raise literacy rates in our communities. Research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health that found a mother’s reading skill is the greatest determinant of a child’s future academic success and focusing on literacy education for mothers can pay off with dividends lasting into the future. Adult literacy lessons can also be geared to help English language learners.

The resources listed below come from the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy website.

ReadWorks
ReadWorks is a free supplemental resource that provides K-12 and adult educators with a library of curated non-fiction and fiction passages, as well as interactive vocabulary supports, text-dependent question sets and teacher guidance. They offer free webinars to help you get started implementing ReadWorks into your classroom.

Click here to view ReadWorks’ content.

Marshall Leveled Reading Program
This program offers an app that contains over 1,000 customizable, mobile-friendly reading resources based on the Reading Skills for Today’s Adults leveled reading library.

LINCS Learner Center – Adult Education and Literacy – U.S. Department of Education LINCS is an acronym that stands for Literacy Information and Communication System. It’s geared toward adult learners and offers a variety of learning options. Users can also learn math, science, English, job skills, how to become a U.S. citizen and ways to stay healthy.

TED-Ed
TED-Ed works with expert educators and TED speakers from around the world to offer high-quality, interactive, video-based lessons every day at no cost.

Click here to view the TED-Ed collections.

TeachRock
TeachRock is a standards-aligned curriculum designed to support arts integration using the history of popular music and culture to interest students through a variety of free lessons. Their lesson plans are arranged by grade, subjects, genre, activities and topics.

Click here for TeachRock lessons.

Unite for Literacy
Unite for Literacy offers a free digital library, with hundreds of books that are written in English or Spanish text and narrated in over 50 languages.

Hopefully, these resources will help libraries in their quest to expand adult literacy offerings.

This blog post was submitted by Kara Cleveland, Professional Development Office supervisor at the Indiana State Library.

Indiana Games Roundtable to hold first in-person meeting

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While the summer of 2020 may hold a lot of traumas for many library employees across the state, it also was a perfect storm of events for me personally. I had just begun my term on the American Library Associations Games and Gaming Roundtable as treasurer and chair of the International Games Week (now Month) Committee. We had seen the Indiana Library Federation, Midwest Collaborative for Library Services and Indiana State Library hosting countless virtual discussion groups to support one another through the early days of the pandemic. Lastly, the State Library switched the systems for hosting Listservs. Now, that last one might not seem too earth shattering, but as someone who was new to my role at the State Library, it sparked a question about these Listservs… can we have new ones? And thus, the Indiana Games Roundtable was born.

After almost two-and-a-half years we are ready to meet in person! This meeting will be for anyone around the state, whether your library already has games or not, to come together and talk and learn from each other. Here is our current plan, but we are interested in building this learning opportunity with you.

The Indiana Games and Gaming Round Table is planning our first in-person event! Come join us for “The Benefits of Library Gaming” on April 17, at the Pendleton Community Public Library. We will have a keynote presentation in the morning and two break out discussion opportunities, so the event will be eligible for three LEUs for Indiana Library Staff. Registration will be capped at 40, so be sure to sign up before April 5 by 5 p.m. The Pendleton Community Public Library will be providing lunch from Fazoli’s.

Tentative schedule:

Registration/opening:     9:30-10 a.m.
Keynote:                        10-11 a.m.
Bio break:                      11-11:10 a.m.
Discuss topics:              11:10-11:30 a.m.
Lunch:                           11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Breakout 1:                   12:45-1:30 p.m.
Bio break:                     1:30-1:40 p.m.
Breakout 2:                   1:40-2:25 p.m.
Play games:                  2:30-3:30 p.m.

Please note that all times are Eastern Time.

Feel free to post questions to the Listserv, and if you would like to reply with any games you would be willing to bring let us know that as well. If you are not yet a member of the Listserv, visit the Indiana State Library’s webpage to sign up.

This post was written by George Bergstrom, Southwest regional coordinator, Professional Development Office, Indiana State Library.

TALK early literacy text program launched

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The Indiana State Library is working with the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services and pilot libraries in Michigan to launch a new program called TALK – an acronym for Text and Learn for Kindergarten – for Indiana parents and caregivers. TALK promotes early literacy and kindergarten readiness through fun activities texted to parents each month. TALK has been developed using grant funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Although this program started in Michigan with Indiana coming on board recently, the hope is that this program could be replicated in states across the nation.

TALK sends texts with fun activities parents can do with their babies, toddlers and preschoolers to make any time learning time. The program was developed by librarians and is based on the already well established Every Child Ready to Read program which encourages parents to read, write, sing, talk and play with their children every day. TALK activities are designed to prepare kids, ages up to 5, for school success.

After signing up for TALK, the parent will receive up to 8-10 text messages per month with entertaining activities they can do at home with their child. TALK activities increase back and forth parent and child conversations. Research shows that when parents and caregivers talk and listen to young children, they develop cognitive and language skills they will need to succeed in school. Parents may sign up for messages in English or Spanish. The activities are then geared for their child’s developmental level and age. To see example texts for babies, toddlers and preschoolers, click here.

Public libraries can sign up as well to promote the TALK program in their communities with promotional toolkits provided for their use. Libraries who sign up can send texts about library events such as story times to parents.

The Indiana State Library will be hosting an informational webinar on Wednesday, Jan. 18, titled “Launching TALK in Your Community,” for Indiana public libraries interested in signing up for the program. The webinar will show how to use the online toolkits to access promotional materials and give tips on how to reach parents who aren’t regular library users. There will also be a demonstration of the TALK portal used to send text messages about upcoming library events. For more information about the TALK program, visit here. You may also contact Beth Yates, children’s consultant, or Kara Cleveland, Professional Development Office supervisor – both of the Indiana State Library – with any questions.

This blog post was submitted by Kara Cleveland, Professional Development Office supervisor at the Indiana State Library.

Upcoming webinars from the Indiana State Library’s Professional Development Office

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Greetings this holiday season! The Professional Development Office is busy planning a wide range of webinar topics for the coming year.

Below you will find the important dates for the Indiana State Library’s training and professional development events taking place in 2023. You’ll notice that we will feature a What’s Up Wednesday webinar training series on the last Wednesday of each month and our new webinar training series called What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology will take place on the second Wednesday of each month. Some topics are still being developed, but we hope you can find some areas of interest in the list below. Best wishes from the Professional Development Office.

January 2023
Jan. 11 “What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – Dementia Friendly Libraries.” Hosted by Thrive Alliance and Bartholomew County Public Library.
Jan. 25 “What’s Up Wednesday – INDiPres.”

February 2023
Feb. 8 “What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – How to do a Presentation, Best Practices.” Presented by Paula Newcom, Northeast regional coordinator at the Indiana State Library.
Feb. 22 What’s Up Wednesday: Topic to Come!

March 2023
March 8 “What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – Powered by Sunshine: How Solar Projects Benefit Libraries and Their Communities.” Hosted by the Brown County Public Library and Pendleton Community Public Library.
March 29 “What’s Up Wednesday – All Free for the Finding: Digging up Family History for Free on the Internet.” This presentation is a sampling of the best, free websites for genealogy. Attendees will become versed in research tips, general genealogy websites, Indiana genealogy websites, immigrant genealogy websites, British genealogy websites and newspaper websites. Presented by Angela Porter, Genealogy librarian at the Indiana State Library.

April 2023
April 12 “What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – Enhancing Services with Outreach.” Hosted by Floyd County Public Library.
April 26 “What’s Up Wednesday – LaPorte County Public Library and The Exchange.” Hosted by the LaPorte County Public Library.

May 2023
May 10 What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – Topic to come!
May 31 What’s Up Wednesday – Topic to come!

June 2023
June 14 What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – Topic to come!
June 28 “What’s Up Wednesday – Bendable.” Hosted by St. Joe County Public Library.

July 2023
July 12 What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – Topic to come!
July 26 “What’s Up Wednesday – Edelweiss & Libraries.”

August 2023
Aug. 9 What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – Topic to come!
Aug. 24-25 (tentative) “Indiana Library Leadership Academy 2023.”
Aug. 30 “What’s Up Wednesday- What’s New in INSPIRE.” Presented by Paula Newcom, Northeast regional coordinator at the Indiana State Library.

September 2023
Sept. 13 “What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – Building Back After the Fire.” Hosted by the Eckhart Public Library.
Sept. 15 The Difference is You Conference.
Sept. 27 What’s Up Wednesday – Topic to come!

October 2023
Oct. 11 What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – Topic to come!
Oct. 25 What’s Up Wednesday- Topic to come!

November 2023
Nov. 8 “What’s Up Wednesday: Trends & Technology – The Bridge: Noble County Public Library’s Makerspace.” Find out how The Bridge Makerspace evolved at the Noble County Public Library. Presented by Derrick Leatherman, IT services manager at the Noble County Public Library.
Nov. 29 What’s Up Wednesday – Topic to come!

December 2023
Happy holidays from the Professional Development Office!

Submitted by Laura Jones, Northwest regional coordinator, Indiana State Library.

Difference Is You conference recap

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The Indiana State Library was thrilled that the annual Difference Is You conference was finally able to be held in-person. The theme “Refresh and Recharge” was chosen for the 2022 conference because we wanted to focus on wellness topics to complement the library topics.

David Seckman, director of the Jeffersonville Township Public Library, appeared as our keynote speaker. David shared his philosophy regarding public libraries and work. The following is a description of his keynote speech:

Three Wishes for You
David has three simple, but important, wishes for you based on his years of study in positive and organizational psychology and his experience leading libraries. Have you ever wondered why some teams are highly productive, creative and innovative while other teams with similar levels of talent and experience seem to be stuck in neutral?

He answered those questions when he talked about how practicing “kind communication” can help determine the success of your interactions with co-workers and customers alike. Discover the most important ingredient to improving team dynamics, according to a large research project sponsored by Google. Gain an understanding about the three types of collaborative styles at work and which one is the most beneficial to organizational and personal success.

David Seckman, Jeffersonville Public Library Director, and keynote speaker.

After the keynote, Jacob Speer, State Librarian, revealed the winner of the Difference is You Award as Maureen Haub, cataloger and clerk, at the Milford Public Library. The people that nominated her were excited when they were notified. He also reported the names of all those who were nominated for the DIY Award and asked them to stand for recognition.

The rest of the day was spent learning about various databases or resources that libraries use. Wellness topics included yoga, mindfulness and a session from two representatives of NAMI Indiana that spoke about mental illness. Of course, we had to make sure we had a genealogy session to round out the offerings so Angela Porter, genealogy librarian at the Indiana State Library, presented free internet resources that patrons and librarians can use in their genealogy research.

Heather Barron, yoga and mindfulness teacher.

There were many comments made afterwards about how nice it was to be back in-person and one person relayed that it was “one of the best conferences she had been to in 26 years.”

This blog post was submitted by Kara Cleveland, Professional Development Office supervisor at the Indiana State Library.

Roundtables: How to get started

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Looking for a way to connect with peers? Roundtables might be the answer. What’s a roundtable? Back in June of 2020, my colleague Paula Newcom wrote a very thorough article answering this question, so I’ll just give you the CliffsNotes version: Roundtables are a chance for peers to gather and to discuss, share and troubleshoot issues they may encounter in their jobs. Called “counterparts” in the Northwest area of the state, these library staff led and organized gatherings are a grassroots way to connect and learn from others in similar jobs. They can be in-person, with regional groups meeting at area libraries, or they can be virtual, utilizing virtual meeting software like Zoom. A few have even begun offering a hybrid of in-person and virtual, although this is not yet common.

Pre-pandemic, Indiana had a relatively robust network of roundtables that met, usually in person, several times a year. While some of those transitioned to virtual and then back to in-person successfully, others seemed to come to a halt, especially with staffing changes, shortages and turnover during these tumultuous years. Recently, I’ve heard a number of people say they wish a roundtable would start in their area. For them, I have excellent news: Anyone can start a roundtable!

While Indiana State Library Professional Development Office staff are happy to support roundtables by attending and even occasionally presenting when available, roundtables are not typically organized by State Library staff, with a few exceptions. Rather, we encourage library staff to start and maintain them. Any library staff member – with permission from their supervisor, of course – can reach out to neighboring libraries or send a callout email to the Listservs, inviting them to meet for a few hours to discuss a relevant topic.

If you’re interested in starting a roundtable on a particular topic in your area, here are some recommended steps:

  1. Make sure your supervisor is okay with you organizing a roundtable.
  2. Email the Listservs – depending on the topic you hope to discuss – asking whether a group in your area already exists; if not, have people contact you directly if they are interested in meeting.
  3. Optional: Gather a list of libraries near you – 30-60 minutes away – and email relevant staff directly to invite them to form a roundtable. Many libraries have staff directories on their websites.
  4. Once you have interested parties, determine who will host the first meeting, and when. Who has a meeting room and when is it available? Typically, roundtables meet for approximately two hours on a morning, but your group can meet whenever works for the majority!
  5. Once your date/time/location are set, email the interested group with the details. You should also consider emailing the relevant listservs once again, this time with the details as an open invitation. Consider contacting either the Indiana State Library’s Children’s Consultant or your Indiana State Library Regional Coordinator to invite them to attend if they’re available.
  6. Determine who would like to be the “leader” of the first meeting. This is often the host library staff, but could be the person who has organized the whole thing. It doesn’t have to be the same person every time, although having one person “in charge” of setting meeting dates can be very helpful.
  7. For the very first meeting, the “leader” should consider developing a loose list of questions to keep the conversation going. Roundtables are very informal discussions, but it’s good to have a few specific topics in mind. For subsequent meetings, the group can work together to decide discussion topics.
  8. Meet! Discuss! Share! Problem solve! Commiserate! Encourage!
  9. If you haven’t already, be sure to gather everyone’s information – name, library, and email address – before ending the meeting so you can easily set up the next one.
  10. After the meeting, the host library can issue an LEU certificate for a maximum of one LEU to attendees following the LEU policy for Professional Roundtable Meetings. Individual attendees should be mindful that they can only claim up to 10 roundtable LEUs per five year certification period, although you can certainly attend more than ten!

Of course, recognizing that desk schedules are tight at many libraries right now, virtual roundtables are still an option. Virtual may also work better with some smaller groups that would benefit from statewide participation in one group, rather than multiple smaller groups across the state. The general steps are the same, with a few exceptions:

  • The host should be able to provide an online meeting platform (Zoom, Teams, etc.).
  • Participants should ideally have cameras and microphones to be able to fully participate.
  • Participants should clearly understand that the roundtable is only helpful if all participants are actively engaged and share. Even those without microphones should come prepared to share via chat.

Now, go forth and learn from your peers. Good luck!

This blog post was written by Beth Yates, children’s consultant for the Indiana State Library.

North Manchester Public Library: ‘Fearless, innovative and community focused’

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You can clearly see from the positive comments below how much the patrons of the North Manchester Public Library love and appreciate their library. Serving a population of a little over 6,000 in northern Wabash County, this library is doing amazing things for its community.

“Fantastic programming for all ages, staff that remember patrons’ names and interests, a wide range of books, movies, music and periodicals. The North Manchester Public Library is definitely at the heart of the community.”

“Amazing resource for this small community! The mobile hotspots you can check out make those long summer drives great for everyone’s high tech gadgets!”

“It is unusual for a town of our size to have a library of this caliber! The children’s department is second to none! Couldn’t be more proud!”

“I love that kids are allowed to be kids in their section of the library! Fun memories equal children who will love books forever. Keep up the awesome work!”

“One of the best small town libraries in the country.”

Director Diane Randall and her staff have accomplished many great things since she started her tenure in February 2020. Diane was fortunate to step into a library with a staff with many forward thinking ideas. I recently visited Diane to learn about all of the innovative and out of the box programs they are doing. It really takes a special synergy between the library board, director, library staff and community to make a good library an extraordinary library. I love what Diane said to me, “I am fearless, innovative and community focused.” And it shows!

Diane started at the North Manchester Public Library right before the world paused for the pandemic. As many traditional library services were disrupted, such as in person programs and public computer access, new needs in the community became evident. Food insecurity increased as paper and hygiene products became scarce. The library and community came together to fill these needs. Diane has been partnering with many local groups and has been working diligently to obtain grants that will further their vision to meet their community’s needs beyond traditional books.

In Diane’s own words:

“All the collaborations and projects my staff and I develop or create started with the development of the library’s current long range plan. It was very important to gather community and library trustees input as well as all library staff input. I felt it was crucial to include the library management staff of Adult Department manager and marketing coordinator, Jeanna Hann; Children’s Department manager, Sarah Morbitzer; Circulation librarian Cody Goble; and past programming coordinator Heidi Lovett in creating the plan. They not only gained experience in this planning process and understood it on a professional level, but also had creative buy-in and support for it. It was a wonderful team effort from which our full time staff and managers now have greater awareness and foundation as they build the library’s programs, outreach, collections and technology and as they utilize the buildings and grounds spaces. Future projects will include continued development of neurodiverse and sensory collections and spaces in the library; continued development of programming and events utilizing building grounds; and increased focus on collaborations and building of programming with the retirement and senior living communities post COVID pandemic.”

Their teamwork, planning and dedication to the community shines through in what they have accomplished so far.

Non-traditional library services began at NMPL a few years before Diane arrived. One of these services was a seed library, created by former staff member and programming director Heidi Lovett. With these new services, a seed was planted to go beyond the four walls of the library building with these innovative programs. The following list highlights these programs; be sure to click on the links to find out more about each program:

Seed Library – August 2017
Just as libraries have been sharing books for decades, sharing seeds is a natural extension of our culture. It’s a simple premise – take a seed pack, share a seed pack. The packets of seeds can be new or seeds harvested from plants. Novice gardeners get to experiment with new plants and can learn from expert gardeners. This is an all-around winning program for libraries – an efficient way to share seeds; a way to promote botanical literacy and a way to help fight food insecurity. No doubt many gardening books, magazines and videos have been checked out.

Makerspace-2-Go – August 2019
Makerspaces in libraries began around 2005 and grew out of the Maker Movement. Imagine arts and crafts groups, hobbyists, shop classes and science fairs combining in one place. They are spaces within some libraries with resources such as computers, 3D printers, audio and video editing tools and traditional arts and crafts supplies. Makerspaces give patrons the ability to try out technology and tools that they would not normally be able to access. Heidi Lovett, former programming coordinator, and Jeanna Hann, Adult Department manager and marketing coordinator, took it up a notch in 2019 with the ability to check out equipment and tools for home use!

Community Pantry – April 2021
A complementary program to the Seed Library is the Community Pantry. Interested members of the community approached Diane to collaborate to address food insecurity in the community. NMPL partnered with North Manchester Community Pantry to place a large plastic cabinet outside the library entrance. The pantry is stocked with non-perishable food items and paper supplies. The pantry is available 24/7 and community members can take what they need and to leave what they don’t. A local art student was chosen to paint a mural on the outside of the cabinet which lends visibility to the project and sets the tone for its goal. An excellent quote from the library blog sums it up perfectly, “The Community Pantry, a Mutual Aid Space, is where people take responsibility for caring for one another by sharing resources.”

Flat Playground – May 2021
“Social distancing” and “playgrounds closed” – NMPL Children’s Department manager Sarah Morbitzer turned these two phrases into a positive. This playground is like no other one you’ve ever seen. The library staff wanted to promote outdoor activity and intergenerational play with this unique play area. They also wanted to find ways to utilize their spacious library grounds. A blank sidewalk became the canvas for this masterpiece. There are six features on the playground – an eight piece activity track, four square, standing long jump, dart board, twister and snakes and ladders. These activities are great for all ages and mobility levels. This amazing space was made possible by the Bev Westendorf Memorial Fund, the JoAnn Martin Memorial Fund, Friends of the Library, the Tammy Seifert Memorial Fund, EduMarking USA and the NMPL Fun Run.

Pollinator Garden – May 2021
NMPL sits on a beautiful wooded two-acre lot. Members of the local Rotary Club reached out to Diane for a project to refresh the southeast corner of the library landscape through an initial Rotary Club grant. From this initial project, a wonderful collaboration has developed with the Master Gardeners of the North Manchester Rotary Club, the Purdue Extension of Wabash County and the library. A pollinator garden was planned and filled with native pollinator plants with the goal of long term sustainability. The new garden was revitalized entirely by the Rotary Club, volunteers and community members who donated plants and their time. Bonus – related educational programs have been provided by the Purdue Extension Services and also the Master Gardeners. And an extra special group has also sprouted from this – the Dirty Diggers Club run by Children’s Department manager, Sarah Morbitzer. Elementary and middle school-aged youngsters are learning how important pollinators are in relation to the foods that they eat. They are making that connection with their own eyes with their garden. The library is fortunate to be able to use the adjoining grounds of the historic Thomas R. Marshall Home – 28th vice president under Woodrow Wilson – for the Dirty Digger’s garden space through another community collaboration with the North Manchester Center For History.

Winter reading program expansion – January 2022
Through building new and renewed relationships with community businesses that are not part of the library’s summer reading sponsorships, Sarah Morbitzer and Molly Magus, programming coordinator, have developed an exciting growing winter reading program. Open to all, this program has its own unique sponsors and themes and is well supported by the community. It’s a great opportunity to continue to encourage and support reading within the community and is efficient to run via use of the Beanstack reading program software.

Sensory-2-Go shelf – March 2022
Developed by Sarah Morbitzer and Molly Magnus, this new collection is intended to reach patrons with neurodiverse needs. According to Merriam-Webster, neurodiverse is defined as “having, relating to, or constituting a type of brain functioning that is not neurotypical.” The five kits serve specific sensory purposes – high energy, calming, texture and touch as well as items to help with day to day activities (i.e., holding a cup) and other items for building cognitive development. This collection is for all ages, for use inside the library or for checkout to take home. This is a great way for patrons to try out the items first to see if they might make a personal investment.

Little Free Library – April 2022
A new beautiful turquoise blue Little Free Library is found just off North Market Street near the entrance of the Flat Playground. Lead by circulation librarian Cody Goble and Jeanna Hann, NMPL has joined the 150,000 Little Free Libraries around the world. Just like the seed library, people are meant to take a book and leave a book. This was made possible through a generous contribution from the Friends of the Library group.

Homeschool Resource Center – March 2022
Sarah Morbitzer and the Children’s Department have taken resource sharing a step further with their new Homeschool Resource Center. This collection can be used by anyone – for either long or short term homeschooling or for enrichment during school breaks. This collection contains homeschool books for teachers, a microscope, games for practicing sight words and much more!

There are even more projects that are in the works, so stay tuned to the North Manchester Public Library’s website, as well as their Instagram and Facebook pages to find out what’s next. Find out about this new project that is coming Fall 2022:

Electronic Message Center – Fall 2022
Diane is currently working on a collaborative project with their incredibly supportive Friends of the Library. The new digital message center will help promote programs and events, and relay library information to the community. The message center will enhance in-the-moment awareness of what is happening at the library, and will enable the library to reach community members who don’t utilize social media or read the local newspapers. The library will also be able to utilize the digital sign to promote their programs and events in Spanish to welcome and support awareness in our minority communities.

If you are in the North Manchester area, be sure to stop by the library and see all of the awesome things that are happening. Now, some final words from director of the North Manchester Public Library, Diana Randall:

“The staff at the North Manchester Public Library are so awesome! They are fantastically creative with such an innovative approach. They all have such a spirit of service to the community, and the community can feel it. I work daily to support this innovation and creativity, and I like to think outside the box to explore possibilities. I have always had a strong team-centered focus and customer service philosophy, and my staff know this. We work to keep up good communication and support each other. I also feel as a library director, I need to keep focus on the needs of my staff and supporting them. I work daily to let them all know this.

We all know that our libraries must continue to evolve as we move toward the future, and we have to keep a laser focus on what our communities’ needs are regarding services, programming and collections. Being open to new ideas and possibilities are crucial to our survival. I believe Indiana has a fantastic public library system with incredible library directors and library staff who are committed to serving their communities, and to supporting each other. I also am so grateful to the staff at the Indiana State Library for their input and support when I reach out to them with questions or for direction. They set a great foundation for all of us!”

This post was written by Northeast regional coordinator Paula Newcom of the Indiana State Library Professional Development Office and Diane Randall, director of the North Manchester Public Library.