Tag Archives: Webinars

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.

How to find more of yourself at the Indiana State Library

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Life’s Questions
Have you ever wondered where you come from? Maybe your question is less about origin and more about why you and your family are they way they are. It could be that you’re interested in history or tradition or maybe you’re seeking answers to life’s biggest question – “Who am I?” Whatever the reason might be, know that you’re headed in the right direction of discovery when you start with genealogy. DNA testing and genealogy research help you go beyond what you know from relatives or general historical documentation. Genealogy research and workshops are provided for free by the Indiana State Library. By saying “yes” to further discovery at the library, you are saying “yes” to the next individual step into your personal family history.

“What does this mean for me?”
If you’ve started to think about family heritage, you might be wondering how to begin. There are so many people, dates, locations and events to sort through, that it would be almost impossible to do it alone! That is the exact reason why ISL’s genealogy collection, with more than 40,000 print items, exists. With an extensive collection and resources to aid you in your genealogy journey, you will not have any trouble glimpsing into the history of your fellow Hoosiers. From marriage and birth records to death databases and indexes, there are many ways to begin with the basics. A “Researching Hard-to-Find Ancestors” guide is available for free. Manuscripts from the past are available to browse on the website as well. Online resources like webinars and videos are located easily under the Collections & Services, Genealogy Collections tab for your convenience.

This blog post was written by Jenna Knutson, University of Indianapolis student. 

Indiana Center for the Book partners for webinar series about books and authors

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The Indiana Center for the Book and the Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award are partnering on a series of webinars focused on authors and reading. All webinars are offered in partnership with the Indiana State Library’s Professional Development Office (PDO) and are each eligible for one LEU. The Indiana Center for the Book promotes interest in reading, writing, literacy, libraries and Indiana’s literary heritage by sponsoring events like these. The Indiana Authors Award seeks to recognize the contributions of Indiana authors to the literary landscape in Indiana and across the nation.

The Care and Feeding of Authors: Planning a Successful Author Visit – 1 LEU
Date: August 7, 2018 Time: 10 a.m. EST  Format: Adobe Connect Webinar
Looking to book an author at your library? Learn how to put your library’s best professional foot forward and avoid common pitfalls. Join Indiana author Kelsey Timmerman and Indiana’s Letters About Literature Coordinator Suzanne Walker for this discussion about best practices when booking an author. From making sure their dietary needs are met to paying them efficiently, there’s more to booking an author than just deciding on a date. This webinar is hosted by Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award Program Coordinator Caity Withers. Be sure to bring all of your questions regarding booking authors.
Presenters: Kelsey Timmerman, author; Suzanne Walker, director of the Indiana Center for the Book; Caity Withers, Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award

Indiana Authors: What’s New in Kids Lit? – 1 LEU
Date: August 15, 2018 Time: 10 a.m. EST Format: Adobe Connect Webinar
Indiana continues to produce great authors for kids. Join Shirley Mullin, owner of Kids Ink Children’s Bookstore in Indianapolis, for a conversation about books by new Indiana authors who write for children and discover great authors to book at your library.
Presenters: Shirley Mullin, owner of Kids Ink Children’s bookstore; Suzanne Walker, director of the Indiana Center for the Book;  Caity Withers, Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award

Diversifying Your Book Club by Selection and Membership – 1 LEU
Date: September 11, 2018 Time: 10 a.m. EST Format: Adobe Connect Webinar
Are you tired of reading the same books for your book clubs? Are you hoping to reach new audiences? Join Tiffani Carter, the manager of the West Indianapolis Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library (IndyPL) for some tips and best practices to consider when choosing your book club selections and to learn how to recruit new participants.
Presenters: Tiffani Carter, manager of the West Indianapolis Branch of IndyPL; Suzanne Walker, director of the Indiana Center for the Book; Caity Withers, Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award

Please register to attend. Registration links can be found above. All three webinars will be recorded and available on the Indiana State Library’s Archived Webinars page within 30 days of their production. Find other free webinars from the Indiana State Library here.

Submitted by Suzanne Walker, Indiana Young Readers Center librarian at the Indiana State Library and director of the Indiana Center for the Book.

Continuing education website gets a facelift

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The Continuing Education portion of the Indiana State Library’s (ISL) website will be undergoing some changes soon. ISL’s Certification Program Director and Legal Consultant Cheri Harris and Professional Development Office Supervisor Suzanne Walker have been working through the website to identify instances where the same information is listed in multiple places, places where information does not match and pages that are confusing and wordy. “Our hope is to make the website more useful by making it easier to navigate,” Harris said. “In addition to streamlining the way the site is organized,” she added “we are also updating the language and content.”

The website will be updated gently in stages. A major overhaul to the archived webinar page has already been completed. The next phase will tackle the main menus and the initial landing pages and then more changes will spread out from there. The look of the site will mostly remain the same, but watch for a new menu for important forms, more ISL staff on the contact page and the changes to the Archived Webinar page.

“That’s what I’m most excited about,” Walker said. “Now people will have a much more visual experience with our archived webinars. They are now grouped by category with clickable tags to help the user find similar trainings. We have so many great trainings. We will easily hit fifty webinars this year. It is great that people can use the search box on the website to find them and the fact that they are now categorized and tagged makes it almost like a webinar database.”

Here’s a sample of what the old archived webinar page looked like:

Lots of text, arranged by date, with the newest webinars at the top and it linked out directly to YouTube.

Introducing, the new look:

Each webinar has a landing page where ISL can link to additional resources about the topic and each webinar has a category at the top of the block of text (Populations and Programming are shown here) that are color-coded and alphabetized.

Check back often to observe all of the updates.

Submitted by Suzanne Walker, supervisor of the Professional Development Office at the Indiana State Library and co-director of the Indiana Center for the Book.

Ready to Lead: The InLLA Leadership Toolkit

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Leadership. What is it? What does it mean? What does it look like? The first known use of the word was in 1765, so the idea and topic of leadership has been around for centuries.  Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines leadership as: 1. the office or position of a leader; 2. capacity to lead; 3. the act or an instance of leading.

If you’re interested in leadership concepts and learning more about how to become a leader, I’d like to introduce you to Ready to Lead: The InLLA Leadership Toolkit. The toolkit will contain webinars, a recording, videos and other resources about leadership and preparing for leadership. To get a sneak peek of what you might find in the toolkit, we are excited to host the following leadership webinars in April:

  • Servant Leadership – April 12th 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EST. Connie Scott, director, McMillen Library at Indiana Tech. Connie will talk about servant leadership, which means you’re a ‘servant’ first. Servant Leaders focus on the needs of others, especially team members and staff before your own needs.
  • Leadership vs. Management – April 20th 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. EST. Michelle Bradley, manager, Member Engagement Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS). Michelle will talk about differences between management and leadership. Many times we confuse leadership with management principles. This webinar will cover the difference between the two.

This blog post was written by Kimberly Brown-Harden, northwest regional coordinator, Indiana State Library. For more information, email Kim at kbrown-harden@library.in.gov

Professional Development at Your Fingertips

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Looking to brush up customer service skills? Wondering about current trends in the library world? There are lots of professional development and continuing education opportunities around that are available to Indiana users online.

  1. Lyrasis – Using Lyrasis is easy and allows access to many quality trainings. Trainings are already paid for by the Indiana State Library (ISL) so library staff can be assured that they are free. Simply browse their offerings, choose a training, apply for a Promo Code if needed (classes that do not list a cost do not require a Promo Code) register, and attend the class. Pro Tip: If you don’t have time to take the class when it’s offered, register anyway. After the class is offered you will be emailed an access link and you can take the class at your leisure.
  2. Lynda.com – With tutorials for dozens of topics, Lynda.com can help library staff learn to take better pictures for their FaceBook page, discover better ways to lead, and learn tips on how to use WordPress. To gain access, just fill out the Lynda.com Course Application Form. You will receive your username and password in your email. Pro Tip: If you’ve forgotten whether or not you have already logged in, try to log in with your email address. Forgot your password? It’s easy to reset through the prompts on the page.
  3. Free Webinars – The Indiana State Library keeps an ongoing and updated spreadsheet of pre-approved webinar courses. In a simple excel format, these are arranged by date and cover a variety of topics. Pro Tip: Don’t forget, someone in your own organization can create your LEU Certificate in-house. Check out our policy on LEUs for Live and Archived Webinars.
  4. Pre Approved Providers – The ISL also keeps a list of organizations who present webinars that are pre-approved for LEUs. This is so great because staff can be assured that any webinar offered by these providers is a go for LEUs. The only stipulation is that courses must be at least 30 minutes in length to count for 1 LEU.
    Pro Tip: Courses that are 30-90 minutes of content are equivalent to 1 LEU.
  5. ISL’s Calendar of Events – The ISL also hosts our own webinars as well as other face-to-face trainings. The are listed on our calendar and are open to all library staff. Pro Tip: Registration for webinars is usually done through an internal link on the calendar. Just click on the training title and then click on the Event Registration Page in order to register.

This blog post was written by Suzanne Walker, Professional Development Office Supervisor. For more information, contact the Professional Development Office at (317) 232-3697 or email statewideservices@library.in.gov.