MLA 2018: MCF-Shakopee’s Chautauqua

MCF-Shakopee’s Chautauqua: How a corrections librarian builds community using a 19th century model of engagement. Presented by Andrea Smith.

Chautauqua was a 19th-Century adult education movement and traveling entertainment that aimed at creating fellowship and spark learning. Large tents would be set up in beautiful lakeside locations and provide summer-camp style offering of classes.

Minnesota Correctional Facility- Shakopee is a women-only state prison for those serving at least 1 year. 640 women (ages 18-45) are currently housed and all are enrolled in either a school track or job track.

The goal for introducing a Chautauqua-style learning week to MCF-S was to help the women embrace learning and decrease the likelihood of recidivism.

When it came to getting prison staff on board. There was hesitation about the how. “How will this happen?” “How will we keep the women and staff safe?” However, most were on board with the idea itself. Both staff and the women saw this as a break from the usual.

There were many logistical barriers (approved materials, art supplies), but spending time with individual stakeholders, addressing concerns, and planning for a safe secure learning environment has paid off. The Chautauqua is now in its 5^th year, with each offering taking place over a one week period and offering between 40-60 program options each year.

The hope is for each participant to reconnect with their humanity and be able to re-imagine their identity as learners and community members.

Making a case to the Warden:

• Safe, secure incarceration was top priority.
• This was an opportunity to encourage positive social skills, lifelong learning, and create real connection.
• Librarian would reach out to different stakeholders individually and answer questions with understanding that this would require a cultural mind shift for many people.
• Many presenters, teachers, and artists were excited to showcase programs in areas music, history, finance, yoga, birds, sexual education, and all sorts of crafts and music. This made a stronger case that it was a worthwhile program. 

Considerations:

• Background checks on 40+ presenters takes time, plan accordingly.
• Approving materials also takes time.
• Situations beyond your control will happen. Program may not be able to take place, but remember safety comes first

Recommendations:

• Have a long promotional period. The women needed to see and hear about the Chautauqua program many times to understand and become interested in attending.
• Set a firm registration period. This is an opportunity for those interested in participating to practice planning ahead.
• Ask for help! Be specific about what is needed and give people clear tasks. 
• Hold an opening and closing ceremony with reminders to be timely, prepared/dressed, and to show gratitude to presenters and staff 
• Reaffirm that this is a safe space to try new things and the opportunity only comes once a year.
• Follow-up with the women afterward. What sparked their interests? What do they want to see next year?

--Xenia @GLCL

MLA 2018: A Bigger Boat: Data Visualization Lessons from the Movies

A Bigger Boat: Data Visualization Lessons from the Movies. Presented by Trish Valliancourt from St. Catherine University.

(Due to the presenter’s partner being ill and some unfortunate technical difficulties the session was shortened.)

Data visualization is all about packing lots of information in a finite space. But how do you create the most impact? Turns out there are key ways we can guide our audience to read information in ways that the brain can easily process.

Preattentive attributes are visual properties that our brains take in without consciously thinking about them. Things like: color, size, shape, motion, 2D vs 3D, length vs. width, and spatial positioning are all preattentive attributes.

If you choose images that subconsciously distract your audience, then all attention is drawn to the graph rather than the information presented. The data should always pop, not the graph. When we consider each of these attributes, we can make the best choices to help draw our audience to the target information instead of the overall visualization.

Example: Look at the table below. On how many days did Crisp sales exceed 160 bars?

·         Image 1: Looking for the answer in the raw data proves difficult and time consuming. This is not the best way to present information.

·         Image 2: A line graph makes it easier to see how sales of each item rise and fall, but it still takes our audience some time to consider the lines and numbers.

·         Image 3: So much easier! There is a red line marking the target quantity (160) and a red circle around the exact day when sales of Crisp exceeded 160.

Tips about preattentive attributes:

•      2D images much easier for us to process than 3D images.
•      Length is also easier than width on our brains.
•      Too many attributes can be a hard to handle. Use no more than 4. In the example above, we could go further and use grey scale for all other types of bars and only leave Crisp in color.
•       “It is not how much information there is, but rather how effectively it is arranged.”~ Edward Tufte

 

--Xenia @GLCL

MLA 2018: Starting, Supporting, and Sustaining a Homeless Advisory Group

Starting, Supporting, and Sustaining a Homeless Advisory Group – Minneapolis Central Library, Minnesota Library Association conference October 11, 2018

Library Atrium

In 2017 the staff at Minneapolis Central Library brought together a homeless advisory group to inform library staff and administration of the needs and issues pertinent to this particular population.

How did it come about?

In 2013 the library began a “Coffee and Conversations” program modeled on the Dallas Public Library’s program with the same name led by senior librarian Dillon Young and associate librarian Chris Ruiz.

Once a week they serve coffee in the library atrium before the doors to the main library open, and have some sort of interactive conversation starter. Some are very low-cost, such as a large sheet of paper with a timeline for visitors to fill in with important milestones in their lives. Others require funding, such as therapy animal visits and Springboard for the Arts Ready Go presenters.

This program was popular and led to other adult programs that serve the homeless community (among others)– Monday chess club and craft club.

In 2015 the library hired a social worker, Kate Coleman. Previously St. Stephen’s provided office hours, but this was an expansion of that program. Because Kate works for the county she is able to directly connect patrons experiencing homelessness to benefits and housing resources.

Advisory Board

In 2017 the Arc Minnesota gave the library a micro-grant for Kate Coleman, Dillon Young, and Chris Ruiz to start the advisory board. They use the funds to serve lunch, and give gift cards and bus tokens to every board member at each meeting

.

Structure

Initially library staff invited patrons to join the board, but eventually they began an application process. Some patrons will transition out of homelessness during the course of their term. The application asks about people’s experience with homelessness within the last year and whether they come to the library regularly.

The board meets every other week and staff members are there to facilitate discussion, not to make decisions or vote on ideas.

What Helps

Staff members say a strong agenda helps keep meetings focused. Each meeting the group discusses issues in 4 areas: resources, programming, security, and hours and accessibility. Much of the discussions have centered on relationships between patrons and security officers.

Once the staff invited the head of security to show the group that security cameras did not allow officers to see inside of bathroom stalls, which was reassuring to the group.

Successes and Next Steps

The board has suggested ideas and seen them implemented.

The library opens at noon on Sundays, and the board complained that there was nowhere else for them to be downtown in the morning and no public restrooms. They asked staff to open the atrium earlier, and now the atrium opens at 9. This required 1 staff member to give up off-desk time each week, security was already in the building.

Coffee, games, crafts, and movie screenings have also been added to the commons (a room outside of the library off the atrium).

The group hopes to develop a Homeless 101 class for new patrons experiencing homelessness that will help them learn the rules of the road.

--Amanda @GLCL

MLA 2018, DAY 2

Leadership is On The Air! Training Through Podcasting!

--Angie Gentile-Jordan  and Mary Wilkins-Jordan

CMLE is a consortium of Central Minnesota  public, academic and special libraries. Many members are solo librarians who struggle to get the training they need.

They decided to create three podcasts:

●     Linking Our Libraries--training for library staff.

●     Book Bites--5 minute book talks- source for reader’s advisory.

●     Reading with Libraries - an online book group.

What they learned:

●     Anybody can lead.

●     Make sure you have goals.

●     Content is what really matters- need people who know what they are talking about.

●     Content should match the goal.

●     Show notes with resources and links.

●     Post a quiz at the end to give staff credit for listening.

●     People don’t always believe they are interesting - encourage them.

●     Find people who speak well.

●     Evaluate! The only way to improve is from negative feedback.

●     Things will take longer than you expect- each Linking Our Libraries episode takes 8-10 hours prep.

●     Keep it short- Linking Our Libraries episodes are 20 minutes long - library staff can listen on the way to work.

●     Youtube has videos on podcasting.

●     $15/month is the maximum you should pay for a server.

How CMLE does podcasts:

●     Hosting by Libysn.

●     “Chunking”- days of constant recording - edit later

●     Release schedule- 15 episodes per “season” - 1 per week -seasons can be as long as you want.

●     Guest hosts drawn from members- guests pick topics-they encourage guests to bring notes or a rough sketch.

●     Post new episodes on dedicated web page.

More on their podcasting here, including studio photos. They are happy to offer equipment recommendations.

Possible uses for a podcast at Saint Paul Public Library:

●     Local history

●     Training for new staff

●     Training on Innovation Lab equipment

Recommended podcasts:

●     Professional Book Nerds (from Overdrive)

●     Bookriot

●     Terrible Book Club

Making Virtual Reality a Reality in Your Library

--Chris Austin, Cheryl Hill  and James Hill

Libraries have long served as points for patrons to experience new technology, and virtual reality seems to be the next big thing.

Virtual reality can be experienced with viewers that connect to a mobile device, or with a more immersive helmet connected to a desktop computer,

Zumbrota Public Library uses an HTC Vive. It requires quite a heavy-duty computer- the whole setup is about $2000. Grants or donations may be an option.

Coding for Cospaces

Virtual reality programs:

●     Virtual planetarium with Star Chart ($10)

●     Cospaces- educational - can code cute animals to do things (free version available)

●     Virtual tour of the library-Google Tours is free if you use a personal gmail address.,

●     Virtual moonwalk for NASA-themed program ($9.69)

●     Virtual training exercise for law enforcement

●     Virtual museum tours (free)

Virtual reality attracts teens and men to the library. It can be used to experience things that can’t be seen in person.

 --Andrea @GLCL

MLA 2018, DAY 1

Attack of the Killer Computer!: Is Your Library Ready to Code?

  --Brianna Bleeker  and Stacy Lienemann

Waseca Public Library received a $25,000 grant from the American Library Association to design and implement coding programs for young people.

They used Scratch for coding. The programs started with a project and then had an open lab each month for youth to try their own things.

Tips for coding programs:

●     Use HOMAGO principles.

●     Create a welcoming environment for diverse groups.

●     Emphasize youth voice.

●     Model career paths.

●     Find community partners.

●     Students can help teach each other-seat master learners next to newbies- connect people with different skills.

●     Engage with families- they can learn together, even with teens.

●     Have an end goal in mind to measure impact.

●     Have lesson plans- they are available on Hour of Code.

●     Don’t solve things for them, help them solve it themselves by giving tips.

●     For open labs, can just have Code.org up on computers.

So, far the programs they have had involved game design and robots. No adult coding yet.

A Turing Tumble is a fun analog computer they use to demonstrate how computers work.

Programming Outside the Lines

  --Amy Muchmore and Sarah Smith

Carnegie-Stout Public Library was seeing a huge decline in attendance of conventional programs- book clubs, local history, speakers. They wanted to get more 18-34 year-olds and men to attend, but only had $4500/year for adult programming.

Tips for taking your adult programming from stale to sizzle:

●     Borrow ideas from youth services.

●     Plan earlier than you think you need to - unexpected things will come up.

●     Even successful programs need to be refreshed from time to time - modify or put on hiatus.

●     Ask other libraries for ideas.

●     Don’t be afraid of failure.

●     Talk about programs to as many people as you can-word of mouth is 2nd most common way attendees hear about them after social media.

Nerf tag is the library’s most successful program. Patrons shoot each other with Nerf “darts” from “blasters” - they don’t use words “guns” or “bullets” in marketing. One couple had a nerf-themed wedding at the library to celebrate where they met. It is also a fun way to be active.

How they do Nerf tag:

●     20-30 players

●     Monthly

●     Participants sign a waiver

●     Few universal rules- no headshots, no hitting, no running on stairs- modify rules on the fly if they don’t work. For the game itself, let patrons make their own rules.

●     Supplies are $50-100/year- mostly water, candy, darts and balls- patrons usually bring their own blasters, but they have a few for those without.

●     Staff talked to the laser tag/paintball communities for ideas.

There main issues were keeping up with dart and ball replacement, finding them all after events, and finding a symmetrical space for capture the flag.

Other programs:

●     Fandom trivia- Just need to pay for snacks and prizes- coming up with the questions is the hard part.

●     Bad art night-- clean out your junk craft stuff and give a prize for the worst art

●     Adult spelling bee-- at brew pub- challenge to find words in increasing difficulty- 80 people in the audience.

●     Adult Quidditch - didn’t get enough people to play.

●     Life action “Clue” after hours- based on Sherlock.

●     Retro Gaming. -old arcade video games.

●     Anime after hours- patrons can bring their own alcohol.

Carnegie-Stout’s biggest program is the Cabin Fever Mini-Con.

Budget:

●     $350 prizes, honorarium

●     $75 catering- hot chocolate for everyone

●     $200 promotion

They use stickers to count attendance.

Activities:

●     Game panel featuring game store owners and game theory professors

●     A full-size TARDIS and a working K-9 - brought by volunteers.

●     501st Legion- Star Wars cosplayers - will come to events free.

●     Perler beads and superhero cape making in the makerspace.

●     An Artist Alley.

●     Webcomic artist Blue Deliquanti (Twin Cities-based) as special guest-only asked for hotel room- library got free room from hotel.

Ideas for future programs:

●     More take and make- Ghostbuster slime?

●     A regular Dungeons and Dragons game.

Rescuing Audio, Video, and Digital Data on a Budget

  --Dorothea Salo

                                               Salo with audio interface.

Dorothea Salo was teaching a class on curating digital media when she realized that her library lacked the tools to preserve many kinds of media, both analog and digital. If we don’t act now we will lose a lot of local history. For example, one library had a whole box of oral histories on 8-track tape.

This led to her founding of RADD, Recover Analog and Digital Data.

The RADD web site offers help for librarians who want to digitize their materials or help patrons with digitization:

●     Portable “rescue kits” to use at your own library--can be sent by mail--funded by IMLS grant.

●     “Build Your Own Rescue Kit” handout - equipment recommendations could also be used for a digitizing station in a makerspace. Each kit costs $3000, but the cases are most of the price.

●     Training at your site by Salo.

RADD tips:

●     A food dehydrator can fix old tapes.

●     Check your local record stores and AV transfer services--may be able to find equipment or fix broken equipment for you.

●     Don’t be afraid of used equipment.

●     ILL boxes can be repurposed for kits.

●     Camcorders are tricky- You can find cheap adapters for mini-VHS, but mini-DVD connect via Firewire/IEEE 1394, which isn’t used on new computers.

●     You may want to find an old computer that still works and use it for things like Firewire and floppy drives.

●     If you don’t have a computer with one, external drives for 5.25 floppies would have to be built, but materials aren’t costly.

●     There are two kinds of answering machine tapes.

Places to find old technology:

●     Goodwill

●     Stuff universities and colleges are getting rid of.

●     Everything But the House- service that gets rid of things for bereaved families

Project Management as Bridge: Building Connections between Library Strategic Goals and Direction and Project Work --Kirsten Clark and Kate McCready

Projects are work that is bound in time and scope.With 300 employees across the system, project management at University of Minnesota libraries can be a challenge. They even have a manual.

Projects must:

●     Fit library mission and goals.

●     Have roles clearly assigned.

●     Break work into smaller chunks.

Some teams will need their own charter, which can be done in an afternoon.

Meeting tips:

●     No meetings without a purpose

●     Action items are more important than notes.

●     Listen as an advocate, not a critic.

●     Nobody speaks more than once before hearing from everybody.

●     Everyone adds to the agenda - chair makes sure it is up-to-date.

●     Alternate meeting locations.

U of M libraries use Smartsheet and Asana as project management software. These help staff see where they are in the project process.

Smartsheet offers Gantt charts, spreadsheets that illustrate project schedules and show what percentage of each part is completed. There are also free Gantt chart Excel templates available on the Internet.

--Andrea @GLCL