New Workshop: How to Transform Your Library on a Shoestring Budget

For Immediate Release
Fri, 05/26/2017

Contact:

Colton Ursiny

Administrative Assistant

ALA Publishing

cursiny@ala.org

CHICAGO—ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions announces an exciting new workshop, How to Transform Your Library on a Shoestring Budget with Julia Merritt, Wendy Hicks, and Krista Robinson. This workshop will last 90 minutes and take place on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30 Central/12:30 Mountain/11:30am Pacific.

How to Transform Your Library on a Shoestring Budget Workshop
A 90-minute workshop, Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30 Central/12:30 Mountain/11:30am Pacific

What do you do when your library is “good enough,” but you want it to be better? Change everything! This workshop explores the successes and failures of creating meaningful organizational change and how you can produce change in your library to enhance your staff, space, and services all within a reasonable budget. Over the past three years, Stratford Public Library (SPL), a small city library, has transformed their physical space, personnel, services, and their perception within the community—all on a shoestring budget and with the use of specifically named, widely available tools. 

In this workshop, senior staff from SPL share their expertise and provide practical, low-cost strategies on how you can work towards transforming your library. The workshop touches on some of the core themes that libraries continue to struggle with such as staff motivation, change management, and fear of the unknown. The evolution at SPL did not occur as part of a pre-designed master plan, but rather through the best efforts of staff to proactively work towards long-term goals. And in this workshop, the presenters use their experiences to provide tips on how you can initiate change to help meet your library’s desired goals without breaking the bank.  

Learning Outcomes:

You will come out of this workshop with

  • Low-cost solutions to make library renovations
  • Practical ideas for staff reorganization and professional development
  • Library service enhancements that resonate with your community
  • Inspiration to be courageous and implement change in your organization

About the Instructors

Julia Merritt is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stratford Public Library and has been working at Stratford Public Library as CEO since 2013. She has worked in public libraries for 15 years, from small towns to the greater Toronto area. Julia is responsible for the library's overall planning, direction, and communication. She is also the Library Board Secretary and liaison with the SPL Foundation.

Wendy Hicks is the Director of Public Service at Stratford Public Library, where she has worked since 2002. Wendy’s first public library position included checking catalogue card filing and worked in reference for several years. After many years in Reference in Waterloo, in 2002, she joined Stratford as Deputy Director/Public Services. Her expertise lies in public service, collection management and human resources, and has fully embraced outcomes-based planning.

Krista Robinson is the Systems Librarian at Stratford Public Library. She is a Master of Information Studies graduate from the University of Western Ontario with diverse interests in library systems and technology, project and change management, social media, and library design.  You can follow Krista on Twitter @lilmisslibrary.

Registration for this ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions Workshop is available on the ALA Store. You can purchase registration at both individual and group rates.

ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions Workshops offer a convenient, hands-on learning experience that will help you and your colleagues make the best decisions for your library. This workshop is licensed for use by staff or users of the purchasing institution or library organization.

ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions (ELS) produces high-quality professional development events and materials for the library profession. ELS events cover modern issues on a wide variety of topics in formats that include live workshops, asynchronous eCourses, and print publications. We help ensure that today’s library employees have access to the professional development opportunities they need, whether they are brushing up on the basics or expanding their horizons with cutting-edge tools. Contact us at elsmarketing@ala.org.

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