On-Demand Webinars

Outcome measurement is a way for libraries to assess their impact on the people they serve and helps libraries answer the question, “What good did we do?” With a vast number of ways to collect outcomes, it may be overwhelming to identify which data collection methods to use. Choosing the methodology also depends on the library’s learning goals, time limitations, staff capacity and more. This on-demand webinar is designed to help libraries learn what methods are available to them, and the benefits and challenges to each. It highlights several methods, with an emphasis on focus groups.

Since 2015, Multnomah County (OR) Library has been providing a way for patrons to contribute to our e-book collection, bringing authors visibility while offering compelling local content to our patrons. The Library Writers Project engages with the writing community while promoting library staff as curators of books worth your time. We’ll walk through the project inception and execution, and discuss the place of self-published works in collection development and the role of librarians as tastemakers.

Pima County (AZ) Public Library (PCPL) has radically shifted its approach toward interacting with youth in violation of the library’s Customer Code of Conduct. Using restorative justice practices, PCPL created a justice board with community partners to facilitate more mindful approaches to incidents involving youth, focusing on creating opportunities for growth and engagement rather than barriers to library access. This webinar explores the praxis behind this organizational culture shift including the successes and challenges faced by staff.

Outcome measurement is a way for libraries to assess their impact on the people they serve and helps libraries answer the question, “What good did we do?” Libraries may need to measure outcomes for a variety of reasons—from measuring and improving impact, to better managing services and resources, to demonstrating a need for funding or other support. This on-demand webinar will help libraries develop their own outcome measures based on program goals and implement those measures through effective survey design.

Are you starting a partnership or have an existing partnership and want to measure the results of your combined efforts? A collaborative partnership is about having a common goal around better serving the ever-changing needs of your community and measuring outcomes can help you and your partner identify better ways to align your work to deliver more impactful community-based services. This on-demand webinar focuses on how to plan for collaborative outcome measurement with a partner, with a focus on partnerships between libraries and schools to stop the summer slide.

As part of PLA’s commitment to working toward making its educational events accessible to all, this webinar offers practical recommendations for creating accessible presentations for the PLA 2018 Conference and beyond. Learn how to design presentation materials that are accessible and to deliver educational content, including facilitating discussion, in a way that reaches all audience members. This webinar includes specific advice on slide structure, font choices, and file formats, and provides examples of the accessibility features of popular presentation software options.

In alignment with ALA’s strategic direction on equity, diversity, and inclusion, this on-demand webinar provides an introductory understanding of the concepts of power, identity, and oppression, and how they impact public libraries’ staff, services, programs, collections, and spaces. Through presentation and dialogue, the panelists discuss the role of allies in addressing these concepts. This on-demand webinar is also an excellent primer to the PLA 2018 preconference, “Understanding Identity, Power, Oppression + Liberation: A Justice + Equity Training.”

Education about consumer health services and programming can help public librarians stay current and develop new programs and services for their communities. This on-demand webinar provides an overview of educational programs available via the National Network of Libraries of Medicine about consumer health and specific health topics. These programs can help librarians get the Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) credential, which brings an additional, recognized level of expertise to their libraries and helps them connect with community partners.

PLA has two free tools that can help you provide and measure digital literacy services. DigitalLearn.org provides tutorials on essential basic technologies designed for use in library patron training, and also offers the ability to create a custom site branded for your library. Project Outcome provides simple survey tools to measure the outcomes of digital literacy programs and services. This free on-demand webinar shows you how to use both of these tools together to augment your digital literacy training and measure the impact your digital literacy services have in the community.

A FREE on-demand webinar presented in partnership with ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom. Banned Books Week (BBW) has been a mainstay in American libraries for over 30 years. This annual event brings together communities in support of the freedom to read and to express ideas, even those considered unorthodox or unpopular. Some libraries have been celebrating BBW for decades and feel like they are "preaching to the choir," while others have steered clear of stirring up controversy.