Big Talk From Small Libraries 2016 - Reach Them, Teach Them: Having a Lifelong Learning Series in YOUR Library
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Reach Them, Teach Them: Having a Lifelong Learning Series in YOUR Library Meg Wempe, Assistant Director & Adult Services Librarian, Ruby M. Sisson Memorial Library, Pagosa Springs, CO (Population served: 12,000) Big Talk From Small Libraries 2016 February 26, 2016 http://nlcblogs.nebraska.gov/bigtalk/
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Big Talk From Small Libraries 2016 - Reach Them, Teach Them: Having a Lifelong Learning Series in YOUR Library
- 1. Welcome! Reach Them, Teach Them – Having a Lifelong Learning Lecture Series in YOUR Library Meg Wempe meg@pagosalibrary.org Ruby M. Sisson Memorial Library Pagosa Springs, CO
- 2. A little background…. Meg Wempe, Assistant Director at Ruby M. Sisson Memorial Library in Pagosa Springs, CO meg@pagosalibrary.org Thank you for coming! Lifelong Learning Lecture Series
- 3. Lifelong Learning “Our whole life is an Education — we are ‘ever- learning,’ every moment of time, everywhere, under all circumstances something is being added to the stock of our previous attainments.” – Edward Paxton Hood, Self-Education: Twelve Chapters for Young Thinkers, 1852
- 4. Who are the people in your neighborhood? …The people that you see each day….
- 5. What does staff know? Willing to share?
- 6. Patrons
- 7. Local government Parks National monuments Forest Service …
- 8. Colleges/Universities -- possible speakers -- get ideas
- 10. Individual Think What can you think of, specific to where you are, that no one has said, that may apply to you and your library?
- 13. Yes, but when?!? No rules! Poll patrons YOUR series
- 14. Questions? Meg Wempe Ruby M. Sisson Memorial Library – Pagosa Springs, CO meg@pagosalibrary.org
Editor's Notes
- Who I am – Asst. Director and Adult Services Librarian Thank them for picking this session. Quick picture of the LLL at Ruby Sisson – 2x /year; spring and fall; 6 weeks Thursday evenings; talks are 50 min-1 hour with 30 minutes (or so) left for questions We’ll be talking about how you can do a Lifelong Learning Lecture series at your library, so let’s begin!
- So, why Lifelong Learning? As you can see from quote, ever-learning understanding has been happening for a long time. People have understood, going back 150 years (as seen here) and likely much longer. You’re here at this conference to learn more – maybe for yourself, maybe for your library – but you will learn more. Hopefully, you’ll learn more in this session to help you to help your patrons with their “ever-learning.” How can this process happen? By a LLL series at your library. It doesn’t have to be expensive, take a lot of your staff time or effort. Let’s talk about how that can happen!
- The biggest thing, of course, is finding speakers. I hope to show you that it isn’t as hard as you may think, originally. You may consider thinking about taking a walk down Main Street. What businesses are there? Think about the possibilities. Is there a credit union who could talk about financial planning for retirement. It’s helpful to also think about something that they may know about that is a little less direct than what the store is. For example, is there a yoga studio that could present on the benefits of yoga?
- Staff is another possible place to pull speakers. All of us have things that we know and that includes your coworkers! Talk to your staff, or more importantly, listen, when they talk about what they did on the weekends, or a meeting they attended. Maybe they love photography – maybe they were in a contest – maybe…who knows? You may have someone willing to share. We definitely have talented staff at my library, Ruby Sisson. From quilters, to travelers to Halloween lovers, to book writers, we have a range of interests. The key thing is to see what they might be willing to talk about for 45 minutes to an hour. For one presentation, we had a staff member present on her travels to Africa. She loves travelling and photography. The biggest challenge for her was to narrow down her pictures for the talk. She told stories about her African safari and people loved it! She was nervous about presenting at first, until I told her that showing pictures and telling stories of her adventures were plenty. Because she’s also a birder, she was able to name (which she double-checked before presenting) the wide variety of birds and other wildlife they encountered. (pause) We often have great turnouts for these armchair tourist talks. People get to see, experience, and learn about other cultures and places without having to renew their passport.
- Patrons know a lot! Often, they like to share. (We know that.) Maybe they’d like to share about their hobby, or their business. Let’s talk about business and different guidelines your library may have. (Go through my library’s policies.) As you can see, it still works out to be a win-win scenario. Solarize Archuleta example – Jonathan Dobson
- What governmental agencies are nearby? A lot of places have a forest service, or maybe you have a nearby national monument. Is there a museum – quilting to veterans to art – who is there and ready to share? Maybe there’s a wellness center connected to your local hospital. We’ve been fortunate to have a range of talks, sometimes with our LLL series, and other times just stand-alone workshops from the folks at the Wellness Center and PS Medical Center. Sometimes agencies have an outreach person to talk with, and other times, not.
- Are there local colleges, universities, vocational schools that you could pull from? Different experts who don’t mind doing some pro-bono work at your library. Or, in my case, I use the local Fort Lewis College to get ideas. They have a LLL series and by looking at their schedule of previous sessions, I could think if any of the presenters would work at my local library. Let’s talk a bit about money. We base it on whether people are driving – small stipend – they can use for gas, lodging (not really necessary, but an option) or a meal. We pay $100 if coming from Durango. (about 60-75 minutes away, depending) One speaker from Ignacio – about halfway between Pagosa and Durango received $50. It’s not something they necessarily expect, and may lower this cost. If you are thinking that you’d be better off not to spend actual money on having someone come, there are ways to do that. First, of course, is not to have people come from a distance that they may wish or ask about a gas stipend. You may also consider seeing if there are local businesses that may donate things that you can give to the speakers. One thing that immediately comes to mind is a gift certificate for a meal, especially if the talk is before or after a mealtime. Depending on where you live, maybe there is something else that you can offer, such as a soak in the hot springs, or a drink and an appetizer at a local brewery. Maybe you have a local bookstore that will donate a gift certificate. Again, this series is YOUR series, so you can personalize it to suit. Try to think outside the norm, particularly if you are trying to make the series cost you nothing other than publicity. I’ll talk about publicizing later.
- It’s important when looking at these speakers, and their particular presentation topic, to think about what might work in your community. Relative to our population, we have a large proportion of older people people. It’s why we have a hefty, and well-used, large print collection. Talks do well In your area, perhaps the demographics are different. Maybe people are older, or have different cultural backgrounds. Are there a lot of married people with children, or young businesspeople? The LLL series is a great opportunity to get people into your library that may have not been in before. So, when you’re looking at your community, don’t just look at who comes into your library – look at who you see around town, when you’re grocery shopping, or taking a walk. The demographics of your community may also help you determine when you might want to hold the series – daytime or night, weekday or weekend.
- We all work in different libraries, with different situations. Perhaps where you’re located has other potential speakers – let’s take a few minutes to think of things that apply to where you are, and how what may work at your place may work at some of your fellow attendees. Local brewery? Winery? Bike shop? As you’re thinking of places, please type in some of these things into the chat box. In a couple minutes, I’ll ask this information to be shared out to us from Christa, who can see what you’re sharing.
- Let’s take some time to share out what you shared. Christa, do you notice some recurring ideas? Christa, any ones stand out that you’d like to share? (allow time here)
- As is true of any new workshop or event – or really ANYthing at the library, new or not – it’s important to get the word out. This picture shows 25 different ways to spread the word – some may work better than others, but it’s a cute graphic for brainstorming how to share this new series. At Ruby Sisson, we use our usual methods of promotion, through our website, our Facebook page, and on our twice-weekly visit to the radio station. Living in a small town, but one with a local paper, I usually write a special article to be included in the paper on the week prior to it starting. We also create two different types of handout papers – one is a one-page, brief rundown of the talks, and then one brochure that goes into more details and gives heartier descriptions of the talks. In addition, you may also consider mentioning the series at other workshops or classes that you do – I know that I mention it with my weekly computer classes, for example. If you’re fortunate to have places in town to hang a flyer, you may also consider going around to stores or a coffeeshop, or other meeting spots that have a community bulletin board. After years of having a twice-yearly LLL series, people ask about the series months before it starts.
- As I mentioned earlier, we hold two LLL series per year – one in the spring and one in the fall. The spring usually goes from mid-April to mid-May. The fall series runs for the 6 weeks prior to Thanksgiving. We hold the series on Thursday evenings at 5:30, which allows the talks to be about an hour, and give time for people to ask questions before the library closes at 7 pm. That’s what works for US. You’ll have to figure out what might work at your location. ***I have found it helpful to ask patrons for their feedback. I have used this suggestion when starting a new book club. Instead of making it wide open for when to hold them, you could decide a few times for them to loosely vote on. These times could be based on when your library is open, or even when the person who would be in charge of them is available. You may even give a time when the library is closed. Many years ago, before I worked at Ruby Sisson, our LLL series was held on Saturdays at 3 pm. At the time, the library closed at 3. Keep in mind that there are no set rules – you can do what works for your library. ***Perhaps you want to start with just doing it once a year, and see how it goes. Maybe you think that you might get more people in the summer, and you decide to hold it then. Another thing to consider is what else may be going on during that time of year. Again, you have to think about your situation. Do you live in a big high school basketball town? If so, then look at what their schedule is, and pick a different time of year – or on days that the games never happen. ***I think it’s empowering to think that you get to decide so much about this series. As I mentioned earlier, we now hold our series on a different day and time than several years ago. Keep in mind that you can try something and if that doesn’t work, you can try something else.
- I hope that you’ve learned a lot and feel empowered to host a Lifelong Learning Lecture series at your library. You may have limitations or other things to consider for your specific location, but I think that you’ll find you can plan a LLL series at YOUR library. I encourage you to give it a shot! I’ve posted my email address here, in case you think of other questions, or want to follow up with me. Let me know about your successes or obstacles – and good luck! Once again, thank you for attending this webinar. Best of fortune to you in the future!