CE NEWS

April 3, 2020

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Table of Contents

• COVID-19 Resources

• Public Libraries Respond to COVID-19

• Webinars You Don’t Want to Miss

• Librarians Help During Crisis 

• Statewide Summer Reading Challenges

• Virtual Library Programming & Copyright

COVID-19 Resources

During the mandated library closures some staff have been using this as an opportunity to conduct inventories and clean and sanitize the building.

The Northeast Document Conservation Center has updated their recommendations on how to disinfect books and other collections.  

COVID 19 Resources for Librarians  created by the Institute of Museum and Library Services includes links to resources created by organizations serving libraries and museums.  If you missed the informative Mitigating COVID-19 When Managing Paper-Based Circulating, and Other Types of Collections webinar facilitated by the IMLS you may view the recording online.

Public Libraries Respond to COVID-19

In response to the demand for information, the Public Library Association is hosting a 4-part webinar series on how libraries across the country are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each webinar in the series is being recorded and is freely available online.

1. Public Libraries Respond to COVID-19: The Current Landscape
   Held on Thursday, 3/26/2020
2. Public Libraries Respond to COVID-19: Successful Ways to Work Remotely
   Held on Thursday, 4/2/2020
3. Public Libraries Respond to COVID-19: Managing Stress and Anxiety
   Thursday, 4/9/2020
4. Public Libraries Respond to COVID-19: Innovative Solutions in Times of Crisis
   Thursday, 4/16/2020

Webinars You Don't Want to Miss

Future of Libraries Meeting with Miguel Figueroa

During the first week of March, Miguel Figueroa, Director for the Center for the Future of Libraries, led three Future of Libraries workshops in Alaska. The workshops were held in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. Workshop participants were introduced to practices for thinking about the future, innovation and change, forecasting and planning and developing practices and communications for the future.

We are excited to announce that a follow-up virtual meeting with Miguel Figueroa has been scheduled on April 16 at 2 pm.  This virtual meeting is an opportunity for participants to share how they have incorporated trend scanning in their library and how they are engaging  staff in conversations about trends for the future of the library.  During the virtual meeting there will be plenty of time to ask Miguel questions and learn from each other.

 A link to join the webinar is available from the CE Calendar

Learning Express: College Admissions Tests

On April 20 at 9 am, Jimmy King, Learning Express Consultant and trainer extraordinaire will introduce participants to the College Admission Test Prep offered in Learning Express Library available on SLED.  SAT, ACT, AP exam test prep.  College Admission Test Prep not only  includes practice test but tutorials, eBooks, and other content to help students score higher on these high-stake tests. He will also cover tutorials that help students write their college entrance essays and other important college prep content.

 A link to join the webinar is available from the CE Calendar

Librarians Help During Crisis

Librarians across Alaska are providing valuable assistance to their communities during this pandemic.  The Loussac Library is now serving as the Emergency Operations Center for the City of Anchorage and has several library staff serving on emergency management teams.  In other communities, librarians are working closely with non-profits to meet local needs and some have been temporarily reassigned to fill critical needs in other city or borough departments.

 In the lower 48, public and academic libraries are using their 3D printers to create the frames for face masks and shields used by medical personnel.  On April 1^st the University of California San Francisco published an online article detailing their process for printing face shields which includes links to downloadable files for each iteration of the face shield. 

Statewide Summer Reading Challenges

The Alaska State Library has recently purchased a license to Beanstack the online reading platform and will be offering access to libraries participating in the 2020 Statewide Summer Reading Program Dig Deeper: Read, Investigate, Discover. Statewide Summer Reading Challenges for children, teens and adults will open May 1st. 

Please stay tuned as information about the Statewide Summer Reading Challenges will be posted to to Alaska Statewide Summer Reading webpage as it becomes available.

Virtual Story Times & Copyright Issues

As youth services librarians have had to pivot away from face to face programming and towards virtual programming, many have expressed concern about potential copyright infringement issues.

On March 18^th, School Library Journal published the article, Publishers Adapt Policies to  Help Educators listing all of the publishers that are allowing educators and librarians to read their books online during the pandemic. The list is being updated daily.  Be sure to read what the publisher is requiring you do in order to use their resource.  The Programming Librarian’s March 24, 2020 blog post, News: Online Storytime & Coronavirus, It’s Fair Use Folks covered the basics of fair use and how it applies to virtual story time during the pandemic.

If during your virtual storytime, you want to read a title from a publisher that isn’t on the SLJ list the best practice is to directly contact the publisher.   Wikipedia has a comprehensive list of children’s publishing companies which often includes a link to their official webpage with FAQ or Contact Us information.  Some of the official publisher websites even include a link to a copyright permission  form (see an example  from Usborne Publishing).