CE NEWS

June 6, 2022

Table of Contents

• Small Library Institute of Management
• Summer Reading Highlights
• Honoring Alaska Native Heritage through Tribal and Community Libraries video series

Small Library Institute of Management

Group photo of the 2022 SLIM participants and co-facilitators.Fourteen rural library directors without a master’s in library science attended the Small Library Institute of Management (SLIM) that was held May 9-12, 2022, in the Andrew P. Kashevaroff Building in Juneau. The workshop covered the areas of library administration, management, policy development, collection development, copyright and patron confidentiality, reference services, programming, and technology planning. SLIM is a hybrid training, combining a four day in-person training and self-paced online course. Julie Niederhauser, Public Library Coordinator for the Alaska State Library and Sheila Ring, Library Director for the Martin Monsen Regional Library co-facilitated training.

The workshop also included the following guest presenters:

• Jonas Lamb, AkLA President & Jessica Iremia, AkLA President-Elect
• Freya Anderson, Alaska State Library
• Ginny Jacobs, Alaska State Library 
• Tess Olympia, Sealaska Heritage Institute 
• Sandy Knipmeyer, Anchorage Municipal Libraries
• Claire Imamura, Alaska State Library 
• Casey Silver and Dimi Macheras, artists, authors of the comic book Chickaloonies: First Frost and owners of 80% Studios, gave an engaging and fun presentation on the creative drawing workshops they have been offering to students in schools and at public libraries.

The Small Library Institute of Management is often described as a “bootcamp” or an “intensive” training due to the compressed learning and accelerated curriculum. Participants are required to attend four full days of in-person training—even their lunch hour is compressed and includes a learning element. In the evenings, participants worked with their partner to develop a presentation which they delivered to the group on the final day of the in-person training.

Extracurricular activities were planned during SLIM to provide participants with a respite from the intensive training. Mary Irvine, Museum Protection and Visitor Services led a guided tour of the Alaska State Museum and enthralled SLIM participants with riveting stories regarding the historical objects on display. During an evening program at Savikko Park, Richard Carstensen, author, illustrator, and naturalist, as well as member of Discovery Southeast highlighted several of the educational resources his organization has developed that are freely available to public libraries and schools. Richard led the group to one of the  historical Treadwell Mining informational signs he has created for the City and Borough of Juneau and gave a brief overview of the local history, flora, and fauna in the area. Using local wildflower identification charts created by Discovery Southeast, participants set off in groups and pairs to see what they could identify. When they found an interesting plant or flower, they quickly sketched it and returned to share what they had found with Richard and the group.

The evening program concluded with a cookout featuring brats, baked beans, various salads, and desserts.

Left: Naturalist Richard Carstensen talks with Tyra Huestis. Middle: Juli Buzby and Bailey Sayler work on their wildflower sketches. Right: John Thill, JPL Library Director leads a tour at the Mendenhall Public Library.

SLIM participants were also given a behind the scenes tour of the spacious and light filled Mendenhall Public Library by John Thill, Juneau Public Libraries Director. Margaret Luedke, Grants & Marketing Coordinator and Andi Hirsch, Electronic Services & Community Outreach Librarian shared how they work with community and national partners to plan and deliver innovative adult library programs. During her presentation, Andi shared several of the Memory Kits that the JPL Library has developed in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Resource of Alaska and a grant from the Network of the National Library of Medicine.

At the conclusion of the in-person training, SLIM participants return home and the real work begins. They have a couple of weeks to complete the online portion of the SLIM training which consists of nine modules:

• Role of the Library Director
• Library Laws & Regulations
• Vision, Mission & Service Goals
• Library Philosophy & Ethics
• Policy vs. Procedure
• Collection Development
• Technology Planning
• Reference
• Library Programming

Every module includes one or more assignments that requires participants to apply what they have learned directly to their library. These assignments serve as action plans participants can use for implementing positive changes at their library.

Congratulations to the 2022 SLIM graduates:

• Juli Buzby, Sutton Public Library
• Adrianne Coffey, Nenana Public Library
• Eli Guidice, Tri-Valley Community Library
• Tyra Huestis, Whale Pass Community Library
• Dorothy Jarchow, Shirly Jackson Community Library
• Ayla Kalke, Charles Evans Community/School Library
• Jamie Katzeek, Klukwan Community/School Library
• Peggy Oberg, Big Lake Public Library
• Dawn Rosenlund, Coffman Cove Community Library
• Bailey Sayler, Seward Community Library & Museum
• Sharon Schrader, Coffman Cove Community Library
• Heather Smith, Ninilchik Community Library
• DJ Webb, Hope Sunrise Community Library
• LeAnn Weikle, Gustavus Public Library

Summer Reading Highlights

Children's librarians across Alaska have been busy preparing for and promoting their upcoming summer reading programs.

Daniel Cornwall, Alaska State Library noticed this charming mural at the Noel Wien Public Library in Fairbanks.

James Adcox, Children’s Librarian at the Kenai Community Library worked with a group of teens to create a summer reading promotional video which features bored teens who instantly brighten when a “book” is placed in their hands. Watch the video to the end to see James as the talking book.

Tania Spurkland was concerned that commercial fishing families with young children may be unaware of the summer reading programs being offered at local libraries. She created a two-page flier highlighting the summer reading programs at the Anchor Point Public Library, Homer Public Library, Seldovia Public Library, Ninilchik Public Library, Soldotna Public Library, Kenai Public Library, Cordova Public Library, Valdez Consortium Library, Dillingham Public Library, Kodiak Public Library, Martin Monsen Regional Library, and the Alaska State Library’s Summer Reading Challenges.  

Video Series: Honoring Alaska Native Heritage through Tribal and Community Libraries

In 2017, Sue Sherif and Tyson Rinio, Associate Professor and off-campus librarian at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks received a Laura Bush 21st Century Grant, Honoring Alaska Native Cultural Heritage: Continuing Education for Alaska Community Libraries. As part of that grant, they collaborated with the Alaska State Library and the Alaska Library Network and academic, public, and tribal libraries across the state to produce a series of recorded continuing education videos featuring Alaska’s efforts to preserve and support Native languages, film, and history. The video series is available from the Sustainable Heritage Network, an online platform that consolidates and provides access to online educational resources of interest to tribal archive, library and museum staff which have been developed and made available by partner institutions.

Over 20 videos have been produced for the Honoring Alaska Native Heritage through Tribal and Community Libraries video series. Below is the initial batch of videos that are available for viewing:

• Nora and Richard Dauenhauer Archive
• Alaska Native Languages Archive with John DiCandeloro
• Alaska Film Archives with Angela Schmidt
• Baby Raven Reads with Tess Olympia
• Cultural Programming in Petersburg
• Cultural Programming in Haines with Erik Stevens