Register here for the 2020 Virtual Performer’s Showcase!

For 2020, we are changing how you can attend the Performer’s Showcase. This year, the event will take place entirely online, and you can view demonstrations of virtual performances on Youtube whenever it works for you. 
 
Registration includes:

• Access to the 2020 directory highlighting virtual performers. Enjoy a new, easy-to-use format that includes individual performer pages and a spreadsheet for reference.
• A link to a Youtube playlist with virtual event demonstrations from area performers
• An opportunity to connect one-on-one with performers for virtual meet-and-greets on Saturday, September 26, 2020.
• An invitation and recording of two (2) Zoom hangouts where library staff can share virtual programming tips. Links will be forthcoming to those who register. Attend one, both, or wait for the recording:
  1. September 29, 2020, 12-1pm
  2. September 30, 2020, 4-5pm

 
Due to this year’s circumstances, we’re happy to offer this resource to all Oregon library staff at no charge. If you’d like to support the efforts of Children’s Services in libraries across Oregon, please consider upgrading your OLA membership by adding CSD for just $10 if you haven't already. Your membership helps us continue to support the work of library staff working with children and families in Oregon.  If you are not an OLA member, please consider becoming one.  Join OLA and upgrade here.
 
Register here for the 2020 Virtual Performer’s Showcase!

Questions? Contact [email protected]

Upcoming free webinar from InfoPeople: How public libraries can help students succeed with distance learning, September 8th @12:00 (PT). 
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From the website:  "At the end of this one-hour webinar, participants will:

• Feel more confident in their ability to help students, parents, and teachers succeed in a distance learning environment.
• Learn how other public libraries nationwide are helping students, parents, and teachers succeed in a distance learning environment.
• Consider this current crisis as an opportunity to work more closely with teachers and schools.

This webinar will be of interest to: all public library staff who work with students, families and teachers"

StoryWalks are a great way to connect families to reading in a socially distant manner.  Story pages are put out on a path so that families can walk along and read the story.  Here is information from Let's Move in Libraries from the UNC Greenboro School of Education about creating one.  The Boston Children's Museum has a StoryWalk beginning template and an ending template.  Youth Services Shout Out has a great blog post on this topic.  There are many libraries in Oregon that have created StoryWalks.  They include: Estacada, Ledding, St. Helens, Newport, Driftwood, Independence, LaGrande, Monmouth, Seaside, & Stayton.  Thanks to Greta Bergquist for much of this information.

When COVID-19 started shutting down libraries across the state, library staff had to scramble to figure out how to provide services to their communities.  Stayton Public Library, located southeast of Salem in Stayton, Oregon, wanted to reach out to customers who were not online or had restricted web access. 

After conversations with their staff and meetings with the state library, they decided to implement a Dial-a-Story program.  Presentations  by the Denver Public and Sterling Public Libraries in Colorado were instrumental to Stayton Public Library for understanding what is possible with Dial-a-Story and were great sources of tips and suggestions. 

For a small monthly fee, the library was able to add a "message center" to their current service which allows up to ten people at a time to call in and hear the story.  Adding a story to the message center is as easy as making a voicemail, however stories have to be less than five minutes long. 

Given the challenges of the times, Stayton Public Library figured this would be something they could easily start for the Summer Reading Program and then transition to fall programming as well.   Currently they change out their story weekly, and as they monitor interest they will likely begin to change it more frequently.  Jennifer Gaetan, Library Assistant at Stayton Public Library, is enthusiastic about the program. “One of the really great things I love about this [program] is the opportunity for other staff in our library to participate in children's programming in a low key/low stakes manner,” she said.

Cook Memorial Library is another Oregon library that has implemented Dial-a-Story in response to Covid 19 library building shutdowns.  Their program offers customers a menu with 9 different stories to choose from, including one or more stories in Spanish, and may also include a joke or two, a song, rhymes, poems, short stories, and more.

Jackson County Library began Dial-a-Story before COVID-19.  They have been running their program for the past seven years.  On their storytime webpage, they claim “it’s always storytime!”  Library staff teamed up with the Medford area Storytelling Guild to implement the program.  The Storytelling Guild does all of the scheduling and reading. They have a handful of readers and they change the story every 2 weeks.  Some of the criteria for the stories include selecting stories that can be enjoyed without looking at the pictures, and making sure the selected stories are available in the library collection.  Brystan Strong, the youth librarian at the Jackson County Library, is looking forward to adding a Spanish speaking line in the future.

You can check out these Dial-a-Story programs for yourself:
Stayton Public Library Dial-a-Story: 503-769-2408
Cook Memorial Library Dial-a-Story: 541-624-6339
Jackson County Library Services and the Storytelling Guild Dial-a-Story: 541-774-6439
 
Thank you to Jennifer Gaetan and Brystan Strong for sharing their stories.  Let us know if your library is using Dial-a-Story. 


Edited 8/13/2020: The Storyteller's Guild should be the The Storytelling Guild.  Changed to correct name and linked to their website.  TM

Pacific Northwest Library Association: Virtual Poster Session, 2020
Empathy, Innovation, and Impact
August 4-7, 2020
#PNLA2020

The Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA) is holding a virtual poster session from August 4-7, 2020 featuring 30 poster presentations from professionals affiliated with a mix of academic, public, and school libraries. The theme is Empathy, Innovation, and Impact and will address Collections and Publishing, Literacy and Instruction, Partnerships and Connections, and Leadership and Administration, with a special focus on COVID-19 response.

This event is free and open to the general public; you do not need to be a PNLA member to participate! The presentations may be viewed at your convenience, with discussion boards and live chat enabled over the four days so that viewers can ask questions and interact with presenters. Afterward, the posters will be hosted on the PNLA website indefinitely. Use the hashtag #PNLA2020 to share what you learned on social media!
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The poster session page is located here: https://pnla.org/pnla-vps-2020/.