Today I am going to focus on the trainings I did provide in 2015, preview what I have in store for 2016, and ask you to chime in with how I could help you better.
Tomorrow I will be focusing on my professional resolutions that are NOT reading based. And Friday will be my official reading resolutions.
The point of today's post will be to give you a broad outline of all of the trainings I provided this year in one easy to access post so that you can see what type of programs I offer. I know I have a lot of new readers due to the thousands of library workers I have reached this past year. I want to make sure everyone is on the same page as we continue this journey together.
But with this post I also want you to let me know what kind of training you are looking for. I don't care if you have zero interest in or plans to hire me. I really, truly want to know what skills you feel your staff needs to provide better leisure reading service to your patrons. This will help me to develop trainings for other libraries, for which all of my readers get slide access, and will give me direction on which topics to focus on here on the blog going forward.
RA for All 2015 Year in Training Wrap-Up
Anyone who has visited RA for All knows that 2015 was a huge year for me and as a result, for all of you because 2015 was the year I stopped being half a RA trainer and half an on-desk librarian and made the switch full time to training.
While I made the official switch in June, this was a year long process, beginning in July of 2014 when I made the commitment to RA for All by investing in a professional logo and making the intellectual decision to put more effort into making RA for All my actual job.
From my goodbye post after 15 years at my library:
So while I am sad to say goodbye to Berwyn, the good news is I get to start saying hello to everyone else. I am excited that I will have the time to develop the programs and services I have always wanted to do. I have begun to forge some partnerships that will help many more libraries, their staff and their patrons.And help many more libraries I did.
In the first six months of 2015 while still working 18-20 hours a week at the BPL I:
- Travelled to Connecticut to provide staff, patron, and regional RA training at the Darien Library [click here for a video about that trip].
- Presented as part of the panel for the Library Journal and NoveList webinar The Year of the RA Makeover
- Provided monthly, statewide, virtual library trainings for library systems in Maine and Massachusetts.
- Did an in-person, in-service training for seven library in the Grand Rapids, MI area.
- Visited Camarillo, CA and provided a full day of in-service training for their staff
- Presented national webinars for NoveList and PLA
- Provided 4 webinars and 1 in person training for my local library system-- RAILS
- Webinar: Re-Charge You Book Club [9/14/15]-- SLIDES
- Repeat of Same Webinar [9/28/15]-- SLIDES
- In Person: Book Discussion for Book Discussion Leaders: The Winter People [10/6/15]-- Report
- Webinar: Demystifying Genre: How to Help Every Type of Reader [11/9/15]-- SLIDES
- Webinar: RA for All: The School Library Edition [12/1/15]-- SLIDES
- many of the recording can be seen here
- Provided personalized, in person, basic RA training to 3 Chicagoland area libraries
- Presented at and sponsored the ILA Library State of Mind joint conference.
- Presented for The Library Network virtually-- Bridging the Physical-Virtual Divide
- Completion of the two year appointment to steer the ship of the Adult Reading Round Table Crime Fiction Genre Study. Click here for posts from RA for All on this project.
- I am particularly proud of how many changes we started with this genre study, changes and improvements which we will be carrying over into 2016-17.
- Revamped the long standing ARRT Literary Book Discussion and Leadership Training
- Created a new website
- Made the program just as much about the book discussions as it is about the continuing education for book discussion leaders
- Wrote an article about our success for Booklist Magazine
- Started writing regular genre fiction reviews for Booklist
- This one is important to me because for years I did not have enough time to do this even though I had been asked to and really wanted to. I feel strongly about collection development and its central importance to all we do at the public library. To be able to contribute to the collection development of thousands of public libraries means the world to me.
RA for All 2016 Training Preview:
Looking back at all I did to train library workers in 2015, I already know 2016 will be busier and that is very exciting. But there is still time for your library to get in on the action.
Here is a very broad preview of projects I have already booked or am in the process of finalizing for 2016:
- Staff book discussion training for Fountaindale Public Library District [Bolingbrook, IL]
- Keynote Address for a 1 day RA conference for Teen and Children's librarians in MA
- Webinar training for WI libraries
- LACONI RASS [IL] meeting in May
- In-Service staff training day for New Albany-Floyd County Public Library [IN] in October
- Coordinating the 2016 ARRT Literary Book Discussions and Leadership Trainings
- Serving as support for the team running the 2016-17 ARRT Speculative Fiction Genre Study
- click here for RA for All posts on this topic
There are a few other events for which I am holding space but do not have enough of a commitment to mention publicly as of yet.
Your Turn To Chime In:
That is what I have been doing and have already committed to do. Now it is your turn. I have 2 very simple questions for all of you:
- What types of training are you interested in for your Library?
- What topics do you want me to explore on the blog?
There are three ways you can answer these questions.
- Leave a comment on this post
- Tweet @RAforAll with your comments
- Or, for those of you who want to contact me privately without making your identity know to everyone, I created this simple survey.
One of my favorite things about providing training to library workers is the new colleagues I get to meet. I learn just as much from each institution I work with as they do from me. So please, let me know how I can help you and let's work together. Let's learn from each other. And most importantly, let's start providing better service to our patrons. Because as I say in every training-- it's not about you, it's not about me, it's all about them, our patrons.
Can't wait to start my first full year dedicated solely to helping all of you help your patrons.
1 comment:
Hi Becky,
I'd love to see some more discussion around the posts you've tagged 'RA Audit'.
How do we prove the value of RA work, and what impact does it have on our community? How do we know that the RA services we are offering meet the needs of our community, and how can we demonstrate that the time we spend planning and providing these services is time well spent?
So often, providing any service is not just about ensuring that staff have the necessary skill set and enthusiasm to do so, it is also about getting the permission and resources to put it into place.
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