A Message from the State Librarian |
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Greetings!
The 2023 National Book Festival will be held Saturday, August 12th, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. , and the Arizona Center for the Book @ the State Library will be there! This year’s festival theme is “Everyone Has a Story”, and we’ll be encouraging festival visitors to read Arizona stories shared in our selections for “Great Reads from Great Places”. The selection for adults is Rim to River: Looking into the Heart of Arizona by Tom Zoellner. For youth, the selection is Raulito: The First Latino Governor of Arizona by Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford. A limited quantity of books will be available for Arizona libraries to order for your collections. In addition, a teacher’s guide for Raulito and a book discussion guide for Rim to River are in development and will be posted on the Arizona Center for the Book’s webpage soon to help extend the experience of the National Book Festival.
This month’s newsletter brings a wide variety of information on opportunities for attending professional development, applying for grants and exhibits, recognizing colleagues, sharing information about library programs and much more! You’ll notice that a number of the trainings are available in person in various Arizona locations – Tucson, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Mesa, and Scottsdale. Online professional development continues to be offered on many timely topics, including AI. Please consider calendaring the August WebJunction online training on AI or the September PCI webinar on generative AI (or both!) to learn the basics of AI, how this technology is impacting libraries, how to incorporate the technology effectively, and how to address the challenges that it creates.
Holly Henley
State Librarian
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Mark your calendar for upcoming In-person Training, Webinars, Deadlines, and Public Events.
AUGUST
August 9, 11:00am - 12:00pm
August 10, 1:00pm - 2:00pm
August 14, 3:00pm - 4:00 pm
August 16, 11:00 - 12:00pm
August 18, 11:59pm
August 23, 11:00 - 12:00pm
August 29, 9:00am - 3:00pm
August 30, 11:00 - 12:00pm
August 31, 11:59pm
Deadline to file Intent to Apply for State Grants-in-Aid Construction (SGIAC) funds.
SEPTEMBER
September 6, 11:00am - 12:00 pm
September 11, 9:00am - 4:00pm
September 13, 11:00 - 12:00pm
September 14, 9:00am - 4:00pm
September 15, 9:00am - 4:00pm
September 18, 9:00am - 4:00pm
September 19, 9:00am - 4:00pm
September 19, 3:00pm - 4:00pm
September 20, 9:00am - 4:00pm
September 20, 11:00am - 12:00pm
September 27, 11:00am - 12:00pm
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AzLA Service Award Nominations Due
August 11
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Each year AzLA gives Service Awards to individuals and groups making a difference in Arizona libraries. This year the committee is offering new Service Awards to be more inclusive of all library workers and the diverse library communities they serve.
AzLA Membership is not required to nominate or receive an AzLA service award.
These awards are presented at the AzLA Awards Luncheon at the Annual Conference.
Categories include:
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• Emerging Leader Award
• Excellence in Academic Libraries Award
• Excellence in Special Libraries Award
• Excellence in Tribal Libraries Award
• Extraordinary Program Award
• Follett School Librarian of the Year Award
• Innovator Award
• Library Leadership Award
• Library Volunteer of the Year Award
• Newton & Betty Rosenzweig Distinguished Service Award
• Outreach Services Award
• Outstanding Adult Services Award
• Outstanding Volunteer Coordinator Award
• Outstanding Young Adult Services Award
• Outstanding Youth Services Award
• Sharon G. Womack Outstanding Library Technician Award
• Louise A. Stephens Memorial Scholarship
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Continuing Education Scholarships Available |
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Did you know that the State Library offers scholarships for CE and professional development? Library personnel employed full-time in Arizona libraries are eligible to apply for a scholarship to learn best practices of librarianship and provide continuing education at their libraries or to the Arizona library community at large.
Scholarships are available in $100 increments starting at $250 up to a maximum of $1250. In deciding at which level to apply, please consider the number of hours required for preparation/presentation of the work product. Other costs to consider may include the costs of your attendance at a national, state, or local workshop, institute, conference, or webinar. Scholarships are not available for formal library courses through a university or community college.
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AMPlify Your Research Webinar Series |
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Are you ready to take your research skills to the next level? Look no further than the Arizona Memory Project (AMP) and the State of Arizona Research Library's "AMPlify Your Research" sessions!
Join us for these free, 30-minute Zoom sessions where you can learn how to access and explore various content types available on AMP:
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It is Almost Eclipse Time!
Is Your Library Ready?
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Two solar eclipses are coming to North America! An annular eclipse occurs on Saturday, October 14, 2023, and a total eclipse occurs on Monday, April 8, 2024.
If you were unable to attend the AzLA pre-conference Do Look Up! Upcoming Eclipses last October, now is your chance to gain additional ideas for solar science activities at your library with this August In-person training!
Date & Time: Tuesday, August 29, 9:00am - 3:00pm
Location: Mesa Main Library - 64 E 1st Street, Mesa, AZ 85201
This workshop will prepare and empower public library staff to facilitate meaningful solar and space science programs for their patrons that build curiosity, knowledge, and inspiration. Attendees will receive hands-on training on operating solar telescopes and other methods for direct and indirect solar viewing, best practices for developing and facilitating STEM programs, and how to engage with community partners and library-specific digital resource networks.
These workshops will use materials from the Solar Science Circulation Kits and highlight best practices in using those materials, but the strategies, activities and resources shared during the workshop will be useful to attendees whether they have access to a circulation kit or not. The goals of these solar science workshops are to help library staff:
- Build off the excitement of the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses and engage their patrons in solar science activities.
- Safely and effectively facilitate direct (e.g. solar telescope and Sunoculars) and indirect methods of safe solar viewing.
- Develop and facilitate exciting and interactive STEM programming at their library.
Lunch will be provided.
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Autism in Libraries: Serving Your Patrons and Colleagues |
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Participants will learn more about serving their patrons with autism and how to better create an inclusive workforce for library staff who may be on the autism spectrum and/or neurodiverse. Both youth services and adult services staff will learn the basics of autism and the related topic of neurodiversity as well as communications/customer service practices. This training will be facilitated by author and library consultant Carrie Rogers-Whitehead.
Topics Covered:
- Basics of autism and neurodiversity
- Communication and Customer Service
- Sensory Story times
- Adult, Children and Teen Library Programming
- Outreach and Marketing for Adult and Youth Services
- Volunteering, Hiring and Internal Best Practices
- Technology, Accessibility and Autism
Dates & Locations:
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Assistive Technology for Libraries: an opportunity from Independent Living Blind |
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The Arizona Independent Living Blind (ILB) Outreach Program offers the tools to retain, maintain, and in some instances, attain independence for those affected by vision loss. These tools include instruction on finding appropriate accommodations, learning to advocate, provision of equipment, and finding resources.
ILB is offering an opportunity for libraries, especially those in rural or Tribal communities, to request free Topaz video magnifiers to assist patrons experiencing vision loss.
Library directors are encouraged to contact ILB at 602-266-9286, or Program Manager Eve Sanchez at 480-322-7448.
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Looking for Additional E-content to Offer Your Patrons?
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Reading Arizona is a collection of fiction and nonfiction eBooks and eAudiobooks for all ages about the people, places, and history of Arizona.
Best of all: it’s free for you and your patrons!
Libraries can also receive rack cards to help inform patrons about this platform.
MARC records for perpetual titles are available for your library to help improve accessibility and visibility. These records are available in MARC-8 or UTF formats.
~*Special announcement*~ Axis360 will be rebranded as Boundless by October 1st. For details about how this will affect your patrons or anything else Reading Arizona-related, please contact Yahm Levin at ylevin@azlibrary.gov
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Celebrate National Voter Registration Day! |
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National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) is September 19, 2023, and you can help your community members get #VoteReady! There are lots of ways to participate in NVRD:
- Make sure you have voter registration materials available at your library.
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Host an event with volunteers who are trained to help people register to vote. Consider volunteers from local organizations like the League of Women Voters. There are also plenty of resources on https://nationalvoterregistrationday.org/ to help volunteers conduct a voter registration event.
- Create a voting and civics display.
- Host storytimes and other youth programs about elections and voting to inform the next generation of voters.
- Promote NVRD's online voter registration forms through your social media and on your website.
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Sign up to be a partner. Partners must be non-partisan and inclusive, and can also receive free stickers and posters, customized resources, and assistance in planning their celebration of the holiday.
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State Grants-in-Aid Construction Grants: 2024 Intents to Apply Now Open |
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All eligible Arizona public libraries are invited to apply for State Grants-in-Aid Construction (SGIAC) funds.
Libraries may apply for up to $50,000 with a 1:1 cash match provided by the library, its administrative agency or other local sources. This is a reimbursement grant. Funds for this program are awarded on a competitive basis. Please review information about SGIAC on https://azlibrary.gov/libdev/funding/sgia before submitting your application. The link to the Intent to Apply form is also available on this webpage.
The application process is in two stages: an Intent to Apply and a full application. The deadline for submitting the online Intent to Apply form is 11:59PM on Thursday, August 31, 2023. After reviewing the Intents, the State Library will invite a limited number of applicants to complete a full application. The full application requests detailed information such as a needs assessment, timeline and proposed project sketch/drawing.
Please contact Jaime Ball at jball@azlibrary.gov if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing your construction project ideas!
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Thinking Money for Kids Program Kit |
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Thinking Money for Kids, an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, strives to teach children and their parents, caregivers and educators about financial topics — like saving, spending, sharing and budgeting — in a way that is both meaningful and fun.
ALA and the FINRA Foundation invite public libraries to apply to receive a Thinking Money for Kids Program Kit, a collection of expertly vetted resources to help libraries offer financial education for children ages 3 to 12, both in the library and in children’s homes.
Approximately 200 public libraries will be selected to receive a Thinking Money for Kids Program Kit (estimated kit value: $2,000). Libraries will keep all kit contents after the grant period ends.
ALA will accept online applications for this opportunity until September 8, 2023. The programming period will run from September 2024 through December 2025.
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Americans and the Holocaust: A Traveling Exhibition for Libraries |
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The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office present Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition that examines the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s.
The special library exhibition — based on the exhibition at the USHMM in Washington, D.C. — is traveling to 50 U.S. public and academic libraries from 2021 to 2023. The extension of the exhibition will travel to another 50 U.S. public and academic libraries from 2024 to 2026.
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The Carnegie-Whitney Grant provides grants for the preparation of popular or scholarly reading lists, webliographies, indexes, and other guides to library resources that will be useful to users of all types of libraries in the United States.
Grants of up to $5,000 are awarded annually. The deadline for submission of the proposal is November 3, 2023.
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Microsoft Technology Grants and Discounts for Public Libraries |
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This program offers grants and discounts across Microsoft cloud products for the purpose of providing affordable and accessible technology and tools to help eligible organizations of all sizes achieve their missions. Eligible organizations such as public libraries must demonstrate a mission to benefit the local community, including providing relief to the poor, advancing education, improving social welfare, preserving culture, preserving or restoring the environment, promoting human rights, and establishing a civil society.
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August 16, 11:00am - 12:00pm Climate Actional Planning (Part1): An Introduction. Part of a series, this webinar with the Sustainable Libraries Intitative will inform where your time and energy can be best spent in the face of the overwhelming nature of climate action.
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October 3, 2:00pm - 3:30pm Climate Justice. Part of a series, this webinar with the Sustainable Libraries Initiative will explore the disproportional impacts of climate change on systematically oppressed communities.
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August 29 - October 9 Readers' Advisory Fundamentals: Books and Beyond (LSSC approved) In this six-week online course, which satisfies all of the Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) competency areas for adult advisory work, you will have the opportunity to learn and practice the interviewing, evaluation, and communication skills needed to provide your local community with access to satisfying leisure reading, listening, and viewing, and become acquainted with a variety of resources to help you build your advisory skills.
To register for this course, or for more information about the LSSC, please contact Melissa Kummen, CE Coordinator at mkummen@azlibrary.gov.
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This publication is supported in part with federal funds from the
Institute of Museum and Library Services
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