Turning the Page 2.0

Turning the Page 2.0 is a FREE library advocacy training course developed and presented by the Public Library Association (PLA) with generous support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Read all about it and be sure to sign up starting August 15th for the next online dates September 24 through October 29. Here is a flyer too.

In this six-week, facilitated online course, library staff and supporters will learn how to create and tell their library's story, deliver effective presentations, develop a compelling case for support, and build and sustain partnerships along the way.


Participants are encouraged to come with a specific, self-determined advocacy goal for their library. At the end of six weeks, you’ll have a complete Advocacy Work Plan to guide your efforts.

Turning the Page 2.0 consists of the following components:

• In-person kick-off (optional)
• Facilitator-led virtual classroom sessions (1 hour each week for 6 weeks)
• Independent work on Turning the Page online modules (about 1 hour each week)
• Online community for discussion (optional)
• Completion of an Advocacy Work Plan (about 1 hour each week)
• One-on-one feedback via email from professional facilitators (free consultancy)

Previous participants have told PLA that they spend on average three hours per week (18 hours total) on this course. ALA membership is not required to participate.

Turning the Page 2.0

Turning the Page 2.0 is "a free public library advocacy training course developed and presented by the Public Library Association (PLA) with generous support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation." This sounds like a wonderful opportunity for the right price.

Here's a list of what the course consists of:

• In-person kick-off (attendance is not required, but is suggested. It’s fun!)
  


• Followed by a six-week course of synchronous and asynchronous online work
  


• Facilitator-led webinars provide live instruction and collaboration once a week
  


• Independent work on assigned modules of Turning the Page online offers a dynamic program of active and personal learning (one-two hours work/week)
  


• Offline one-on-one feedback from facilitators

Lean how to create and tell YOUR library's story, deliver effective presentations, develop a compelling case for support, and build and sustain parnerships along the way. Did I mention this is FREE?!

This will be offered 6 times in 2011 and 2012. Go look at the schedule and find a time and make it work. Sounds like a great investment in time but NO MONEY! Hope some of you can do it. If you do, please let me know how it went!

Quote for the Day

“If you think your local library shouldn’t be funded because you haven’t used it in a while, think of it this way: Would you want the government to close your local hospital because you’ve been healthy for a while?”

—U.K. researcher John Kirriemuir, “Are UK Public Libraries Expensive to Run?” in Use Libraries and Learn Stuff, Oct. 31.
-Seen in November 3rd's American Libraries Direct.

Keith Richards... Please Have Sympathy for America's Public Libraries

Good job Shiela Redcay from the Matthews Library in Fredericksburg PA. She's doing everything she can to get Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards to come and visit her library. She got the idea after reading a preview of his autobiography, Life, in which he mentions his thoughts at one time of becoming a librarian.

Join her Facebook Group to support the cause and take a shot at winning a $50 gift to Amazon in this video contest:

PLA Offers Free Online Library Advocacy Training

Read the full article from American Libraries.

PLA is offering Turning the Page Online, an interactive advocacy training course, free of charge to all ALA members.

This advocacy education, originally designed for public libraries participating in the Gates Foundation Opportunity Online hardware grants program, has benefited more than 3,500 librarians and library supporters across 32 states. Following training, the vast majority of participants were better advocates for their libraries—feeling more confident in their abilities and more excited about advocacy. As a result, more than 98 percent of participating libraries achieved their funding goals. Through the generosity of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PLA is now able to offer this training to all ALA members.

Library Advocacy Day Contest

The American Library Association is hold a video contest. Check out the rules and go for it like Springfield Township (PA) High School did:

Imagine (Library Advocacy Day) from Joyce Valenza on Vimeo.

Library Advocacy Day Promotion Video

Here's a video created by the ALA Washington Office for promotion of Library Advocacy Day (6/29/10). Take a look...

Library Advocacy Day from ALA Washington on Vimeo.

SnapShot PA

I was impressed when New Jersy Libraries did their Snapshot: One Day in the Life of New Jersey Libraries. Now I'm excited because my very own state of PA is going to do the same thing on 10/28/09. See the site - Snapshot: One Day in the Life of Pennsylvania Libraries. For those of you in any kind of library at all in PA - PLEASE complete the survey when they turn it on. Take pictures, make videos. Let's tell Gov. Rendell and the rest of the state politicians what we do. Maybe then they'll think twice before making such drastic cuts to the budget!

VoiceThread - Free Online Tool Brings Voices of Donors/Beneficiaries Together

Here is a free online tool that brings the voices of your donors and beneficiaries into your nonprofit's storytelling -VoiceThread

Impactix describes this tool very well in their post:
"A VoiceThread is a multimedia slideshow of photos, video, or documents that allows people to easily leave comments and join the conversation. Visually, it’s a slideshow screen surrounded by a mosaic of little avatars of all the people who comment on the image. When you click on the avatar you hear them or see what they’ve written or drawn. People can comment in five simple ways: by telephone, by computer microphone, by web cam, by writing text, or by drawing.

Wondering how you might use this free tool?
-How about getting your donors to add their voices to a story about a common cause they all support, telling why they support it?
-How about showcasing your grantees’ work by asking them to add their comments to a VoiceThread story you create about an issue they’re working on?
-How about showing how real living human beings are affected by the work you do? Ask them to add comments to a VoiceThread about how one of your programs has helped them.
-Honoring someone special? Create a VoiceThread testimonial to them including all the voice of people whose lives they’ve touched
-Trying to build a social movement? Here’s a very visual way to start—tell your VoiceThread story and ask supporters to add their supportive comments. Watch the little avatars multiply!"

Here's a great intro explaining how this all works. And a great Educator Guide that helped me. Wouldn't this be a great tool to rally support for libraries in PA right now?! I decided to throw an example out there to do just that. To see this right in VoiceThread rather than embedded, click here: