As an introduction to the revised edition of the popular “Small But Powerful Guide to Winning Big Support for Your Rural Library,” this one-hour webinar was indeed “Small But Powerful.” It packed a punch of great insights and ideas that will help small libraries stay strong, relevant, and vital to the communities they serve.

Jennifer Peterson, community manager at WebJunction, ARSL board member and chair of ALA Rural, Native, and Tribal Libraries of All Kinds Committee, kicked it off with suggestions for “amplifying the value” of libraries every day and everywhere through the use of technology tools and data resources. Reach beyond the library walls with cool tools like digital frame slide shows, social “satellite” sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), library calculators, and videos of non-library people expressing what they value about the library.

Susan Hill Pieper, director of the Paulding County Carnegie Library (OH), shifted the presentation into high gear with her no-nonsense advice and first-hand experiences that have built a community of patrons who “cannot imagine life without the public library” and will rally enthusiastically to support it. Counseling that “your library must show excellent service consistently” in order to garner ardent support, Susan discussed a host of strategies and tips for sustaining a “modern library”—no matter how small—and for broadcasting its value loud and clear. She urges libraries to be willing and ready to adopt new technologies but to examine them for relevance and meaning to each community. The audience appreciated her example of scrutinizing “self check-out” for its detraction from the one-on-one interactions that may be the soul of the rural community library.

Marci Merola, director of the ALA Office for Library Advocacy, wrapped up the session with a quick tour of the substantial aggregation of resources that ALA has amassed on behalf of library advocacy efforts. Their Advocacy University is a potent collection to get you amplifying your library’s value on multiple fronts.

This is just an appetizer for the full meal of possibilities. Go to the webinar archive page for:

• Link to the Small But Powerful Guide (it’s free to download or you can order print copies)
• The archived recording of the webinar
• The webinar chat log (lots of ideas shared and questions answered in the sidestream)
• Links to related resources

From Pamela Thompson, Director, Mason County Library System (WV):

As I attended the Project Compass workshop, I had mixed feelings about what our small library system could do in helping unemployed and small business entrepreneurship. With limited budgets I thought we were doing all we could to help our community. Unemployment rate is high in our county. After a half day in the Project Compass workshop I was wondering why we haven’t done more!! The ideas I brought back to Mason County were affordable and helpful to our community. I have already implemented various ideas at the libraries. I also realized that we are not alone in this “Not enough funding, what more can we do.” As I participated and listened to all the people we met, I realized that we all in rural libraries face the same problems, whether it be West Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, Arizona, or wherever a rural library is located. By the time the day was over, I was more excited about returning to work to start sharing ideas and implementing programs in our system. After talking to the other WV libraries in our group, they felt the same way.

On returning to Mason County, I immediately came up with a game plan and talked to staff about what we intended to accomplish. In a week’s time we have two libraries with couponing stations, a couponing group in two libraries. Also will be attending County and Town meetings more often, allowing patrons to fax resumes free of charge, allowing patrons to print resumes free of charge and we will be starting a Computers 101 class twice a month at each library to help patrons get an email address, learn how to print resumes, or whatever the need is.

Thank you for the scholarship to allow us to attend an awesome workshop!!

From Hope Wilson, Fremont Public Library (IN):

The pre-conference workshop was inspiring and refreshingly well-organized. I had visited the Project Compass website before attending (before I was even aware of the conference) and had downloaded the Project Compass workbook for myself and the other two librarians on staff. The workbook is so resourceful that it can be a bit overwhelming. We were unsure as to where, when, how to begin.

Attending the workshop gave me the big picture.  I now see that the resources are there when/if needed; for example, I don’t have to visit all the links in the manual before proceeding, because proceeding today is the important thing. I was able to return to my library and put some small things in practice immediately. Now, we offer free resume faxes and have purchased a new bulletin board just for local entrepreneurs. We can revisit the resources as we progress.

This workshop came at a great time for me as an administrator. We just added an online, self-paced computer training program and are asking the staff to improve their computer skills. Project Compass reiterated the need for them, as employees, to keep enhancing their own job skills.

I appreciated the positive, encouraging approach of the PC workshop. During my brief staff meeting I found that my employees felt good about what they are already offering and felt validated that their work is indeed a service in ways not considered before. For example, I don’t think that they thought of gardening programs as a help to the un/underemployed. Yet they well might be. This is not to say that the staff does not realize how much more we can do. They are looking forward to seeing the library meet the goals they suggested at our staff meeting.

The PC workshop was so beautifully organized and offered such great discussion ideas that I found it easy to pull out an hour’s worth for my staff.  Next month I’ll be attending a six-county consortium where I’ll present a short summary to other directors.  And next month we’ll have another staff meeting to measure our progress on Project Compass goals.

From Joan Pellikka, Outreach Services Coordinator, North Country Library System (NY):

We are a cooperative library system of 65 member libraries, all separate entities governed by their own boards of trustees. The largest library in our system serves a community of roughly 27,000; the smallest, 121. More than half of our libraries have annual operating budgets of less than $50,000; fifteen have budgets of less than $25,000. We have some of the poorest libraries in the State and everyone works very hard with limited resources. The ARSL conference offers programs tailored to meet the specific needs of the smaller, rural library presented by people who clearly understand that work environment.

My first day in Frisco, I attended the Project Compass workshop, which left me with a more focused direction for collecting and presenting workforce development resources on the NCLS web site. From there, my goal is to offer training for member library staff, who in turn will share these resources with the public. More importantly, I gleaned bits of information that will stay with me for a long time. The following quote was probably the most important thing I saw and heard at the conference:

Lifelong learning is not an option anymore; it’s a necessity. SMART is the new RICH.
~Bernie Trilling, 21^st Century Skills

One librarian pointed out that this statement clearly illustrates the value of libraries at all times, not just in times of recession. Her comment, along with the quote, struck me very powerfully. Also during Project Compass, we viewed the video, Did You Know 3.0, which provided statistics that were, for me, eye opening. I am working on integrating both the quote and the video into advocacy efforts for our member libraries.

In the same session, we were reminded that it is so important to not make assumptions about job seekers. Highly skilled professionals such as physicians and pilots are finding themselves in situations where they must learn to assess their abilities and market them in another industry. We must be flexible and prepared to assist everyone with varying levels of expertise.

But don’t take my word for it! Guest bloggers have been posting to BlogJunction this week with their ARSL experiences and with reflections on attending the Project Compass workshop held just before the conference. Nearly 50 librarians from around the country gathered for the workshop that Betha and I had the pleasure of facilitating. As we worked through the Project Compass curriculum, attendees worked together to create a new list, Ideas for Workforce Recovery from Small but Mighty Libraries. Jami Carter, from the Tooele City Public Library in Utah, shares how the workshop provided her with terms, ideas, and collaborations to affirm and expand the work their library does to serve the community:

And be sure to explore all the other great conference coverage out there:

• Susan Pieper blogged her observations and presentations notes at rurallibraryconference2011.blogspot.com
• New ARSL board member, Paul Healey has shared a host of photos here on his Picasa Gallery.
• Library Journal’s Michael Kelley highlights common themes in Overcoming Isolation and Becoming a Center of the Community
• Miguel Figueroa, director of ALA’s Office for Diversity, summarizes in American Libraries, A Big Gathering of Small and Rural Libraries
• The Kansas Bus Contingent shares their experiences in a blog post, Kansas comes to ARSL on the bus, again!

Thank you to conference planners, presenters, and participants for yet another fantastic ARSL conference. I hope to see some of you again next year in Raleigh, North Carolina!

I had the honor to receive a scholarship from WebJunction to attend the Association for Rural and Small Libraries Conference in Frisco, Texas, and what I found was a wonderful community of rural and small librarians facing the same challenges we do, no matter where in the country they’re located. One of my favorite quotes from the conference was by Pat Tuohy of the Central Texas Library System who acknowledged and applauded rural librarians’ ability to “run a small, underfunded, shoestring operation that can take a dime and squeeze it to a dollar because they know how important library services are to a community and how powerful they are in changing lives.”

The Project Compass workshop put on by WebJunction was so enlightening and gave me some great ideas of how better to help my job-seeking patrons. I have already contacted some other organizations in my community to create a comprehensive community resources guide to help job seekers and new members of our community. It was such a great opportunity to discuss these challenges with other librarians and to hear new ideas and solutions to similar challenges we all face.

The conference itself was a great one! Gene & Bill from Unshelved put on a great program and Gene gave me some great ideas on how to start a graphic novel collection at my library and took the time to email me a selection of his favorite graphic novels [see list shared on ARSL along with other conference handouts]. Also all the program ideas I was able to come away from this conference with were invaluable. I am ready to start planning some of these no and low cost programs right away! The Reel Reads program was very helpful because it dealt with having an event about books to movies even when you can’t afford to buy the movie license but can still have a program celebrating books to movies.  Joe Bob Briggs put on a really fun program too!

What I came away with from this conference was a great sense of community. ARSL is an association that immediately made me feel at home and able to network with other small & rural librarians from around the country. It is a great opportunity and I am proud to spread the word about it. [See also a short video of Susie's presentation about ARSL and her experience at the recent North Dakota Library Association Confernece.]

Susie Sharp
New Rockford Public Library, North Dakota

I work for a library system, so I don’t get a lot of interaction with patrons.  I do volunteer (when I can) for my neighborhood library, usually helping patrons with using the internet or laptop basics.

On Tuesday, I helped a woman named Rita.  She is a retired widow, age 75.   She had never used a computer or the internet before, but she wanted some part-time work at the local Kwik Trip.  When she went to the job fair at Kwik Trip, they gave her a newspaper clipping with a web address and told her to apply online.  She told them she didn’t know how to use a computer, and the Kwik Trip folks told her to “go to the library. They will help you.”

She was very nervous and quiet.  Because of a medical condition, her hands shake. She kept apologizing for this, and I said, “no problem, let’s work on your application.”  She did not have an email address, so I set up a gmail account for her. Her work experience prior to retiring was working for our Norbertine Center in town, which we also call The Abbey.  She was a cook for 20 years.  Most days she would cook and clean for 40 priests/fathers, two meals a day.  On weekends, she would cook for up to 100 of them, and sometimes she only had one other person helping her.

We started working on her application. I had never worked with someone who had zero computer experience, so this was new for me, too. Because she had never used a computer and did not have familiarity with the keyboard, I did all the typing.  We probably would’ve been there for hours if I had let her, so in the interest of time, she dictated and I typed.  I told her that we could set up separate sessions for going over email, the mouse, computer basics, etc.  We worked through the application.  Rita was never late for work in the 20 years she worked at the center.  She had a clean record and was willing to work any hours.

When we got to the section of “other skills,” she said she didn’t have any.  Then she said, “Well, my husband and I did own a restaurant, but that was 20 years ago.”

I said, “how long did you own this restaurant.”

“About 30 years,” she said.

“Rita!” I said. “You owned your own business? Did you supervise? Manage? Do payroll?  Those are all great, valid skills!”  She confirmed that she did all of that, without a computer of course, but she still knows those things.

It took us close to an hour to finish, which is how long my sessions usually run.  We we finished, she started getting out her wallet and asked what I charge. I told her nothing. This was something I do as a volunteer, and it’s what libraries are all about. Then she asked if she could give me a tip!  I laughed and said “no.”  She had tears in her eyes and said “thank you” about 20 times.  I told her she could let the staff know when she wanted to meet again, and I would help her with other things.

I started tearing up on my walk home.  It was definitely one of those “ah ha!” moments for me. It made me grateful for the skills I had and happy that I could help someone else.

I really hope I can help her more, and it would be awesome if she got this job.  :)

-Jamie