The Librarian's Guide to Homelessness 

The forth conversation in our Big Ideas Book Discussion series is coming up on November 19th when the title will be The Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness by Ryan Dowd.  He is the executive director of a homeless shelter near Chicago and speaks extensively across the country, training staff in libraries, schools, police departments, and other organizations on using empathy-centered techniques when interacting with troubled individuals.

Dowd was the keynote speaker at the State Library’s ILOC Conference in January this year.  At its core, his training centers on compassionate customer service.  From Amazon “Filled with to-the-point guidance and real-life stories…this is a one-of-a-kind guide that will help front line public library staff and managers understand and serve this population better…”  His book includes:

• facts about homelessness that all library staff should know
• de-escalation techniques, ways to avoid making things personal, and using proper body language
• dealing with common issues like sleeping patrons, questionable hygiene, offensive behavior, and asking a patron to leave; and
• providing backup to colleagues and when to call the police

In Big Ideas Book Discussions, State Library staff facilitate discussions using books outside of library management, but with plenty of application to library management. Choosing books on civic engagement, social media, customer service, presentation skills, and more, we’ll connect those ideas with public library service.

Big Ideas provides an assortment of titles for nonfiction readers, aiding in collection development and leading to good choices for local book discussion groups. We encourage participants to purchase books used throughout the Big Ideas series for your own collections.  Then join us for the next read: The Librarian's Guide to Homelessness.

Register in C.E. Catalog

Coming Soon On Flash Drives

Youth Services Consultant Angie Manfredi has this news about Summer Reading Manuals for 2020.  The State Library has purchased next summer's manual on USB flash drives for every public library in Iowa.  This method also provides you with access to the online version of the manual.  As shown in the photo, the flash drives were all packaged and ready to mail last week.  Please contact Angie if you haven’t received your package by November 8th.
( angie.manfredi@iowa.gov )

 In other youth services news:

• This month and next, Angie will be conducting several Build Your Storytime Toolkit workshops in several locations. This fall workshop moves the conversation away from summer programming to bring a fresh focus and something very useful into year-round practice.  (NOTE: some class locations are already full—check the C.E. Catalog for availability) 
• In-person Summer Reading workshops are being prepped and planned for  several locations around the state beginning in February 2020, continuing into March.
• If there is interest, Angie will host online discussions of the SRP manual in November and December to help jump-start thinking about plans for next summer's activities.  Let Angie know of your interest in this idea and stay tuned to LibraryTalk for more announcements.

WhoFi Service Coming Soon!

Iowa public libraries will soon enjoy a new product called WhoFi, a wireless traffic counter from the company WhoFi.  The State Library is very pleased to offer this new service because it will greatly assist in monitoring and tracking the number of devices and uses of the library’s wireless network. 

WhoFi provides public libraries with wireless usage statistics and easy-to-read reports. Data from WhoFi will allow directors to easily complete questions on the Public Library Annual Survey related to wireless usage. In addition, data from these reports offer insight and impact stories about the importance of public libraries providing technology access to the community.  Using WhoFi reports help library staff make data-driven decisions about technology, programming, and more.  Click the button below to read more about this new project on our website, where you’ll also find a sample report and an FAQ page.

Next Steps for Libraries

• Customer service reps from WhoFi have already begun contacting Iowa public library directors; contacts will continue over the next three months (note the tentative schedule is on our website at the button below.  The first email will be introductory in nature—watch for this introductory email coming soon.
• WhoFi staff will then follow up with a second email that will include ten questions related to your library’s network, along with a date and time for a conference call for more information and to ask questions about implementation.

Funding for WhoFi is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act
(LSTA) as administered by the State Library of Iowa.

Read More About WhoFi

     This is National Friends of Libraries Week
October 20-26.  Cheers to library friends groups all across the state!  Consider using LibraryTalk to share Friends celebration plans @ your library.

Tomorrow  October 22, Youth Services Consultant Angie Manfredi begins a series of hands-on, day-long workshops titled “Build Your Storytime Toolkit.”  Scheduled in several locations the last two weeks of October and into November, some class locations are already full—check the C.E. Catalog for availability.

For everyone pre-registered for the Public Library Support Course this fall—just a reminder that the first-of-five weekly classes begins this Wednesday October 23 (1:00-3:00PM each time)  The Public Library Support Course (PLS) is the parallel certification course for library support staff.  Five weeks and entirely online, it looks like a full house—thanks for your interest!