Please join us on Monday, December 9, to learn about grant opportunities for Minnesota libraries through the federal Digital Equity Act (DEA).

Under this act, every state receives substantial funding to promote digital inclusion efforts supporting individuals in one or more of the following areas:

• obtaining home internet access;
• acquiring internet-enabled devices; and
• enhancing their digital skills.

As established leaders in this field, libraries are uniquely positioned to develop meaningful programs and services using these funds.

Register for the Zoom webinar at 1 p.m. on December 9, 2024. 

In this webinar, DEA program staff from the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development will provide essential information about how Minnesota’s libraries can receive a DEA grant and improve digital equity in their community.

The available exhibits are:

- Climate Change in Minnesota
- Climate Resilient Communities
- Food and Climate Change
- Save Your Food!
- Karst and Water Pollution
- Fix a Leak
- Pollinators, Bee Aware

To see details and reserve an exhibit, go to the MPCA Exhibit Scheduler. Dates available are predetermined and not adjustable. Once an exhibit is fully booked for 2025, it will be removed as an option from the reservation site.

Note: When in a specific exhibit reservation area, a quick way to see which dates are available is by clicking on "month," and clicking the arrow left of "today" until you see “Make reservation” in blue. Reservation periods that are already booked are grayed out.

All Minnesotans play a part in keeping antibiotics effective. Together, we can raise awareness of the significant impact antibiotic resistance has on the health of our world and ensure that infections can be treated effectively for generations to come.

Your library can help save lives!

The Minnesota One Health Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative (MOHASC) is excited to offer a comprehensive set of materials to help your library promote antibiotic stewardship for humans, animals, and the environment. Materials include infographics, question and answer content, coloring and word search pages, and a curated list of books and films.

Your library can gather relevant materials from your collection to complement the display. Each library will have the flexibility to set up the display in a way that works best for their space, with instructions and layout ideas included for guidance.

To request the display materials for your library, please fill out the Antibiotic Stewardship Display Materials form. Libraries that request these materials will receive them by mail.

If you would like to learn more, watch this 16-minute recording of an informational webinar hosted in September that provides an overview of the display materials.

If you have questions, please contact health.stewardship@state.mn.us. By encouraging antibiotic stewardship, your library can play a crucial role in educating communities about judicious antibiotic use and its importance to everyone’s health!

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) offers a free ebook of its popular “A Guide to Starting a Business in Minnesota.”

Minnesota libraries interested in adding the ebook to their digital collections should contact Gabriela Johnson, OverDrive Account Manager, North America Public Libraries, at 216-573-6886, ext. 1269, or gjohnson@overdrive.com.

The guide continues to be available in print, PDF and flipbook on DEED's Publications page.

Can everyone in your community engage with your library's social media content? Not sure?

To find out, join this engaging session in which staff members from the U.S. Access Board and others will present essential strategies for federal social media managers and communication professionals to ensure their content is accessible to all audiences. 

Participants will gain a range of valuable techniques for crafting inclusive social media posts, writing effective alternative (alt) text, checking color contrast, using hashtags and emojis thoughtfully, and ensuring that video content is properly captioned, among other important topics. This event is hosted by the Great Lakes ADA Center.

Webinar: Essential Strategies for Creating Accessible Social Media Content

Date: Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Time: 12 p.m.

Location: Virtual

Create an account to register to attend the session live, or check the Archives page after the event for a recording. 

Are you a Black, Indigenous, or person of color (BIPOC) support staff library supervisor looking to take your leadership skills to the next level?

The Boston Library Consortium, in partnership with the Professional Development Alliance of Library Consortia, is developing a three-day leadership academy that will provide you with the tools and training you need to succeed. This leadership academy is made possible by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which will provide travel scholarships to help participants attend.

Participants will acquire essential leadership skills for career development, and connect with other BIPOC colleagues from around the country and build valuable relationships.

We're committed to creating a curriculum that is both relevant and engaging, and we'll be working with BIPOC thought leaders, library supervisors without MLIS degrees, and experienced management consultants to ensure it meets your specific needs.

Interested in participating? Please fill out this BIPOC Leadership Academy for Support Staff initial assessment form to express your interest and be added to our distribution list for information on the application process and next steps.

If you receive an email from library.project@umich.edu in the next few weeks, give it a chance!

The Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, in partnership with the Public Library Association and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, is conducting a survey of 6,000 U.S. public library locations. The survey seeks to capture current Black History Month (BHM) programming practices across the U.S. in public libraries of widely varying size and location, as guidance for improving and strengthening BHM programming in libraries for the next 50 years.

Your participation in the survey, even if your library does not conduct BHM programming, is highly valued. It's important to note that the survey is confidential; your responses will not be attributed to you, your library, or a larger library system. Your input, which will take only 15 to 20 minutes, will help generate actionable data. You may find more information about the project from the BHM project flyer and on the BHM project website.

The research is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The email invitations will be sent from library.project@umich.edu, with the subject line "IMLS-funded study."