Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Session 4: Breakouts
12:00-12:50 PM
12:00-12:50 PM
Mystic Ballroom AD
Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About E-Book Collection Development
Presenter: Colleen Bailie, West Haven Library; Rebecca Harlow, Case Memorial Library
This session will provide a behind-the-scenes look at Libby and Hoopla, offering insight into how e-book collections are developed and managed. Learn about the administrative aspects of these platforms, how purchasing decisions are made, and emerging trends and challenges in e-book services as well as current legislative proposals around e-books.
Sponsor: CLA Legislative Committee
Objectives & Takeaways:
This session aims to bridge the knowledge gap for front-line library staff who regularly assist patrons with e-books but may not be familiar with the administrative side of e-book collections.
It will provide a comprehensive overview of e-book acquisitions, including the back-end functions of platforms like Libby and Hoopla, how purchasing decisions are made, the role of patron suggestions, emerging trends and challenges with e-book vendors and publishers, and the impact on library budgets.
This will give all library workers a complete understanding of e-book services, which are typically managed at higher levels like consortia or library directors, as well as an understanding of current legislative proposals to help remedy the situation.
Mystic Ballroom BE
Youth Professional Coalitions:
Forming Partnerships to Expand Youth Services in Your Town
Forming Partnerships to Expand Youth Services in Your Town
Presenters: Lydia Holland, EC Scranton Memorial Library; Justin Zeigler, Madison Youth & Family Services
Have you ever planned a great program that you’re really excited about, only to realize that you lack the volunteers and resources to make it the best it can be. Learn tips for reaching out to other youth professionals, how to identify programming needs in your town, and the benefits your library can gain from collaborating with other town services.
Sponsor: CLA Reference & Adult Services Section
Objectives & Takeaways:
Many libraries find themselves short. Short on money, short on staff, and short on time. Big ideas or large scale programming can become close to impossible when facing the constraint that many public libraries face.
This session will give youth librarians the tools to reach out to other youth professionals in their community and form partnerships that will enable them to plan events collaboratively- giving them the opportunity to borrow staff, time, and sometimes even money, from other town organizations.
Finally, we’ll give examples of what we've accomplished together- new outreach connections, large scale programs, and the creation of professional development opportunities.
Mystic Ballroom CF
Show, Don't Tell: Using Visual Storytelling through Comics to Overcome Consumer Health Barriers
Presenters: Brittany Netherton, Darien Library, Graphic Medicine International Collective; KC Councilor, Southern Connecticut State University; Latha Swamy, City of New Haven; Sarah Levin-Lederer, MPH, Network of the National Library of Medicine, Region 7
This interactive workshop brings together presenters from library, communications, medical, and public health backgrounds to demonstrate how Graphic Medicine, comics about community and public health, and other visual representations of health-related stories can reduce critical information barriers, foster creative expression and problem-solving, and help disseminate health information to the public. This workshop is for all roles and backgrounds!
Sponsor: CLA Member
Objectives & Takeaways:
Attendees will gain an understanding of the interdisciplinary field of Graphic Medicine and its possibilities for expanding public access to information
Attendees will come away with ideas for how to use graphic medicine to engage with their communities in various ways, including collections, programming, and partnerships.
Attendees will leave this workshop with a diverse network of colleagues who are interested in, or already utilizing, graphic medicine, and information about other ways to be involved within the Graphic Medicine community in Connecticut, regionally, and nationally.
Conference Room 1
Becoming a Dementia Friendly Library
Presenters: Aubrey Hines, Guilford Smith Memorial Library; Chris Johnson, Waterford Public Library; Laurie Bell, Pomfret Public Library; Mara Whitman, Bloomfield Public Library
Learn how to provide a welcoming and inclusive library for your community members living with dementia and to support their care partners during the continuum of this multi-stage disease. The session will cover the basics of what dementia is, and offer guidance on dementia friendly buildings, staff interactions, resources and programs, to best connect with and serve this growing population.
Sponsor: CLA Member
Objectives & Takeaways:
According to the latest report from the Alzheimer’s Association (AA), as of 2020, there are an estimated 6.9 million Americans living with dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. For Connecticut, AA estimates that nearly 77,000 residents have dementia, which represents 11.9% of the population, which was age 65 or older in 2020.
These numbers are expected to grow exponentially as people are living longer. The risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are higher for women and for people of color. These statistics mean that CT public libraries are already likely serving this population and that the need for equitable services will be growing.
By attending this session, participants learn the following:
What is dementia?
How can staff recognize dementia?
How to best support library patrons with dementia in the following ways:
a. How to offer person centered service
b. How to create a dementia friendly environment in your building
c. How to work with community partners to offer support for persons with dementia and their care partners
d. Ideas for programming and collections
e. How to feel more confident in serving this population
Public libraries have a universal mission of being free and open to the public and a goal of serving all in the community. We hope that our session will educate and empower CT Librarians to better support this growing segment of our population.
Conference Room 2
CT Ready to Read with Sparkler
Double Session: 11:00 am-12:50 pm
Presenters: Bethanne Vergean, Sparkler Learning; Kymberlee Powe, Connecticut State Library; Meaghan Penrod, Sparkler Learning
Caregivers are a child’s first teacher but they may need more information about reading readiness, early literacy skills, early childhood development. In partnership with Sparkler, a tool supported by the CT Office of Early Childhood, librarians will learn to intentionally embed early literacy skills into beloved theme based storytimes, while sharing educational information with caregivers.
Sponsor: CLA Conference Committee
Objectives & Takeaways:
Understand the six early literacy skills and how to embed them in theme based storytimes.
Learn to embed parent/caregiver tips into storytimes giving them the tools to continue to help children learn at home.
Learn about the Sparkler app, a tool for parents and caregivers supported by the CT Office of early Childhood, that allows adults to check their child’s development against key milestones.
Conference Room 3
Trauma-Informed Approaches to the True Crime Genre
Presenter: Kate Hellman, Derby Neck Library
Can librarians lean into the enduring popularity of true crime while also supporting patrons living with trauma? Yes! This session will explore strategies for responsibly handling sensitive content, supporting diverse audiences, selecting materials that prioritize ethical storytelling and victim advocacy, and setting boundaries within discussion groups to create a safe environment for survivors.
Sponsor: CLA Member
Objectives & Takeaways:
The genre of true crime remains incredibly popular in libraries, with over half of all Americans reporting that they consume some form of true crime content.
This session will guide attendees through selecting materials and hosting programs that meet the interests of true crime consumers without triggering patrons who are survivors of trauma or otherwise struggling with mental health concerns.
Attendees will learn how to use appropriate, neutral language during intense discussion groups, as well as how to set boundaries with more difficult patrons and steer the conversation back to safe territory for everyone.
We will establish the principles of ethical, victim-focused narratives and discuss the importance of decentering perpetrators of violence within the true crime genre.
Attendees will also be provided with sample book lists and discussion guides that were developed for Derby Neck Library’s popular Morbid Curiosity Book Club.
The overall goal of this session is to allow librarians to engage with a popular genre in a way that still prioritizes the safety and well-being of survivors of trauma, violence, or abuse, people living with anxiety or depression, and others who may be dealing with invisible disabilities.
Conference Room 5
Career & Business Services When You Don’t Have Career or Business Librarians
Presenters: Cyn Thomas, Simsbury Public Library; Sarah Eiseman, East Hartford Public Library; Siobhan Schugmann, Greenwich Library
Discover how your library can empower job seekers, businesses, and entrepreneurs. Learn practical strategies to implement effective career and business services, even without a dedicated librarian. Explore paid and free resources, programming ideas, and partnerships to enhance your library's role as a community economic hub.
Sponsor: Career Development Committee
Objectives & Takeaways:
The value of career and business services in libraries: Libraries can play a vital role in supporting job seekers and entrepreneurs.
Practical strategies for implementation: Even without a dedicated business librarian, libraries can implement effective career and business services.
Resources and programming ideas: Discover a variety of paid and free resources and programming ideas to enhance your library's offerings.
Partnerships and collaborations: Explore opportunities to partner with local organizations to expand your services.
Impact on the community: Learn how career and business services can contribute to the economic development and well-being of your community.
Conference Room 7
Increasing Tech Literacy through Makerspace Trainings
Presenters: Jennifer Velez & Rose Simpson of New Haven Free Public Library
This presentation will cover how to move past crafting basics and use your makerspace to increase patron confidence in their technical and creative abilities, teach transferable skills, encourage personal, social, and economic enrichment, and increase overall digital literacy.
Sponsor: CLA Member
Objectives & Takeaways:
What is a makerspace, and brief overview of the many forms it can take.
What equipment we have in our space, why we chose those, and examples of how patrons use them.
How can makerspaces promote technology literacy?
Why we teach patrons to use our equipment independently, instead of making projects for them-Doing so teaches transferable skills, increases patron confidence in their technical and creative abilities, and increases overall digital literacy.
How we train patrons to use the equipment, and how we test whether they can use it safely.
How we have set up our computer reservation system to only allow machine access to patrons who are trained.
How patrons can take the technology skills they’ve learned and use them elsewhere in their lives. Can include case studies of patrons who’ve started creative businesses or prototyped products in our makerspace
