Continuing Education Resources for Library Staff

Document your Story: COVID-19 Pandemic Project Archive brought together three community organizations to collect and preserve material created during COVID-19 from many different perspectives. This project has collected material from a variety of community members, such as local artists, diarists, the local business community, Muncie citizens, and Ball State University students, faculty and staff.

While this project started as a way to encourage people in Muncie and Delaware County, Ind., to tell their stories during this time, it has developed into a mechanism for continued collaboration within our community.

This free on-demand webinar empowers all federal student loan borrowers with an overview of online tools and resources for managing personal student loans during the uncertain times of COVID-19. Learn about options made available under the CARES Act and strategies for lowering monthly federal student loan payments after COVID-19 stimulus assistance ends. Electronic tools for helping patrons enroll to lower payments and helping public service workers maintain eligibility for student loan forgiveness programs are discussed. The webinar concludes with personal stress-management and coping techniques to use when feeling triggered by debt.

As COVID-19 has exacerbated the digital divide for vulnerable communities, the need to jointly address access to internet, devices, digital literacy training, and other barriers to digital participation has become critical. Utah Communities Connect, the state's first digital inclusion alliance since 2018, is partnering with Utah State Library Division to host a workshop on Digital Inclusion Vision & Planning. This facilitated workshop is designed for leadership in state and local government, schools, nonprofit and community organizations, companies, libraries, and other organizations that provide or have the capability to provide internet, device, or digital literacy training solutions.

This webinar includes background information on the coronavirus, the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, and research coming out of the cultural heritage field, while introducing viewers to recommendations for mitigating risks related to handling and care of collections materials. Viewers will consider how the evolving crisis affects continuity of operations within their institutions and will leave with resources to help keep their organizations moving forward through each phase of reopening. The presentation includes a 30-minute question and answer session with an NEDCC Preservation Specialist and a Conservator to address specific concerns from attendees.

This session is an update to a webinar recorded in June 2020, COVID-19 and Collections Care.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact children and families as we all process the stress and collective grief of this global health crisis. As you prepare to resume classes and programs, we know that student mental health is an incredibly important concern. To give educators tangible ways to support the kids you serve, we're hosting an exclusive free, live webcast for First Book members with Dr. David Schonfeld of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement, and Founding Member of the Coalition of Grieving Students. Dr. Schonfeld is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC who has given more than 1,000 presentations on pediatric bereavement and crisis.

Learning Outcomes: OCLC, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Battelle have partnered to produce science-based information on how long the COVID-19 virus survives on materials that are prevalent in libraries, archives, and museums. The webinar will describe the project activities, point to information resources, and discuss findings from the first phase of laboratory testing. Speakers: Kendra Morgan, REALM Program Manager, OCLC and Sharon Streams, REALM Project Director, OCLC.

Wondering how COVID-19 is affecting your mental health? Looking for strategies to reduce feelings of stress and loneliness during COVID-19? Join Brigham Young University psychology and neuroscience professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad as she shares her insight into how social distancing practices are affecting our minds, why relationships are important, and helpful habits we can implement to cope. Professor Holt-Lunstad has been researching the long-term health effects of social connection for over a decade, and she currently serves as a scientific advisor for the Australian Coalition to End Loneliness and the Foundation for Art & Healing.

As the COVID-19 Pandemic develops and libraries create immediate, short-term, and long-term responses, Kendrick has been tracking these responses’ impact on already established low-morale experiences. Kendrick will summarize the markers and impacts of low-morale experiences, share the latest results of her survey, and answer attendees’ questions about the survey and/or low morale experiences. Countermeasures to workplace abuse and neglect will also be discussed.

Loneliness and social isolation are rampant in America, according to many experts. The Center for Disease Control calls loneliness an epidemic and says it has a higher morbidity rate than obesity (about the same as smoking two packs of cigarettes a day). Studies have shown that loneliness cuts across all age, social, race, and economic demographics. We have many virtual friends, but few in reality. COVID-19 has exacerbated this problem. While many of the programs outlined are designed for in-person, there are ways public libraries can help combat loneliness even in a remote fashion. The Oceanside Library has created a program to combat social isolation/loneliness. The program, Connections, crosses all demographics and includes passive as well as active programming. The presentation will address: Identification of existing programs which have an anti-loneliness component in them; Creation of programs which have anti-loneliness as a key function; Adjusting programs to have an anti-loneliness component; Dealing with COVID-related issues.

How to provide library service to seniors, the most vulnerable population affected during COVID-19, has been the question raised by outreach librarians across the United States. While we might not be able to visit our seniors or facilities in-person for the foreseeable future, libraries can reach this population while we shelter in place. During this webinar, please find tips and tricks that David J. Kelsey of the St. Charles (IL) Public Library District (SCPLD) and Glenna Godinsky of the Gail Borden (IL) Public Library District recommend in serving the senior demographic during COVID-19.

With the economy staggering, unemployment soaring to unprecedented heights, and families reeling from weeks of confinement and uncertainty, people are turning to their libraries for help. Many of the issues people are struggling with involve civil legal information; questions related to unemployment, debt/money issues, foreclosures and evictions, or family stressors are all on the rise due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this webinar, two law librarians highlight the most common civil legal issues they are seeing, provide guidance on key ways for public libraries to respond to civil legal needs, and discuss best practices for online reference services. Let’s work together to re-empower our struggling communities and demonstrate just how essential libraries are in times of crisis.