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G2S Project Code: 2020-NV-84290
State: Nevada
Fiscal Year: 2020
Grantee
Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records

Project Director
Director Name: Sulin Jones
Director Phone: 775-684-3340
Director Email: sulinjones@admin.nv.gov
General Information
Title: Statewide Continuing Education
State Project Code: 20-09
Start Date: 07/01/2020
End Date: 06/30/2021
Abstract: The Continuing Education (CE) project supports the professional development of Nevada’s public, academic, special, and school library staff, volunteers, and trustees. All libraries support and advance lifelong learning opportunities. To be prepared for this overarching community education mission, library staff themselves need to have access to professional development opportunities. The Nevada State Library has undertaken to provide professional development and promote national best practices for 21st Century librarian-ship through a number of avenues, including offering scholarships to trainings and conferences; procuring prepaid real time and asynchronous on line course seats; and presenting at library Board meeting to guide Nevada library trustees through our customized Trustee Training Moodle. In addition, Library Planning and Development continued with its virtual leadership check-ins for Nevada libraries, which had begun in March 2020 in response to the pandemic. These were focused on directors but were open to everyone, and were a great was to maintain connections as libraries began to adjust into the rhythms of Pandemic Year 2.
State Goal: Goal 1: Strengthen Nevada libraries' ability to effectively respond to community needs through training, planning, and assessment.
Budget Information
LSTA
MATCH-State
MATCH-Other
Total
$29,443.14
$0.00
$0.00
$29,443.14
Intent(s)
Improve the library workforce.
Continuing Education and Staff Development
Activities
Activity Details
Title: Library Leadership Check-ins/10-Minute Wellness
Narrative: In March 2020, in response to the initial uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, the Nevada State Library and Archives began hosting a series of virtual library leadership check-in sessions hosted by the Library Planning and Development and State Librarian, Tammy Westergard. These were known informally as Tuesdays @ 10 with Tammy.  The original intent was to: promote unity, fraternity, and help build resilience; debrief and share; assist in the response phase and start the recovery phase; learn and be better prepared.
As libraries adjusted and adapted to the pandemic and began to reopen, we continued to host weekly check-ins. The state librarian provided statewide updates and time was set aside each week for each library to provide local updates and ask questions of their peers. After the formal session an informal coffee break was scheduled, which usually drew about 5 directors who used the time to discuss situational challenges.
During the Summer of 2020, our Tuesdays @ 10 featured a series of minute mini Wellness webinars, focusing on a different wellness theme each month. Webinars were led by a clinician/subject-matter expert and followed by a 10-15 minute Q&A session. These sessions were recorded and archived for later viewing. For each webinar, we also posted articles for further reading and a discussion guide (based on the live Q&A). 
Wellness themes were:
  • July: Dealing with an anxious public (for everyone);
  • August: Helping patrons deal with job loss, building new skills, re-directing mindsets (focus on Adult Services staff);
  • September: Helping students deal with going back to school and new models of learning (focus on Youth Services staff)

In the fall of 2020, we took our cue from the libraries, scaling back to a once-a-month schedule; our final check-in was in April 2021.

Aside from the Wellness webinars, the check-ins were not archived; this was done to encourage ideas to be freely shared. However, notes were taken and posted online. Notes list attendees and summarize each week’s Strengths, Struggles, Opportunities, and Trends, as well as each library’s updates.

Feedback from participants was usually verbal and always positive; they appreciated the opportunities to connect. 
Staff also received one note via email: "I loved this week's wellness mini series and webinar with customer-service expert, Peggy Bergman. ... I just wanted to share and let you know I enjoy our weekly meetings. Hope you are doing well and staying safe".


Intent: Improve the library workforce.

Activity: Instruction
Mode: Program
Format: Virtual


Quantity
Session length (minutes): 60
Number of sessions in program: 23
Average number in attendance per session: 30
Number of times program administered: 1


Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: No
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No


Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No


Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General


Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 21
Academic Libraries: 9
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 16
School Libraries: 17
Other: 0
Question 1: I learned something by participating in this library activity.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 2: I feel more confident about what I just learned.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 3: I intend to apply what I just learned.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 4: Applying what I learned will help improve library services to the public.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Activity Details
Title: Online Professional Development
Narrative: Nevada State Library professional development classes addressed Nevada’s geographic and library under-staffing challenges by providing “training at a distance” opportunities for our library workforce. We felt it was in the best interests of our library community to continue state-level support of WebJunction and to supplement our trainings with pre-purchased course seats from InfoPeople and Library Juice Academy (both leaders in the online library professional development field). Online course usage for WebJunction remained comparable to the previous year, which saw pandemic-driven course registrations increase 134%. Library Juice, which are 4-week courses, nearly doubled. 
A total of 661 online courses (not including free classes and webinars, which we cannot track) were taken during the project year. Online seats/courses topics include: Weeding, Cataloging, Difficult Patrons, Civil Legal Justice, Teen Services, Storytimes, LGBTQ Families, Social Media, Autism Spectrum Patron, Diverse Collections, and Time Management.
Due to the self-service aspect of the CE courses offered through WebJunction, we were only able to get surveys from a percentage of participants; however, nearly 97% of those participants agreed or strongly agreed that they learned something that would improve library services, felt confident in what they learned, and intended to apply what they learned.
Professional Development Classes Summary:
- 45 Library Juice courses (4 weeks, 18 hours each=810 hours)
- 616 WebJunction webinars and courses (616 hours)
- Totals: 661 people/1426 hours, 130 minutes average

Intent: Improve the library workforce.

Activity: Instruction
Mode: Program
Format: Virtual


Quantity
Session length (minutes): 130
Number of sessions in program: 661
Average number in attendance per session: 1
Number of times program administered: 1


Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: No
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No


Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No


Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General


Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 21
Academic Libraries: 9
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 1
Special Libraries: 16
School Libraries: 17
Other: 0
Question 1: I learned something by participating in this library activity.
Strongly Agree: 49
Agree: 14
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 2: I feel more confident about what I just learned.
Strongly Agree: 40
Agree: 21
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 2
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 3: I intend to apply what I just learned.
Strongly Agree: 47
Agree: 14
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 2
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 4: Applying what I learned will help improve library services to the public.
Strongly Agree: 46
Agree: 15
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 1
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 1
Activity Details
Title: Trustee Training
Narrative: In order to be effective, members of library boards of trustees need to understand their role and responsibilities in relation to their library, community and governing body. To help them better develop that understanding, NSLAPR provides two learning opportunities in addition to consulting provided by Library Development consultants - United for Libraries Trustee Academy and the Nevada Public Library Trustee Training.

NSLAPR has a statewide contract that allows directors and trustees to log into United for Libraries trustee site and access the Trustee Academy and Short Takes for Trustees. We do not have access to activity statistics from the site. NSLAPR also maintains the Nevada Public Library Trustee Training, an online, interactive training module on the Moodle platform based on the existing Nevada trustee manual.

Intent: Improve the library workforce.

Activity: Content
Mode: Acquisition
Format: Digital
Other: Online training moduls


Quantity
Number of hardware acquired: 0
Number of software acquired: 0
Number of licensed databases acquired: 0
Number of print materials (books & government documents) acquired: 0
Number of electronic materials acquired: 2
Number of audio/visual units (audio discs, talking books, other recordings) acquired: 0


Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: No
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No


Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No


Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General


Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 21
Academic Libraries: 0
SLAA: 0
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 0
School Libraries: 0
Other: 0
Question 1: I am satisfied that the resource is meeting library needs.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 2: Applying the resource will help improve library services to the public.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Activity Details
Title: CE Scholarships
Narrative:

Continuing Education (CE) Scholarships support training opportunities for the Nevada Library Workforce and Trustees. Pre-pandemic, CE Scholarships funded staff attendance at regional, state, and national workshops, professional conferences, seminars, leadership programs, summer reading workshops, and other educational opportunities.  

This year NSLAPR funded 4 CE Scholarships to the virtual ALA Annual Conference and virtual ALA CORE conference, a number significantly lower than previous years due to pandemic health and safety concerns. All participating staff were asked to complete a survey and to list one practical and one aspirational takeaway from their trainings. All of the scholarship recipients confirmed the beneficial aspect of participating in professional conferences, no matter the delivery method.

For conferences, numbers were calculated as follows: An average number of CE opportunities/workshops that a Travel to Training participant could be expected to attend during a given event was estimated (a 2-day NLA conference, 3 workshops per day=6). Workshops were estimated to be 60 minutes in length. See table below:

Event

Days

Participants

# of sessions

Total workshops available

Avg minutes

Total minutes

ALA Annual

3

2

9

18

60

1080

ALA CORE 2020

2

2

6

12

60

720


Intent: Improve the library workforce.

Activity: Instruction
Mode: Program
Format: Virtual
Other: ALA Virtual conferences


Quantity
Session length (minutes): 60
Number of sessions in program: 30
Average number in attendance per session: 1
Number of times program administered: 1


Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: No
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No


Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No


Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General


Locale
Is the activity state-wide: No
Specific Locations: Yes
Name: Douglas County Public Library
Address: 1625 Library Lane
City: Minden
State: NV
Zip: 89423
Question 1: I learned something by participating in this library activity.
Strongly Agree: 2
Agree: 2
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 2: I feel more confident about what I just learned.
Strongly Agree: 2
Agree: 2
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 3: I intend to apply what I just learned.
Strongly Agree: 2
Agree: 2
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 4: Applying what I learned will help improve library services to the public.
Strongly Agree: 2
Agree: 2
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Project Outcomes
Project Outcomes
List any important outcomes or findings not previously reported:
NSLAPR's goal is to ensure the library workforce has simple and accessible paths to continuous learning, which will equip them with the proper tools to be adaptable and well rounded, to understand and embrace evolving technologies, and be prepared to meet the needs of their constantly changing community landscapes. While it's difficult to measure learning outcomes from these CE courses in terms of job performance and effectiveness, our intent is that this CE support will provide a foundation for Nevada library staff to have options, make choices, and fully take ownership of their future career trajectories. Professional Development offerings address local, state, and national best practices for 21st Century librarianship and ensure competencies that are core to the field.
Please briefly describe the importance of these outcomes and findings for future program planning:
As conferences and trainings remained virtual this project year, participation has increased while the costs of participation have decreased (airline tickets and hotels are always the bulk of CE Scholarships). Virtual programs increase access as libraries are able to send more staff and use local funds for virtual registration fees. In addition, providing professional development opportunities to NV library staff is one of our 4 main LSTA priorities. As the NSLAPR CE Consultant position has remained vacant due to state hiring freezes, being able to guide people to WebJunction's course catalog and topic areas for their outreach and programming, or to Library Juice for more in-depth focus, has been incredibly helpful.
Explain one or two of the most significant lessons learned for others wanting to adopt any facets of this project:
In September 2020, we sent a cohort of 10 Nevada youth services staff to Library Juice Academy's Foundations of Early Literacy course, taught by Saroj Ghoting. The course was 4 weeks long, and NSLAPR staff were able to audit the course as well as meet with the instructor. Unfortunately, this cohort had a poor completion rate. The youth services staff who participated did so at their supervisor’s direction, but those same supervisors did not ensure that their employees completed course requirements - it was done on the honor system. NSLAPR staff only learned of incomplete rates after the Early Literacy course was finished. If we decide to enroll cohorts in courses again, we will have course-completion agreements in place and clear expectations established with each participating library.
Do you anticipate continuing this project after the current reporting period ends:
No
Do you anticipate any change in level of effort in managing this project:
No
Explain:

Do you anticipate changing the types of activities and objectives addressed by the project:
No
Explain:

Was an evaluation conducted for this project:
No
Was a final written evaluation report produced:
No
Can the final written evaluation report be shared publicly on the IMLS website:
No
Was the evaluation conducted by project staff (either SLAA or local library) or by a third-party evaluator:
Third-Party
What data collection tools were used for any report outcomes and outputs:
Did you collect any media for the data:
What types of methods were used to analyze collected data:
Other:
How were participants (or items) selected:
What type of research design did you use to compare the value for any reported output or outcome:
Exemplary: No
Exemplary Narrative
Project Tags: