Want to bring Library Con to your library? Learn how our library held a full day, system-wide library con across three locations. We’ll share our strategy for working with community partners to offer LARP demonstrations, Dungeons & Dragons and other TTRPGs, cosplay demos and miniature painting, a costume contest, and an outdoor movie night. All of this and more to engage new library patrons while highlighting services, programs and collections.
Date Recorded: 2/11/2026
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenters: Caele Pemberton, Head of Marketing and Community Engagement and Ben Rutz, Digital Media Coordinator / Kokomo-Howard County Public Library
Learn how our library works closely with community partners to bring fun adventures to our patrons. By working closely with our local game shop, toy store, comic book store, volunteer GMs, a local brewery (the list could go on and on), we’re able to provide an array of fun events related to gaming, filmmaking and more. These events bring new users to the library who sometimes have never set foot inside before. Find out how we make it work and strategies we suggest to work with partners in your community.
Date Recorded: 1/14/2026
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenters: Caele Pemberton, Head of Marketing and Community Engagement and Ben Rutz, Digital Media Coordinator / Kokomo-Howard County Public Library
The Indiana Historical Bureau has worked with communities and organizations on the installation of state historical markers dating back to the 1940s. These markers serve as tangible reminders of the state’s past and help return stories to the physical landscape. In this program, learn about the process and criteria for obtaining a state historical marker, why markers matter, and their continued relevance in today’s digital age, using examples from the collection of over 750 state markers that currently exist.
Date Recorded: 11/5/2025
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenter: Casey Pfeiffer, Historical Marker Program Director / Indiana Historical Bureau Division, Indiana State Library
The national network of State Data Centers in every U.S. state and territory provides the public with access to data and training on current data tools. We partner with the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure you have the most recent population data. Here at the Indiana State Data Center, we also partner with several other state agencies and organizations to create a strong network of data and geospatial professionals to help provide insight into to today’s top social and economic questions. Katie Springer, Director of Indiana’s SDC Program, explains what our State Data Center @ the State Library does for the public and what kinds of questions we handle. Librarians and Educators alike can learn how to be ready for demographic questions and how our connections strengthen our network.
Date Recorded: 11/26/2025
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenter: Katie Springer, Director, Indiana State Data Center / Indiana State Library
Do you want to turn your library into a game lab for a day? Join ENNIE-nominated game designer John Mulligan from Exeunt Press (Exclusion Zone Botanist, Eleventh Beast) to learn how to run a tabletop game design workshop at your library. Explore how teaching game design fundamentals builds literacy, enhances your library’s programming, and strengthens connections within your community. We’ll cover how to define the workshop’s scope (board games, TTRPGs, or both) and choose core topics like the different kinds of fun, game loops, and theme vs. mechanism. You’ll get tips on incorporating engaging, hands-on activities and promoting the class, so people show up ready to learn. We’ll also share resources to help you create your own program materials. Skeleton Code Machine is an ENNIE Award-nominated weekly publication that explores tabletop game mechanisms in board games and roleplaying games. Spark your creativity and think differently about how games work. Join thousands of other readers and get game design inspiration delivered to your inbox each week: www.skeletoncodemachine.com Exeunt Press is an independent tabletop game design studio creating innovative games that blend storytelling with structured mechanisms. Explore a dark forest, sell cursed items to unsuspecting customers, or become a stale muffin. Weird and wonderful games await. Learn more at https://www.exeunt.press/.
This webinar is co-sponsored by ALA’s Games and Gaming Round Table
Equip library staff with foundational AI knowledge to support patrons. Cover AI fundamentals, common misconceptions, and practical applications, enabling librarians to educate and guide users effectively.
Presenter Dr. Treg Hopkins is the Co-Founder of Connectable, an Indiana-based nonprofit committed to enhancing adult education programs across more than 20 states through advanced data systems and artificial intelligence. As a Certified Quantitative Methodologist, his research focuses on neurodiversity, aging, and the role of technology in these areas. Hopkins has extensive leadership experience, serving on multiple boards and advising nonprofits and government entities on strategic planning. His expertise in library innovation includes serving on a long-term library planning board and previously delivering a keynote address at the Indiana Library Federation’s FOIL conference.
Date Recorded: 10/8/2025
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenter: Dr. Treg Hopkins / Co-Founder of Connectable
From braille editions to designing content for neurodiversity, we’ll discuss the current methods of creating & editing games to work towards a more inclusive game space. Join our experts for this participatory discussion of accessibility in game design, space design for patrons with disabilities, and how libraries working with game designers is a win for all. This will be similar to the presentation that this panel gave at GenCon 2025 as part of the Game Design Academy.
This webinar is co-sponsored by ALA’s Games and Gaming Round Table
Date Recorded: 9/24/2025
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenters: Chris Hopper – Accessibility Consultant; Steph Campbell / TTRPGkids; Katie Lear – Therapist & Founder / Young Dragonslayers; George Bergstrom, Southern Region Coordinator / Indiana State Librayr & Past President of GameRT; and Sara Nurrenenbern, Disability Advocate
Discover how AI can automate repetitive tasks, improve workflow efficiency, and enhance library services. Explore tools for automated metadata tagging, chatbots for patron assistance, and AI-driven content curation to free up time for high-value tasks.
Presenter Dr. Treg Hopkins is the Co-Founder of Connectable, an Indiana-based nonprofit committed to enhancing adult education programs across more than 20 states through advanced data systems and artificial intelligence. As a Certified Quantitative Methodologist, his research focuses on neurodiversity, aging, and the role of technology in these areas. Hopkins has extensive leadership experience, serving on multiple boards and advising nonprofits and government entities on strategic planning. His expertise in library innovation includes serving on a long-term library planning board and previously delivering a keynote address at the Indiana Library Federation’s FOIL conference.
Date Recorded: 9/10/2025
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenter: Dr. Treg Hopkins / Co-Founder of Connectable
In parts one and two of our “Video Game Collections in Libraries” webinar series, we first outlined effective pathways for video game selection and acquisition, and followed that up by showcasing how to “librarianize” your acquired games via processing, cataloging, and displaying best practices. So – you’ve got games on shelves, and they’re checking out; done! Mission accomplished? … Not so fast!! There are additional steps needed to maintain that collection and keep it healthy, with further opportunities to implement “value-added” services that will support your video game collection. Finally, it’s important that we collectively ask: what will our video game collections look like in 5 to 10 years, where most games will likely be “all digital”? How can a librarian prepare for that inevitable shift?
In part #3 of our “Video Game Collections in Libraries” webinar (the final part!), we will dig into suggested protocols for weeding and repairing discs, recommendations for “wraparound” services like video game programs, circulating game consoles, and helping your patrons acquire necessary video game patches/updates – along with a deep (but brief) exploration into important questions like “What will libraries do when video games transition to all digital?”, “what impact would all-digital video games have on offering library game collections?”, and, most importantly, “who is working on what in this space right now?” – to set our libraries up for success in the future!
This webinar is co-sponsored by ALA’s Games and Gaming Round Table
Date Recorded: 5/28/2025
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenters: Chris Baker, Public Library Consultant and Games & Learning Consultant/ Library Services Team of the Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction; Jenna Gilles, Youth Services Associate / Chippewa Falls Public Library; and Jamie Hein, Library Director / Clintonville Public Library
Oftentimes, we fall into the habit of writing on autopilot. We use the same language, acronyms, jargon, and naming conventions in all of our pieces without first considering who we are trying to reach with each message. This webinar will cover how to shift the focus of your marketing back to your target audience to ensure you’re communicating more effectively. Every brand also has its own voice and personality–even your library! We’ll discuss how to identify that voice as well as tips for applying it to your writing and marketing materials.