ISL’s Online Training Series – 2026
The Indiana State Library presents webinars and training sessions free each month for individuals who are employed by Indiana libraries, as well as Indiana library board members. Experience these sessions from the comfort of your own library. No driving required! Registration information can be found on our Calendar and more sessions are added throughout the year.
Archived trainings are open access and can be found on our Archived Trainings page within 30 days of the training being broadcast. Everyone who registers for the webinars will be sent a link to the recording afterwards.
Out of state library workers are welcome to attend our live webinars, however, please note that Indiana residents will receive first priority. The Indiana State Library reserves the right to cancel the registration of an out of state attendee if the maximum number of registrants for a webinar is reached.
Are you interested i n presenting a webinar for the Indiana State Library? Please fill out the Webinar Proposal form to submit your idea.
2026 Webinars
Join us for 50 minute sessions addressing a variety of library topics. Each session will be moderated by an Indiana State Library staff member and will feature a variety of library related content. Click on the event for more information. Find past trainings on our Archived Trainings page.
What’s Up Wednesday – Working with Community Partners to Bring Adventure to the 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: 01/14/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenters: Caele Pemberton, Head of Marketing and Community Engagement and Ben Rutz, Digital Media Coordinator / Kokomo-Howard County Public Library
What’s Up Wednesday – Responsible Budgeting in Tumultuous Times
Recent property tax reform will have a significant impact on library budgets. But, what is that impact, exactly? And, how can we make a plan if we don’t know what we’re planning for? This presentation will detail how you can ensure your library’s financial stability by staying informed and having a clear course of action when reality hits. We will start with a brief overview of gathering data for expected revenue streams. Next, we will touch upon specific evaluation measures to help determine if the return is worth your investment. Finally, we’ll look within each major budget category to share specific suggestions for realizing actual cost-savings.
Lynn Hobbs started her professional career as a music librarian at the Indianapolis Public Library, where she worked for 10 years. In 2005, she became the Director of the Pendleton Community Public Library where she encourages non-traditional library initiatives. Lynn enjoys working with new public library directors and supporting them on their professional journey. Oddly, she also enjoys library budgeting! Lynn is a bass flute player who performs in the Indianapolis area, where she lives with her husband, Thomas, and their dog, Val.
Date: 01/28/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenter: Lynn Hobbs, Director / Pendleton Community Public Library
What’s Up Wednesday – Story & Strategy: a Library Con
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: 02/11/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenters: Caele Pemberton, Head of Marketing and Community Engagement and Ben Rutz, Digital Media Coordinator / Kokomo-Howard County Public Library
What’s Up Wednesday – Preparing for Tomorrow: the Benefits of Futures Thinking in Libraries
This webinar will discuss foresight (or futures thinking) and how strategically thinking about the future can support the people that work in libraries, the library organization, and the community the library serves. With insights from a group of library staff across the state of Idaho, library consultants at the Idaho Commission for Libraries have been investigating how to incorporate thinking about the future into library work and developing fun ways to share what they’ve learned. Their newest toolkit, the Things From Future Libraries Toolkit, provides a guide for anyone to put on a creative, participatory design workshop where attendees imagine and prototype an object from a library in a future they select.
Annie Gaines is the Continuing Education Consultant for the Idaho Commission for Libraries, where she connects the people who work in all types of libraries to provide training and support to reach their future goals. She has experience working in academic and public libraries (her very first job was as a teenage library page in her local public library) and has earned certificates in strategic foresight, facilitation, and instructional design.
Date: 02/25/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenter: Annie Gaines, Continuing Education Consultant / Idaho Commission for Libraries
What’s Up Wednesday – How to Build a Library in a Community Center One Bite at a Time
Join director Nicki Kirchoff on a recorded tour of her new library, inside the Love Community Center of Rushville, Indiana. This event will be hosted by Meg Pool from the Indiana State Library, and the tour will showcase the new Rushville Public Library, the Love Community Center’s other services inside the building, and the Love Community Center’s background. As we navigate the future, Nicki will share why this special opportunity to be part of Rushville’s community center was the best decision for them, and how it has impacted the community they serve. Come join us, and bring your questions!
Nicki Kirchoff has served twenty years as a public school librarian, serving grades k-12 (15 of those years in the middle school)! Nicki currently serves as director of the Rushville Public Library, with her first day on May 28, 2020. I’m incredibly lucky to do a job and have a life that 13-year old me would think is so cool. “Libraries? Books? And play outside whenever I’m not with libraries and books? How awesome is that?!” Ever since Nicki became director at Rushville Public Library, she had goals to be county wide. Nicki started talking and meeting about the Community Center, July 1, 2020. What was a long and tedious endeavor, paid off and has become a community hub county wide for Rush County.
Date: 03/11/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenter: Nicki Kirchoff, Director / Rushville Public Library
What’s Up Wednesday – Outward In: Community-Led Programming and Asset Mapping
Have you ever said, “why don’t people come to our library programs?” Often events grow from ideas someone at the library has for what they think will be a great program, but what if we instead look outward, asking our communities to help develop programming that will be of interest to them?
Attendees will learn how they can move from a library-centric approach — to program planning — to one that more effectively engages our communities. You’ll feel both recognized in the library’s programming offerings, but also feel engaged in the process of program development, and explore how IMLS’s asset mapping tools can reshape the way we look at collaboration.
Barry Trott is the Adult Services Consultant at the Library of Virginia, where he helps public libraries across the Commonwealth plan and develop services for adult library users. He earned his MSLS from The Catholic University of America School of Library and Information Science in 1997 and then worked at the Williamsburg Regional Library for 24 years before joining LVA in 2021. Barry is editor of “RUSQ: A Journal of Reference,” and “User Experience,” and past-president of the American Library Association’s Reference and User Services Association. He has presented programs for the American Library Association, the Public Library Association, and the Virginia Library Association, and for library systems throughout the country. He is the recipient of both the Public Library Association’s Allie Beth Martin Award and the ALA Reference and User Services Association’s Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award in recognition for his work in public libraries.
Date: 03/25/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenter: Barry Trott, Adult Services Consultant / Library of Virginia
What’s Up Wednesday – From Grant to Gathering Place: A Library Placemaking Journey
This workshop will walk participants through the full lifecycle of a successful community placemaking project, from grant award to ribbon cutting. Jaime Pitt, Director of the Marion Public Library, and Kelsey Winters, Project Lead, will share their firsthand experiences obtaining a Community Placemaking Grant and partnering with Project for Public Spaces (PPS) to reimagine the library’s outdoor courtyard. Presenters will discuss the project process from design to implementation, and how meaningful community engagement and collaboration shaped this public space from start to finish. The session will conclude with lessons learned and insights on celebrating the completed project with the community, offering practical guidance and takeaways for libraires and organizations undertaking similar placemaking initiatives.
Date: 05/13/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenters: Jaime Pitt, Director and Kelsey Winters, Head of Museum Services & Special Projects / Marion Public Library & History Center
What’s Up Wednesday – Microsoft Teams for Libraries
Join us for an insightful webinar designed specifically for libraries on how to use Microsoft Teams as an effective communication tool at all levels of your organization. Learn from Emily Ellis, Director of Greenwood Public Library, as she shares her 18 years of experience transitioning staff from tools like Google Docs and Trillian to Teams.
Topics include:
- Streamlining communication with department-specific Teams and special project channels.
- Best practices for staff training and a smooth rollout.
- How to use Teams for transparency, quick access to information, and efficient project management.
Believing strongly that some change is good, Emily Ellis has 18 years of experience working with an amazing staff who is adverse to “new” – especially technology. While serving as Assistant Director she somehow managed to get her building of 30+ employees to not only start using Microsoft Teams, but embracing it as a positive…over the course of a year. Now as Director of Greenwood Public Library, she is dedicated to finding other “new” ideas that improve communication, efficiency, and productivity within her building.
Date: 05/27/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenter: Emily Ellis, Executive Director / Greenwood Public Library
What’s Up Wednesday – Transition Ready: Creating a Reference Guide for the Next Library Director
Is your organization ready if you win the lottery, get hit by a horse and buggy, retire, or simply move on in your career? If you start creating a transition guide now, you can put your library on the right path to success with or without your leadership. There are many ways to gather institutional knowledge, but this presentation will showcase the resource that I was able to create for my library using Microsoft 365, OneNote, and OneDrive. The beauty of using technology to create a library brain is that it can be easily updated, accessed remotely, and shared with others.
Date: 06/24/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenter: Wendy Moulton, Director / Abilene Public Library (Abilene, Kansas)
What’s Up Wednesday – Reaching Out to Residents Who Are Not (Yet) Library Users
Participants will leave this presentation with ideas on how to reach residents who may not regularly utilize the library. This presentation focuses on creative ways to partner with other local organizations, and we will share our success stories of how we were able to bring in more patrons with our outreach efforts.
Date: 07/08/26 Time: 10:00 AM EST Format: Zoom Webinar
Presenter: Jackilyn Roseberry, Director / Fremont Area District Library (Fremont, Michigan)