The Difference is You Conference 2025

image of Save the date Difference is You Conference Building Connections Friday September 19, 2025 Indiana State Library 140 South Senate Avenue Indianapolis Indiana

  • Date: Friday, September 19, 2025, 9:00 AM to 3:45 PM, Eastern
  • Location:  Indiana State Library, 140 North Senate Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana
  • DIY Award nominations – open April 22 to May 16 (only 2 nominations may be submitted by one person)
  • Registration open – Tentatively – June 23 to Aug 8 (we will put a post on the listservs when registration opens)
  • Registration fee ($30) – due August 22
  • Presentations & Schedule:  To be announced (each presentation is worth 1 LEU / 5 LEUs maximum is possible)
Pro tips for attending conference:
  • Make sure you dress in layers (some rooms are warm & others cooler)
  • Bring these items if needed – a water bottle, notebook, tote bag
  • Make sure to bring your parking voucher in with you so it can be validated at the registration desk
  • Click here for a map to the parking areas

Tentative Difference is You Conference Schedule 2025 (times subject to change)

Registration – 8 to 9:15 am

  • Great Hall desk (or the landing by the Senate door) TBD

Welcome – 9:30 to 9:45 am

  • Jacob Speer, Indiana State Librarian and Announce DIY Award Winner

Keynote – 9:45 to 10:45 am

  • “Say What,” Key Strategies to Becoming an Effective Communicator | Presented by Latonya S. Hicks
    Description: “Say What?” explores practical and proven strategies to enhance communication skills in both personal and professional settings. Learn key strategies to speak clearly, listen actively, and connect better with others to become a more effective communicator in any situation. Whether you’re looking to improve your communication, strengthen workplace interactions, or build better relationships, this will help you become a confident and effective communicator.

Session 1 – 11:00 am to 12:00 pm

  • What is NICCL? | Presented by Beth Gaff
    Description:  Brief history of how and why NICCL (Networking and Innovation for Community Centered Libraries) started.  How it evolved and changed.  What is it’s mission is today, the importance of this group and developing skills of support staff.  And what the future holds for NICCL.
  • Teaching Books | Presented by Crystal Ballard
    Description: Discover exceptional texts to support and supplement early literacy instruction. While underscoring phonics, phonological awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, you can now use TeachingBooks to identify popular picture books by more than a dozen phonics and phonetical awareness classifications (vowel and consonant sounds, alliteration, rhyming, and more). Additionally, TeachingBooks has developed exclusive activity sheets that can be used with trade books, so that teachers, families, and librarians have worksheets to extend reading instruction.
  • Dungeons & Dragons Programming for Adults and Teens – When You Have Little to No Experience and an Even Smaller Budget | Presented by Catherine Roberts Description:  Dungeons and Dragons just turned 50 years old, and its popularity is high thanks to shows like Stranger Things and games like Baldur’s Gate 3. How do you get your library on the D&D adventure when you have little or no experience with the game? This session will give you tips on where to start and resources to seek out in order to join the party with one of the world’s most popular tabletop role playing games.
  • Tour 1 – Meet at the Great Hall Desk

Lunch – 12:15 to 1:15 pm (or should we put 12:00 to 1:30?? pn)

  • Tour 2 – Meet at the Great Hall Desk (12:00 to 1:15) When will they eat lunch?

Session 2 – 1:30 to 2:30 pm

  • Life Pro Tips: Managing Your Managers (Tips on how to foster open communication, trust and develop rapport with your manager) | Presented by Ezekiel Weldon
    Description: Six short and sweet tips that can help you build rapport in any situation, but tailored to be especially potent in a long-term staff-manager relationship. From being honest to finding ways to share your knowledge, these tips can be used to foster healthy communication between most anyone.
  • Get the Best out of LearningExpress | Presented by Shana Ashwood-Viala
    Description: Bet you don’t know all that LearningExpress has to offer! Join us for a tour of LearningExpress Library Complete; the interactive learning platform that provides the most comprehensive collection of resources for basic skills mastery, academic success, job preparation, and career advancement. We will review the user interface and key platform features including our interactive practice tests and microlessons, and career-related tools including our award-winning resume and letter builders. We will also cover administrative resources for librarians, including promotional tools, direct links, and MARC Records. Bring your questions and we will discover new ways to use these great resources!
  • Hands on Activities to Foster Teamwork and Communication | Presented by Lacey Klemm
    Description: Hands on activities encourage collaboration, trust, and communication in a fun, engaging way.  This session will feature four hands on activities that you can take back to your libraries and use with your own staff to help with fostering teamwork and communication.
  • Tour 3 – Meet at the Great Hall Desk

Session 3 – 2:45 to 3:45 pm

  • Becoming a Change Champion at Your Library | Presented by Jenny Kobiela-Mondor
    Description: Navigating change is a vital skill for anybody who works at a library. Everybody’s response to change looks different, and changes require working through the change cycle with self-compassion and empathy for others. Explore the change cycle, discover new ways to stay flexible and adaptable, and consider how you can become an empathetic change champion at your library. At the end of the session, participants will understand the stages of the change cycle and the importance of self-compassion and empathy during times of change; walk away with strategies that promote flexibility and adaptability that they can try; and leave having made a commitment to centering empathy when working through change.
  • ISL Panel | Presented by Brent Abercrombie, Jamie Dunn, Judy Gray and Christopher Marshall
    Description:  In this session Brent Abercrombie (Regional Depository Coordinator and Federal Documents/Reference Librarian), Jamie Dunn (Genealogy Supervisor), Judy Gray (Talking Book & Braille Library Supervisor) and Christopher Marshall (Indiana Division and Indiana Digital Collections Coordinator) will shed light on what their divisions do and how Indiana residents and libraries can utilize them.

Attendees will learn about:

    • Indiana Division: The Indiana Collection at the Indiana State Library offers a wealth of published material about our great state. Among the most widely used are local daily newspapers, maps, local histories, and state agency documents, including historical laws. Our collection includes historical runs of many titles, essential for researching the past and preparing for the future.
    • Federal Depository Library Program: ISL’s federal documents collection, the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), and get tips for effective ways to search and locate titles published by the federal government.
    • Genealogy Division: Collections and services, and the varieties of ways we help patrons.
    • Talking Book & Braille Library: How you can help your patrons get enrolled into this program and get them the services they need.
  • Fostering Adult Connections at Your Library | Presented by Erika Wagner
    Description: Together we will explore the concept of a “Third Place,” why it’s important, and how it can help combat loneliness in older adults.
  • Tour 4 – Meet at the Great Hall Desk

 Presenter Bios

  • Beth Gaff – Peabody Public Library / Head of IT, Networking and Marketing and NICCL chair. Beth Gaff has worked at the Peabody Public Library for 20 years. Currently, she is in charge of IT, Networking, and Marketing at her Library. She has been the chair for the NICCL group for 4 years and is in her 2nd term. She currently is in school to obtain her bachelor’s degree in education.
  • Brent Abercrombie – Indiana State Library / Regional Depository Coordinator and Federal Documents/Reference Librarian.  Brent Abercrombie, Reference Librarian, Indiana Regional Depository Coordinator, Indiana State Library. Brent started working at the Indiana State Library in 2008 as a Manuscript Librarian. In 2015, Brent became the Indiana Regional Depository Coordinator and Reference Librarian. Brent holds an MA in History: Public History from Indiana University-Indianapolis and also holds an MLS from Indiana University-Indianapolis.
  • Catherine Roberts – Shelby County Public Library / Branch Manager for the Velma Wortman Morristown Branch. Catherine (Cat) Roberts has worked in libraries since 2012, where she started off as a Circulation Library Assistant. Now the Branch Manager for the Velma Wortman Morristown Branch of the Shelby County Public Library, Cat wears all the hats– from patron services to maintenance, programming to cataloging, she has a hand in absolutely everything at the branch. While she enjoys most all aspects of library work, her favorite part of the job is making connections with a community to better anticipate and serve their needs.
  • Crystal Ballard – Teaching Books / Implementation & Training Specialist Crystal has worked in education since she graduated from Utah State University. She started work as an elementary teacher in 1st and 2nd grade and then went back to school to get her Master’s degree in Library Science. She was a librarian and district librarian before becoming and Implementation & Training Specialist with TeachingBooks.
  • Erika Wagner – Crown Point Community Public Library / Adult Programming and Outreach. Erika began working at the Crown Point Community Library in 2018 as a Youth Services Assistant, before moving to Adult Programming and Outreach in 2020. After earning her Master of Library and Information Science from Indiana University in 2022, she became the Programming and Outreach Librarian. Highlights of Erika’s work life include watching patrons engage and grow friendships with each other at programs and chatting about books with patrons in the library. Outside of work, Erika enjoys hanging out with her three teenage kids, cooking, and (of course) reading voraciously.
  • Ezekiel Weldon – Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library / Whitestown Branch Manager. Ezekiel Weldon currently serves as the Whitestown Branch Manager at the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library in Whitestown, Indiana. Over the past 10+ years of his library experience, Ezekiel has focused on developing workplace communication standards with the goal of helping library employees feel seen, heard, and engaged in their workplace. Ezekiel insists that library staff are any library’s best resource when it comes to helping their communities. His main interest is in finding new ways to work with others to develop sustainable, positive, and dynamic library culture that will encourage staff to collaborate, engage, and form bonds with both other staff and the patrons they serve.
  • Jamie Dunn – Indiana State Library / Supervisor, Genealogy Division. Jamie Dunn is the Genealogy Division supervisor at the Indiana State Library, a position she has held for over five years.  She has been an avid genealogist for 20 years and is a 9th generation Hoosier.  She has an MLS and an MA in Public History from Indiana University Indianapolis.
  • Jenny Kobiela-Mondor – Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS) / Library Strategist. A love of learning and passion for people led Jenny Kobiela-Mondor from journalism to libraries and now to the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services. In her role as a library strategist on the Engagement, Consulting, and Training Team, Jenny works with library staff and administration to facilitate planning, professional development, and conversations that engage, inspire, and inform the future of libraries and their communities.
  • Judy Gray – Indiana State Library / Supervisor Indiana Talking Books and Braille Library. Judy Gray received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Secondary Education from Marian University. She then attended Indiana University and received a Master of Library Science.  Judy has been working in libraries for 25 years; she started a clerical assistant while in library school.  After graduation she worked her way from a children’s librarian to a branch manager of many different size branches at the Indianapolis Public Library.  Judy is now the Supervising Librarian for the Indiana Talking Book and Braille Library at the Indiana State Library.  Her hobbies include camping, hiking, railroading, and reading.
  • Lacey Klemm – East Chicago Public Library / Associate Director of Public Services.  Lacey Klemm is the Associate Director of Public Services for the East Chicago Public Library.  Over her 20+ years working in library’s Lacey has checked in and out several hundreds of books, sang and danced with full of energy preschoolers, answered a million “Can I have the phone number to…?” questions, fostered the love of reading in all ages, shoveled snow, and cleaned a toilet or two!  She earned her MLS from IUPUI in 2007, which did not teach her at all what it was really like working in a library (referring to the shoveling snow and cleaning toilets!).  In Lacey’s free time she enjoys reading, writing, watching Asian dramas, cooking and baking, and spending time with her fur babies.
  • Latonya S. Hicks – East Chicago Public Library / Associate Director of Public Relations. Latonya S. Hicks serves as the Associate Director of Public Relations at the East Chicago Public Library, where she oversees strategic communications and community engagement initiatives. She is a published author and an internationally recognized, award-winning children’s book writer whose work has touched readers across cultures. With a strong foundation in public relations, Latonya is known for her skillful communication, impactful writing, and commitment to promoting literacy and lifelong learning. An advocate for literacy, Latonya continues to use her voice to uplift, inform, and connect audiences across diverse platforms. Her passion and zeal give her a dynamic voice in both literary and public service spaces.
  • Shana Ashwood-Viala – EBSCO / Senior Training Specialist. Shana is a Senior Training Specialist at EBSCO with more than 15 years of experience serving the EdTech community. She is passionate about education, having started her career as a teacher in New York City. Shana holds a BBA in Marketing from Temple University and an MA in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

The Difference is You Support Staff Award nominations – CLOSED May 16!

Thank you very much for the submitted nominations.

 

2024 DIY Award nominees – highlights from nomination letters