Access to TeachingBooks is for everyone in your community thanks to the Indiana State Library’s INSPIRE program, so we want to make sure everything is set up just right so it can be as effortless and seamless as possible for your students, faculty, and families. Join us and discover multiple ways to easily promote access including: -Single Sign on -Chrome Extension -Buttons and Widgets -Resource Sharing Options 32 min / 1 LEU
Date Recorded: 8/11/2026
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenter: Crystal Ballard, TeachingBooks
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
In parts