This training will prepare public library staff to facilitate meaningful solar and space science programs for their customers that build curiosity, knowledge, and inspiration. Attendees will receive hands-on training on operating solar telescopes and other methods for direct and indirect solar viewing, best practices for developing and facilitating STEM programs, and how to engage with community partners and library-specific digital resource networks. The workshop will use SEAL circulation kit materials and highlight best practices in using these resources; however, the strategies, activities, and resources shared during the workshop will be useful to attendees, even without a SEAL kit.
Ninety-eight percent of library funding relies on the political will of voters and politicians. If libraries want to increase or maintain library funding, they have to build political power and influence. There are a wide range of tactics that can be used to build and influence this power, but what are the underlying political advocacy theories that can be applied to all of the activities performed by a library? In this session we will explore many of the tools, tactics, and strategies used by some of the best community organizers, political action committees, and politicians and discuss applying them to librarianship.
