webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date November 17, 2015
Hosted by: Infopeople
Length: 1 hour

  • Do you want a more in-depth understanding of the true needs of your community?
  • Are you interested in learning easy ways to get valuable input and advice from your staff or public by conducting focus groups and interviews?
  • Would like to learn how to communicate the library story using meaningful examples to make your case and get results?

During this one-hour webinar, you will learn the four steps involved in focus groups and interviews. You’ll discover how to clearly define the goal or purpose, how to select participants, and how to successfully conduct the focus group or interviews. We’ll also discuss how to analyze and synthesize the data to create valuable results that you can package and deliver in meaningful and useful ways.

We will show you how to be successful whether conducting interviews and focus groups in-person or online. If you are planning training for your staff, working on a strategic plan, gathering expert knowledge to solve a problem, or gathering stories to influence politicians and decision-makers, this is the webinar for you!

Presented by: Stephanie Gerding and Brenda Hough

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Format: Webinar, original date June 3, 2021
Hosted by: WebJunction
Length: 1 hour

The Aspen Institute’s influential report, Rising to the Challenge: Re-Envisioning Public Libraries, (2014) predicted that the most effective public libraries will be the ones with services that prioritize and support local community goals. The COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing racial reckoning around the country require even more flexibility and adaptability as community needs change and as libraries more intentionally deploy resources in the communities they serve. This webinar will provide an opportunity to contrast traditional community outreach with community engagement principles and discuss community asset mapping as a tool for engagement. Presenters will also share lessons learned about community networking in the context of COVID-19 and encourage participants to share their own experiences.

Presented by: Lisa-Jane Erwin, Tierre Graves, and Lynn Williamson


webinar iconFormat: Webinar, original date September 15, 2022
Hosted by: WebJunction
Length: 1 hour

You want to serve your community equitably and well, but you have endless possibilities and finite resources. How do you know which direction to go? Community-led planning is a strategy that invites community participation in service design and implementation by sharing power. Whether you’re creating a system-wide strategic plan, a single program, or anything in between, using community-led planning techniques can set you up for outstanding success. Discover the results of new research into how libraries can become more equitably community led. Then learn how to apply these concepts to create highly relevant, inclusive services for—and, more importantly, with—your community.

Presented by: Audrey Barbakoff

Format: Webinar, original date October 29, 2014
Hosted by: ALCTS
Length: 1 hour

Have you ever considered what it's like to:

  • take a bus on a rainy day to a library to start to hunt for a job?
  • plan for your daughter's college education when you don't have a college education?
  • organize your reservations so the right books are available at the right time for your vacation?

These are examples of real world situations that people undertake. We all try hard to deliver solutions for tasks we are familiar with but we often only consider a small slice of these users huge real-life experiences.

User experience is about seeing the world from another person's perspective and considering how to support their needs. It is also about how we look at the services and tools we provide and how through understanding our users need, we can make them more relevant and engaging. A user-centered focus makes it possible to create welcoming, supportive and efficient experiences that hide the seams of technologies, teams, and spaces.

This session will introduce you to the value of approaching the design of your services and systems from a user-centered approach and how you can apply observation methods to learn about your users and apply insights. Applying user experience techniques to enhance experience does not need to be expensive but it does require putting the people you serve in the center of system and design thinking.

Learning Outcomes

This webinar will provide:

  • an introduction to what needs to be considered in creating people experiences for libraries
  • an overview of methods and approaches that will provide insights on the people you serve, and how to convert insight into action
  • a list of resources for learning more about designing people experiences

Presented by: Gayna Williams

webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date August 14, 2018
Hosted by: WebJunction and OCLC Research
Length: 1 hour

You know what you want to know and how to ask the right questions. Now what? This session will delve into assessment tools and data collection methods—and how to choose the method that works best for you. You also will learn how to analyze your data and turn it into information your library can use. Don’t worry if using qualitative and quantitative data is new to you. You’ll gain the insight you need to use both with confidence.

This webinar is the second in a three-part series bringing together research and practice from across library sectors, covering the ins and outs of creating, and implementing assessments that provide insightful, actionable data. #libdata4impact

Presented by: Linda Hofschire and Lynn Silipigni Connaway

webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date December 1, 2016
Hosted by: WebJunction and the Association for Rural and Small Libraries
Length: 1 hour

Your community needs the library, and planning for the future of your library begins with understanding the community and their aspirations. Once you understand what your rural community wants and needs, you can assess how the library can help them. In this webinar, understand the important steps of this engaged planning process, including internal assessment, data collection and analysis, trustee involvement, and community conversations. Learn what it means for your library to “turn outward” to secure its place at the heart of your community.

Presented by: Cindy Fesemyer

webinar iconFormat: Webinar, original date February 18, 2021
Hosted by: WebJunction
Length: 1 hour 30 minutes

Watch a two-part webinar series with design experts from Margaret Sullivan Studio and Harmonic Design to pick-up techniques you can use to create meaningful future library services. After the first webinar, Who Are We Designing for and Why? Service Design Techniques for Responsive Libraries, the presenters met with three case study libraries: Altadena Library District, Pierce County Library System, and Prince George's County Memorial Library System. The case study participants will share how they took learned design techniques to brainstorm future services for their communities. The goal is to demonstrate concepts and relevant applications to help envision how you might improve your library’s capacity to bring joy, vibrancy, learning experiences, and innovative opportunities to the community!  

The case study libraries are applying service design techniques to create meaningful outdoor experiences, and integrating service design into staffing models. Whether you are a library with a small, medium, or large staff, through this session, you will learn how collaboration, creativity, and innovation can be integrated into your daily operations. 

Presented by: Matias Rey, Margaret Sullivan, Jaime Prothro, Margaret Hatanaka, Zachary A. Jones, and Gidae Campbell


webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date February 19, 2015
Hosted by: Coalition to Advance Learning in Archives, Libraries, and Museums
Length: 1 hour

This is Part 2 of a two-part webinar.

Join your colleagues from archives, libraries and museums for a two-part, interactive learning webinar that will introduce the fundamentals of project management: planning a project. All of our fields struggle with unstable budgets and dynamic technology, so learning to think and act in terms of projects is critical--it can be the difference between turning an idea into a successful, resourced initiative or not. Led by representatives from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the webinars will focus on the key elements of a project plan: the idea, the audiences, funding options, a work plan, an evaluation, and more. We will also discuss how to critically examine your project ideas, asking, Is it fundable? Valuable? Sustainable? And if not, what could you do differently? While learning these fundamentals, you will also benefit from the insights and experiences shared by your fellow participants from across archives, library, and museum institutions.

In this highly interactive second session, we will use sample project ideas and case studies to look at how we can assess the strength of a project plan before it is implemented. We will also discuss other project management resources and where to learn more about the topic.

See also part 1 in this series, Key Elements of a Project Plan

Presented by: Robert Horton and Sarah Fuller

webinar iconFormat: Webinar, original date August 5, 2021
Hosted by: WebJunction
Length: 1 hour

Community-centered libraries engage staff in promoting and supporting positive change in their local communities. However, the steps for authentically engaging the community in problem-solving are often unclear. In this webinar, participants will be introduced to the SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results) Model and learn how to use it as a facilitation tool for conducting meetings with their library communities. The role of digital programming as a SOAR response to the challenges of COVID-19 will be explored, with presenters and participants alike sharing their successes and challenges.

Presented by: Sarah Giskin, Becky Shaknovich, Suzin Weber, Shahadah Abdul-Rashid, and Lynn Williamson


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Format: Webinar, original date February 26, 2016
Hosted by: Big Talk from Small Libraries, Nebraska Library Commission
Length: 1 hour

Learn how the rural library dramatically changed focus in the last 5 years—from book depository to community hub, and how they’ve turned outward to build relationships and try new ideas. Being at the fortunate point in time that the library was running out of money and volunteers, with no tax dollar support, created freedom to experiment without fear of failure. Successful leaders need to paint a compelling and inspiring picture of what that future will look like. This requires developing your own clear vision of where you want to go and providing meaningful guidance regarding how to move forward.

Presented by: Dianne Connery

webinar iconFormat: Webinar, original date June 11, 2019
Hosted by: WebJunction
Length: 1 hour

Community discovery is a process of forging vital and ongoing connection between the library and its community members. The more people are involved in planning and programming, the more they are invested in the success of the library. While many libraries collect community input primarily through surveys, there are other, more interactive and interpersonal tools that can uncover the heart and aspirations of the community. Explore tools and strategies that start meaningful conversations and foster collaborative engagement on everything from strategic and space planning to programming. Learn how you can join your library and your community at the heart.

Presented by: Betha Gutsche


webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date February 5, 2015
Hosted by: Coalition to Advance Learning in Archives, Libraries, and Museums
Length: 1 hour

This is Part 1 of a two-part webinar.

Join your colleagues from archives, libraries and museums for a two-part, interactive learning webinar that will introduce the fundamentals of project management: planning a project. All of our fields struggle with unstable budgets and dynamic technology, so learning to think and act in terms of projects is critical--it can be the difference between turning an idea into a successful, resourced initiative or not. Led by representatives from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the webinars will focus on the key elements of a project plan: the idea, the audiences, funding options, a work plan, an evaluation, and more. We will also discuss how to critically examine your project ideas, asking, Is it fundable? Valuable? Sustainable? And if not, what could you do differently? While learning these fundamentals, you will also benefit from the insights and experiences shared by your fellow participants from across archives, library, and museum institutions.

This first session describes how careful planning leads to more successful projects. We cover how to develop an idea, define your audience, look at funding options, do an environmental scan, assess your resource capacity and needs, and develop a project scope and schedule for implementation. Attendees were invited to use the two weeks between webinars to outline a project idea based on these key principles. Submitted project plans were reviewed by webinar moderators with individual feedback provided for each submission.

Presented by: Robert Horton and Sarah Fuller

See also part 2 in this series, Evaluating your Project Plan

Format: Webinar, original date February 4, 2014
Hosted by: WebJunction
Length: 1 hour

Surveys are often the tool of choice when you want to determine how to meet the needs of your community or measure your library’s impact. But do you know how to use the tool effectively? Choosing the right survey style for the situation and knowing which question type will elicit the best responses are critical elements for gathering meaningful information. Learn how to conduct an effective survey that can be used to make, measure, and meet your library’s goals. The results may just surprise you. At the end of this one-hour webinar, participants will:

  • Understand why and how to conduct a survey
  • Describe the key elements of an effective library survey
  • Discuss the pros and cons of different survey styles
  • Identify 5 main question types and when to use each of them.

Presented by: Colleen Eggett

webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date May 23, 2017
Hosted by: WebJunction and COSLA
Length: 1 hour

Data gathering and responding to surveys are part of every public librarian's routine. Yet we rarely pause to reflect on these efforts and consider what data matters most. What measures best demonstrate the role, value, and impact of public libraries in the 21st century? How can the various surveys and tools commonly used by public libraries be leveraged with each other and other data sources to best demonstrate that impact? The Institute of Museum and Library Services in cooperation with the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies is launching the "Measures that Matter" initiative, a field-wide discussion of the current state of public library data. The initiative will first take stock of the current landscape and then re-envision how data could be collected, stored, used and disseminated more productively in the future. In this webinar, the first in a 3-part series, we’ll discuss the view that emerged from looking at a number of major library surveys and data collection tools, and consider opportunities to pursue a national action plan to move the field toward ever-more meaningful measures.

Presented by: Stacey Aldrich, Vailey Oehlke and Linda Hofschire

webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date May 23, 2017
Hosted by: WebJunction and COSLA
Length: 1 hour

In the United States, there are a number of national surveys of public libraries and their patrons. While all of these efforts help us tell a data-based story of public libraries, they differ in terms of their samples, what types of data they collect, and how their data are collected, stored, and accessed. During the first webinar in this three-part series, we scanned the landscape of major public library surveys and considered how library data could be used more productively in the future. In this second webinar, we will drill deeper into the concepts of sampling, data types, and data management, and how they impact what we know about public libraries and their patrons. At the end of this webinar, participants will have a greater understanding of various sampling methods, recognize the differences between inputs, outputs, and outcomes, and be aware of the data management practices for various national public library surveys.

Presented by: Rebecca Teasdale, John Bertot, and Linda Hofschire

webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date July 26, 2017
Hosted by: WebJunction and COSLA
Length: 1 hour

Circulation, visits, program attendance, patron satisfaction…these are some of the many measures commonly collected by public librarians. But how well do we understand what measures tell the most meaningful stories of today’s libraries? During the first two webinars in this series, we discussed the current state of the public library data landscape – what data collection efforts exist at the national level and how they impact what we know about libraries and their patrons. In this third webinar, we will look toward the future, considering what data public librarians should collect to demonstrate their impact. To do this, we will hear from speakers both within and outside of the library field who will provide multiple perspectives on meaningful measures.

Presented by: Chantal Stevens, Rebecca Jones, and Linda Hofschire

webinar iconFormat: Webinar, original date March 26, 2019
Hosted by: WebJunction
Length: 1 hour

It's a big task to define the library’s future over the next three or five years, and strategic planning is becoming less and less effective in a rapidly changing world. The Salt Lake City Public Library (SLCPL) has created a new approach that is flexible, staff-driven, and human-centered. SCLPL's Strategic Roadmap is not a 100-page plan in a binder-on-a-shelf; it’s an experiential learning tool that invites all staff to participate in the co-creation of meaningful outcomes and experiences for the community. The Roadmap focuses less on planning and more on building capacity of staff to adopt a human-centered service design mindset and skillset. SLCPL staff are adopting a new perspective, continually experimenting with and adapting spaces, collections, services, programs, and their own roles, to responsively address community needs and aspirations in an ever-changing landscape. Join us for this webinar to learn how to cultivate new skills to help bring the Roadmap to life for your library’s strategic planning.

Presented by: Peter Bromberg and Marilee Moon


webinar iconFormat: Webinar, original date March 5, 2019
Hosted by: WebJunction and Public Library Association
Length: 1 hour

We know that Supercharged Storytimes DO make a difference in building early literacy skills and giving children an early start on reading readiness. But do the administrators and decision makers in your library community know this? It's critical to keep telling the story of your impact and advocating for the value of storytimes for early learning, and having data to back it up will reinforce your message. In this webinar, you’ll hear from practitioners who have overcome their hesitancy around storytime assessment and have discovered the power of data to tell their library story. Get answers to how the Project Outcome early learning assessment tools can make data collection and reporting easy. With feedback from your storytime families, you can improve your services and gather stories that give life to the impact you and your library are having.

Presented by: Liesl Jacobson, Emily Plagman, and Amalia E. Butler Daniels


webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date October 3, 2018
Hosted by: WebJunction and OCLC Research
Length: 1 hour

You’ve formulated the hard questions. You’ve collected your data. What stories do your findings tell, and what do they suggest? This final session explores how to present findings to your library’s key stakeholders and decision-makers in a compelling way, and how to turn those findings into action that benefits your patrons. 

This webinar is the final in a three-part series bringing together research and practice from across library sectors, covering the ins and outs of creating, and implementing assessments that provide insightful, actionable data. #libdata4impact

Presented by: Melissa Bowles-Terry and moderated by Marie L. Radford

webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date May 29, 2018
Hosted by: WebJunction
Length: 1 hour

Community partnerships have the power to meet your library’s strategic goals, expand your reach and amplify what’s great in your community. You already pursue partnerships, but you can take them to the next level, or beyond! Help your community achieve its aspirations by creating partnerships built on solid relationships, mutual respect and SMART goals. Learn from the successes, failures and lessons of real-world examples. You will forge stronger community-led libraries where goals and values are aligned, and collaboration leads to innovation.

Presented by: Audrey Barbakoff

webinar recordingFormat: Webinar, original date April 24, 2018
Hosted by: WebJunction and OCLC Research
Length: 1 hour

Whether you’re trying to decide how to allocate your library’s resources or make the best use of your space, formal assessment tools can guide your decision-making. This session will cover why formal assessments are more effective than anecdotal data, and will help you learn how to plan effective evaluations. You will learn how to use what you already know about your patrons, how to determine what information you still need, and how to formulate questions to get you there.

This webinar is the first in a three-part series bringing together research and practice from across library sectors, covering the ins and outs of creating, and implementing assessments that provide insightful, actionable data. #libdata4impact

Presented by: Kara Reuter and Lynn Silipigni Connaway

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Format: Webinar, original date November 19, 2020
Hosted by: WebJunction
Length: 1 hour 30 minutes

Watch a two-part webinar series with design experts from Margaret Sullivan Studio and Harmonic Design to learn techniques you can use to enhance and improve future library services. The sessions show how design principles can lead to organizational collaboration, creativity, and adaptability. Participants will learn how to apply these principles to solve problems, foster 21st century skills, and generate customer loyalty to make your library essential to your community’s resiliency and recovery. The presenters will work with real-world, current case studies to demonstrate concepts and relevant applications to improve your library’s capacity to bring joy, vibrancy, learning experiences, and innovative opportunities to your communities!   

In the first webinar, we begin by asking, who are we designing for and why? How does service design enable you to create awesome experiences rooted in empathy, compassion, and storytelling? Explore how to apply intentional listening, deep observing, and deep learning to discover what your community members are thinking, feeling, and doing.

Presented by: Patrick Quattlebaum, Leah Berg, Margaret Sullivan, and Lyna Vuong