#LISprochat lead-in - topic & questions for Mon Sep 9 2019 - 8:30pm ET with guest chatters Amanda & Katie

Everybody Present: Mindfulness in the Classroom by Giulia Forsythe via Flickr

TOPIC

Mindfulness in Academic & Public Libraries

Amanda M. Leftwich (@thelibmaven @mindfulinlis) is currently the Online Learning Librarian & Diversity Fellow at Montgomery County Community College. Leftwich has a Master of Science in Library Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include intersectional librarian identity, diverse collection development, and mindful practices/strategies in librarianship. She is the founder of mindfulinlis, a virtual community dedicated to mindfulness in librarianship.

Katie Scherrer (@connectedkatie) is a library consultant, author, Registered Yoga Teacher, and the founder of Stories, Songs, and Stretches!® - a yoga-inspired and science-informed early learning program. Her work is dedicated to improving school readiness and blends together mindfulness, inclusion, library science, and early childhood education to advance this goal. She is currently writing Moment by Moment: Embedding Mindfulness in Library Service to Children, which will be published by ALA Editions in 2021.

Additional Resources:

1. Hanh, T. N. (2016). The miracle of mindfulness: An introduction to the practice of meditation. Beacon Press.
2. Beverage, S., DeLong, K., Herold, I. M., & Neufeld, K. (2014). "Mindful leadership defined and explained." In Advances in Librarianship (pp. 21-35). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 
3. Moniz, Richard J., Joe Eshleman, Jo Henry, Howard Slutzky, and Lisa Moniz. (2016). The mindful librarian: connecting the practice of mindfulness to librarianship.
4. Charney, Madeleine, Jenny Colvin, and Richard Moniz. (2019). Recipes for mindfulness in your library: supporting resilience and community engagement.
5. Williams, J. Mark G., Danny Penman, and Jon Kabat-Zinn. (2012). Mindfulness: an eight-week plan for finding peace in a frantic world.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WE'RE CHANGING THE TIME TO 8:30PM ET!

QUESTIONS

We post the questions here in advance of the chat so you can decide whether or not this topic is of interest to you and/or prepare your answers in advance.

Q1 What is mindfulness and how can it benefit library workers personally and professionally?

Q2 What are some mindfulness skills that both academic and public library workers can practice?OR How can mindfulness be practiced in academic and public library settings, both among staff and users?

Q3 What are some mindful activities or events happening in academic and public libraries?

Q4 How can we keep the conversation of mindfulness going in librarianship?

PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING IN ON TWITTER AT 8:30 PM ET NEXT MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 USING THE #LISPROCHAT HASHTAG. 

#LISprochat lead-in - topic & questions for Mon Aug 26 2019 - 8:30pm ET #weneeddiversebooks

Diversity by Nick Youngson, via Picpedia

TOPIC

Diversity and inclusion in libraries

I attended a webinar this week on the importance of considering equity, inclusivity and diversity in library hiring practices so I thought I'd bring the topic to #LISProchat.

Check out the ALA's page on equity, inclusivity, and diversity: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/diversity

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WE'RE CHANGING THE TIME TO 8:30PM ET!

QUESTIONS

We post the questions here in advance of the chat so you can decide whether or not this topic is of interest to you and/or prepare your answers in advance.

Q1 What does it mean when you hear the phrase "inclusive and diverse library"?

Q2 What thoughts do you have on things that libraries can do overall to be more inclusive and diverse in terms of staffing?

Q3 What thoughts do you have on things that libraries can do overall to be more inclusive and diverse in support of patrons?

Q4 What are some of your favourite diverse books? #weneeddiversebooks

PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING IN ON TWITTER AT 8:30 PM ET NEXT MONDAY, AUGUST 26 USING THE #LISPROCHAT HASHTAG. 

#LISprochat lead-in - topic & questions for Mon Aug 12 2019 - 8:30pm ET #libraries #summerreads2019 #summerreading #2019summerreads

via Katrina_S on Pixabay

TOPIC

Adult Summer Reading Programs

You know kids and teens get all the love from public libraries for summer reading. I know, at least around me NONE of the libraries be they public or academic are trying to get young adults and adults reading for pleasure during the summer, and that's a missed opportunity to me. Media outlets love to throw-out posts about summer reading, you've seen them things like top 25 beach reads or 30 Best Summer Reads; and there's even authors getting in on it, this summer I just finished a challenge run by a Canadian author, Melanie Summers (I won haha). I know that I love a challenge and a chance to win a prize, especially if all I have to do is read books I was already planning to read anyway - and I feel like any way we can encourage young adults and adults to read for pleasure is a good thing. And there are libraries that are starting to realise that!

Hamilton Public Library, Hamilton ON
Richmond Public Library, Richmond BC
West Bend Community Memorial Library, West Bend WI
Brampton Public Library, Brampton ON

Here are some other articles on the topic:

1. How to create your own summer reading syllabus
2. Library summer reading programs...for adults
3. 3 Things I learned from running my library's adult summer reading program

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WE'RE CHANGING THE TIME TO 8:30PM ET!

QUESTIONS

We post the questions here in advance of the chat so you can decide whether or not this topic is of interest to you and/or prepare your answers in advance.

Q1  What thoughts do you have about the idea of running a summer reading program for young adults and adults in an academic library? In a public library?

Q2 Has your library ever considered running/ran a summer library program for young adults or adults? Tell us about the process and the event itself!

Q3 If you could run a summer reading program for young adults or adults how would you do it? What kind of incentives would you offer?

Q4 What do you think needs to be done differently in running summer reading for young adults and adults vs. running it for kids and teens?

PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING IN ON TWITTER AT 8:30 PM ET NEXT MONDAY, AUGUST 12 USING THE #LISPROCHAT HASHTAG.