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We're excited today to be  co-collaborating with ARSL.

It's an excellent opportunities for folks to connect who work and volunteer in small  libraries.

We actually connected with Ashley through her presentation at the recent ARSL conference.

There are many benefits to ARSL membership, including connecting with folks at that conference.

So we're encouraging folks to mark your calendars for next September 20th through the  23rd in Wichita, Kansas, where the next conference will be  held.

And we're so glad that Ashley is here today from the conference as well.

A reminder that a learner guide is created for today's session.

This is a resource for you to extend your learning on the topic.

It's perhaps something you work through together with colleagues or others in your community that are doing this work.

The guide can be customized.

If you have specific questions you'd like to add to your conversation, this guide is for you and that's on the event page as well.

I'm thrilled to welcome today's presenter.

As I said, we reached out to Ashley after seeing the great response to her presentation at the ARSL conference.

She is a social worker and a library director and she is the director at the Caseyville public library district in Illinois.

We're so happy to have you here today, Ashley, and I know that you have such a wealth of ideas to share, so welcome and we're so glad you're here.

>> Thank you so very much.

I'm so honored to be here and I do want to say just the whole process of start to finish of getting this training set up with you guys has been so smooth and I'm just honored to be here.

So thank you so, so much.

Let's see if I have a button to go next.

I don't know if I have permission yet for the link.

>> Yeah.

You should be able to drive slides.

>> There we go.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Okay.

So like Jennifer said, I am a social worker with a background in many areas of social work, but I ended up in the library as the library director for the Caseyville public library district.

Some of my other responsibilities and hats that I wear is I'm a township trustee for our local township.

I am currently helping our local school district with it's called midwest PBIS, but it's positive behavior intervention  strategies.

We're a community partner with this program.

I like to give you some of our demographics because I always say if we can do it, I know you can do it.

So our service population is 4,772.

Fiscal year '22 budget was $209,000 a year.

We have two full-time staff, three part-time staff, and one co-op student that we have through the high school, and the size of our library is around 3,000 square feet.

So again, we're pretty small, but I promise you if we can do it, I know that you can do all of these ideas as well.

So some of our areas of focus is libraries serving as anchoring institutions in your community, library staff as healers, trauma informed approach, what that looks like and how you implement that in all the areas of library functioning, community needs assessments, asset mapping.

We'll go into that.

Materials, programs, partnerships.

How fun is that always.

The future of social workers and libraries and I have a plethora of resources for you.

Like Jennifer said, links will be provided inside the chat but also there's so many resources that you'll be able to look more in depth with after this training and beyond, so there's a lot of support out there and I want to reiterate that.

Hopefully you don't feel like you're forced to take too many notes.

So anchoring institutions, what is that?

Think of your library as a way to create values and missions and goals with other institutions in your community.

Providing long-term sustainable resources and services within your community, so overall impact the community's well-being.

And so I like to say libraries are anchoring institutions.

Exploring different strategies, being sufficient and  sustainable.

We are very interconnected within our community.

And then using that to our advantage both for us as staff members and then community members and not just community members as patron members but also businesses with the whole development and well-being within our community.

So what is community well-being?

It's a combination of social, economic, environmental, cultural and political conditions identified by individuals and their communities as essential for them to flourish and fulfill their full potential.

So you think of all the different aspects, social, you know there's support systems, socialization and like Jennifer said, links are provided to where I got this information.

But then environmental mobility, what does resilience look like in your community?

Political collaborations, cultural learning, playing, a sense of belonging.

Economic, how affordable is your community.

All of those aspects.

And so think of how your library can incorporate different  aspects of your overall community well-being.

And then you think why us?

Why libraries?

And I like to use some of the library transform graphics, but because libraries inspire understanding and community  healing.

And then you're thinking well, healing, that's kind of crazy, but it actually has been going on way longer than maybe you even realize.

So the concept of libraries being as a healing space or librarian books, materials being used as healing exists in the first century AD.

So you see librarians going into hospitals and being there to help heal patients.

And so there's a whole timeline of how this started.

I love that first motto for the very first library, but the house of healing for the soul.

I thought that was beautiful.

With my background in social work, it's very exciting and interesting to me.

Go to first century AD and then you see throughout the timeline, 1900s literatures being used in hospitals and psychiatric institutions.

You see the library war service that was created world war I.

You see hospital libraries were established in the 1920s.

And then ALA itself created an association of hospitals and n institution libraries.

It has been going on for quite a long time.

I love to give photos demonstrating folks being used to help people heal.

So a basic understanding of  healing, it goes hand in hand with being trauma informed.

We all have trauma  unfortunately, but the reality is we all go through experiences and we all have trauma.

So being aware of trauma helps us personally, it helps us as managers and co-workers.

It helps us as community  servants and public servants, and so being trauma informed is so important.

It's essential.

So we all know different types of trauma.

This is not a comprehensive  list.

Financial.

I mean, I don't have to list them, but just know the types of trauma people experience.

And then different responses.

And fawn is a newer one.

When you think of trauma responses, think of it for yourself but also maybe your  co-workers, maybe patrons that you work with, so the flight person.

Is there somebody that's a  workAhollic, overthinker.

Is there a patron that you work with that might be easy to  upset?

Is it that kind of explosive behavior?

The people that freeze whenever they're going through a traumatic experience or dealing with that trauma.

Do they get stuck?

Is it difficult for them to make decisions?

Do they isolate a lot?

And then fawn, the people  pleasers, lack of boundaries, getting overwhelmed.

So again, process that and think about that.

Reflect on that.

If you yourself because how we know how we handle these situations better allows us to process it better ourselves but then also being more empathetic for neem our environment and really anybody in your  community.

One of my favorite books is the body keeps the score.

It talks about how trauma gets stored in your body and how people can process that.

Again, how it comes out when it's not processed.

It looks differently.

So trauma informed care for library workers.

Library workers are affected by trauma either directly or indirectly.

As we know, health pandemic, natural disasters, political tension, rioting, protesting.

You name it, being trauma informed is so important for library workers to know that.

Many times, again, we are victimized or recently traumatized as well as our patrons.

And then trauma can and will occur in our library workers lives.

Being mindful of coming into that work space, going through that, having the emotional wherewithal and the professional and personal resilience to serve our patrons requires consistent and organized plans for  self-care.

And again, those references, there's links in the back for where I get all of this information.

3, 5, and 5 with trauma informed care.

There's three pillars.

Safety, connection and emotional management.

Five senses.

Your trauma can be stored in your body and can affect all five senses.

Think of all five senses in your space.

Currently I have different accent lighting in my office.

I have a scent burner, a wax burner on.

Think of all the different ways that you can set up your environment to be a healing space with your senses and not hard on your senses.

And we'll get into that with programming and everything else, but also be cognizant of your staff.

Maybe I like a scent but my  co-worker doesn't, but try to work together cohesive fli one space.

And then the five guiding principles of safety.

Physical safety, psychological safety for patrons, for workers, social safety and moral safety.

And then we can't talk about overall well-being out wellness and healthiness.

And so there's eight dimensions of wellness.

Again, think of how those eight dimensions of wellness can get incorporated into your library, both your working environment and in your programming and your material and we'll go into that in a little bit.

So before I go into everything else, programming and  everything, the first and foremost thing is our staff.

The most important asset of the library goes home at night.

I couldn't do what I do in some small library if it wasn't for my staff and support from my board.

We just have to look out for each other.

We can only serve our community as good as what we are serving ourselves.

So ways to incorporate different aspects of staff wellness, think of it in your policies and training, in your environment accessing resources for your staff, activities.

We partnered with a local -- another library, a neighboring library I should say who is much larger than we are.

It was more affordable for them toe add us on to their EAP program and their business  backage and then we just reimbursed them for what our share is.

If you are a small library, think of partnering with a neighboring library that's larger than you.

If you do want to offer an EAP program or the calm for business package or anything like that for your employees.

Then also every month I subscribe to different mental health and wellness newsletter and I send them out to my staff.

NAMI, National Association of mental illness.

Mental health America is great.

Just different ones.

I can share those out with my staff each month.

Then your staff will feel better if they feel trained and prepared for situations that come their way.

That being said for safety, mental health first aid, crisis prevention.

I know in school sometimes there's restraint for crisis prevention, but there's also hopefully we never have to do that, but there's also crisis prevention intervention that deals with the escalation of situations, verbal escalation.

Think about some states are different than others, whether or not you're a mandated reporter or not.

If you are, absolutely.

If you're not, consider the pros and cons of becoming a mandated report are in the library.

Diversity, equity and inclusion training always.

There's sensory inclusion training, harassment prevention.

Any kind of training you feel like your staff will help them feel better prepared and balanced and just very structured and secure in their workplace.

And then think of HR policies.

What is your dress attire like?

Does it allow your staff if somebody just dropped off a ton of donations and you have to move them suddenly?

Allow people to be comfortable in the environment they work in and to be expressive.

Allow them to be themselves.

Think of bereavement.

Think of partners.

We recently included pets.

I joke, but a lot of us love our pets more than a lot of people.

Think about offering pets as well in your bereavement plan.

Floating holidays, I thought this was great.

I recently heard about this but not everyone celebrates the same holiday, so it makes sense in your holiday policy think about allowing it to be floating so that people feel comfortable taking the time that they want to and need to.

Offer longer lunch periods.

More break periods.

I know if you're in a union, sometimes it can be structured a little differently, but I always give the example of my assistant manager who when the weather is nice, they like to just go on walks around lunch and get that physical movement in.

So I just build that into the schedule where I allow them to take a longer lunch period just to get that physical movement, get outside.

So it's just a way that you communicate with your staff and ask them what they need and what they want.

And then gender neutral or pronouns in your handbook.

I think we've been learning this for a while now, but I always reiterate it.

Therapeutic like I said.

We can't have open flames, but if you allow scent warmers or diffusers.

Some libraries you can't wear headphones.

When if they're in the office processing things or that's their way to calm down or they need to zone out for a second.

Think about allowing headphones or any of those kind of therapeutics as they say.

Background checks.

This one can be interesting too.

Think about how your policy looks at background checks.

If somebody may have items in their record but it was, you know, coming from somebody who has experience in substance abuse counseling, somebody who was going through addiction and now clean, you just know that person can be two completely different people.

So when you are hiring and doing background checks, just consider we don't always know what happened to that person in that part of life depending on how old those charges are or whatever happens.

Try not to be judgmental and be open-minded I guess is what I'm trying to say.

And then hours and shifts, be lenient with your staff.

If you know people like to participate in something after school, if they have kids, if they're going back to school themselves, just really trying to accommodate -- be accommodating and making a more welcoming environment for your staff.

Then expectations and workloads.

Be realistic of what you're asking of your staff.

If there is a program you're trying to push and it's really not working for you, think about maybe it's time to cut it or just talk to your staff and have that ongoing communication.

And then staff resources.

A lot of the photos that I'll use are ones we've started implementing in our library.

But staff resources we now have name tags that have hotline numbers on the back of our name tags, so we do have a library social work students some   semmesters.

Really, any staff member if you are caught in a crisis situation, having those hotline numbers can be extremely  helpful.

And then obviously I offer pronoun pens for my staff to wear.

I don't require anybody to wear pronoun pens, but I always have them available and offer it to anybody.

Physical, social and environmental.

So let's get into those areas of wellness.

So these are staff members or previous students that we have had.

We purposely scheduled a walking club in the morning before the library opened because we knew that it also motivated the staff to come voluntarily.

But we know when we want to get more physical activity and if it's hard to build it into the day, then maybe we can just incorporate it with a program.

So when the weather is nice, we offer a walking book club and then that's me and my assistant manager getting ready to go on our morning walk.

The middle one is one of our social work students with a comfort dog.

So obviously, we bring the comfort dog in for anybody in the library, but it is really nice for staff to get that break and just snuggle on a puppy.

How can you be in a bad mood if you can snuggle a puppy?

Yes, allowing staff to also enjoy the programs that you do.

And then those recognition days.

Getting staff involved with different awareness events and recognition and it really personalizes your staff.

I will get more into that later, but it's getting to know the members of your community and in a Safeway allowing members of your community to also get to know your staff.

So anyway.

And then environmental also praise boards.

In a day and age where people are quick to complain or quick to criticize, having a praise board in your library is so nice because it just is all the times people have thanked you  personally for a service you provided or a donation that you provided.

You know, when somebody lost somebody or just having -- just general recognition.

And then also praising each other.

Hey, you really did an awesome job with that program.

Just having praise boards.

With that being said, allowing staff time just to be staff.

We have institute days.

We are small.

We just close the library.

We do them quarterly or at least two to three, four times a year.

But it's a great way to just be staff and not have to worry about patrons for a day.

Then as we get all of our certifications done too.

Also celebrating the little things.

A work anniversary, somebody graduating from grad school, our student social workers graduating from school.

Celebrate the little things.

And then this is a theory that we use quite a bit in our library that is pretty easy to do and I love.

And so people with chronic illnesses are kind of privy to this, like, spoon theory, but it honestly works for anybody.

It basically says I start the morning with a certain amount of energy and I have to do so many tasks throughout the day and each task has different amounts of energy and then you just know you need to leave yourself some or if you overextend yourself one day, just know that you're going to have less spoons to start with the next day.

During the pandemic we all lost at least one or two spoons.

It was rough.

And so sometimes it's quick and easy.

But I'll be, like, how many spoons do you have today or how are you feeling?

It sounds silly, but it's just checking in with people.

How much energy -- two of my  co-workers are in grad school.

I've been in grad school.

I get it.

Kind of checking in with people.

How are you feeling today?

And then kind of basing workflow based on that.

And then do we have questions?

I have another place where I'm going to stop for questions.

>> Wow, there's been some great conversation in chat.

I just want to definitely recognize that somebody brought up the issue of scent sensitivity.

That I think that's a really important thing for libraries to consider.

I know from family members that this is a really challenging piece to deal with out there in the world, so when you mentioned candles, I was, like, that's scent sensitivity.

I want to acknowledge that folks were sharing that.

And somebody just mentioned in relation to the spoon theory, the spell slot, so I'm going to look up that.

I don't know if you've heard about that, Ashley.

>> No.

That sounds fascinating.

>> I have heard some interesting -- when my son was dealing with cancer, this spoon theory came up and there's a little bit of pushback from some folks because it's like the energy that it takes to do those things vary so much depending -- so it's a good thing to think about.

Me getting dressed is very different from somebody else with chronic illness getting dressed.

So yeah, I'm excited to learn about this slot.

Otherwise, keep your conversation and questions coming.

I know Ashley is covering a lot, so surface those questions as they come up.

Thanks for checking in, Ashley.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

Okay.

So patron policies and procedures.

Again, just be mindful of your staff.

Just like the sensitivity, think of pet allergies too.

We are mindful of that.

So patron policies and procedures, food and drink, sleeping in the library, pets, time limits for patrons, having that adaptive furniture, what does your conduct and behavior look like.

I'll give examples.

For food and drink, we allow food and drink in our library from a psychopathology background, whether or not somebody has had anything to drink that day or anything to eat and that's in their system, if you are taking medication for any reason, the way that it metabolizes in your system can be completely different and maybe to a point where it's not therapeutic anymore.

We just have it readily available.

Our friends group uses it with donation money basically.

And so they man it basically.

Having refreshments available has been really helpful.

We do -- obviously saying that around computers and such, but from a therapeutic standpoint, it can really make all the difference.

We all have experienced a patron who maybe smells like alcohol or just hasn't had any sleep because they live on the  streets, and so just having those refreshments readily available, they really have been appreciative for it.

Sleeping in a library goes with the same thing.

A lot of the people that are experiencing homelessness don't sleep.

It's very difficult for them to be sleeping because they're always on guard.

They just don't get a solid sleep.

So we do allow sleeping in the library.

We do have time limits, so it's within a certain amount of time they can stay in the library, but allowing them to sleep as long as they're not disturbing people.

Pets, cognizant of allergies but we do promote bring your pet along for your curbside pickup because we are continuously offering curbside.

We do allow you too-to-bring your pet in if you're just going to the front desk to pick something up and leave and we actually have pet treats on the counter which is where that little tea cup puppy came in.

Just being really friendly, again.

They have to be leashed.

They can't disruptive.

And we do have to be cognizant of allergies, but just trying to allow people to bring their companion along.

Adaptive furniture, I'll show that.

Conduct, behavior.

Make sure your policy is worded in a way that can say no loud outbursts or just being loud.

Figure out a way to word it to make it inclusive if somebody has ticks or autistic who's on the spectrum, but allow it to be inclusive in a way where sometimes they can't help their outbursts.

Let them know they can still come visit the library and make those arrangements.

Bags and personal belongings, bags are starting to go towards a locker system.

That way it's not blocking your pathways, but also we know people in the homeless community that are experiencing  homelessness bring their belongings where them.

And a locker system might be a great option.

And then bathroom policies, we do have personal hygiene  products in our restrooms and cleaning supplies.

We do know people sometimes use them to spruce up as long as they clean up after themselves, we allow that.

Regarding policies, involve your stakeholders when you're redoing your p policies and reviewing  them.

We come to the table with our viewpoint, but think about allowing staff members to be involved with your policy  making, community members.

We have a center for autism that's local.

Think about if you involve your key stake holders in your community, some of your parents have come in.

Legal counsel obviously.

But think about what that would look like to involve other people as you're developing those policies.

It could really provide a lot of different perspectives.

And then the association of specialized and cooperative library agencies has a tip sheet that will be linked with the resources on different ways that you can -- like different software that you can purchase or policies that you can have in place and it kind of touches on these different areas.

But really just think about how you can make your library more inclusive and inviting and accessible for all people.

And then also there is library building certification that you get.

Again, we're small.

If we can afford them, I'm sure that you can, even if it's through a local donation or corporate sponsorship.

You kg a registered safe place.

You would get the sticker to put on your door.

Any youth -- for youth runaways or if somebody is trying to get away, they also have a text to help hotline.

Sensory inclusive, so culture city.

The St. Lewis zoo just went through the certification.

They provide high bags, sensory bags, signage you can have throughout your library and they help you develop a social story.

Different certifications you can have for your building.

So when you think of your space, again, for patrons, I guess also for staff, how do you make it feel inclusive?

How do you make it feel safe  and, again, accessible?

Think about that comfortable seating, refreshments and  snacks, a polite and welcoming staff.

Sometimes people just need your Wi-Fi.

They need a charging station.

Or phone.

A lot of times they'll need to use your phone to contact somebody.

We have extra school supplies, hygiene tips in our bathrooms and-- we also have bags friends put together.

It ran on donations or partnership I should say so it's not costing the library anything out of our budget but we're able to provide that as a service.

And then diapers.

We partnered with a local diaper bank and we actually have  diapers now available in the library.

And you'll see a picture of that in a second.

So again, just nice lighting, furniture, charging station.

Those are little bins where people can come in and they don't have s to ask.

They get the products there.

We do have a larger Hispanic population in our community so we make sure all of the signage is bilingual.

For people that are visually impaired or as people age they like our large print so much.

Think about having a designated computer space.

We only have space for one, but think about a couple if you're a large library.

Having keyboards with larger fonts on it, more easily legible for people.

And then we have big magnifiers that people can check out that are lit and then we also have one computer where all the icons are enlarged on the computer.

So incorporating that.

And then we got this during the pandemic but it's been really helpful.

Even if your arms are full and you need to use your foot to open the door, but wherever the doors allow that, anyway, having a step and pull has been  helpful.

And then sensory inclusion, we have -- we used grant funds to purchase sensory tiles and then we put the fluorescent lighting covers on and so we incorporate just different sensory -- we have sensory bins and then kits.

We have sensory backpacks so people can check out.

Double checking.

I don't think I've seen any questions lately, but let me know.

>> Actually, I will jump in.

There was a quick question about how do you handle people bringing in bed bugs or if -- with their possessions or using your comfortable furniture?

>> Yes.

We haven't really had it very often, and I have to knock on wood.

There's been a couple times where we have had it, so we'll just -- one time we held a children's event and so some of the stuffed animals or the plush seating in that area, we saw a couple bugs so we took it all to the laundromat or put bags.

We are lucky that we haven't had a ton of issues with bugs.

But I'm bracing myself.

>> Someone suggested steam cleaners.

>> Yes.

>> But also another person suggested furniture, making sure your furniture is wipable or they're vinyl covers that can be used, so lots of options.

>> Yes.

You're seeing in the kids area, can you take it to a laundromat and throw it in the laundry.

Or like you said, furniture that's easily -- like you can clean it easily.

Quick to wipe down.

Doesn't absorb into the  material.

But yes.

It also helps with smell, too.

It doesn't absorb any odors.

You easily wipe the surfaces.

Okay.

Before we know what to offer, we have to figure out what they need.

What kind of programs do you do, services, materials that you have in your library.

First we have to know what people need.

And so I learned this as part of my social work school, but really identifying what is needed in your community and it also helps you establish those partnerships as that anchoring institution.

So the goal of a needs  assessment is to help you better understand the community and the role that the library can play in that.

It identifies not only what is needed but also the strengths that are in our community.

What resources are already existing in our community.

Being a small library, we have to be realistic and know that we can't do it all, but we do know there's other people offering similar services or if there's a need that we're not able to provide but we know somebody else is, a service I should say.

Just partnering with them and being aware of what is in your area.

Think of those different areas of focus.

Are you looking at what is the housing like or what kind of issue are you trying to address?

Transportation.

Are you trying to look at the statistics around transportation or income?

What is population demographics and knowing what you're looking for will help you to know where to look to get that information.

So where I collect a lot of data is obviously systems and such Wu but school report cards.

Illinois has a database.

I didn't look to see if other states do but I'm pretty sure they do where you can see the demographics of the distance a whole or each individual school, local government, county  reports.

The counties offer a lot of reporting.

Focus groups.

But the St. Clare county community health improvement plan where they come together and develop a whole plan for the whole county.

Social service reports.

You can do internal and external surveys within your library meaning you can mail them a surveyor have them do -- you know email them one or have them physically available inside the library.

If you're looking at becoming a more health focused library, look at hospitals and health centers similar to a library where we do strategic planning that lasts so many years.

Hospitals do health needs  assessment.

It's a great way to see what are the health needs in your community.

And then how can we maybe offer different programs and services and workshops to combat some of those health risks.

So anyway, the point to all of that is we don't have to do all of that work in gathering data when we know other people are gathering that data.

A lot of institutions that have their own boards and their directors, they have to provide that reporting anyway and so -- and it's published.

Getting that data allows you to do your job better.

And then other aspects to consider, like what do our patrons and staff really need?

Think of just your Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

We have programs like tourism programming.

If we start to notice our attendance isn't great, maybe that's not what they need.

So when we did food drives, we had a great attendance.

When we do blood drives, we had a great attendance during the pandemic because people knew that's what was needed.

Anyway, think of where people are in their hierarchy of needs and then determine how you can meet people where they are.

And that's a big thing, too, is just meeting people where they are.

And then one other part with that is think of their system.

So if you have -- getting to know your patron system huge to begin with.

If you know somebody who comes in and what their resources are and who they're connected with can also better help them too.

If you know somebody is really involved with church.

If you know somebody is really involved in volunteering at an animal shelter.

If you know somebody has one kid or they're a caregiver for their grand kids.

Kind of understanding where your patrons are, where their systems are, and who is in their system on all different levels, it can really have a positive impact on how you're able to help your patrons and your staff.

Anyway, with that is also asset mapping.

This is mainly that  strength-based approach.

We can't do it all, but we have a lot of great resources, businesses, governments in our area and so being able to work together is huge.

So breather.

Now I'm going to go into incorporating -- now we know what our patrons need hypothetically, right?

It's always changing.

And how can we help with that.

So let's look at library collection and materials.

Having representation in your collection is huge.

Can't say it enough.

We've all heard it.

Having a bilingual section or a Spanish text section, you name it.

Anyway, representation in your library is huge.

We even just have posters that say, like, everyone is welcome here.

Just anything that you can think of to make it a very inclusive welcoming space.

And then displays of examples, social emotional learning.

We did one of our back to school displays, so it's really getting involved with that social emotional aspect of learning.

And then think of all the different things you can include on your display, not just books, but also resources like  brochures, local social emotional resources in your community.

It could even be like the ASQ.

Like ages and stages questionnaires.

But we also include kits so we have a tool kit but really all the different aspects of resources and materials that you can include in displays.

And then package kids,  resources, collections, library blogs.

Think of all the different ways you provide material to your patrons through all different facets.

And then kits.

Really the possibilities  arenless, but gain, we have our social emotional kits, but that could be grief and loss.

It could be separation and divorce, addiction, wellness and different areas.

We have our sensory backpack.

We have different items in our sensory backpack that people can take and check out.

More so I guess it could be any age, but obviously different ways to approach it, but memory care kits, job seeker kits, citizen tool kits and immigration kits.

Kits have been wonderful.

Also you can get corporate sponsor for your kits.

We're looking at partnering with Chet nut health systems.

Actually, they do everything.

Counseling or substance abuse, but having partners to help develop those kits.

They can help financially.

They can also help with items to put into the kit.

Kits, kits, kits.

People love the kits.

And then reference collection.

This has also been a huge thing that we moved to.

Is relationships are the new reference collection.

And that means taking on a social work perspective to human behavior support for purposes of a relationship based reference collection.

It drops back together for a common approach.

Being proactive and not reactive to patrons.

Taking that time and effort to foster empathy and humility in order to be prepared to manage those challenging situations.

And so when staff are more prepared, they're more resilient and they're less likely to experience burnout.

And then it also provides resources.

It's a plan.

That way when situations do occur, you're more prepared and not as stressed.

So we took that whole reference collection and then we made it physical.

We partnered with a whole bunch of people toe allow us to actually -- we weeded our existing reference section.

There was a lots of materials that are outdated.

And don't get circulated.

We'll reference those anyway.

But it just says no longer relevant or outdated.

And then -- or we digitized some of the existing reference to make space on our shelfs so that way we have a place for the donations like hygiene products, men-- so you can come in and get your seeds to start your own garden.

We started our own community garden that helps provide local produce to our local pantry.

Part of our new reference section has seeds.

This is also where we have our diaper bank.

They help supply sheriff's offices with diapers and we have different sizes.

And so just having -- making that space on your shelf where you think of the relationships that you create within that community and that can be your new reference section, it's been so helpful.

And then with that being said, a lot of people don't want to come to the library and go to the front desk and say hey, I need a book on divorce, I need a book on eating disorders.

It's really embarrassing and nobody wants to relay that information to people.

So we created a tough topic flier and the link for the template has been provided on WebJunction, but having a flyer on parts of our end caps and we also provide a bookmark that lets people know where to find this information so they don't just have to come forward and ask and then we took it one step further where any wall space that we had we provide physical local resource information relating to that topic.

So for example, if you're next to a home improvement section and people need to know how do I have -- how do I get utility assistance or mortgage assistance through the state right now, that information is there.

If you're next to your nutrition and cooking section, we have flyers there on the snack program and how do you apply for snap and then there is a healthy plate program through the state and I think federal government.

It's really kind of pairing the physical paper and local resources next to the book and hopefully they can see that all together so they don't have to ask some of those personal questions.

One more thing with the resource part is we took the time to create a community resource guide in advance.

It came really helpful.

It's always helpful, but during the pandemic when we were curbside, we -- or closed down completely, but it was a way people could say hey, here is all of the local resources and their numbers.

So pantry shelters, housing assistance, mental health, seniors, veterans.

Just any of the areas that people could need help and assistance, we went ahead and created a resource guide.

I have my background in social work, but not all my staff do, and so being able to have that resource guide readily available so when I'm not on staff or one of our student social workers on not here, we still have that basic need information so people can quickly get assistance.

Okay.

So that was the materials part.

I'm going to go into programs now.

I'm being cognizant of time and I think we should be good.

But again, these are just examples that we've done.

Please include whatever you have implemented in your library in the chat.

I can't wait to go back through after this and be able to read all of them.

I'm going to go into programs.

Partnership really comes into play and I'll touch on that with programming.

Again, we wouldn't be able to do everything if it wasn't for our partnerships.

Both governmental partnerships and nonprofit partnerships but also corporate or grant opportunities.

So anyway, when you think of programming, home bound delivery has been extremely helpful.

Any of those health and wellness type resources, we actually put on a health and resource fair where people could come get free health screenings and this was pre-pandemic.

But just think of all the different ways you can partner and have inclusive services at your library.

So with that being said, we've partnered with our local police department to do a prescription dropoff.

There's a lot of outdated  expired unused prescriptions in medicine cabinets and pantries and cabinets in general I should say.

It's dangerous when to keep them there because people can get their hands on them that shouldn't.

Kids or teens or whoever.

And then also just flushing them into the water supply isn't good either, and so the police know exactly how to dispose of old prescriptions.

So that was actually a great program that we had.

It was a good turnout and that entire tub was just filled with old prescriptions.

And then hosting during winter warm clothing, blankets, that kind of stuff and then food and we've also worked with local human societies and pet  shelters, so we selected pet supplies at one time.

Just really, again, knowing what your community needs and our community was at, like, your basic needs.

And so we tried to help there as much as we can, especially during the pandemic.

When you partner, again, we're not specialists on senior support, but we know people who are, so having somebody come in to offer Medicare counseling.

When you have partners in place, we're not experts but we're partnering with somebody who is.

And then panels.

Think about how you want to organize panels and who all you can have on your panel.

Panels are extremely helpful in educating -- we learn from other people, too, so I want to say panels are just as helpful with who is on that panel, but some of the feedback that you get within the community or questions that are asked, it's enlightening on both sides.

During some of the race protests that were going on in St. Louis a couple years ago, some of the teens are having a hard time so we hosted a teen talk and it was during the pandemic so it was virtual but we got the superintendent, the police  chief, a local teacher and  coach, but really opened up a discussion on race and protest.

They actually ended up forming a diversity committee and a black student union.

It really is beneficial on both sides.

You're getting the information to the attendees, but then also their feedback allows a community to develop other programs.

It was a win/win.

Anyway, just really think of panels that you host if it's a pride panel.

Oh my gosh.

Any kind of panel.

And then the health and  wellness.

Blood drives, school drives, any way that library -- and I'll say why this is important.

When you're seen as an anchoring institution, I believe -- my philosophy is we're less likely to get as much challenges and criticism technically.

We'll always get it, but you are seen as such an asset in the community that everybody wants to be on your side.

Everybody wants you on their team.

Yes, we've had flack and I'll get to that in a second.

But no book challenges, no display challenges.

And I do feel like it's because people see you as such an asset that it's just really a role in the advocacy part.

When you partner, really anybody you partner with.

This is one event we held that was a food distribution event but you'll notice the tents are from State Farm.

The jugs of milk were donated by the local food pantry.

The food was part of COVID relief.

And then we also partnered with a local agency that provided translation and interpretation services.

And so one event, you could have multiple partners in one event.

Again, no cost to the library.

It was really just organizing and getting all the members in the community involved.

Okay.

So then we're getting close on time.

But I want to emphasize support underrepresenting communities is huge.

Our library was the first in the metro east to offer a direct read story time and to host one, so of course we got flack for that.

We're on the metro east side of St. Louis.

Being that first one, but I was kind of prepared for that.

There's a lot of tips, and I have to chuckle.

Taking time out and getting to know your protesters can be  helpful, too, to people who oppose.

But anyway, challenges, bans and protests, they will come.

Take that time to meet local officials.

There is an article in there that kind of goes more in depth.

We were featured in ILA  reporter.

Develop those alliances.

I won't go through them in  depth, but just being better prepared for the challenges and protests allows you to feel -- checking in with your staff and advocating for your staff.

Anyway, it's going to happen.

They're listed there.

Getting through it.

I know you get through it.

Again, if we went through it, I know you can get through it.

Here's the training that I highly recommend.

It was put on by ILA, but it's what should I know about book bans.

It do focus a little bit on Illinois, but it also was the whole U.S.

It was by a book riot editor, but it was really helpful on how to approach those challenges and how to be better prepared, so highly recommend.

And then staying strong and stand up for inclusion.

I'll use a direct read story time as an example.

I am not part of the LGBTQ+ community but I am a huge ally and my staff -- I do have staff members that are part of that community and them seeing me stand up for them is huge.

Community members seeing you stand up for them is huge.

You do get -- it is hard when you go through that, but the positive impact of that is so much better.

I actually gained a board member from drag queen story time.

It was a member of the trans community who saw what we were doing.

As soon as we had a vacancy come up with our board, they normally didn't come in the library but they did see what we were doing and because of that they were appointed on to our board.

So the pros completely outweigh any of the negativity and difficult feedback that you get from those programs.

Really quickly, I'm going to go through social workers in libraries and how to get them for you if you don't already.

I will be available after this and there's a lot of supports in place, so you are a  social worker in a library, they're created a list serve and Google drive for all social work and interns in libraries right now and it's been great.

If you near this training, please feel free to add those links and for the list serve in Google drive when that next meeting is.

You guys have just as much resources as me.

So how to get a social worker in your library.

You'll see our core values are very much aligned.

You think of the most  resourceful people in our community and immediately I think librarians and social workers.

Us together is amazing.

I go through a little bit of the timeline for social workers, the first was in 2 2009.

In the beginning of 2023 there's over 93 partnerships and counting.

Practicum requires hours just like student teachers and such.

I have to wrap up pretty quickly but it goes through thou get  one, what the requirements are, different funding options for how you get a social work student in your library, if it's grant based or corporate donations and then different social work services and so I go through all the different ways that social workers can help at your library.

And then just being an advocate for your library.

Having that multi-system approach, if you think domestic violence awareness month and then you think of all the different aspects and ways you can incorporate that, that's just one example.

Staying informed is another huge one with legislation.

There's currently legislation right now being -- it's to get funding in place to get more social workers in libraries, so if you have a relationship with any legislators, I highly recommend reaching out to them.

And you are the expert in your Rhode Island.

You're the expert in your community.

I have a plethora of resources, videos and Ted talks that have helped me, more links to different social link resources.

Everything like that and again, we're always available if you need anything.

And these slides will be available for you.

I'm just so glad everyone is here.

I know I had to breeze through it.

I'll put my last one up there.

If you ever need anything whether you're social work, intern, library director or anybody in general.

Back over to you.

One minute to spare.

>> Ashley, so fantastic.

People are so excited about all the ideas you've shared and I know it is a lot, so we're glad to be able to provide the recording, the slides, the  links.

You can dive into all of these resources further.

Don't forget the learner guide is a great resource to help take those next steps as well.

I just want to tell you, Ashley, someone suggested that you add racism to your tough topics and people were curious about your job seeker kits.

I don't know if your listing on the site explains what's in there.

I know kits are all -- I feel like kits are really coming into library offerings as a way to kind of collect a set of resources around a specific theme, so yeah, definitely an excellent approach.

Wow.

Thank you so much, Ashley.

Thank you to all of you who joined us.

>> It's my passion so I could talk forever.

I apologize.

Thank you.

>> We're trying to be sponges to your fire hose.

So exciting.

It's so great.

Wonderful.

All right.

Well, we'll wrap up.

A reminder to folks that I'll send you an email later today once everything is posted to that event page.

I'll also send you a certificate for attending today but remember you can send all of your colleagues to the catalog if they would like a certificate for their learning.

I'm also going to send you to a short survey as you leave.

We'll share that -- that feedback with Ashley and it helps us in our ongoing  programming.

So thank you all so much.

Have a wonderful day.

And have a wonderful couple weeks, couple months or the year ahead unpacking all these great ways to integrate social work approaches to your library services and programs.

Thank you so much.