A.R. Dykes Library Participates in Interprofessional Education and Practice Grant

A.R. Dykes Library is a partner in the ICAP-Peds grant, recently procured by E. LaVerne Manos, DNP, RN-BC.  Heather Collins, Biomedical Librarian for the School of Nursing, will lead knowledge management and research support services for the grant. The Dykes Library Research Team, Rachel, Gyore, Crystal Cameron-Vedros, and Jason Stirnaman, are contributing to the research support services for this innovate grant partnership. Additionally, a group has been created in Meet Our Experts for the Center for Interprofessional Educationhttp://experts.kumc.edu/groups/118-Center_for_Interprofessional_Education .

The Interprofessional Collaborative Acute Care Practice ICAP-Peds grant will help at-risk children and their families transition smoothly from hospital to home to follow-up care. We will facilitate the training and organization of high-functioning interprofessional care teams skilled at developing comprehensive transitional care plans. Several innovative training techniques will be utilized to increase interprofessional collaboration and care. There are many unique features of the ICAP Peds project, these include; the use of an Academic Electronic Health Record, In-situ simulation, Mobile technology and Health literacy training to foster patient and family participation to improve care.

The outcomes expectations for this project are;  decrease in readmission, decrease in utilization of ED for standard care services, increase in patients with a medical home, and a model for collaborative practice including the patient and family as these patients move from hospital to home to follow-up care.

Kansas City Local Library Exchange is LIVE starting Friday, March 1!!

From Gail:

After nearly 18 months of planning, the Kansas City Local Library Exchange is finally set to launch this coming Friday, March 1!

This program began as a collaboration between several library organizations in the metro area. As a group, our focus has been on designing a low cost professional development exchange program that would allow ALL library staff (degreed librarians, paraprofessionals, and other staff) to visit other libraries in the area. These visits are meant to provide opportunities for networking, as well as for researching processes and/or services at other libraries that are unavailable at your home library.

Since Dykes Library is one of the key libraries responsible for the design of the program, Rachel G., Lynn, Ron, Brad, Christina, and I would strongly encourage all Dykes Library staff to take part, if at all possible. The list of libraries involved is small at the moment. However, we hope that as word spreads, the list will grow, providing more opportunities to visit libraries all over the metro, as well as to host others from area libraries.

For information about the program, including how to sign up, go to: https://sites.google.com/site/kclocallibraryexchange/home

Also, here is a promotional video created by Christina that is going to go out across the metro area via MALA sometime over the next few days: http://goanimate.com/videos/0K39KjMJ7EuY?utm_source=linkshare

If you have any questions about the program, please feel free to contact Gail, Lynn, Rachel G., Ron, Brad, or Christina.

Help Wanted!

HELP WANTED:  At least 1 other staff member to assist Stacey with the travel request funding approval/denial process, affectionately known as the Professional Development Budget Committee.  Skills needed: desire to distribute library money on furthering others' professional development goals.   

As you can see, I'm putting out feelers for someone who would be interested in joining me in approving/denying submitted travel requests that require funding. Since Amy's departure I am currently a committee of one (and thus redefining the definition of ""committee").   If anyone would be interested in participating in this awesome role of power and responsibility :) please let me know.  It's basically maintenance-free and most of the work can be done right from your computer in a matter of mouse clicks. Besides, it probably looks better if I'm not the sole party distributing PD funds to library staff (the whole checks and balances thing, you know).

Need more information? Read up on the responsibilities and guidelines for this group or contact me.  Thanks!

Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Program Offering Financial Assistance!

Thanks to Rachel V. for passing along this information!

The Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Program is proud to announce that, in cooperation with nine state-level library organizations, it will be offering Enrollment Assistance Awards (EAAs) this spring to library support staff applying for certification in the LSSC Program.  The LSSC Program offers library support staff the opportunity to achieve recognition for their existing skills and knowledge, to gain new skills and knowledge, and to enhance their library’s service to the public. Those interested in applying at the national level will be able to submit their application from February 15 – March 15, 2013, using the online form.  The recipients of the awards will be chosen by a random drawing in late March, 2013.  More information can be found on the LSSC Website. http://ala-apa.org/lssc/2013/02/14/financial-assistance-offered-by-lssc-and-nine-state-partners/

The LSSC Program is also offering several informational webinars in February and March. Please visit the website for more information on the webinars and registering for them. http://ala-apa.org/lssc/webinars-and-presentations/

Staff review: Self-Directed Achievement (WebJunction webinar)

WebJunction hosted a great and informative webinar on Thurs., Feb. 7th about staff professional development called Self-Directed Achievement - if you give library staff an hour, about a small library's attempt to empower staff to take learning and goal-setting into their own hands by utilizing an hour of their time each week to meet a small, specific goal (ie: "I will learn more about Facebook by going through 1 beginning tutorial") and then sharing the results with a supervisor in a weekly 15-minute meeting.   The presenters emphasized that SDA is more of a culture of lifelong learning than a "program."   They saw it really change the way their staff interacted with patrons by increasing their own knowledge (ie:  before SDA, someone did not know how to load an e-book on an e-reader and felt powerless to help a patron seeking assistance for e-book downloading; after setting a goal to learn how to download a book on a Kindle, staff member felt more empowered to help library patrons perform this task).  It also fostered an environment where staff were learning and sharing with each other new things they had learned, thus prompting a kind of domino effect where knowledge spread like wildfire.

After viewing this presentation, I definitely see a use for SDA in my own personal work life.  Maybe you will, too?

If anyone wishes to view this presentation, it has been archived here.  The PowerPoint slides and related resources are also available on that page.

The latest staff book club pick

...has been announced! Bob will be leading the next book club discussions on Inside Apple: how America's Most Admired--and Secretive--Company Really Works.

Past book club winners include Marcus Buckingham's Go Put Your Strengths to Work (led by Gail) and Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (led by Amy).

If you are ever interested in reading a past book club book, check our library catalog then visit the friendly faces at the front desk. :)

OCLC WebJunction webinars

As if you couldn't get enough free learning opportunities in this week's blog, here's one more!

OCLC WebJunction is hosting a potpourri of webinars each week in February that may be of interest to you:

Feb. 7th:  Self-Directed Achievement:  if you give library staff an hour:  This webinar shares how staff at the Tooele City Library implemented a "Self-Directed Achievement" model for staff development.  "Set one training goal each week achievable in one hour." This simple directive was given to every staff member of one Utah library in September 2011. The result just one year later? A sustainable, positive culture transformation.

Feb. 13th:  How Libraries can meet the evolving needs of patrons in the digital age:
A webinar presenting research from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, providing insight on what types of services Americans value in their library and what types of services they would like to see their library start to offer.

Feb. 27th:  The future of online learning: a changing landscape:
Join us as we explore what education innovators are doing to increase engagement through learner-centered discovery, flipped classrooms, and enhanced online learning.

All presentations start at noon.  More information and registration is here.

(Oh, did I mention WebJunction also has a page of free CE opportunities from a host of organizations around the country?  Some past presentations may or may not be archived; it looks like it's really dependent on the hosting organization and if they choose to make the webinar available after its live date.  Still, it's a great resource to check to see when future webinars will air.)

“When you know better you do better.”
― Maya Angelou