Edmonton Public Library

A talk by Sharon Day (she/her)

Director, Branch Services and Collections, Edmonton Public Library

The CULC eBook Task Force Working group works on behalf of public libraries to increase awareness of digital content issues and advocate for sustainable solutions. Key priorities of the group include sharing information on what is currently being done in Canada and the US with respect to e-books and e-audiobooks; implementing public awareness campaigns; advocating with politicians; as well as providing opportunities for collaboration across the public library community regarding issues related to digital content. In 2020 the group worked on the CULC COVID-19 Taskforce, launching a title available in English and French for the 2021 One eRead Canada campaign and collaborated with ULC to endorse and support Reader's first eLending study. Find out more about these initiatives and their impact, as well as what is coming next.

Programming for adults isn’t always easy. In fact, it can be notoriously difficult! Unpredictable attendance, hard to reach audiences, competing for space in busy schedules – these are just some of the reasons you might be tempted to turn your focus to safer programming bets (early literacy anyone?). Edmonton Public Library’s Adult Services Team has tried to break out of this comfort zone by piloting a variety of previously untested adult programs to see what sticks: passive programming like the Summer Reads ’18, to extremely active programming like the Tour of EPL library bike tour, special events like a literary and local themed spelling bee, volunteer-led DIY workshops, live concerts, guest lectures, “Learn Local” discussion groups, and more. At this session the presenters will share what they've tried, what they’ve learned, and where they’re going next to keep growing great adult programming at the library.
Learning Objectives:

• Identify a wide variety of adult programming ideas to try.
• Gather ideas, tips, tricks, and inspiration for adult programming.
• Creative inspiration

Edmonton Public Library’s Collections Assessment and Trends Intern Librarians will tell you how they found a way to turn collections data into meaningful information. The presenters will share findings from their research of EPL's physical and digital collections (including user analyses, floating, and interlibrary loan), and discuss how emerging trends in relevant industries might impact public libraries.
Learning Objectives:

• Gain insight into shifting collection usage and trends.
• Learn ways to contextualize and analyze quantitative library data.
• Consider more than circulation statistics to ensure decisions are community-led.

Edmonton Public Library has an in-house Human Resources team who provide services and support in the areas of recruitment, performance management, employee and labour relations, employee recognition, workplace health, and payroll and benefits. The focus of this presentation is to provide a broad overview of human resource matters as they relate to public libraries, including best practices for recruitment and performance management, and a brief summary of relevant legislation. In addition, this session will offer some practical tools and resources that will be useful to those without dedicated human resources support. This presentation will be of most interest to those who work for small, medium and rural libraries with limited or no human resources support.
Learning Objectives:
 

• Understand recruitment and performance management best practices.
• Review problem solving strategies when faced with challenging employee matters.
• Indentify elevant Alberta legislation and how these impact the workplace.

With so many software options available, it can be easy to overlook the tools library staff may already have at their disposal, such as office productivity software like G Suite. Google`s suite of applications (Google Apps) can, with some customization and a bit of coding know-how, create efficiencies for library technology environments ranging from the one-branch public library to the large, resource-rich academic library. These apps offer robust and flexible tools that can be used to accomplish a variety of library-related tasks, at no cost to individual users and at a low cost to institutions. This presentation will demonstrate how library staff can leverage Google Apps to increase accuracy and efficiency, streamline workflows, and manage data. While some prior coding knowledge is useful, we approach this topic from a self-taught and experimental perspective, using real-world examples from a public library (Strathcona County Library) and for an institutional repository at an academic library (the Education and Research Archive at University of Alberta Libraries).

Intergenerational programs can be used in our communities to break down stereotypes and develop mutual support. Learn how Edmonton Public Library’s Then and Now project brings seniors and teens together with the help of Then and Now Kits, identify strategies and challenges of the project and discuss way to adapt current programs to be more intergenerational.

Let us help you “stand up” for and improve the customer experience (CX) of the groups and individuals that your library serves! Learn how to evaluate the customer experience at your library through the lenses of your customers and staff. This hands-on session will cover design thinking techniques, customer journey mapping, and service blueprinting to devise an exceptional customer experience at your library.
Learning Objectives:

• Understand the value of customer experience (CX) for libraries
• Identify how to assess the CX through the lenses of your customers and staff
• Explore tangible CX techniques to apply at your library

Public libraries are built on the idea of providing society-at-large with communal access to information. As information containers have expanded and evolved beyond the codex, libraries experiment with access strategies, loaning non-traditional items, and expanding their definition of “access.” EPL undertook one such experiment in 2016: loaning the internet! EPL acquired 40 hotspots with unlimited data connections and developed a 2-year pilot aimed at loaning devices to customers without home internet or who are socio-economically disadvantaged. This presentation will outline similar hotspot loaning projects that inspired EPL’s approach, the ins and outs of how the service operated in its first phase, the successes and setbacks of the initial pilot, and the adjustments made for the second pilot phase. 

Anxiety, frustration, and fear were barriers for many frontline staff in helping customers troubleshoot technology issues. To address this barrier, we developed a multi-stage online and in- person gamification approach to tech troubleshooting, buttressed by a self-paced e-collection learning plan. As staff progress through the training, even the most anxious and apprehensive became more participatory, testing what they’ve learned, and collaborating with colleagues to solve problems. This session will show our approach to digital literacy training and how it works to overcome these psychological barriers to improve staff technical competencies, build staff confidence, and provide customers with more consistently positive experiences when coming to the library for help with digital literacy questions. 

Public libraries have an ethical obligation to preserve our customers’ privacy and right to privacy. Libraries traditionally collect customer information to allow access to our physical collections, but customer privacy concerns become much more complicated when thinking about how that customer information is used by libraries’ digital content vendors to give customers access to our online resources and initiatives. EPL is exploring how our customers’ information is transmitted, collected, and stored by our digital content vendors. Learn more about the new ALA Digital Privacy Guidelines, privacy initiatives, and the new tools and policies EPL is using to protect our customer information and to increase our customers’ understanding of their online privacy with our digital collections.