ILOC 2024 Schedule

ILOC will be held on January 25, 2024 with the theme Libraries are Forever.

The webinar descriptions and speaker bios are posted below. The day of the conference, click the link below each session description to access the Zoom link. Download a one-page, printable schedule at a glance.

Morning Keynote with Jay Turner (9:00 - 10:00)

Communicating with Stakeholders for Results

If you work in a library, chances are you are responsible for multiple projects and programs. In this pithy yet powerful keynote, Jay Turner draws from his experience as a CE Director, Senior Consultant, and Senior Training Manager to share tips, tricks, and best practices for working with your stakeholders. Learn how to develop effective communication strategies, manage expectations, and drive project/program success with your various stakeholders. Discover how to convey your message persuasively, respond to feedback proactively, and leverage mutual understanding to deliver outstanding results. Whether you’re new in your role or have managed projects and programs for the majority of your career, this session will equip you with practical tools and insights to foster impactful stakeholder communication.

About Presenter Jay Turner

Award winning librarian and in demand HR and org development consultant Jay Turner (EduJay) leverages over 15 years of public library experience and 10 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit and for profit sectors as he helps organizations across the country define and refine strategy, develop talent, execute major projects, and grow leaders. Named a 'Mover and Shaker' by Library Journal in 2015, he's known in the library profession for implementing empowering programs and fostering collaborations. Jay, who also worked as a senior consultant at the American Red Cross and senior training manager at WIN Waste Innovations, now runs EduJay LLC, helping individuals and organizations “unleash their inner awesome”. He lives in Kingsport, Tennessee with his wife Cheryl, who is also a librarian. Jay is an avid gamer, heavy metal enthusiast, and Atlanta Falcons fan, despite the 28-3 debacle.

Feeding Your Community Sustainably

In response to food desert studies on the south side of Des Moines, South Side Library partnered with local organizations to establish a community fridge. With food waste being a major contributor to landfills, South Side Library is committed to working towards reducing food waste by learning to compost, extending shelf lives, and collaborating with food rescue groups. The dedication to sustainability is long term with new goals at every turn and it can be for your library too!

About Presenters Rebecca Cloud & Alicia Mangin

Rebecca Cloud has been the Adult Services Librarian at South Side Library for over four years. Throughout her career, her practice of librarianship has centered on finding new ways to meet the unique needs of adult communities. This has led her to work focused on accessibility and community connections. In her downtime, she enjoys exploring nature, petting cats, and playing Dave the Diver.

Alicia Mangin is a Library Manager at the Des Moines Public Library and supervises the South Side branch. With a dedicated tenure of seventeen years at DMPL, she has assumed various roles, focusing her efforts over the past decade on fostering connections between library patrons and community resources through outreach and partnerships. Alicia is actively involved with OpportUNITY Work Groups, FuseDSM, Whole Person Librarianship, Public Library Association, Eat Greater Des Moines, and the Sustainable Libraries Initiative. When Alicia isn’t puzzling over a desk schedule, she enjoys being outside walking her dog and bird. 

Community Advocacy

Join in for a discussion on creative and community-driven advocacy for public libraries. From lessons learned while working in library systems from the Free Library of Philadelphia to Anythink in Denver, CO and now as Director of the Burlington Public Library in SE Iowa, Brittany Jacobs will discuss how good storytelling lies at the heart of successful advocacy. Theory, policy, practice, and partnerships will be discussed, along with tips and resources to add to your advocacy toolbelt.

• Handout: Board Training Resources

About Presenters Brittany Jacobs, Becky Godfrey, & Jennifer McMillan

Originally from Chicagoland, and after working for the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Naperville Public Library, and Anythink libraries in Denver, Colorado Brittany Jacobs now serves as the Director of the Burlington Public Library in SE Iowa. She is committed to enhancing and enriching communities through human-centered policies, collective-based advocacy, and transformative experiences in public libraries. Brittany received her MSLIS from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and serves on the Editorial Review Board for the Afterschool Matters Journal as well as the Executive Board of the Iowa Library Association. She is a backyard beekeeper, nature enthusiast, and is represented by KT Literary for the children’s picture books that she writes and illustrates in her spare time.

Becky Godfrey is serving in her 10th year as a trustee of Burlington Public Library.  She retired in 2022 after a 25-year career as Girl Scout camp director and property manager, followed by 15 years managing volunteers for Great River Hospice. During her career Becky volunteered in various local and national leadership roles in the American Camp Association, for Altrusa International’s Literacy Service Project, and on Iowa’s Foster Care Review Board.  Since her retirement, Becky volunteers as an RSVP Medical Driver, hospice and palliative care volunteer, and library trustee. Growing up, Becky always had a book that was overdue from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Northland Public Library.  She earned a BS in Landscape Architecture from Iowa State after which her mother lamented, “She met a boy from Iowa and never came home!”  Becky has been married to that boy for 42 years. They have a daughter who lives in Washington DC, where Becky’s favorite thing to do is ride bikes on the National Mall. 

Jennifer McMillan is a Burlington, Iowa native where she lives with her husband and two dogs. She works in Employee Benefits for World Insurance Associates, where she helps employers with their employees’ health insurance plans. She is passionate about libraries, the freedom to read, and is proud to be a Burlington Public Library Trustee as of September 2023, where she is looking forward to supporting the library in continuing its mission.

Marketing Matters

We are all accustomed to the no show woes. We feel the sting of the time, money and resources wasted when we are putting a zero down for program attendance. We have so many little to no cost marketing resources at our fingertips. Social media platforms are full of followers and communication groups. Digital sign ups resulting in email reminders are just the beginning. Navigating and utilizing all of your marketing resources to produce increased programming attendance can be daunting. In this session, we will cover several marketing resources and practices that will not only produce increased program attendance but build mutually beneficial community partnerships.  Topics Covered: 

• Canva
• Meta Business Suite
• Community Partnerships
• Schools
• Senior Living
• Businesses
• Newspapers: If it sells the newspaper, then it’s probably free
• Flyers: it’s not just for paper. If you can put it on a sticker then you can put it anywhere.

About Presenter Lenah Oltman

Lenah Oltman, Director of Reinbeck Public Library
An endorsed librarian through the State Library of Iowa with an understanding of how to see value and promote it to its intended audience using different mediums and strategies. Passionate about creating mutually beneficial connections that save time, money and resources for all involved. Just a little girl that found a vast world between the pages of a book that grew up to be a mom of three kiddos, married her best friend and gets to spend her days making her library a lovely place to be.

Toward Gigabit Libraries: A Toolkit to Improve Your Broadband

The Toward Gigabit Libraries (TGL) toolkit is a powerful, FREE tool to help libraries learn about and improve their current broadband infrastructure and internal information technology (IT) environment. Using the TGL toolkit helps library staff become better equipped to improve broadband services and become stronger advocates for their libraries’ broadband infrastructure needs. 

Let ICN's partner at Internet2 walk library personnel step-by-step through the process of surveying and assessing their library’s IT and broadband setup. The toolkit uses questions, mini-training modules (via websites, videos, and other documents), and online tools to help library staff learn and potentially improve the library’s broadband connection. 

Access Resources & Slides:

• Access the latest version of the toolkit. 
• Slides: Iowa Communications Network
• Slides: Internet2
• Handout: CAP Library Resources

About Presenters Jessica Schlesselman and Stephanie Stenberg

Jessica Schlesselman has spent the last twenty years in the telecom industry, serving in roles in Sales, Sales Management, Marketing, and Product. Working with a variety of industry players, from rural to nationwide providers, wholesalers, resellers, and enterprise clients, Jessica’s experience has been focused how to serve client needs through solution-based strategies and products. Jessica believes that Iowa’s education and future are best served when we invest in institutions such as our libraries, and that providing easy to access and reliable connectivity is an important step in supporting them.

Stephanie Stenberg (she/hers) is the director of the Internet2 Community Anchor Program (CAP), where she works with regional networking partners, community anchor institutions like K-12 schools and libraries, and Internet2 membership organizations to support the mutually beneficial goals of bringing networking, trust and identity services, and advanced applications to community anchor institutions nationwide. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, a law degree from Wayne State University, and is currently working toward her Digital Inclusion Leadership Certificate at Arizona State University.

Get Ready, Stay Ready: Supporting Proactive Community Advocacy for Library Professionals 

Join us as we discuss ways to proactively advocate for inclusive libraries in partnership with community organizations. Explore the Get Ready Stay Ready toolkit, a collection of resources that intentionally focus on educating trustees, friends of the library groups, foundation members, community members, and caregivers on the power of inclusive library collections and programming. Then learn how to apply the resources shared to organize effective social media campaigns and organizational responses to material and programming challenges.

About Presenters Lucy Santos Green and Jackie Biger

Lucy Santos Green’s teaching is focused on school librarianship, technology integrated learning, and organizational management. She is co-editor of the International Association of School Librarianship’s peer-reviewed research journal, School Libraries Worldwide, and president-elect of the Association for Library and Information Science Education. She frequently speaks and publishes on school librarianship for marginalized populations with a focus on first-generation immigrants and LGBTQIA+ families, instructional partnerships between school librarians and other educators, technology-integrated learning, and the design and development of digital learning environments. Her latest book, “LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Children’s Librarianship: Policies, Programs, and Practices” (Libraries Unlimited, 2022) has been described as “an invaluable guide for libraries seeking to serve all children.” In addition to editing two other books on flipped learning in higher education and collaborative instructional partnerships, she has authored more than 40 articles and presented internationally and nationally more than 120 times on school librarianship, technology-enabled inquiry learning, and research methods in LIS. Green currently leads EQuIP and Online Ready, both federally funded research projects that explore ways to help school librarians grow professionally and have meaningful impact on student learning. She is also a project member and materials contributor to the Get Ready Stay Ready: Community Action Toolkit, a collection of materials that educates parents and caregivers on the crucial role of information literacy and intellectual freedom in student college and career readiness. 

Jackie Biger joined SLIS in 2022 as Associate Professor of Instruction. With a background and specialization in school libraries, she is the advisor for the Teacher Librarian Program. She teaches three courses within the program, SLIS:5044 Contextual Foundations School Library Media Administration, SLIS:6530 School Library Media Practicum, and SLIS:6020 Literacy and Learning. Her courses provide a mix of theory and practical application.

She is a co-facilitator of the state-wide Teacher Librarian Leadership Team and has broad experiences with curriculum writing and standards work in the field of School Libraries. Her interests include crafting storytimes and lessons that are responsive to the needs of patrons and learners. Jackie has done work with the Obermann Institute with sensory storytimes and creating programming and outreach for special and underserved populations.

Jackie has her Masters in Library Science from Simmons College with a focus in services to children and had wonderful internship experiences at both the archives of the State Library of Massachusetts and the children's room of the Boston Atheneum. Her professional experiences include public library and school library positions. Jackie was head of youth services in Amherst, New Hampshire for a time and for the past ten years held positions as Teacher Librarian in both High School and Elementary School settings within the state of Iowa. 

Community Development in the Library: Utilizing the Community Heart & Soul Process in Your Town

My session will give an overview of the Community Heart & Soul process and share strategies that anyone can use in their library for community development. I focus especially on identifying the groups in your community and meeting their needs.

About Presenter Crystal Duffy

Crystal Duffy is a recent transplant to rural Iowa from Southern California. She took over as library director at Postville Public Library in July 2022, and in November 2022 took over as Project Coordinator for Our Postville Community Heart & Soul. She believes public libraries should be identifying all the groups that reside in their communities and assessing their unique needs to make sure libraries are truly serving their population.

Building Community Together: Doing Community Memory Work

Learn about how the Scott County Library System obtained federal and state grants to begin an oral history project, develop a digital collection, and self-publish a local history book all with no dedicated budget for local history work.

Get practical tips for libraries on how to not only preserve, but create history in your communities.

Download Slides & Handouts:

• Slides
• Handout: Copyright Agreement Form
• Handout: Copyright Basics Bookmark
• Handout: Description Form
• Handout: Grandparent Book
• Handout: Guide for Conducting Oral Histories
• Handout: Questions & Outline
• Handout: Personal Digital Archiving Bookmark
• Handout: Preserving Home Movies Bookmark
• Handout: Preserving Paper Bookmark
• Handout: SCCMP Release Form

About Presenter Christine Barth

Christine Barth is an Information/Tech Services librarian and has been with the Scott County Library System for 12 years. She is a cataloger, fiction selector, reader’s advisor, statistician, question answerer, and Library Journal reviewer all in a part-time position. Her passion is history and the stories of ordinary people, which has resulted in a decade of grant-funded projects at SCLS. Christine was instrumental in the publication of the History of the Scott County Library System and Building Communities Together: the History of the North Scott Community School District along with the creation of the Scott County Community Memory Project. She loves to read, travel, and play board games.

Fostering Community Connection through Library Events

In May of 2023, the Surgeon General issued an Advisory on the Epidemic of Loneliness which affects the health of our communities. The first recommendation the surgeon general makes is to enforce services that provide connection, including public libraries. Learn the importance of fostering connection and how public libraries can make a difference.

About Presenter Nick Shimmin

Nick Shimmin has been a librarian since 2007, serving as director of the West Branch Public Library and IT Director for the City of West Branch for almost 15 years. In 2023, he began serving as Adult Services Librarian in North Liberty. Nick has worked for most of his time in libraries promoting libraries as a center for building community, focusing events on bringing people together and serving on boards and committees to help foster community improvement.

Collections Are Forever: How a County Library Association Improved Materials Access for Library Patrons

Learn how, through the power of county collaboration and a common catalog, six Sioux County libraries made patron AND library staff lives easier. Lisa Johson (Orange City Public Library) will share how Sioux County capitalized on strong relationships within the county association to build a consortia-type resource for all library users in the county. She’ll share about the tools they used, policies they have in place, and a vision for even more collaboration opportunities in the future.

Download Slides & Handouts:

• Slides
• Handout: Flex Share Checklist
• Handout: County Library Association Annual Report
• Handout: Flex Share Consortium Proposal
• Handout: Promotional Poster
• Handout: County Staff Development Day

About Presenters Lisa Johnson & Matt Hoehamer

Lisa Johnson grew up in a family with generational readers. The library as a destination was second only to the swimming pool during the hot Iowa summers. She started working in libraries in college as part of the work study program. Then as a chemist she worked for Abbott Laboratories in research and development. She returned to libraries in 2003 as part of the Naperville Public Library Adult Services Department, at their 95th St. Library location. She also worked at Naperville's North Central College's Oesterle Library as a supervisor and reference librarian.  At both libraries she provided reference services, information instruction, readers’ services, programming, and outreach services until 2019 when she was hired as the Orange City Public Library Director. Lisa is grateful to the Sioux County Library Directors for their cooperative and collaborative style. This has made implementing new ideas, services, and technologies professionally rewarding at the community and county level. Lisa holds a MLIS from San Jose State University and a Certificate in Leadership from Briar Cliff University. 

Matt Hoehamer started working in libraries as a page at the Northside Branch of the Des Moines Library System in high school and has been in libraries ever since, earning an MLIS in 2012. He started as the Library Director of the Hull Public Library in September of 2008 and is still there. He enjoys the uniqueness of working in a library setting and seeing how that has changed and grown over the years to fulfill what a community’s ever-changing needs are.  When not in the library he enjoys reading Fantasy Fiction and scratching a history itch by participating in Civil War Reenactments.

The Management Role of the Trustee

Like most public sector appointed boards in Iowa, library trustees step up to call for a variety of reasons, including to give back to their community, to support the local library, and to fill an open position, among many other reasons. One reason that is seldom considered is to become a manager, yet that is major responsibility that comes with being a library trustee. Unless you have experience in human resources or management in your own career, you are like most library board members, unsure what your role and authority is in certain circumstances. This session will provide an overview of the management responsibilities a library trustee along with information and best practices to become empowered to address these responsibilities.

About Presenter Lisa England

Lisa England, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the Human Resources and Management Advisor for the Iowa League of Cities (ILOC) and Iowa Municipalities Workers' Compensation Association (IMWCA). She has over 20 years of experience in human resources, both in the public and private sectors. Her current responsibilities at the ILOC/IMWCA include assisting members with human resources and management-related questions and concerns. She assists managers and supervisors in developing the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to lead and coach their employees successfully. She provides training on a variety of topics to members as well as various partners and associations.

Lisa has a diverse background, both professionally and personally, that contributes to her knowledge and experience. She has held human resources director positions and has functioned as a human resources consultant. She is a former emergency medical technician (EMT) and volunteer firefighter (FF) and has served on a variety of non-profit boards of directors. Currently, she is the Polk City Library board president and on the board of directors of Connexus Behavioral Health & Disability Advocates.