Your Name and Title: Samantha Bouwers, Consultant for Continuing Education
Library, School, or Organization Name: State Library of Iowa
Co-Presenter Name(s): Joy Worland, Consultant for Continuing Education and Small and Rural Libraries, Vermont Department of Libraries
Area of the World from Which You Will Present: United States (Iowa & Vermont)
Language in Which You Will Present: English
Target Audience(s): Public Librarians
Short Session Description (one line): Small libraries sometimes have to get creative with staffing! This session will offer some practical considerations for individuals and institutions.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
As the role of libraries evolves into the future, the importance of employing professional staff will be even more crucial. And yet, small and rural public libraries struggle to fund full-time staff positions. This session will offer a future-forward approach to generate solutions to fund, recruit, and retain full-time employees in public libraries.
Through shared staffing positions, employees have improved economic outcomes (particularly important to recruit diverse applicants); institutions save on costs (sharing salary, benefits, and training expenses); and communities thrive under professional library staff (able to offer services responsive to rapid changes in technology, demographics, and civic needs).
We’ll share practical implementation considerations for creating a shared staffing model and highlight examples from the field including, time permitting, those from session attendees.
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: Accepted for presentation at the 2024 Association of Rural and Small Libraries Annual Conference
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