Plan to Attend "Libraries on the Prairie"

• When it comes to technology, rural libraries face unique challenges.  To help address these challenges, the State Library of Iowa was awarded $129,450 from the Gates Foundation to "promote the sustainability of public access computing in rural libraries."  
  
• Through the grant, the State Library will host workshops that will provide tools, information and resources to help rural library directors sustain public access computing.
  
• They will also provide an opportunity for library directors to connect with one another, sharing best practices, tips, and success strategies.

If your library provides computers for public use, you will want to attend one of the Rural Library Sustainability workshops, "Libraries on the Prairie:  Growing Rural Libraries."  All expenses are paid for the library director, including meals, lodging and mileage (paid directly to the library).  All Iowa public library directors, regardless of community size, are eligible and encouraged to attend.  Our target is to have 411 libraries (80% of the 514) rural public libraries represented at the workshops. 

Dates / Locations: 

• July 10-11: Buena Vista University, Storm Lake 
• July 13-14: Holiday Inn, Council Bluffs
• July 17-18: Wartburg College, Waverly
• July 24-25: St. Ambrose College, Davenport
• July 27-28: Central College, Pella

Topics include: 

• The Public Librarian and Information Literacy, Wireless Network @ Your Library, What Can U Plug Into a USB?, Using Tech Atlas.
• Assessing your library's public access computing related to library connections, technology connections, upgrade and maintenance, staff and patron training, funding, outreach, and advocacy. 
  
• Advocacy, including remarks from a community leader about what resonates when we tell the library’s story. 
  

For more information or to register, visit the CE Catalog.

The Rural Library Sustainability Project was conceived, in part, as a result of a successful workshop that was hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in conjunction with Public Library Association (PLA) 2004, called “Sustaining Public Access in Rural Libraries.”  The workshops, attracting 135 libraries from across the country, were filled with lively discussions, inspirational stories and honest assessments of the tremendous challenges facing small libraries.  Inspired by what went on at PLA, the Gates Foundation, working with WebJunction, created this grant project to give each state a chance to replicate what went on at the workshops in 2004.

For more information, click here.