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Providing access to materials is important to all libraries—but what can you do when you have a blind or print disabled patron in need of more than what you have? Call in CTBL for support! Learn about how the Colorado Talking Book Library can help you and your community get the materials you’re looking for including braille, large print, and audio books—we serve the entire state for free!

It’s inevitable, at some point in your week you’ll run into one of them. Those people who seem to turn a wonderful day into a dark one. You know these people; they seem to be chronically critical, belligerent, indignant, angry, or just plain rude. But it doesn’t have to be that way for you. Learning tactics for dealing with negative or difficult people will help you survive in the workplace.

What does improvisational comedy have to do with library service? More than you might expect! Hear stories, learn models, and try improv activities that apply in libraries. Staff will discover new ways to engage with humor and play. Get ready to reframe interactions with 5 techniques from improv comedy that can uplift you, your users, and the library.

The incarcerated in Colorado’s youth and adult correctional facilities are some of the most appreciative library patrons anywhere. 97% of them will be released someday, and many struggle with basic information needs. The key to helping the incarcerated successfully reenter society is library outreach.

We all know that children learn through play, but what about adults? Research shows that when humans, at any age, play, they learn and grow into healthy, happy, well-functioning individuals. Indeed, embedding playful work techniques into your day can lead to greater creativity, productivity, and resilience in you and your library. And knowing others’ play styles will help build better teams, improve collaborative work, and create a more enjoyable work culture.

Remember being bullied in grade school? The tears, fears, and anxiety of facing bullies may have shaped who you have become today. Do you ever wonder what happened to those bullies? It’s sad to say but many have grown up and are now creating havoc in our libraries! This engaging session will show you how to remain calm and stay strong when coping with the bullies you work with or serve in your community.

There are sometimes subtle – and sometimes not so subtle – movements, gestures and facial expressions that can indicate what we are thinking. By developing your awareness of the signs of body language, you can more easily understand other people, and more effectively communicate with them.

Considerable research shows that those with more joy, laughter, and well-being in their life are more resilient, productive, and effective at work, and they live more fulfilling lives. This staff session is designed to increase fun, creativity, and joy.

Decision making is an essential skill. We make quick decisions all the time; other decisions we procrastinate and agonize over. Making poor decisions can label you as ineffective in your job. Learn how to make timely well-considered decisions to be assured of future success.
Join us for an engaging session that will offer you practical tools to make better choices.

Do you believe you work best under pressure? Do you avoid tasks and deliberately look for distractions? Are you late for appointments? Have a hard time completing projects? If you struggle with any of these you may be a procrastinator. Join this session to explore why we procrastinate and how we can stop.

In our high-tech and often stressful world, communication is becoming more important than ever. If this is true, then why are so many of us such poor listeners? Becoming a better listener will allow you to become more productive, avoid conflict, improve accuracy, and build better friendships and careers.

Have you ever brainstormed an idea only to find yourself with pages of information and no clue as to how it all fits together? If so, then Mind Mapping can help you organize your thoughts and move forward. Mind Maps offer a way of using and improving your memory, concentration, and creativity in planning and structuring thought on all levels, in order to accelerate your ability to learn, remember, and record information.’

The internet offers a variety of communication channels that most of us are relying on during the Pandemic. Personal relationships aside, poor online communication skills can harm your productivity and effectiveness. This means more emails, phone calls or repeated work when something is misunderstood. 

Overwhelmed by patrons the moment you open your doors? Not sure how you’re going to get everything done while balancing competing demands? Get tips on planning library services and time management strategies to make your correctional library successful and efficient!

Did you know that getting a good night’s sleep is just as important as eating healthy and exercising? Sleep can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. The damage from a lack of adequate sleep can occur in an instant (car accident) or over a period of time. Ongoing sleep problems can increase your risk for chronic health problems. It can also affect how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others.

Kieran Hixon What does improvisational comedy have to do with …

Come fill your toolkit with strategies to support intellectual freedom for those you serve with jail or prison outreach. Learn about the realities of correctional censorship, how to develop a policy to answer the toughest challenges, and how you can be a powerful and articulate advocate for your community.

Have you accidentally helped a library patron transform?
Are you ready to be an intentional champion for your library users?
Join us as we explore services that make all the difference. Together, we will share stories of extraordinary library moments and identify common ways library staff help people grow and learn in transformative ways. Walk away with an understanding of how libraries change lives and gain ideas for what you can do to provide more meaningful library services.

Job burnout is a response to stress that leaves you feeling hopeless, powerless, despondent and overwhelmed. But, don’t despair you can do something about it! During this session you’ll learn this doesn’t happen overnight. Our bodies and minds do give us warning signs, and if you know what to look for, you can recognize it before exhaustion and ineffectiveness set in.

When faced with having a difficult conversation do you find yourself procrastinating, back peddling, dodging, panicking, or finding yourself filled with dread? Whether the conversation is with staff, a patron, your family, or an annoying neighbor this session will help to move you forward. These conversations don’t have to be difficult if you prepare in advance and leave your emotions out of the equation.

Often, library work finds librarians and staff siloed into age-restricted spaces. Intergenerational programs present a challenge to the structures of our physical spaces, collections, and areas of expertise and experience. In this workshop, librarians and staff will discover the value of designing programs for participants of different age groups, traversing generational divides with intentional opportunities to learn from one another and cultivate mutually beneficial relationships.