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Project SET: Skills, Empowerment, Talent: 2015 Annual Meeting Presentations

Meet the Project SET Pilot Year Participants!

In 2015, the Massachusetts Library System piloted a program called Project SET. Ten library staff from around the state were selected to participate in a year-long program focusing on engaging with the library community. They researched and discussed current issues in libraries, honed public speaking and instructional design skills, and worked together to plan the 2015 MLS Annual Meeting theme -- "Adventures in Outreach." All Project SET participants presented their final projects at the meeting. Learn more about them and their work below.

Rebecca Folb

Youth Community Services Librarian
Worcester Public Library
Worcester, MA
rfolb@worcpublib.org

Rebecca is the Youth Community Services Librarian at Worcester Public Library. Her work is in youth services at the Frances Perkins Branch and as the librarian attached to the mobile library services.

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Ignite Session:

"Outreach through mobile library services"
What does having a bookmobile entail? Get an overview of opportunities mobile libraries provide.

 

Michelle Gario

Senior Adult Services Librarian
Seekonk Public Library
Seekonk, MA
 mgario@seekonkpl.org


Michelle currently works as Senior Adult Services Librarian of Seekonk Public Library. While working in Computer Support at Brown University, she reconnected with her love for libraries and went on to earn her MLS degree from University of Rhode Island in 2004.  As a librarian Michelle enjoys combining her passion for teaching and learning with technology, all while getting first dibs on the things she wants to checkout from the library herself!

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Ignite Session:

Hear about Seekonk Public Library’s experience with creating a makerspace including the real obstacles and lessons learned in 1.5 years of offering these new services.

 

Karen Horn

Circulation/ILL Services
Sturgis Library
Barnstable, MA  02630


Karen has been working at the Sturgis Library since 2007.  She is the Assistant Director and oversees Circulation and Interlibrary Loan Services.  In addition, she is responsible for training new staff and overseeing a group of 18 volunteers.  

Karen is involved in library education and training, policy and public services in libraries on the local, state and regional level.  She has served as the Chairperson of the Career Development Committee of the Paralibrarian Section of the MLA for the past four years and represents her library on the Public Services Committee of the CLAMS Consortium on the Cape. She was instrumental getting a Paralibrarian Certification Program started in NH last year and is currently working with a group to explore the possibility of a New England Regional Certificate program for Paralibrarians.

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Breakout Session:

Do you want to cultivate a climate of professionalism and lifelong learning at your library? Allowing your staff to decide for themselves what they need to know and how best to learn it is the first step. The next step is to encourage your non MLS degreed librarians and library support staff to pursue state Certification for Para-librarians.

 

Jazmin Idakar

Generalist Librarian I
Mattapan Branch of the Boston Public Library
Mattapan, MA 

jidakaar@bpl.org

Jazmin is a librarian at the Mattapan Branch of the Boston Public Library. When she isn’t teaching computer classes or planning library programs, she serves on union and collection development committees and plans librarian social gatherings with Boston Librarians/Urban Librarians Unite BOS. She is passionate about LGBTQIA, social justice, and diversity issues both inside and outside of the library and likes to relax in her down time with old-school video games.

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Breakout Session:

Is your library trying to grow its community engagement through outreach or innovative programming? This presentation will talk about tackling challenges and building networks and how they can help us bring new ideas and programs to our patrons in the library and outside of it. Learn how to support your staff with buy-in best practices, places to find collaboration and support, and how to help them handle challenges and feeling stuck.

 

Katrina Ireland

Children's Librarian
Northborough Free Library
Northborough, MA


An Irish musician and librarian with love for all things music, kids and books, Katrina has the best.  job.  ever!  While she's only been a librarian for 2 years, she's been working with children for fifteen.  Katrina is passionate about combining fun and early literacy!

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Ignite Session:

Libraries that are pressed for time and resources don't need to sweat about large-scale outreach endeavors! You can get people in your doors by thinking about outreach in a more manageable way. Get back into that box!

 

Liz Reed

Adult Services and Information Librarian
Morrill Memorial Library
Norwood, MA  
lreed@minlib.net


Liz is an Adult Services and Information Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood. As part of Norwood's initiative to increase programming for adults, Reed has implemented innovative programs such as the Culinary Norwood series and a monthly book group for 20- and 30-somethings, Titles on Tap. A co-founder of the Metrowest Program Planners Group, Reed enjoys brainstorming new ideas for programs and library services, and figuring out how to market them.

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Ignite Session:

"NOW That's What I Call Programming: Reaching Generation #Yolo"
How can libraries increase use by Millennials? Who are these Millennials, anyway? Get a snapshot of how Norwood is reaching out to this growing demographic through innovative programming.

 

Lilly Sundell - Thomas

Reference & Young Adult Librarian
Milton Public Library
Milton, MA  

lsundell-thomas@ocln.org

Lilly Sundell-Thomas is a Young Adult and Reference Librarian at the Milton Public Library. She has an undergraduate degree in history from Ithaca College and her MLS from Simmons College. Lilly's professional interests include YA lit, programming, and readers' advisory. 

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Ignite Session:

"Getting Personal: Developing a Personalized Reading List Service"
This presentation will be about the personalized reading list service that I helped launch and develop during my time at the Forbes Library in Northampton, MA. 

 

 

Jonathan Schmidt

Youth Department Supervisor
Emily Williston Memorial Library
Easthampton, MA 

jschmidt@ewmlibrary.org

Jonathan has spent over half of his life with the Emily Williston Memorial Library in Easthampton, beginning as a volunteer at the age of 12. Now he gets to see how the other side lives, enticing new volunteers as the library's Youth Department Supervisor -- his position of just over two years.

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Ignite Session:

Forget underserved -- what if you have a patron population that's unserved? Hear about how Jonathan is reaching out to teens in Easthampton with hardly a YA space to speak of, and be inspired to connect with the people in your communities that you know the library is leaving behind.

 

Erica Street

Instruction/Serials Librarian
Jenks Library, Gordon College
Wenham, MA 
erica.street@gordon.edu


Erica is the Instruction/Serials Librarian at Jenks Library at Gordon College.  She obtained in M.L.I.S. in 2014 from Simmons College.  She loves working in an academic library where she gets to do a little bit of everything she loves about libraries: teach, assist students with research, and design signage and events.

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Breakout Session:

"Not Your Average Information Literacy: Cultivating the Library’s Virtual Space through Twitter"
In this technologically advanced age in which our users are "connected" in more ways than just one, the library's virtual space is as important as its physical space. Learn about how one academic library remodeled their virtual space using Twitter to actively disseminate information.

 

Kirsten Underwood

Head of Reference Services
Nevins Memorial Library
Methuen MA
kunderwood@mvlc.org


Kirsten began her library career as a library associate at the J V Fletcher library in Westford working at circulation and in the Children’s Department.  After completing the MLS program at Simmons she was happy to join the Nevins Memorial Library as a Reference librarian and then Literacy Coordinator.  At this time she works as the Head of Reference services and still takes an active role in Nevins Volunteer literacy program.

MLS 2015 Annual Meeting Breakout Session:

A frank discussion among library leaders about the need to increase usage for Electronic products and databases to allow libraries to stay relevant in this digital age. Some Electronic products are well used when others see no use at all.  Where does one draw the line with regards to cost/benefit analysis and come to grips with the need to provide what the patrons really want?  Do we know what they want or do we just think we know what they want?  
 
Participants:  Ellen Rainville, Westford; Elizabeth Thomsen, NOBLE; Clayton Cheever, Quincy and Dr. Myron Schirer-Suter, Gordon College
 
Join the Facebook Group: Driving Digital Resources

Break out session: Reality Bytes....Electronic Collections and the Usage Question....How much, by Whom, Costs What?

Kirsten Underwood
Nevins Memorial Library, Methuen MA
Reality Bytes....Electronic Collections and the Usage Question....How much, by Whom, Costs What?
A frank discussion among library leaders about the need to increase usage for Electronic products and databases to allow libraries to stay relevant in this digital age. Some Electronic products are well used when others see no use at all.  Where does one draw the line with regards to cost/benefit analysis and come to grips with the need to provide what the patrons really want?  Do we know what they want or do we just think we know what they want?  
 
Participants:  Ellen Rainville, Westford; Elizabeth Thomsen, NOBLE; Clayton Cheever, Quincy and Dr. Myron Schirer-Suter, Gordon College
 

Join the Facebook Group - Driving Digital Resources

Break out session: Not Your Average Information Literacy: Cultivating the Library’s Virtual Space through Twitter

Erica Street
Jenks Library at Gordon College, Wenham, MA
erica.street@gordon.edu
Not Your Average Information Literacy: Cultivating the Library’s Virtual Space through Twitter
In this technologically advanced age in which our users are "connected" in more ways than just one, the library's virtual space is as important as its physical space. Learn about how one academic library remodeled their virtual space using Twitter to actively disseminate information.

Break out session: Outreach from the inside out

Jazmin L Idakaar
Boston Public Library, Mattapan Branch
Reach In to Reach Out: Building Buy-in & Tribe for Outreach & Programming
Is your library trying to grow its community engagement through outreach or innovative programming? This presentation will talk about tackling challenges and building networks and how they can help us bring new ideas and programs to our patrons in the library and outside of it. Learn how to support your staff with buy-in best practices, places to find collaboration and support, and how to help them handle challenges and feeling stuck.

Karen Horn
Sturgis Library, Barnstable
Professional Development and Certification
Do you want to cultivate a climate of professionalism and lifelong learning at your library? Allowing your staff to decide for themselves what they need to know and how best to learn it is the first step. The next step is to encourage your non MLS degreed librarians and library support staff to pursue state Certification for Para-librarians.

Check out Karen's slides on Haiku Deck - Professional Development Self Directed Learning and Certification

Ignite session slides

Michelle Gario
Seekonk Public Library, Seekonk, MA
mgario@seekonkpl.org
If You Build It, They Will Come: A Makerspace Story
Hear about Seekonk Public Library’s experience with creating a makerspace including the real obstacles and lessons learned in 1.5 years of offering these new services.

Lilly Sundell-Thomas
Milton Public Library, Milton MA
lsundell-thomas@ocln.org
Getting Personal: Developing a Personalized Reading List Service
This presentation will be about the personalized reading list service that I helped launch and develop during my time at the Forbes Library in Northampton, MA. 
 
Liz Reed
Morrill Memorial Library, Norwood MA
lreed@minlib.net
"NOW That's What I Call Programming: Reaching Generation #Yolo"
How can libraries increase use by Millennials? Who are these Millennials, anyway? Get a snapshot of how Norwood is reaching out to this growing demographic through innovative programming.

Rebecca Folb
Worcester Public Library, Worcester MA
Rfolb@worcpublib.org
Outreach through mobile library services
What does having a bookmobile entail? Get an overview of opportunities mobile libraries provide.

Katrina Ireland
Northborough Free Library, Northborough, MA
https://www.facebook.com/northboroughfreelibrary
InReach 3 east attitudes for easy outrech
Libraries that are pressed for time and resources don't need to sweat about large-scale outreach endeavors! You can get people in your doors by thinking about outreach in a more manageable way. Get back into that box!

Jonathan Schmidt
Emily Williston Memorial Library, Easthampton MA
jschmidt@ewmlibrary.org
No Patron Left Behind
Forget underserved --what if you have a patron population that's unserved? Hear about how Jonathan is reaching out to teens in Easthampton with hardly a YA space to speak of, and be inspired to connect with the people in your communities that you know the library is leaving behind.