Work Confidently with Homeless Patrons

The Minnesota Department of Education is committed to supporting the state’s Heading Home Together plan, and library staff training is one of our goals. All library administrators, staff, board members, and volunteers now have free year-long access to “Practical Tips for Homeless Patrons,” an online, self-paced tutorial presented by Ryan Dowd, the author of The Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness. Through the course, participants will gain insights into the mind of a person experiencing homelessness—how they communicate, likely experiences that color their worldview, and possible triggers to behavior escalation. Through an empathy lens, library staff and volunteers will also gain tips and tricks for welcoming, serving, and supporting homeless patrons.

To take the training, follow the enrollment steps on the Niche Academy website. Contact Jen Verbrugge (651-582-8356) if you have access issues or other questions.

Apply for a Library Construction Grant

The Library Construction Grant program is accepting applications for competitive grants. The program provides public libraries with funding for renovation, construction, and improvement projects that result in more accessible library facilities. Projects may:

• Remove architectural barriers from a library building or site.
• Remediate conditions hazardous to health or safety.
• Renovate or expand an existing building for use as a library.
• Construct a new library.

The 2018 Minnesota Legislature allocated a total of $1,000,000 to the program. In addition, approximately $400,000 of the allocation from the 2017 bonding bill is available to award as grants, for an estimated total of $1,400,000.

Application forms and instructions are available on the Minnesota Department of Education’s Grants Management site. Scroll to Library Construction Grant opportunity. Completed applications are due via email by Friday, October 26, 2018, at 3:30 p.m.

A webinar with program information and opportunities to ask questions will be held on Thursday, August 30, 2018, at 11 a.m. To attend the webinar, please follow this link. To join by phone, dial 1-888-742-5095, and enter conference code 492 064 9083 at the prompt.

For more information, please contact Emily Kissane (651-582-8508).

Join Girls Who Code Partnership and Launch a FREE Club

State Library Services is partnering with Girls Who Code to bring free computer science opportunities to elementary, middle, and high school girls (and boys) across Minnesota. We would love for your school or library to host a club!

Girls Who Code Clubs are no-cost afterschool programs for girls in grades 3-5 or grades 6-12 to join a fellowship of supportive peers and use computer science to change the world. The program targets girls, but no one is excluded from participating, so boys are welcome too. Clubs are led by facilitators who can be teachers, librarians, parents, or volunteers from any background or field. No prior knowledge is required; many facilitators have no technical experience and learn to code alongside their club members. Read through an overview of the curriculum for both age groups, and then attend a Girls Who Code webinar to help you learn more. You can also contact Leah Larson (651-582-8604) if you have questions about how to get started.

*Important Note: To receive partnership benefits when you register your club, it is important that you indicate that State Library Services is your partner. Please list “Minnesota State Library Services” as your partner affiliation on the application’s page titled “About Your Club” for the following question: Is your Club affiliated with a Girls Who Code Community Partner (school districts, library systems, nonprofit organization, afterschool networks, etc.)?

View the Results of the Libraries and Nature Survey

The Minnesota Children and Nature Connection (MCNC) worked with libraries statewide last year to learn more about how they are incorporating nature into their spaces and services. The intention was to gather baseline data on the breadth and depth of connection libraries help families make with nature. MCNC was also interested in identifying needs, interests, and barriers to libraries’ abilities to offer nature programming and services. There were 75 total respondents to the survey, and you can view the results through a summary infographic or informational slides on the MCNC website. Contact Jen Verbrugge (651-582-8356) if you have questions.

Submit Your Library Construction Project to LJ

The 2018 Library Journal (LJ) architectural feature will be published in the November 15, 2018, issue. LJ is now collecting data for finished public and academic library projects—new builds and renovations/additions—completed between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018, only. Share the information about your public library construction project by Wednesday, September 12. Additionally, if you had or are having referenda for capital improvements, operating funds, or both between December 1, 2017, and November 30, 2018, share the results with research manager Laura Girmscheid.

Get to Know Rural Libraries

Most of Minnesota’s public libraries are in towns and rural areas. Rural and town libraries welcomed about a third of the state’s 3.7 million library users and hosted approximately 23.3 million visits in 2017.

Sixty-three public libraries are located in rural areas—territory that is five or more miles from an urbanized area. Most rural libraries are small serving areas with populations under 5,000.

On average, a rural public library in Minnesota employed two staff members, was open 2,164 hours and welcomed 25,100 visitors in 2017. Those visitors borrowed or downloaded 35,024 items and asked 2,352 reference questions. Each library attracted 1,788 individuals of all ages to 97 library-sponsored programs. Of course, actual performance measures vary among individual libraries.

In rural areas, public libraries are often the only place where internet access is free. People use library computers or bring their own mobile devices to the library to complete schoolwork, file taxes, bank online, and search for jobs. Minnesota’s rural libraries provide 519 internet computers and devices for public use—an average of eight computers per library. Ninety-seven percent of rural libraries offer free wireless internet service. In 2017, rural library users logged-on to computers or wireless service for nearly 356,000 internet sessions—an average of 5,680 annual sessions per library.

Most rural public library locations have Internet speeds over 20 megabits per second (Mbps). The largest number of libraries have speeds ranging from 50 to 100 Mbps. Benchmarks set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for U.S. home access is 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds. 100 Mbps is the FCC goal for all libraries serving 50,000 people or less.

The public library has become a hub with a mission to help solve community problems. Fifty-nine percent of Minnesota’s rural public libraries partner with other organizations in their communities to address social issues.

Rural public libraries contribute significantly to the cultural, educational and digital lives of the populations they serve. For information about public libraries by locale, contact Joe Manion (651-582-8640).