August Course Highlights From Niche Academy

We are excited to have Niche Academy content available for all Staff in MetroU! To celebrate we are highlighting 20 Niche Academy courses this month. New courses will be added to MetroU weekly. You’ll find a wide range of topics such as programming resources, customer service skills, database training, and so much more! Plus, we now have access to all Ryan Dowd content directly in MetroU. Keep an eye out under the “Niche Academy” topic section in the library for new courses. Please don’t forget to submit a Self-Reported Training in MetroU after attending any of the outside training opportunities to reflect these trainings on your transcript.

The information contained in the multimedia content and resources/handouts posted represents the views and opinions of the original creators of the content and does not necessarily represent the views, procedures or policies of the Oklahoma Metropolitan Library System. If you have questions or need clarity please contact your supervisor, Learning and Development or Human Resources.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration:15 min

Course Description: Cypress Resume is a service provided by our library that helps guests create a professional resume, cover letter, or reference sheet. Take this training from Niche Academy to get an overview of the platform.

Course Date:On Demand

Course Duration:10 min

Course Description: Creativebug is a collection of arts and crafts video tutorials, giving our guests on-demand access to expert instruction in drawing, painting, sewing, knitting, crocheting, quilting, baking, and more. Take this training from Niche Academy for an overview of creating an account and how to use on the computer, Androids and Apple products.

Course Date:On Demand

Course Duration:20 min

Course Description: AncestryLibrary gives our guests access to more than 9,000 databases and 200 billion images from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Course Date:On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description: Passive programming is so much more dynamic than the name might lead you to believe! It is a budget-friendly way to make every library user feel seen, welcomed and important – without putting pressure on their stretched schedules or overloaded attention spans. It works its gentle magic by soliciting opinions, fostering creativity, encouraging humor, and establishing a library community defined by engagement and empathy. Paula Willey and Andria Amaral, authors of The Passive Programming Playbook: 101 Ways to Get Library Customers Off the Sidelines, show how to turn your high concept goals into inclusive reality with practical examples of passive programming that works, taking a problem-solving approach to space, time, and money limitations - including how to create interactive programming when the doors to the library are locked.

Course Date:On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:: In this webinar, Chelsea Price, tiny library director and author of 209 Big Programming Ideas for Small Budgets, offers up strategies for combatting burnout and feelings of job-related guilt, helpful resources for relighting your programming fire, and awesome program ideas to fit any budget. Attendees of this webinar will learn how to handle a bad case of the "shoulds" and how to rethink productivity during these trying times. In addition, staff from libraries of any size should leave this webinar feeling invigorated and inspired, with a long list of resources and ideas!
 

Course Date: Thursday, July 13th 2:00 pm CST

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:As our library clientele becomes more diverse, so must our programming. The good news is that you already have the skills and access to the resources you need to research, plan, and deliver targeted programming in languages other than English. In this webinar, we'll focus on how to adapt your current storytimes for Spanish/English storytimes. You can use this same process to deliver storytimes in any language.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration:56 min

Course Description:This on-demand webinar from Niche Academy is designed to help libraries develop targeted outcomes to use when designing online programs to maximize the learning opportunities and measure the resulting value of them from attendees.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:This webinar was originally presented in August 2021 as part of Ryan Dowd’s ongoing monthly trainings. You’ll learn the four problems with the way most people do backup, how to provide backup correctly, and how to use backup to train new staff. 

Note: Must create a free WebJunction Account to access

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:This webinar was originally presented in October 2019 as part of Ryan Dowd’s ongoing monthly trainings. You will learn how to coach your staff, the different between “red” rules and “blue” rules, and after incident reviews.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:This webinar was originally presented in April 2023 as part of Ryan Dowd’s ongoing monthly trainings. You will learn how two strategies for staying calm when conflict starts, how to know you’ve passed the “effectiveness threshold” and how to exit the situation, plus much more!

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:This presentation addresses the issue of library services to those with intellectual disability (ID), the subject of a recently published book by Matt Conner and Leah Plocharczyk. Library service to those with ID is at once a pressing problem in great need of attention and a great challenge to the library profession which, in a time of heightened awareness of diversity, has implications for our entire professional identity.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration:30 min

Course Description: This resource from Lethbridge Public Library discusses a welcoming mindset, the powering of listening, and dealing with angry customers. 

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration:40 min

Course Description: This Niche Academy training by the Monarch Center for Autism includes a presentation on understanding autism and how libraries can be welcoming.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:Being a successful librarian means more than knowing how to catalog, read a MARC record, or find resources for a student writing a paper. It means having soft skills that fill in gaps when theory and technical knowledge don’t answer patron questions or tell you how to be a team player. In this webinar, Melissa Lockaby will address some of the knowledge, skills, and abilities that aren’t covered in a classroom, why they are important, and how they can make you a better librarian.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:: In this webinar, Deborah Hamilton will focus on how to handle legal questions from patrons. We will look at how to do a legal reference interview and what types of information you can provide; how to connect with legal service organizations in the community so you can make good referrals; and discuss possible ideas for legal programs that you can offer to your patrons.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:: In this webinar, librarian Vikki Terrile provides an overview of family homelessness in the United States and how libraries can support children and families in homeless situations.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour 20 min

Course Description:A presentation on mental health, stress, and stigma by Mental Health American of Northeast Indiana. Recorded July 2021.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour 30 min

Course Description:This training discusses understanding emotional agility and why we need it and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:Library work can be stressful. Low budgets and pay, high workloads, patrons with challenging behaviors, never-ending projects, and rapid technology changes all take their toll on employees. Helping professions are prone to secondary trauma stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. This workplace stress causes physical, emotional, social, and cognitive changes in staff and can result in poor service, absenteeism, and high turnover. As a director, finding ways to address workplace stress is good for your staff, library, and community.

Course Date: On Demand

Course Duration: 1 hour

Course Description:Join change management expert Debra Westwood in this interactive webinar where she will identify the factors that contribute to burnout as well as techniques for avoiding or alleviating those conditions. Attendees will learn skills that can be applied at work and at home, and be able to formulate a plan to put those new tools into action.