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Volume XXXI, Issue II - June 2023

What's new at HQ?

Summer is almost upon us!

It's been a busy few months at Shortgrass; we've been hard at work rolling out new projects such as Patron Point, new WiFi infrastructure, and BLUEcloud Circulation – and of course, preparing for summer reading!

Read on to learn more about what Shortgrass staff & member libraries have been up to over the past few months.

Upcoming Events

June: Pride Month; Indigenous History Month.

June 12-26: Official launch of the TD Summer Reading Club 2023.

June 21: Joint Library Manager & SLS Board Meeting.

July 1: Canada Day (Shortgrass office closed; missed deliveries will be made up on the following business day).

August 3-16: "Cabinet of Curiosities" magic show at participating member libraries.

August 7: Heritage Day (Shortgrass office closed; missed deliveries will be made up on the following business day).

August 16: SLS Board Meeting.

September 4: Labour Day (Shortgrass office closed; missed deliveries will be made up on the following business day).

September 18: Library Manager Meeting.

September 20: SLS Board Meeting.

Joint Manager & Board Summer BBQ and Meeting

After a several-year hiatus, the June Barbeque is returning in 2023. Member library managers and board chairs are invited to join the Shortgrass Board of Trustees and staff on June 21st for networking, a presentation by PLSB, and a shared BBQ lunch. A brief agenda of the day is as follows:

9.30am: Welcome & refreshments.

10.00am: Respectful Collaboration: Navigating Library Board and Staff Relations, presented by Ken Allan and Katrina Peachey (PLSB).

11.30am: Buffet BBQ lunch.

1.00pm: Shortgrass Board Meeting.

If you have not yet RSVP'd, please do so as soon as possible for catering purposes, by emailing Petra.

Professional Collection

Shortgrass Library System has a professional development collection that is available to staff at all member libraries! This small but mighty collection of works will help you develop your skills in programming, management, planning, and more.

To borrow any of these books, log in to WorkFlows and search for the title. Be sure to search under "Keyword" rather than "Browse". Place the titles you are interested in on hold, and they will be sent to your library.

Check out Readers' Advisory Services in the Public Library by Joyce Saricks to learn all the secrets of recommending books- there's a lot more to it than you might think! For example, do you know how to find out what "appeal factors" help a patron love a book?

Patron Point Email Marketing Tool

Shortgrass is excited to announce that we are now offering member libraries access to Patron Point- a customer relationship management platform designed specifically for libraries!

Patron Point will help member libraries effectively communicate with patrons via email. This includes regular newsletters (such as our very own Shortgrass Clippings), in addition to "set it and forget it" campaigns.

Shortgrass is close to launching our first email campaign at participating libraries. This campaign will automatically send a series of emails to new library members, welcoming them and introducing them to all the amazing things that their library has to offer. Once set-up is complete, there will be little to no work required- the emails will simply be sent every time someone signs up for a library card!

Member libraries: if you are interested in using Patron Point to distribute newsletters to your patrons, get in touch with Kait and Lauralee for more information and to set up training.

Five Fun Facts about our Driver, Larry!

1. I am married to Marlene, I have two daughters - Jocelyne who is an Ultrasound Tech in Saskatoon and Brittany who is a Nurse in Medicine Hat. Brittany is married to Tarek and they have a 2 year old girl Naya.

2. I'm a space nerd. I am interested in astronomy, cosmology and manned space flight. I was a director of the Medicine Hat Astronomy Club (Sunridge Observatory). As an amateur astronomer I enjoy looking at planetary objects and occasionally go comet hunting.

3. I enjoy golfing and watching football. I'm a long-suffering Saskatchewan Roughrider and Minnesota Viking fan.

4. My hidden talent is beatboxing. If I know the song I can beatbox to it. I can even sing while beatboxing.

5. Currently, I am the director of the Creation Discovery Centre located in Brooks. There I plan astronomy nights, kids space and dinosaur camps and act as a tour guide.

Larry is one of Shortgrass' three delivery drivers, transporting library materials across the system. He makes sure that all your books and kits get to where they need to go!

CEO Update

Petra Mauerhoff, CEO

Summer is here!

The provincial election has concluded and Alberta’s public libraries were fortunate to receive an increase in operating grants from the provincial government. However, that doesn’t mean that library advocacy efforts can stop. Keeping the needs of public libraries in the minds of our politicians through ongoing advocacy efforts is a good way to ensure that funding increases are considered more frequently, to better keep up with inflation and actual expenses. A good advocacy plan will ensure that your local politicians see the library as more than just the building full of books, and allow them to see it as the thriving community space, requiring the support of councils and the government to continue successfully into the future.

Summer is here and Shortgrass staff are busy working on summer reading program prep, our summer student Sierra is back for her 2nd year with Shortgrass to help Kait with program development, and we are getting everything ready for the “June BBQ” on the 21st of June.

Our IT team at Partek has been busy completing the WiFi upgrade in all member libraries and we are excited to improve services in member libraries.

I look forward to seeing everyone in June, and hope you all have a great summer!

Petra

Client Services Update

Kait McClary, Client Services Librarian

Summer Reading Program 2023

Summer Reading is just weeks away, so here are your summer updates!

Shortgrass' summer student Sierra is joining us again this summer- welcome back, Sierra! She will be joining Kait for summer events at member libraries, including parades and programs.

We are so excited to share that magician Christopher Cool will be joining us this summer to host his magic show, "Cabinet of Curiosities". Christopher Cool will be visiting each member library in August to put on a spectacular show!

All summer items that you have ordered via Shortgrass, including promotional materials, prizes, and tshirts, will be heading to your library over the next several weeks. Keep an eye on your deliveries!

And finally, if you haven't finished planning your summer programs yet, remember that many kits are still available! If you would like assistance navigating the programming kit calendar, please get in touch with Kait.

Have a great summer- and remember to track your statistics!

eSkills Challenge

Thank you to everyone who participated in our eSkills Challenges over the past year!

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022-2023 eSkills Challenges:

• Solaro (Sept/Oct 2022): Joan, Irvine Community Library
• Google Workspace (Nov/Dec 2022): Joan, Foremost Municipal Library
• PressReader (Feb/March 2023): Anita, Tilley & District Public Library
• Consumer Reports (April/May 2023): Cathryn, Brooks Public Library

The eSkills Challenge is now on hiatus for the summer, and will return in Fall 2023.

Programming Kits

Shortgrass has some new programming kits! These kits are available to borrow now- contact Kait for details.

Glow in the Dark Mini Golf- play mini golf indoors or out, day or night! This fun 5-hole set is made of neon glow-in-the-dark colours, and includes everything you need for a fun afternoon of minigolf.

Trivia Night- this kit contains everything you need to host a trivia night at your library! With 250 questions divided into 25 rounds, you can use this program to run a successful trivia program or fundraiser. This kit is intended for adult and teen programs.

Systems and Technical Services Update

Lauralee Gilmour, Manager, Systems and Technical Services

Order From Almost Anywhere Through Shortgrass!

Did you know Shortgrass can order materials for your library from more than just ULS, CVS, and Whitehots? We can also order from Amazon, Chapters, or any other online retailer!

If you're doing this on your own, make your life easier and get Shortgrass to do the work for you. Just contact acquisitions@shortgrass.ca for more info.

System-Wide WiFi Upgrades Nearly Complete

Shortgrass is excited to announce that our WiFi Upgrade project is nearly complete!

Our previous WiFi infrastructure served us well for many years, but was reaching "end of life". This meant that WiFi at member libraries was too slow, did not reach far enough, and was prone to issues.

In February 2023, the Shortgrass Library Board approved a $25,000+ project to upgrade to the faster and more secure WiFi 6. WiFi is a core, essential service for all Shortgrass member libraries, so ensuring your infrastructure is up-to-date is important to us!

The new WiFi has been installed at 13/14 member libraries, with the final upgrade scheduled to be completed in the next week or so. Libraries are already reporting how happy they are with the new WiFi!

Irvine's Internet Woes...

The Irvine library was cursed to live in interesting times this spring. An internet outage adventure began in early April, and we wandered along a path of Xplore hardware replacement, bizarre firewall issues with the newly upgraded Xplore network that were escalated all the way to Fortinet's internal research team to investigate (the big guns!), and lots of ideas for temporary solutions to get the library and patrons back online.

The Alcoma library generously lent their wifi hotspot as an emergency bandaid to provide Irvine staff and patrons with internet access, and Shortgrass lent USB wifi adapters to allow the Irvine PCs to connect to it. (If any libraries need to borrow a wifi adapter in future, ask headquarters - we have some!)

However, this could not be a permanent solution. Nor could the library switch to Telus internet service, which was recently rolled out in Irvine, but only via hotspots with floating IP addresses – these can't provide the static IP that's required for WorkFlows and other library services like Ancestry. As a partial workaround, Shortgrass did a "quick and dirty" emergency launch of the cloud-based BLUEcloud Circulation website, with Irvine as the initial pilot library, so that Irvine staff could access basic circulation functionality.

In the end, Cypress County came to the rescue and provided the best possible solution. The county's existing plan for internet service at the under-construction new library building in Irvine (set to open next year) was to go with Starlink, since extending a fibre SuperNet connection to the library from its current end-point is not cost-effective. The county has been strongly supportive of library services in Irvine, and hearing about the ongoing internet struggles, decided to go ahead with the Starlink equipment purchase immediately instead of waiting for the new library to be built.

As of the publication of this newsletter, the Starlink equipment has arrived and is about to be installed! We are all thrilled, and expect this to be a major improvement in terms of internet speed and stability for Irvine patrons and staff.

What's New at Shortgrass Member Libraries?

Five Fun Facts about Redcliff Public Library Manager, Tracy!

1. My husband and I are empty nesters but we love when any or all of our five children return home.

2. I am currently training to do the Rock n Roll Run Series 10 km Run on the Vegas Strip in February 2024!

3. I have been at the Redcliff Public Library for almost 16 years, manager for the last 14 years.

4. My husband and I plan to travel more now that there are no children at home, but our next trip is to Vegas in July with all the kids and their partners!

5. I also have a side hustle as a Zyia Activewear Rep. Contact me if you need a rep!

Bassano Memorial Library added to Veterans Affairs Cenotaph Directory

Bassano Memorial Library and the cenotaph next door have both been officially added to the Veterans Affairs Canada cenotaph directory!

Cold Case Night at Graham Community Library

Graham Community Library hosted their first adult program in several years- a Cold Case Night! Teams joined library staff for catered snacks and then attempted to solve a cold case. The first group to solve the case won!

20 people attended this popular program, and the feedback was great– there are already requests for another one soon!

In Library News...

Saying Goodbye to the Overdrive App

The Overdrive app was permanently discontinued on May 1, 2023. Going forward, patrons will need to access the Libby app to read eBooks and magazines and listen to audiobooks on mobile devices.

These changes do not impact the Overdrive website, or built-in Overdrive functionality on Kobo eReaders.

If you want to brush up on your Libby skills to help your patrons with the changes, check out the on-demand webinar linked below!

Minister's Awards for
Public Library Excellence 2023

Have you submitted your library for consideration for the 2023 Minister's Awards for Municipal and Public Library Excellence?

Four awards will be distributed to Alberta public libraries this year: two will go to library boards serving a population of under 10,000, and two will go to library boards serving a population over 10,000.

Check out past recipients here, and follow the link below for more information on how to apply.

Applications close on June 15th!

Professional Development & Training

The Fight Against Book Bans:
How Do We Move Forward?

Book challenges and bans have been on the rise across the nation since 2020, especially in public and school libraries. Many librarians have faced these challenges with courage and commitment to the principles of intellectual freedom and access to information, while others have yet to deal with this issue.

In this presentation, Shannon Oltmann will refresh our understanding of intellectual freedom, explore the rise in book challenges, consider how to respond to challenges, and draw on the experiences and perspectives of other library professionals.

Wednesday June 13th, 12-1pm

Library Services to Homeschoolers

Are all learners welcome in your library? There are at-home learners in your community, and the library is the single most important resource to DIY educators.

Join Christina Giovannelli Caputo, author of Library Services to Homeschoolers: A Guide to learn how to engage homeschoolers in your community and welcome all learners to your library. 

Available any time on-demand.

Dewey Divas: Summer 2023 Top Picks

The Dewey Divas Summer webinar series is coming soon!

The summer webinar series will be held on June 20, 2023 (Adult Picks) and June 21, 2023 (Kids & Teen Picks), featuring their top picks for Canadian libraries publishing between May-August 2023.

Wednesday June 20th, 11am - 12.30pm

Thursday June 21st, 11am - 12.30pm

The Librarian's Guide to Homelessness

Until December 2023, Shortgrass Library System is providing member libraries with The Librarian's Guide to Homelessness. This is an empathy-based training program aimed at providing frontline library staff with the tools to help them manage problem situations.

Consisting of a three-hour Core Training session and 30+ additional one-hour modules, this training is available to all member library staff/volunteers.

While "Homelessness" may be in the title, the course goes far beyond that one subject. Various modules dive into issues such as dealing with unsupervised children and teenagers; handling sensitive subjects such as body odour; de-escalating fights before they happen; and more.

To access the training, please get in touch with Kait. This training is available until mid-December, 2023.

Don't forget that our virtual meeting software, Zoom, is available to all Shortgrass member libraries.

Please contact Lauralee if you would like to book Zoom to host your next virtual program or
Library Board Meeting.

Share Your Stories!

Anything new to share? Send us your photos, stories, and updates!

• Screenshots of a popular online event
• Photos of what's going on at your library- displays, programs, renovations, weeding projects
• News about your library

Submit updates to newsletter@shortgrass.ca

Shortgrass Library System

Resourceful by Nature

shortgrass.ca

2375 10th Ave SW, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 8G2

Tel. (403) 529-0550 ext 101 Toll Free Number 1-866-529-0550 ext 101

Shortgrass Library System honours and acknowledges that we are situated on Treaty 7 and Treaty 4 territory, traditional lands of the Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, Stoney-Nakoda, and Tsuut’ina as well as the Cree, Sioux, and the Saulteaux bands of the Ojibwa peoples. We also honor and acknowledge that we are on the homelands of the Metis Nation within Region III.

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