SACRAMENTO, CA- MJD Founder to present at the first VIRTUAL Conference for the California Library Association. This year's conference theme is fittingly: RENAISSANCE- The Library Renewal.
Libraries throughout California had to close their doors to the public, because of the COVID pandemic. The immediate thought is that Libraries only provide books to the public, but in fact there are so many more resources that libraries provide to the public. Internet Access, Printing, Testing Services, Access to authors, social events, public archives, research search engines, grant search engines, not to mention bathrooms, clean water, climate controlled spaces for the general public.
Because of the closure, community connectivity has suffered.
Me'Lisa James, of MJD understood from her first few outreach events the power of giving books to youth and their families. The bonding that took place between parents and children. But also understood how crucial the community hubs of libraries are to the public. The ultimate question in her mind being: what happens when the world opens up again. How will libraries reach the community again. How will library staff expand their reach to families who need their resources most?
These are questions that needed to be addressed as the pre-COVID world is long gone, and going forward there will have to be more emphasis on community connections especially with communities of color who were hit the hardest health wise and financially due to the pandemic.
And so Me'Lisa will be presenting the findings from her research and how libraries can can build or revamp their outreach strategy from 2021 forward. The presentation is entitled: Return of the Traveling Library- A Pop up Literacy Model in California's Capital City!
The California Library Association is dedicated to developing leaders in California Libraries. "The Annual Conference is California's premier event for library professionals. The California library community comes to the CLA conference for high-quality training workshops and peer-presented programs, networking opportunities, world-renowned speakers, special events, and to meet vendors and check out their latest products and services." Learn more about the association at: https://www.cla-net.org/
