Health literacy is obtaining, processing, and understanding basic health information and services. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy indicates that only 12% of Americans have the necessary health literacy skills to meet their needs, including locating health services, understanding drug labels, and following treatment instructions. Libraries are a natural conduit for working to improve the health literacy of their communities. This session provides examples of ways in which libraries can incorporate health literacy into programs and services.

Have you recently been tasked with providing research data management services to your faculty and students but do not know where to start? Many grant funders and publishers are requiring authors and researchers to document how they will organize, share, and archive the data produced in their research, developing a research data management plan is quickly becoming an important part of the publishing process.

Libraries often must justify collection decisions and find creative ways to remove barriers to access. Attaining a broad understanding of intellectual freedom as a professional value will strengthen librarian’s ability to navigate challenges and implement effective policies.

Libraries of all sizes must be prepared to deliver services that reflect the changing needs of communities. They maintain critical relevancy by conducting regular and effective community needs assessments. Review examples of frameworks and tools needed to begin a new community needs assessment. Form an actionable plan to align with the library’s mission and vision and secure the library’s role as a vital organization in the community.

Interested in Genealogy? Do you know where to start? Which resources to use? How to keep track of it all? This course will demonstrate a step-by-step beginning research strategy by tracking down a specific ancestor and gathering their information and leads to other relatives. Learn to use a research journal, ancestor information sheets, and decipher database results. We'll use Ancestry Library Edition and Family Search to build our ancestor from scratch.

As libraries are moving services online, there is a renewed emphasis on chat and online reference services. How is chat reference different from traditional in-person reference? This course will provide techniques and best practices to provide effective chat reference services. We will learn how to conduct a thorough online reference interview and explore tools and apps for the virtual reference desk.

Cemetery searching may initially sound morbid, but the results can breathe new life into your local history and genealogy work. Cemetery records and headstones contain a wealth of information about ancestors and a location's most prominent citizens. Dig into the types of information found when researching cemeteries, how to locate burial records, and best practices for cemetery research.

Calling all bibliophiles! Come one, come all and put that lost spark back into your book discussion group this summer and fall. Let's discover and share proven tips and tricks to cultivate and revitalize an existing book group or launch a brand new one. Learn how to boost attendance in your face-to-face groups and explore the possibilities for building online groups.

Where do we come from? Researching our family history is becoming more popular with subscription services such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe ancestry kits. But what if we don’t want to spend a fortune answering this question? How can we find our ancestors without costly subscriptions? How can I confirm that my ancestors were from (insert country) or that the stories my great aunt tells are true? Knowing about free genealogy resources, both digital and physical, is one way to get started researching your genealogy.