Upcoming Opportunities
These opportunities are available for free unless otherwise noted. Descriptions are provided by host organizations.
Awards, Scholarships, Stipends, and Grants
Now Open
The Texas Library Association (TLA) offers awards and scholarships honoring excellence in, and contributions to, the library profession. In addition, TLA offers stipends to help defray the costs of attending Annual Conference and membership, and many TLA units also offer awards and scholarships. Applications are now open; apply to help your work get recognized! For more information, visit the association’s awards, scholarships, and stipends webpage.
Tell Us Your Library’s Story: The 2024 Texas Public Libraries Annual Report
January 9, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. CT
Take a deep dive into all of the facets and requirements for submitting a Texas Public Libraries Annual Report. We’ll look at each section of the report, discuss the definitions and expectations, and explain how you can best communicate what happened in your library last year. Great refresh for experienced submitters; essential information for those doing it for the first time.
Welcome to SHAREit for Statewide Interlibrary Loan
January 29, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. CT
Join TSLAC staff for an overview of the SHAREit interlibrary loan system. Libraries that have not yet had a chance to use SHAREit for interlibrary loan will want to attend this session as a kick-off to going live on the system.
This webinar is specifically for Texas libraries that:
- Are accredited but staff have not yet completed the required trainings to go live on SHAREit.
- Are newly accredited and need to configure their accounts in SHAREit in addition to completing the required trainings.
This session will be recorded for those unable to attend the live presentation.
To register for these webinars, visit the Continuing Education and Consulting team’s Upcoming Webinars webpage.
E-Read Texas: An Overview
January 30, 2025 | 11:00 a.m. CT
Did you know the Texas State Library and Archives Commission has a free e-book and audiobook program for eligible public libraries? E-Read Texas is a program offered by the Texas State Library to bring e-books and audiobooks to small and medium-sized community libraries in all parts of the state. The collection includes nearly 20,000 titles, comprised of adult fiction, popular nonfiction, and young adult titles. This webinar will give you an overview of the E-Read Texas program and the Boundless mobile app and will explain how you can sign up for the program.
2024-2025 Letters About Literature Texas Competition
February 3, 2025
Texas 4th-12th graders are invited to participate in Letters About Literature Texas, an annual writing competition administered by the Texas Center for the Book. Students select a book, book series, essay, play, poem, short story, or speech and write a letter to an author—living or dead—explaining how his or her work changed their view of themselves or the world. Parents, guardians, educators, and public and school librarians are encouraged to promote the contest to their students. Submissions will be accepted through February 3, 2025. For more information, visit the contest webpage.
Competitive Grant Applications Open
The application cycle for TSLAC’s state fiscal year 2026 competitive grants is now open:
- TexTreasures Grants – Deadline: February 10, 2025
- Special Projects Grants – Deadline: February 10, 2025
- Texas Reads Grants – Deadline: March 7, 2025
Grant guidelines for the programs, as well as specific information about the application process, past recipients, and additional resources are on the TSLAC Grant Programs page.
Building Community: Strategies for Coming Together
January 15, 2025 | 2:00 p.m. ET
For some time now, many communities have been grappling with political division and conflict. How can the library be a more positive and unifying influence?
Part of the solution is “turning outward”- the shift in librarianship that sees our services as part of a web of social assets to provide coordinated responses to pressing community needs. But to make this real we need to build narratives founded on human story, on evidence, and a deliberate frame of both individual and social value.
Join Jamie LaRue to learn strategies for coming together with community. By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to
- Articulate library services in a “community building” framework.
- Describe a low-cost process for gathering community wisdom.
- Build protocols that help frame public meetings and services around a larger framework of shared values.
- Demonstrate civic courage and institutional purpose.
For more information, visit the event webpage.
Award Nominations
Opens January 21, 2025
The Association for Rural & Small Libraries’ (ARSL) Awards for Libraries and Library Works will be opening for nominations on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. Awards will be based on nominees’ accomplishments during the preceding year (January-December 2024), with the exception of the Distinguished Service Award that can take into account nominees’ career-long community engagement. Nominators will be asked to describe their nominees’ commitment to ARSL’s Organizational Values, as well as the strength of their professional practice in the focus area of the award for which they are being nominated. Individuals or organizations can be nominated for multiple awards, but will only be able to win one award per year. Self-nominations and nominations by non-library individuals or organizations are acceptable. For more information, visit the association’s awards webpage.
Certified Entrepreneurship Librarian Rural Libraries Scholarship
January 29, 2025
Creative Startups: Libraries as Launchpads announces open enrollment to register for the Libraries as Launchpads Certification One – Entrepreneurship Librarian Certification Program. Upon completion, librarians are equipped and ready to support aspiring local entrepreneurs and small business owners find the resources they need to grow their businesses. This scholarship offers 3 free seats to small and rural libraries based on identified needed and ability to fully commit. For more information, please visit the scholarship website.
An Ethical Reflection Aid for Implementing AI in Libraries and Archives (webinar)
February 12, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. CT
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in libraries and archives as a powerful tool for enhancing metadata, improving search and discovery, recommending resources, powering library chatbots, and more. However, AI systems also have the potential to cause social, technical, and ethical problems. In response to these issues, the IMLS-funded Responsible AI in Libraries and Archives project has created an ethical reflection aid to facilitate responsible implementation of AI systems in libraries and archives. The ethical reflection aid incorporates LIS professional values such as Privacy and Consent, Resource Responsibility, Organizational Transparency, Literacy, and Access. During this webinar, members of the project team will discuss research results and introduce the prototype ethical reflection aid. For more information, visit the webinar webpage.
Library of Congress Literacy Award
February 18, 2025
The Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program honors organizations that have made outstanding contributions to increasing literacy in the United States or abroad. The awards are intended to draw public attention to the importance of literacy, and the need to promote literacy and encourage reading. By recognizing current achievements, the awards seek to enable any organization or program that does not operate on a for-profit basis to strengthen its involvement in literacy and reading promotion and to encourage collaboration with like-minded organizations. The awards also encourage the continuing development of innovative methods for combating illiteracy and the wide dissemination of the most effective practices. For more information, visit the program webpage.
Big Talk From Small Libraries
February 28, 2025 | 8:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. CT
This free one-day online conference is tailored for staff from small libraries – the smaller the better! Each of the speakers is from a library serving fewer than 10,000 people or is directly partnered with a small library and co-presenting with the library. Topics range from technology to programming to new roles for the library. This event is a great opportunity to learn about the innovative things your colleagues are doing in their small libraries. Everyone is welcome to register and attend, regardless of how big or small your library. But, if your library serves a few hundred to a few thousand people, this is the day for you! For more information, visit the conference webpage.
Ongoing Tools
These tools are available for free unless otherwise noted. Descriptions are provided by host organizations.
Introduction to Measuring Your Impact
Your nonprofit does great work, but what is most important is the impact of that work. How do you demonstrate that your programs get results? An outcome-centric approach will lead to stronger program design and increased funding opportunities for your organization. In this introductory course for beginners, learn the basics of shifting focus from your nonprofit’s activities to its outcomes. We will demystify the language of outcomes measurement and guide you through the process of creating logic models for programs.
This course will prepare you to:
- Draft SMART objectives for a program
- Identify the parts of a logic model
- Report the impact on your Candid profile
For more information, visit the course webpage.
Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) Newsletter
The most recent edition features information about returning materials ordered from CSLP, a survey requesting input for the 2028 slogan and 2029 theme, an upcoming webinar, and adventuring with Smokey Bear. Read the CSLP newsletter online or subscribe and receive it in your inbox each month.
Bookclub Kits
NetGalley has partnered with publishers to create FREE online book club toolkits. Each kit is sponsored by the publisher and created with the help of the We Are Bookish team. These kits include author interviews, recipes, activities, book recommendations, and discussion questions for library, school, bookstore, and reader-driven clubs. For more information, visit the toolkits’ webpage.
“Quiet Quitting,” Productivity, and the Future of Work
In today’s rapidly evolving work landscape is a phenomenon known as “quiet quitting,” a subtle form of employee disengagement. Many experts feel this “checking out” is a rebellion against the persistent imbalance between work and life, a silent protest against the notion that the 40-hour workweek is both outdated and stifling. In this engaging presentation, Elaina Norlin delves into both sides of this compelling issue. On one hand, the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped priorities for countless employees, leading them to discover newfound passions and embrace a slower-paced life. But, we must also consider the flip side. If everyone embraces a “Quiet Quitters” approach and productivity and creativity decline, how can organizations compete for vital resources in an increasingly competitive world? For more information, visit the webinar webpage.
Digital Literacy and Technology (webinar)
In this recorded webinar from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s New Director Orientation series, Library Digital Opportunity (LDO) team – Henry Stokes, Program Coordinator; Promise Madu, Data and Project Coordinator; and Warren Davis, Community Engagement and Outreach Coordinator – shared updates on current upcoming digital literacy and technology opportunities. For access to the presentation recordings and resources, visit the “New Director Orientation” section of the Texas Public Library Management webpage.
For additional support with digital literacy and technology for Texas libraries, please visit the Technology and Digital Opportunity webpages or contact the Library Digital Opportunity team at LDO@tsl.texas.gov.
Need more support?
Resource Archive
Wish you had access to a repository of all the tools that are featured in the monthly Library Management Updates? Check out our Resource Archive for more information.
Continuing Education
In addition, be sure to peruse our continuing education offerings. Our resources are constantly updated, so check back often.
Questions?
For more information, visit our management services page or contact Christina Taylor at ctaylor@tsl.texas.gov.
