2023-05-26 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 14, Issue 3

Featured Story

Libraries and Entrepreneurial Support

Libraries have seen an increased demand for implementing programs and services to support budding entrepreneurs. Libraries play a crucial role in workforce development within the community. 
 
Libraries help support their entrepreneurial community by providing:

  • Access to Wi-Fi and technology
  • Spaces to meet and work
  • E-Learning options to increase skills
  • Programming and events targeted towards entrepreneurs
  • Marketing insights and community demographics
  • Makerspaces with fabrication equipment
  • Access to industry experts
  • Community Resources

GALE provides some great resources for entrepreneurs, and webinars on how to use them. The Meridian Library District offers GALE Business Plan Builder, GALE Legal Forms and GALE Demographics Now. Gale Legal Forms also contains small business forms for things like hr, payroll, and others.
 
The “Libraries as Launchpads” program in partnership with Creative Startups helps establish libraries as an entrepreneurial hub. I was recently accepted into this program as well as our Business Liaison Librarian who will become a certified Entrepreneurship Librarian. As part of this program, a self guided course is provided for entrepreneurs with a 5 module process that walks you through the steps to test the viability of your business idea. Libraries as Launchpads has reiterated to me the need for, and has deepened my understanding of how libraries can further support entrepreneurs and small business owners.
 
Additional resources on supporting small businesses and entrepreneurship in your community:

  • The Libraries Build Business Playbook was created by the American Library Association with support from Google.org in coordination with the Libraries Build Business initiative to help you implement business and entrepreneurial services in your library. 
  • WebJunction provides What Are the Next Steps for My Library with 25 ways you can integrate yourself into the community. This includes beginning steps that could be useful for a small or rural library.
  • EBSCO has an On-Demand webinar series Libraries and Entrepreneurship. 

Sources:
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/workforce/grant 
https://www.ebsco.com/blogs/ebscopost/2177957/top-7-ways-libraries-can-support-small-businesses-and-entrepreneurs  
https://programs.creativestartups.org/ 

By Mariah Farmer

Fail Forward

We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.

Finding the Perfect Outreach Program Times

Finding the right program times is such a challenge, especially for locations that are somewhat unusual. For instance, my literacy center at the Get the Funk Out laundromat now has a regular program time! However, the time that we picked out is showing itself to be unideal. I gave it a good few months before deciding to transition it to another time. We were doing an afternoon time that we have seen traffic in previously with our target audience. However, the programs have had small attendance. While this has still been great to see and working with families has been so meaningful at a smaller scale, I think a better time would benefit more people. As the outreach team thought more logically about family times, we decided to mirror our regular storytime hours instead. In my head, it feels like a good time to do laundry for the family and have an active toddler/preschooler would be after dropping off older kids or seeing them off at the bus station and before lunch/nap times and then trying to pick the kids up again. I wouldn’t really call this a failure, as all programming and outreach is a constant exercise in creative problem solving and trying out new ideas, but after a few tries at the afternoon time, I started to really try to think more as a family member would who needs to use a laundromat for their chores. I won’t know until a few of the new program times have passed if our attendance will increase, but I am hoping that it will be a more accommodating time for our residents.

By Monique Gaddy

Crush Corner

Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you? What about a new idea, book, or resource that you want to share? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who or what they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!

Librarypunk

Today I want highlight Librarypunk – self-described as a “leftist library worker podcast.” The hosts are all veteran library workers with a wide range of experiences and a deep distrust for institutions. The production is not smooth, the audio is rough, and the content is decidedly explicit. But the show has quickly become one of my favorite sources for library information. It’s funny, queer, and pro-worker in a way that I find deeply refreshing. The hosts also know their stuff, and each episode comes with a plethora of links for further reading. Check out episode 80, “Moms for Libraries,” as a starting point. (Also the opinions expressed here are totally my own and don’t reflect the positions of SPLAT or ICFL).

By Simon Clifford

SPLAT explores the ever-evolving library world and supports library folks as they adapt to meet the needs of their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at https://libraries.idaho.gov/splat/ 

SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and was made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-246156-OLS-20). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.