[OPLINLIST] Helping the Self-Helpers

[Dorothy Sinclair]

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Summer Reading Workshops 


Children's Summer Reading Workshop East, March 6th 

Children's Summer Reading Workshop Central - Part 1, March 11 

Children's Summer Reading Workshop Central - Part 2, March 11 

"If I can't find it, it must not exist to be found." 

Great interactions take place in libraries all the time, but lots of people miss out on them. They're the self-helpers. They don't ask questions. If they can't find what they're looking for, they often just leave without getting any closer to what they came to find. 

These are missed opportunities for patrons, but they're also missed opportunities for libraries. Conversations, however brief, often introduce new services and features. They also introduce new relationships, even when there are no names exchanged. And relationships have a huge role in bringing people back to libraries. 

Academic libraries have a special stake in this, since libraries can contribute to student retention. They can be where students make personal connections to universities. It's tough to ask a professor a question that might make you look foolish. Feeling like no one's there to help you can contribute to a student deciding to drop out. That's a big loss for that student, the university, and the community. 

SWON's Academic Special Interest Group is meeting on this very topic; on March 18th . They're doing a review of the literature around libraries and retention, and they'll have open discussion time where libraries can share what they're already doing. Register here: http://oh.evanced.info/swon/lib/eventsignup.asp?ID=460 



New Library Story Contest Count-down: 1 Month Left! 

There are just four more weeks until the deadline for SWON's New Library Story Contest. Go grab an entry form and send in your idea by March 15th to be eligible for the $250 prize: http://www.swonlibraries.org/content/new-library-story-contest 

Too many people only see the library as they drive by, and from the outside it may not look like much has changed in the past 10 years. We know that's not true, but it's difficult to get that message across. Help us--help everyone--by creating a story that will get people to visit the library again, and we'll tell your story by making it into a video! Enter now! 



Come check us out on our calendar at http://tiny.cc/SWON-Calendar 

Website, swonlibraries.org 

Facebook Page SWON Libraries 

Twitter at SWONlibraries 

Tell us what you think and what you would like to see more from us. 


Save the Date: 

Spring Staff Training Symposium, May 21st 




Calendar Snippet 

February 2013 


Event 	Date 	Location 
Presidents' Day 	2/18/13 	SWON Office Closed 
17+ Ways to Nurture Your Patron Relationships 	2/19/13 	On line 
Teen Summer Reading Webinar 	2/20/13 	On line 
The Nitty Gritty of Social Media Part 4: Teens, Tweens, & Social Media 	2/21/13 	On line 
Library Directors/Personnel Directors SIG Meeting 	2/22/13 	SWON Conference Room 
Outreach SIG Meeting 	2/22/13 	SWON Conference Room 
MS PowerPoint 2007 	2/25/13 	Boone County Public Library 
Models for Future Library Services 	2/26/13 	On line 
Teen Summer Reading Webinar 	2/27/13 	On line 
ILIG Instruction Librarians Interest Group Meeting 	2/28/13 	Xavier University 
Increasing the Appeal of Digital Signage in Your Library 	2/28/13 	On line 


Contact Information: 
SWON Libraries Consortium 
10250 Alliance Rd. 
Blue Ash, OH 45242 
513.751.4422 
swonlibraries.org 




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