Latest News + Hitchhiker Blog

May Online Professional Development Opportunities – FREE

Check out the Professional Development Calendar for more information and to register for the following FREE online professional development opportunities:

ADVOCACY
May 25: Storytelling for Impact (Firespring)
May 27: Good Trouble: How to Advocate for Change (Nonprofit Learning Lab)

ASSESSMENT & PLANNING
At Your Leisure: Rethinking How We Measure the Impact of Libraries (Bibliotheca)
May 13: First Steps to Nonprofit Strategic Planning, Now! (Bloomerang)
May 18: Deep Fakes and Social Media (DigitalGov)
May 18: Celebrating the Woman Suffrage Centennial: What Happened and What Have We Learned? (National Archives)

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
May 11: Don’t Forget to Remember: Tools to Support Memory (PACER Center)

BOARDS
May 20: Be More Productive, Powerful & Persuasive with Board, Staff & Donors (Bloomerang)

CAREERS
May 5: Is Starting A Nonprofit Right For You? (Candid Learning)
May 6: You’ve Been Let Go From Your Nonprofit Job – Now What? (Bloomerang)
May 13: Becoming… An Early Childhood Leader with a Progressive Lens (Early Childhood Investigations)
May 18: Understanding the Role of Public Library Directors (Public Library Association)

CHILDREN & TEENS
May 6: Effective Strategies for Coordinating Summer Reading Growth for K-3 Learners (edWeb.net)
May 10: Introducing “Outdoor School” from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (Booklist)
May 19: Nature-based Learning Environments: What Every Early Childhood Program Leader Needs to Know (Early Childhood Investigations)
May 22: Tech for Girls: Science Under the Sea (PACER Center)

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT
May 3: Shake Up Your Shelves: Diversify Your Book Collection! (School Library Journal)
May 4: Understanding the Present and Future of Diverse Children’s Literature (Mackin)
May 10: Introducing “Outdoor School” from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (Booklist)
May 11: Picture Books for Summer & Beyond (Booklist)
May 11: MarcEdit for Beginners (Federal Depository Library Program)
May 18: Windows & Mirrors (Booklist)
May 19: Collections Emergency Kits (Connecting to Collections Care)
May 19: Preservation 101: Basic Planning for Future Access to Collections (Federal Depository Library Program)
May 20: Spanish Language Collection Development (Texas State Library and Archives Commission)
May 26: Importance of Tangible Formats (Federal Depository Library Program)
May 27: 2021 Michael L. Printz Celebration (YALSA)
May 27: BCALA’s Best of the Best Booklist: Diversity in Public and School Libraries (Follett)

COMMUNICATION
At Your Leisure: Communication Mistakes Only Really Really Smart Or Busy People Make (Pattern Research)
May 12: Managing Difficult Conversations at Work (EdSurge)
May 12: The Power of the Podcast: How Consultants and Other Experts Can Reach a Wider Audience (Early Childhood Investigations)
May 20: From A to Z: An Amazing Array of Awesome Antidotes for Zoom Fatigue (Training Magazine Network)
May 20: The Art of Effective Digital Workplaces: A Communication Style Workshop (Charity Village)
May 25: Storytelling for Impact (Firespring)
May 27: One More Time – Stop Lecturing in Webinars; Change 7 Deadly Habits (Training Magazine Network)

DIGITAL RESOURCES
May 12: Finding Genealogy Resources and Tools on Archives.gov (National Archives)

DATABASES & E-RESOURCES
May 12: Introduction to HeritageQuest (ProQuest)

DEVELOPMENT & MANAGING CHANGE
May 4: Leading Change: Breakthroughs Don’t Happen Overnight (Firespring)
May 5: Education Now: The Power of Resilience (Harvard Graduate School of Education)
May 7: Working towards Wellbeing: Setting Your Compass Heading Toward Community Wellbeing (Southern Tier Library System)
May 11: Sustainable development goals: Insights and inspiration (OCLC)
May 11: Mobile Device Lending: What Works and What Doesn’t (Utah State Library)
May 14: Working towards Wellbeing: Belonging: Practices, Beliefs and Impacts (Southern Tier Library System)
May 17: Ensuring a Leadership Pipeline with Succession Planning (FastForward Libraries)
May 18: Equitable Staffing Models in the Current and Post-Pandemic Landscape (Association of College & Research Libraries)
May 18: Prioritizing and Promoting Self-Care to Avoid Burnout (WebJunction)
May 20: From A to Z: An Amazing Array of Awesome Antidotes for Zoom Fatigue (Training Magazine Network)
May 21: Working towards Wellbeing: Resources for Deeper Understanding & Broader Impacts (Southern Tier Library System)
May 25: AI in Talent Development: Getting Started with an Educational Chatbot (InSyncTraining)
May 26: Getting Past Symptoms to the Root of the Problem: Tools for Root Cause Analysis (Colorado State Library)
May 26: Libraries Will Save the World! Implementing Sustainability at Your Library (Indiana State Library)
May 28: Working towards Wellbeing: Practices and their Evaluation (Southern Tier Library System)

EQUITY, DIVERSITY, & INCLUSION
At Your Leisure: Storytelling for Justice: How Libraries and Archives Hold History to Account (Andrew W. Mellon Foundation)
May 1: Tech for Teens: Coding Websites (PACER Center)
May 4: AASL Watch Party: Representation Matters (American Association of School Librarians)
May 12: OF-BY-FOR ALL: Co-Creating Programs and Developing Community Partnerships to Serve People with Disabilities in Libraries (Infopeople)
May 17: Equity, Care and Connection: New SEL Tools and Practices to Support Students and Adults (Education Week)
May 18: Equitable Staffing Models in the Current and Post-Pandemic Landscape (Association of College & Research Libraries)
May 18: Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (National Girls Collaborative Project)
May 20: How Public Libraries are part of the solution to food insecurity (Shareable)
May 20: Spanish Language Collection Development (Texas State Library and Archives Commission)
May 27: BCALA’s Best of the Best Booklist: Diversity in Public and School Libraries (Follett)

FUNDRAISING
May 3: donorCentrics® 2020 Annual Report on Higher Education Alumni Giving (Blackbaud)
May 5: Fundraising Metrics: Measure, Improve, Repeat (Nonprofit Hub)
May 12: Events in a Digital Age: How to Maximize Offline Events in an Online World (Firespring)
May 12: Resilient Fundraising in 2021: Adjusting Strategies to Today’s Reality (Nonprofit Hub)
May 20: How to Build Your Major Donor Portfolio (CharityHowTo)
May 20: Be More Productive, Powerful & Persuasive with Board, Staff & Donors (Bloomerang)
May 25: How to use coaching techniques to help solve your next fundraising challenge (CharityHowTo)
May 26: Optimizing Your Nonprofit’s Events to Fuel Fundraising Growth (Productive Fundraising)

LEGAL
At Your Leisure: Avoid Risk: When blocking on social media & the First Amendment intersect (ArchiveSocial)
May 13: Orientation to Legal Research Webinar Series: U.S. Federal Statutes (Law Library of Congress)
May 18: Orientation to Law Library Collections (Law Library of Congress)
May 19: Closer to Free: Aspirations v. Legal Limitations in Public Libraries (Colorado State Library)

MANAGEMENT
May 4: Training New Supervisors for Success: Don’t Start from Scratch (WebJunction)
May 18: 10-Step Budgeting Process (Propel Nonprofits)
May 19: Going Solo in the Library (Nebraska Library Commission)

OUTREACH & PARTNERSHIPS
May 20: How Public Libraries are part of the solution to food insecurity (Shareable)

PROGRAMMING
May 5: Adult Book Clubs During the Pandemic: Reports from the Field (Nebraska Library Commission)
May 11: Girls STEAM Ahead with NASA Free Resources (National Girls Collaborative Project)
May 12: OF-BY-FOR ALL: Co-Creating Programs and Developing Community Partnerships to Serve People with Disabilities in Libraries (Infopeople)
May 18: Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (National Girls Collaborative Project)
May 22: Tech for Girls: Science Under the Sea (PACER Center)

READERS’ ADVISORY
May 11: Picture Books for Summer & Beyond (Booklist)
May 18: Windows & Mirrors (Booklist)

REFERENCE
At Your Leisure: Small Business Administration Resources for Public Libraries (Montana State Library)
May 6: Advancing responsible research assessment: implications for librarians (Library Connect)
May 6: 10 Ways to Maximize Engagement at Your Virtual Events (Nonprofit Learning Lab)
May 6: Congress.gov Webinar (Law Library of Congress)
May 11: Census Data for Librarians (U.S. Census Bureau)
May 12: Innovation at Census: Experimental Data Products (U.S.Census Bureau)
May 13: Orientation to Legal Research Webinar Series: U.S. Federal Statutes (Law Library of Congress)
May 18: Orientation to Law Library Collections (Law Library of Congress)
May 25: Down the Rabbit Hole: The Congressional Budget Process (Federal Depository Library Program)
May 27: “The Invisible Industry: Strategies and Resources for Supporting Cannabis Entrepreneurs” (North Carolina Library Association)

SCHOOL LIBRARIES
May 1: Tech for Teens: Coding Websites (PACER Center)
May 3: Shake Up Your Shelves: Diversify Your Book Collection! (School Library Journal)
May 4: Understanding the Present and Future of Diverse Children’s Literature (Mackin)
May 4: AASL Watch Party: Representation Matters (American Association of School Librarians)
May 4: Engage & Inspire: Podcasting in the Classroom (TeachersFirst)
May 6: Effective Strategies for Coordinating Summer Reading Growth for K-3 Learners (edWeb.net)
May 10: Introducing “Outdoor School” from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (Booklist)
May 10: Bridging the Opportunity Gap: What Culturally Relevant Educators Do (edWeb.net)
May 11: Picture Books for Summer & Beyond (Booklist)
May 11: Girls STEAM Ahead with NASA Free Resources (National Girls Collaborative Project)
May 17: Equity, Care and Connection: New SEL Tools and Practices to Support Students and Adults (Education Week)
May 18: Windows & Mirrors (Booklist)
May 18: AASL Town Hall | Reflections and Plans for the Future: Our Pandemic Year (American Association of School Librarians)
May 18: Playlists to Personalize Learning (TeachersFirst)
May 19: Teaching Poetry: A Conversation with Alberto Ríos (Library of Congress)
May 24: Number 1 Reason to Teach Robotics: Application (edWeb.net)
May 27: 2021 Michael L. Printz Celebration (YALSA)
May 27: BCALA’s Best of the Best Booklist: Diversity in Public and School Libraries (Follett)

TECHNOLOGY
May 5: Four Apps Helping Nonprofits Successfully Respond to COVID-19 Challenges (TechSoup)
May 12: Consulting Secrets Revealed: Why Tech Adoption Fails (TechImpact)
May 12: Events in a Digital Age: How to Maximize Offline Events in an Online World (Firespring)
May 18: Deep Fakes and Social Media (DigitalGov)
May 25: AI in Talent Development: Getting Started with an Educational Chatbot (InSyncTraining)
May 26: Pretty Sweet Tech (Nebraska Library Commission)

TRAINING & INSTRUCTION
May 6: Next-level Gamification Strategies for Remote Learning (Training Industry)
May 6: Best Practices for Writing Voice-over Scripts for eLearning Courses (Training Magazine Network)
May 10: Bridging the Opportunity Gap: What Culturally Relevant Educators Do (edWeb.net)
May 11: Critical Hit: Using Dungeons & Dragons to Gamify Training and Evaluation (ALA’s Games & Gaming Round Table)
May 17: Equity, Care and Connection: New SEL Tools and Practices to Support Students and Adults (Education Week)
May 18: Playlists to Personalize Learning (TeachersFirst)
May 19: Nature-based Learning Environments: What Every Early Childhood Program Leader Needs to Know (Early Childhood Investigations)
May 19: Teaching Poetry: A Conversation with Alberto Ríos (Library of Congress)

VOLUNTEERS
May 5: Best Practices for Recruiting Online (VolunteerMatch)
May 17: Providing Remote and Virtual Volunteer Programs to Our Patrons (Idaho Commission for Libraries)
May 19: Engaging the Volunteer of the Future (VolunteerMatch)

*Training opportunities are compiled and shared by the Wyoming State Library each month via WebJunction. See WebJunction for detailed abstracts. Note: some of these opportunities may not be free.