LibraryLinkNJ News

For more details about any of our projects, programs, or services please visit the LibraryLinkNJ website!

For questions, suggestions, or help with your account, please reach out to our CE Team: ce@librarylinknj.org

Happy New Year from all of us at LibraryLinkNJ!

As we welcome 2025, we are filled with hope and excitement for the year ahead. January marks not just the beginning of a new year, but a renewed commitment to our mission of connecting New Jersey's libraries to each other and to the resources they need to serve their communities.

Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to library work, we have something for you. Our newsletter is packed with updates, upcoming workshops, and ways you can engage with the vibrant NJ library community. This month, we are focusing on empowering our member libraries with a broad variety of professional development opportunities including our online meetups and our February Winter Meeting, where you can share your library love.

What's Inside

• Save the Date! Culture Connection: African American Culture Event

• Sign Up to Share at Our Winter Meeting

• Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities & Online Meetups

• LLNJ Statement in Support of Pay Transparency for All New Jersey Library Workers

• Featured Meetup: LGBTQUIA+

Join us as we turn the page to a new chapter of growth, learning, and community building in 2025. Let's make 2025 a year of unprecedented collaboration and success for New Jersey's libraries!

Best regards,

Ralph

Culture Connection: African American Culture Event

Save the Date!

Hosted by the MentorNJ African American Library Staff Meet-up Group

(Discussion Leader: Muriel Odrick, Ocean County Library System)

Friday, March 14, 2025, 10:30am-3:30pm

@ Monroe Township Public Library (Middlesex County)

Information Today, Inc. has offered LibraryLinkNJ members a group discount registration price of $399 for their 3-day Computers in Libraries 2025 Conference (standard early registration rate is $599) until Friday, February 21, 2025.

After February 21, the group discount will change to $419 ($649 without group discount). No discount rates are available for pre conference seminars and workshops.

Early registration rates are valid until February 21, 2025!

Visit the Computers in Libraries 2025 Discount page on our website for more information.

The LLNJ team is planning our annual Winter Meeting, and the keynote speaker this year is you!

At this virtual gathering of library staff from around the state, we want to celebrate the successes of all of New Jersey’s incredible libraries and library teams. Sign up to share a brief (up to 4 minutes) “Love Letter” with all of our attendees about the things you want the NJ Library Community to know. From major construction projects and big grants to successful storytimes or tricky reference calls - there’s no success too big or small to celebrate. If you’re proud of it, let the library community love it this February!

💜🧡💛 Click Here to Sign Up to Share 💛🧡💜

Don’t want to share? All NJ library staff are still invited to join us! Celebrate your colleagues and gain some inspiration along the way. Plus, you'll hear LibraryLinkNJ updates and reports. Registration opens soon!

Project 2025 and its Consequences for Libraries

Libraries face unprecedented political attacks targeting their very existence. Understanding the political landscape and the implications of policies like Project 2025 is crucial.To safeguard our libraries, we must actively engage in advocacy and support initiatives that protect their independence, diversity, and essential services. By mobilizing our communities and working together, we can ensure that libraries continue to thrive and serve as vital resources for all Americans.

Bring your questions to this timely and informative presentation.

• Project 2025 and its Consequences for Libraries, Virtual, Tuesday, January 7th, 2025. *Brought to you by ASERL and made available via the Professional Development Alliance of Library Consortia.
  

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OER Ancillary Creation with Generative AI

In this webinar, we will consider strategies for using AI to generate ancillary materials from OER texts. Rebecca McNulty and Lily Dubach, University of Central Florida, will begin with sharing questions to consider before using AI in conjunction with OER, including current guidelines on Creative Commons licensing.

• OER Ancillary Creation with Generative AI; Virtual, Tuesday, January 14, 1pm-2pm. Made available to you via the Professional Development Alliance of Library Consortia.

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In this pilot program modeled on the work of our colleagues at the South Carolina State Library and Denver Public Library, New Jersey library staff are encouraged to join us for an opportunity to practice their library-related Spanish language skills! Join a native Spanish speaker from the NJ library community and up to 14 other library colleagues who will gather via Zoom to practice common vocabulary and phrases. January's topic is Circulation; both dates will cover the same information and interested participants need only attend one date.

• ¿Cómo Se Dice? Circulation; Virtual; Thursday, January 16, 10am-11am - Registration for this date is full; a waiting list is available.
• ¿Cómo Se Dice? Circulation; Virtual; Wednesday, January 22, 4pm-5pm - Limited spaces remaining; register today!

*Registration is limited to 15 individuals per session.

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Skill-Sharing Conversations

Share your knowledge and learn from your colleagues in these attendee-driven conversations focused on specific library skills. Come ready to share experiences, ask questions, and connecting with your colleagues from around the state!

• Managing University Archives and Special Collections; Virtual, Thursday, January 16th, 11am-12pm.

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Mental Health First Aid Training

LibraryLinkNJ is proud to partner with Hackensack Meridian Hospital System to offer both Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid training to our members. Mental health can touch nearly any aspect of library service, and we invite staff in any position to register for this valuable training course. *Capacity for each training is limited to 30 participants!*

• Adult Mental Health First Aid, Virtual, Friday, January 17th, 9am-2:30pm. *Registration is limited to 30 and closes on January 3rd!
• Youth Mental Health First Aid, Virtual, Friday, February 28th, 9am-1:30pm. *Registration for this session is limited to 30 individuals.

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Library Grant Writing Basics: An Overview

This program will guide participants on a variety of skills related to library grants - including identifying funding sources, completing applications, and understanding common missteps. Attendees should leave the program with a basic understanding of the grant application process and the required skills to be a more successful grant author!

• Library Grant Writing Basics: An Overview; Virtual, Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025;10am-11am. Made available to you via the Professional Development Alliance of Library Consortia.

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Boosting Morale in the Workplace

Let's explore this challenging topic together with some helpful tips and information as you plan your 2025. We'll address creating employee training, navigating employee turnover, managing challenging personalities, working with human resources, and a few other things that might make it harder to pull the team together.

• Boosting Morale in the Workplace; Virtual, Wednesday, January 22nd, 2pm-2:45pm.
  

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Library Marketing Made Easy Q&A

Join us for an exclusive live Q&A session with Kathy Dempsey, author of The Accidental Library Marketer and founder of Libraries Are Essential. This session is open to library staff who complete the Library Marketing Made Easy course, now available on the LibraryLinkNJ LearningSpace.

• Library Marketing Made Easy Q&A, Virtual, Monday, January 27th, 1:00pm-2:00pm.

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Interview Question Design

Effective interview questions are key to making fair, informed hiring decisions. In this 1-hour webinar, you'll learn best practices for crafting meaningful questions to help you make job-relevant hiring decisions.

• Interview Question Design, Virtual, Thursday, February 6, 2:00pm-3:00pm. Made available to you via the Professional Development Alliance of Library Consortia.

Join us for any or all of our MentorNJ Online Meetups this month! No registration required; Zoom links go out to our entire email list each Monday morning for that week's Meetups.

• Maker Meetup - January 2nd, 3pm-4pm

• Disabled & Neurodivergent Library Staff - January 7th, 2pm-3pm

• LGBTQUIA+ Library Staff - January 8th, 11am-12pm

• Wellness Wednesday - January 8th, 3pm-4pm

• Adventures in Administration - January 9th, 10:30am-11:30am

• API - January 13th, 10am-11am

• Latino Library Staff - January 14th, 10am-11am - With special guest Luis Muñoz, Jr., Senior Librarian at Maplewood Library, to share info and answer questions about REFORMA!

• Juggling Parenting & Library Work - January 15th, 2pm-3pm

• African American Library Staff - January 22nd, 2pm-3pm

• Adventures in Administration - January 23rd, 10:30am-11:30am

LLNJ Statement in Support of Pay Transparency for All New Jersey Library Workers

LibraryLinkNJ, The New Jersey Library Cooperative, fully supports the New Jersey Library Association’s “Statement in Support of Pay Transparency for All New Jersey Library Workers.”In addition, beginning in mid-2025, job listings will be required to include what applicants’ potential pay would be under a new law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy on November 18, 2024.

LibraryLinkNJ acknowledges the harmful effect on both applicants and institutions when libraries fail to include a salary, range, or rate of pay in job postings.

Like NJLA, LibraryLinkNJ urges all New Jersey libraries to include “good faith” salary, range, or rate of pay information in all job postings, without exception. It helps set clear expectations and fosters a more positive and efficient recruitment experience.

Beginning January 1, 2025, LibraryLinkNJ will require all job listings to include a “good faith” salary, range, or rate of pay, in order to be posted on the Job Openings page of our website.

Meetup: LGBTQUIA+ Library Staff

Discussion Leader: Lex Bose
Read on to learn more about the MentorNJ LGBTQUIA+ Online Meetup! This monthly one-hour Meetup is open to all. Below, discussion leader Lex Bose answers some questions about what to expect from this welcoming group of library folks.

1. What is the focus/topic of your Meetup group?

The focus/topic of the group is to create a space for LGBTQIIA+ people and allies to discuss what we want to celebrate in our lives and in our libraries. I wanted to create a group where we could all support one another and build community and connection.

2. Who do you think would most benefit from coming to the Meetup?

I think everyone can benefit from attending. The discussions we’ve had have helped improve my approaches to programming and displays. I also now have a space where I can ask for direct feedback if I need it and that's incredibly valuable to me and I think it could be for others.

3. What might a newcomer to the Meetup expect?

A lot of bouncing around. The conversational topics don’t necessarily flow into one another, which I enjoy as it allows for everyone to discuss whatever’s on their mind. We also share book recommendations.

4. What is your favorite thing about the meetups?

Just seeing everyone who attends them. It’s really lovely to have a group of people gather together and talk. This past year the phrase ‘All we have is each other’ has been a recurring thought and it feels amazing to be in community with people who feel the same.

5. When do you meet?

The second Wednesday of every month at 11am.

6. Anything else you want folks to know?

There’s never any pressure to share if you do not want to. Participation is whatever you want it to be. If anyone has anything they’d like the group to discuss but they want to remain anonymous they can alway reach out to me and I will ask the group on their behalf.

The next LGBTQUIA+ Library Staff Meetup is scheduled for Wednesday, January 8th at 11am. All are welcome - including newcomers and Allies - and no registration is required! Keep an eye out for the Zoom link in your email on Monday, January 6th.

Libro.fm Audiobook Listening Copy Program

Educators, librarians, booksellers, media/reviewers, and influencers can join Libro.fm's Audiobook Listening Copy (ALC) program for complimentary audiobooks. You’ll get a mix of new and upcoming audiobook releases each month.

Visit their ALC webpage to request access and get started!

LibraryLinkNJ's Executive Board will hold their next meeting on Thursday, January 16th at 2:30pm via Zoom.

All LibraryLinkNJ members are welcome to attend Executive Board meetings. Find more information on the Executive Board page on our website!

We want to hear what you've got to say.

Please email suggestionbox@librarylinknj.org with feedback about our services and programs. Suggestions for new services and programs are welcome, too.

LibraryLinkNJ: Every New Jersey Library - Connected and Thriving

LibraryLinkNJ (formerly known as INFOLINK) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Its members are multi-type libraries and library-related agencies located in the twenty-one counties of New Jersey. This area includes 8.79 million people. The population of the state is highly diverse and includes some of the largest communities of Spanish speaking and Asian Indian persons in the U.S.

LibraryLinkNJ – The New Jersey Library Cooperative has over 1100 voting representatives from over 2,500 public and private school, public, academic, institutional, corporate, health sciences and special libraries and library-related agencies. A member-elected Executive Board meets regularly to oversee the programs and services of the organization.

LibraryLinkNJ and its services are funded by the New Jersey State Library, which is responsible for the coordination, promotion and funding of the New Jersey Library Network. Members join at no charge and pay no dues.

Email: info@librarylinknj.org
Website: www.librarylinknj.org
Location: 2300 Stuyvesant Avenue, Ewing Township, NJ, USA
Phone: 732-752-7720
Facebook: facebook.com/librarylinknj
Instagram: @librarylinknj