Conference sponsored by:

Download the 2018 District 5 Conference Program. Check out photos from the conference in our Facebook album!

Our Speakers:

Suzanne Sears
Dean of Libraries
Texas Woman’s University

District 5 is honored to welcome Suzanne Sears to our Fall Conference. Ms. Sears is an inspiring leader with a background in government documents as well as public & academic librarianship. She is currently Dean of Libraries at Texas Woman’s University, new to the position in 2016. Previous to joining TWU, Ms. Sears was the Associate Dean for Public Services at the University of North Texas. She joined the UNT Libraries in August 2007 after working for the Tulsa City-County Library (TCCL) for 23 years. The majority of her career, prior to becoming an administrator, was spent as a Reference Specialist and Government Documents Librarian. Ms. Sears recognizes the importance of training at all staff levels, and believes that continual learning is an essential part of keeping libraries relevant.

Under her direction, TCCL received the inaugural Federal Depository Library of the Year Award in 2003 and UNT received theFederal Selective Depository of the Year Awardin 2015. She was appointed to the Depository Library Council in 2008, serving as Chair in 2011. She also served as Chair of the ALA Government Documents Round Table from July 2013 to July 2014. Ms. Sears is the recipient of the 2014 Texas Library Association’s Government Documents Round Table/Marcive Knowledge is Power Award and the 2014 Texas Library Association’s Distinguished Service Award. She contributed heavily to the development of the UNT Libraries Strategic Plan 2011-2015 and UNT Libraries Strategic Plan 2015-2018.

For more information about Ms. Sears, please see this 2016 TWU news release  & pages 8 & 9 of the Fall 2012 issue of DttP.

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Jon Black
Writer & Journalist

Jon Black has worked as a writer and freelance journalist for more than a decade. As a fiction writer, he is best known for the Bel Nemeton series, blending historical fantasy and contemporary adventure, as well as the award-winning historical mystery story “Gabriel’s Trumpet.” His non-fiction work includes ghostwriting and music journalism, highlighted by original biographical research on Texas blues musician Blind Lemon Jefferson and recording engineer Bob Sullivan.

His previous jobs include speechwriter and research director for the Texas Secretary of State’s office, local and state political reporter for the Laredo Morning Times, and Special Assistant to the ambassador at the South Korean Embassy in Cairo.

Other bullets on his rather eclectic resume include archaeological excavator, Benjamin Franklin impersonator, graduate assistant, pizza jockey, small business owner, and summer camp counselor.

He previously served as an officer for two Austin-area non-profits, the World Affairs Council of Austin and the Alhambra Chamber. Black’s educational background includes undergraduate studies in Interdisciplinary Social Science at the University of North Texas and Graduate Studies in Middle Eastern Studies at American University in Cairo.

He lives in Austin with his lovely archivist wife and two cats.

For more information about Mr. Black, please see his professional Facebook page, and his blog, “Jon Black Writes.”

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Presenters & Sessions:

Kelly E. Lindner
Lead TCDRS Communications Specialist
Texas County & District Retirement System

Social Media for the Modern Organization
This session will explore how to start, or step up, your social media presence at work. You’ll learn how to:

• Decide which social media platforms to be on.
• Get your stakeholders on board with starting, or expanding, your social media presence.
• Create a social media editorial calendar each month in advance and how to add timely posts when they come up.
• Handle comments of all kinds.

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Success Kit 101: How to Manage a Successful Library Program When You’re On Your Own
With budget cuts and staffing shortages, more and more school libraries are understaffed and underserved. As librarians at large high schools in urban districts, we will present information about how we do more than just survive a school year, but how we plan and implement successful school library programs.

The Ins and Outs of Being Out and About
Want to increase community engagement outside the library walls? Learn how one library went from 20 outreach events annually to 150, reaching over 20,000 people, by empowering staff to engage with the community. Increase staff confidence as marketers with the concept of sharing “just one thing” about the library. Presenters will share tips and tricks for designing your own vehicle and expand programming outside the walls.

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Aimee Bartis
Learning & Innovation Specialist
Sunnyvale ISD

Standards, We Got ‘Em!
Texas, AASL, Future Ready! So many standards how does a librarian keep up!?! Come see how they relate and how they can guide your practice.

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Developing Exhibition Spaces That Will Help You Connect To Your Community
Are you looking to connect to your community in a different way? Would you like to create equitable opportunities for your community artists? Join us as we discuss how you can develop exhibition spaces at your library to enhance your library and unite the community. We’ll discuss how to embark on this unique service opportunity by providing real-life application tips as well as examples you can take with you to help get you started.

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Presentation notes

Great Escape-tations: Bringing affordable and fun escape rooms to your library
Want to bring a fun new concept to your library that does not require a lot of money but has big results? Want to appeal to a wide-ranging audience including families, millenials, AND teens? This quick session will tell you everything you need to know to build your own escape room concept at your library.

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Other escape room resources

Rudy Rihner
Reference Assistant
Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library

Making it Work: Programming for All Ages with a Limited Budget
Limited budgets can make program development daunting and difficult for any librarian. However, by utilizing our creativity, we can often succeed in meeting or surpassing our programming goals.
This presentation will discuss the importance of making your program ideas work while keeping them affordable. The presenter will discuss strategies while showcasing the development of a series of escape room programs, which were built using almost no budget.

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Kyla Hunt
Library Management Consultant
Texas State Library & Archives Commission

(Re)building a long-loved library program
How do you successfully reboot a program or policy that has a long history within the library? Library Management Consultant Kyla Hunt will take you step by step through the challenges of rebuilding a library program while taking into consideration why it was beloved in the first place. Time will be spent on requesting feedback on programs, responding to concerns from the community, and ensuring that the new program is responding to the community’s needs.

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Megan Bryant
Library Services and Technology Trainer
Amigos Library Services

STEAM at Your Library
The push for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education is becoming increasingly important in our schools and libraries. Students of all ages, from preschool to college and beyond, are engaging in STEAM programs and broadening their skill sets.
In this session, we will define STEAM and explain why these subjects come so highly recommended. We will list sample programs for all ages, and discuss how to apply STEAM programming in your library!

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Norman Howden
Assistant Dean
El Centro College

A little safety and preparedness go a long way …
Everyone has had safety and security on their mind at one point or another, but how much thought has been given to putting all the pieces together? Have you been to a workshop and then gone back to work and thought – where do I start?

Let’s step through the process and the resources available. We can do this!

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