Selected Talks, Webinars, and Trainings
Building on Solid Ground: Community Engagement and Museums. Panelist (invited). Cultural Connections Event, Oakland, CA, June 2018.
How do cultural institutions and communities/community organizations build meaningful, balanced and sustainable relationships? What strategies can help partnerships stay responsive and dynamic? Explore these questions and learn about innovative community engagement practices from a range of perspectives. Join us for an informal panel discussion as we reflect on how to create healthy partnerships within and between our communities.
Beyond the Social Worker: Community Services in the Library. Individual presentation. 2018 Adult Services Symposium: The Power of Partnerships, Sacramento, California, May 2018.
What do you do if your patrons need services but you can’t afford to hire a social worker? Create a flexible pop-up space where partner organizations can provide drop-in, direct outreach to patrons in need, from tenant help to flu vaccines to mental health services.
OPL and the Book Bike Mobile. Radio show guest (invited). Oakland Bikes! Oakland, California, April 2018.
Mana Tominaga and Emily Weak of the Oakland Public Library are featured on the Oakland Bikes radio show, talking about the Book Bike-mobile and magic and the library. Listen in!
Libraries Taking the Lane: Using Bikes to Connect Communities. Panel presentation. Public Library Association Conference: Imagine the Possibilities, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 2018.
Biking is one of the most income-diverse activities in the country. As libraries strive to move beyond our walls, partner with grassroots organizations, leverage placemaking movements, and empower our patrons, bikes are emerging as more than a means of transportation. Following a brief presentation by panelists, facilitated discussions will examine how bike programs allow libraries to reach underserved patrons. From youth-led bike shops to a national movement of book bikes, cycling connects communities.
The Unbearable Whiteness of Librarianship. Ignite Session (Hater’s Ball). California Library Association Conference: New Worlds Emerge, Riverside, California, November 2017.
In spite of all our efforts to acquire diversity, librarianship remains overwhelmingly and unbearably white. What is holding back change? How do our thinking and practices need to shift? In order to truly serve our communities, librarianship must change to be more inclusive of people of color.
News Literacy Grant. Panel Presentation (invited). Future of Libraries: Expand Your Reach, San Francisco, California, October 2017.
A report on the The News Literacy Toolkit, created as part of a workgroup for the Pacific Library Partnership under an IMLS grant. The News Literacy Toolkit was created to help librarians meet public interest in media literacy quickly and confidently. Collected inside are a variety of resources which will allow the programming librarian to hit the ground running with programming ideas, activities, infographics, presentations, and other content.
Library Panel. Panel Presentation (invited). News Literacy Forum, San Mateo, California, October 2017.
An all-star library panel brought together librarians from South San Francisco Public Library, Oakland Public Library, U.C. Berkeley and CSU East Bay who have all worked on news literacy guides or programing. Over the coming months, local librarians will direct the creation and adaptation of a wide range of tools and resources, as part of PLP’s News Literacy Working Group.
Bikes in Libraries: A Practical Guide Workshop. Webinar (invited). American Library Association, June 2017.
In this 90 minute workshop, Mana Tominaga and Emily Weak of the Oakland Public Library—both avid cyclists—will show you how bikes can enhance your library’s participation in your community’s vision for health and sustainability and help forge strong local connections. You’ll come away from this workshop with practical strategies to make your library more bike friendly and more bike focused.
Bikes and Libraries: Pedaling Toward Innovative Outreach, Health, and Sustainability. Webinar (invited). American Library Association, April 2017.
Bikes are big in America these days. Whether you’re in a big city or a small town, chances are you are seeing more bike lanes on your streets and more helmets on heads. In this free webinar, Mana Tominaga and Emily Weak of the Oakland Public Library—both avid cyclists—will discuss how bikes allow libraries to become key participants in a community’s vision for health and sustainability, and how they forge strong local connections.
Shifting Our Center: Diversity, Whiteness, and Librarianship. Breakout session (invited). Los Angeles County Library Annual Training Day. Los Angeles, California, August 2016.
Workshop based on content developed for a presentation to the Eureka Leadership program cohort and their Directors and mentors. This talk engaged library workers in frank discussion about whiteness in librarianship and avenues for change.
Many Paths to Conversation: techniques for successful ESL clubs. Webinar (invited). Infopeople, July 2016.
Are you interested in new ways to serve the immigrants in your community? Would you like to have fun and build strong relationships with your patrons? Are you interested in attending the best potluck ever? ESL (English as a Second Language) Conversation Clubs are simple and inexpensive programs that make a big impact. In just an hour a week, you can create lasting connections between people, the library and your community. Staff from three different public libraries will share their best practices, presenting a range of styles and activities that can be adapted to meet your community’s needs.
Lessons from Hiring Librarians. Keynote (invited). 4th Annual Library and Information Science Graduate Student Association Conference: Spring Fling into Library Careers. Columbia, Missouri, April 2016.
Keynote presentation delivered to students of the University of Missouri’s Library School of Information Science & Learning Technologies. Content was based on lessons learned from interviews with hundreds of people who hire librarians over four years of writing the blog Hiring Librarians.
20 Ideas for Using Bikes in (and out of) your Library. Spark Talk. Public Library Association Conference: Be Extraordinary, Denver, Colorado, April 2016.
Five minute talk outlining ways libraries can use bikes for programming, engagement, outreach, and more.
What Does it Take? Building and Maintaining a Seed Lending Library. Webinar. Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association, February 2016.
In addition to drawing heavily on personal experiences starting and maintaining seed libraries in smaller urban and suburban public libraries, the presenters will discuss seed libraries that are thriving in a variety of settings, including other types of public libraries, academic libraries, special libraries, and non-library organizations.
20 Ways to Bring Bikes into your Library. Ignite Session. California Library Association Conference: Reimagine, Reinvent, Pasadena, California, November 2015.
Five minute talk outlining ways libraries can use bikes for programming, engagement, outreach, and more.
How Does Your Seed Library Grow? Poster Session. California Library Association Conference: Reimagine, Reinvent, Pasadena, California, November 2015.
How does your seed library grow? Librarians are engaging new demographics, supporting environmental sustainability, and exploring innovation in seed libraries of all shapes and sizes. Seed-related educational programs are promoting health and nutrition while providing inspiration and support for community members with no prior knowledge or experience with gardening. In the move from a growing trend to an established service, seed libraries have hit some bumps, including brushes with the law. Three public librarians and the founder of the Seed Library of Los Angeles will share not their experiences. Whether you’re interested in starting a seed library or revamping your current program, you’ll enjoy this opportunity to listen and discuss with other librarians best practices for this emerging library program.
Bike Kitchens, Bike Libraries and Other DIY Shops Build Skills and Community. Panel Presentation. California Bicycle Summit: Equity in Motion, San Diego, California, October 2015
Using a term derived from an actual kitchen converted to a community bike shop, “bike kitchens” have proliferated throughout the state, providing low-income Californians, especially youth, access to bikes and opportunities to learn job skills and become leaders in their communities. Learn from programs like Fleet Street from Los Angeles, Bike Bakersfield’s bike kitchen and bikes del pueblo in San Diego. Dan Beringhele, Berkeley Public Library; Emily Weak, Mountain View and Oakland Public Libraries; Cindy Parra, Jason Cater, Bike Bakersfield; Dana Sherman, Fleet Street.
Lessons from Hiring Librarians. Individual presentation. ALA JobLIST Pavillion, American Library Association Annual Conference: Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves, San Francisco, California, June 2015.
Emily Weak, founder of the blog Hiring Librarians, will reveal lessons learned from interviews with hundreds of people who hire librarians and nearly 600 job hunters. The workshop will use the Hiring Librarians survey format to also look at the job hunting experiences of attendees, in order to help develop personalized strategies for finding work.
Silicon Valley Grows: Seed Libraries Unite. Poster Presentation. American Library Association Annual Conference: Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves, San Francisco, California, June 2015.
Reprising the poster presented at the 2014 California Library Association Conference. How can seed libraries help us move toward our experience-oriented future? The team from Silicon Valley Grows shows how four libraries, led by a Master Gardener, united to increase their reach and resources, solved a seed saving problem, and presents engaging programming. See how you can join the community of seed libraries and grow your patron base. Local food starts with local seed!
NMRT 101. Panelist (invited). American Library Association Annual Conference: Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves, San Francisco, California, June 2015.
New Members Round Table leaders and experienced members welcome current and prospective NMRT members to the NMRT 101 session. Learn about what NMRT does, NMRT events happening at the ALA Annual Conference, benefits of membership, and how to get more involved. This will be a great place to make connections and network with new members and experienced leaders alike.
Be You. Just the Best Possible Version of You. Keynote Speech (invited). Symposium on LIS Education, Virtual and Champaign, Illinois, April 2015.
“Hiring is all about fit.” “Be professional.” But what do these terms really mean for new grads, and for librarianship? Let’s talk about how students can push us beyond these concepts, and how it can change our industry. This talk will help students make their own decisions as they sort through the advice they receive.
Bikes + Libraries. Panel Presentation. National Bike Summit: Bikes +, Washington, D.C., March 2015
Public libraries are an exciting partner for growing bicycling. Libraries provide lifelong learning opportunities and shared resources. As government agencies that directly serve the public and value broad accessibility, libraries are an excellent gateway into working with a city or county. Libraries are already creating bike-related programming. I am a librarian in Mountain View. Here in the rapidly densifying heart of Silicon Valley, we are supporting our city’s commitment to improving bike access with our Library Bike Stop initiative. We installed a Dero Fixit station, providing 24 hour access to a repair stand, air, and tools. We also embarked on a programming series to share skills in everything from urban cycling to making bike lights out of tin cans, and led a bike tour of Silicon Valley libraries. Other libraries, such as those in Seattle and Los Angeles, have acquired Bikebraries, modified bikes that transport library resources to special events. This presentation will focus on possibilities for working with libraries to provide services and educational support for the growing bike movement. I will show off some of the programs and resources that libraries are already providing, and provide insight into how cyclists might forge library partnerships in their own communities.
The Silicon Valley Beat #027 – MVPD And The Library: An Important But Unusual Partnership. Podcast guest. Mountain View Police Department, California, March 2015.
In this podcast, we invite Paul and Emily from our City’s library to talk about the partnerships built with the police department focused on bringing our community together through a variety of special programs. Through this rather unique relationship, Mountain View’s library takes an innovative approach to creating an environment where everyone is welcome and “digital literacy” is just par for the course.
Tin Can Bike Light, a Maker Station. Workshop presentation. California Association of Museums Conference: Navigating Uncharted Waters: Museums at the Forefront, San Diego, California, February 2015.
Conceived and led a drop-in workshop where participants built a simple bike light using a tin can, a filament bulb, a switch and a battery. They were able to discover how a circuit works, learn to use a soldering iron, transform trash into something useful, and light up the night, all in one activity.
Fireside Chat – Job Hunt Edition. Webinar (invited). San Jose State University iSchool Connext’s Fireside Chats, Virtual, February 2015.
An informative, informal session about job hunting with Emily Weak of Hiring Librarians and Stephen Flynn of Open Cover Letters. They’ll be talking about what they have learned about the job hunt process by running those sites.
Q & A with Hiring Librarians. Webinar (invited). Florida State University ALA Student Chapter’s Lunch Q & A, Virtual, November 2014.
A brief presentation about the blog Hiring Librarians, including general hiring tips. Followed by questions from participants.
Ride on! Bikes and Libraries. Panel Presentation. California Library Association Conference: Be the Change, Oakland, California, November 2014
Bike riding in large U.S. cities has nearly doubled in the last decade. Many local politicians see the value in promoting biking by investing in better bikeways and bike share programs. Libraries can help support these efforts in various ways by actively engaging the biking community in a myriad of services and programs, ranging from simply promoting its biking books and magazines, offering ample bike racks on site and loaning locks, and providing bike repair and safety programs. You’ll hear from four librarians about how they made biking relevant in their libraries and reached their biking communities in different ways: Oakland Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, and Berkeley Public Library all developed bike trailers for outreach and promotion; Mountain View Public Library obtained a freestanding bike repair stand and tools. All four systems present various bike related programming and services to support cyclists and promote biking. Learn how you can start supporting biking in your own community!
Silicon Valley Grows: Seed Libraries Unite. Poster Presentation. California Library Association Conference: Be the Change, Oakland, California, November 2014
How can seed libraries help us move toward our experience-oriented future? The team from Silicon Valley Grows shows how four libraries, led by a Master Gardener, united to increase their reach and resources, solved a seed saving problem, and presents engaging programming. See how you can join the community of seed libraries and grow your patron base. Local food starts with local seed!
WikiSeat: A Community Design Challenge. Poster Presentation. California Library Association Conference: Be the Change, Oakland, California, November 2014
Interested in bringing design thinking to your library? A WikiSeat starts with a small welded metal bracket that acts as a support structure. From this single catalyst, patrons can build their own tripod seat. Each WikiSeat is unique – it is a reflection of the needs and ideas of its creator. WikiSeat is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA license, which means that anyone can use or remix this idea, and any patron can find the skills and community needed to complete this challenge. What are you waiting for? Get some Catalysts, make some seats and celebrate with a gallery show!
ESL Conversation Clubs. Panel presentation (invited). The Future of Libraries 10.0: Libraries Fostering Communities, San Francisco, California, October 2014
Discussion of Mountain View Library’s successful ESL program.
Ready, Set, On The Go: How Bay Area Libraries Use On-Call Librarians. Poster Presentation. California Library Association Conference: Libraries without Limits, San Jose, California, November 2012.
This session reported on research we conducted that explored how libraries recruit, schedule, train, manage, and evaluate on-call workers. It addressed the type of work given to this category of worker.
On-Call in SF: How Bay Area Libraries Use On-Call Librarians. Virtual presentation. Library 2.012, September 2012.
Reported on research we conducted that explored how libraries recruit, schedule, train, manage, and evaluate on-call workers. Addressed six major questions.
• Is there a good definition of this class of worker?
• Who is using on-call librarians?
• How are these librarians hired?
• How are they trained, scheduled and managed?
• What are their primary job duties?
• What are the similarities and differences between on-call and full time workers?
Emily Weak 