This 4-hour intensive course is an online version of our April 2023 in-person Safety Summit and will include participants' highest rated sessions. 

Learn how public and academic library leaders can help make libraries safer for staff and patrons while protecting their privacy and maintaining open, accessible, and welcoming spaces.

Course Description 

Ensuring equitable and just service in an unprecedented environment of security threats has become one of the greatest challenges library leaders have faced. How can libraries provide physically and emotionally safer and more secure environments for staff and patrons while protecting their privacy and maintaining open, accessible, and welcoming spaces?

This course is designed for public and academic library directors, security heads, and administrators who were unable to attend the in-person Summit. It will review the learnings from the April Summit and lay the foundation for our future Summit Reconvening online courses.

This online course will teach you best practices from within and outside the library field to build and maintain a culture of safety. We’ll explore and workshop effective approaches and real-life examples, as well as address legal, technical, policy, staffing, and training.

The live sessions run on Wednesday,  Sept. 20, 2023 from 12:00-4:00 pm ET (recorded for on-demand viewing). Don’t miss this opportunity!

Learning Outcomes

After you attend this interactive online course, you’ll be able to:

• Approach safety from a trauma-informed lens

• Establish trauma-informed practices and policies 

• Understand various options for and perspectives on security staffing, including social workers and working the police

• Codify best practices for debriefing after traumatic events into policies and procedures 

• Understand youth developmental norms

• Engage with youth in crisis in an authentic, trauma-informed, and developmentally appropriate way 

Who should take this course 

This course is for public and academic library leaders, safety and facilities heads, and other stakeholders invested in maintaining library safety.

Expected time commitment: 

If you attend or watch the recordings of all live sessions, you'll spend approximately 4 hours on this course. You'll earn 4 hours of PD credit and a Library Journal certificate of completion. 

Live sessions are also available on demand for six months

Can’t make a live session? All guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on demand for six months following the initial broadcast.

Certificate of completion provided 

4 professional development credit hours

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co

Accessibility

All guest speaker sessions feature live captioning and are made available on demand after the initial broadcast. Please email libraryjournal@edmaker.co upon registration if you require any special accommodations and we will make our best efforts to facilitate them.

Group Rates

Have a team attend and increase your impact!

Discounted registration fees are available for groups of 3 or more. 

Send us a request for a quote.

By registering for this event you confirm that you have read and agree to our Code of Conduct.

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co.

Program will include the highest rated sessions from the in-person Library Safety Summit.

Half-Day Intensive: Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Session 1 | 12:00-12:55 pm ET

Safer Libraries for Staff and Patrons: Library Leadership Through a Trauma Informed Lens

A panel of library leaders, moderated and facilitated by an expert in trauma-informed library practices, will discuss trauma-informed leadership techniques with the goal of helping both staff and patrons feel safe in the library. The panel will focus on practical, actionable ideas. Facilitated discussion following the panel will aim to give library leaders concrete next steps to lead in a trauma-informed manner.

Speakers: 

Session 2: 12:55-1:50 pm ET

Security Staffing Models: Police, Social Work, and Everything in Between

This panel will highlight different perspectives on security staffing, discussing the pros and cons of a range of models and their outcomes. We will also discuss how and why different security staffing decisions are made. Facilitated discussion after the panel will examine how staff can make security decisions based on their own needs.

Speakers:

Break | 1:50-2:00 pm ET

Session 3: 2:00-2:55 pm ET

Debriefing After a Traumatic Event: Policies and Procedures

A panel of library administrators will discuss how they communicate with staff during and after a security incident. This conversation will focus not only on best practices but on communication procedures codified in library policy, and how these communication policies help protect staff. Facilitated discussion after the panel will allow the audience to brainstorm policies and procedures for their own libraries.

Speakers:

Break | 2:55-3:00 pm ET

Session 4 | 3:00-3:55 pm ET

Engaging with Tweens and Teens in Crisis (and Afterward)

A panel of experts on working with young adults outside the library profession will share insight from their own fields on how to manage and de-escalate situations involving tweens and teens in crisis. The panel will be moderated by a librarian and facilitated discussion after the panel will focus on how these insights from other fields can be put into practice in a library environment.

Speakers:

Closing remarks: 3:55-4:00 pm ET

Online Course Preview

A preview of how we build your library skills and bring inspiration to your projects with our online learning experience.

1-Day Intensive Course Format

Inspiring Live Guest Speakers 

Live session with Andrea Blackman and Tasneem Ansariyah Grace	Live Guest Speakers  Live, expert speaker sessions with audience Q&A (session recordings available on demand if you can’t join live) Option to join on camera to participate in interactive discussions and activities with course presenters and peers

Online Course Features

Recordings of guest speakers

Recordings Available After The Live Session Real-time guest speakers and conversation via live video stream (with recordings available afterward)

Early Access On Demand Resources

Ongoing Resources To Support Learning Supporting resources in the online classroom to provide a foundation for your work Access all course content for six months after the course ends

Thank you to our sponsor Quipu Group, a technology leader providing high quality, high value products that both inspire and empower library staff and users.

Learn more about Quipu Group