Learn how to approach your practice, programs, and partnerships through a social emotional lens and better support yourself, colleagues, and your community. 

Course Description 

Effectively serving the needs of your community requires an understanding of how to support their social and emotional needs in addition to their information and practical needs. It also requires self-care strategies and engagement tools for yourself, colleagues, and staff. You’ll learn actionable steps for embedding social emotional communication, restorative justice, and trauma-informed practices into all of your services, as well as ways to support wellness in yourself and your library at large.

Join us for this guest speaker program and online workshop where you’ll learn from experts how to support the ‘whole patron’ in your practice, programs, partnerships, and services.

You’ll complete assignments to create your own initiative over 3+ weeks in an interactive online classroom environment with personal coaching from an expert in the field. In addition, you’ll have access to bonus content—rich supporting materials you can explore at your own pace, including a series of webinars from Library Journal and School Library Journal contributors, readings, activities, and videos.

The live sessions run on Fridays, October 7, 14, and 21, from 2:00-4:30 pm ET with an ongoing facilitator-led workshop over 3 weeks. All sessions will be recorded and can be viewed at your convenience. Don’t miss this opportunity!

Learning Outcomes

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

• Support the emotional well-being and self-care of staff and colleagues

• Implement multiple conflict resolution methods 

• Incorporate the foundations of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into your practice and programs  

• Identify and secure supportive community partners to help deliver needed services

Who should take this course

Any librarian who needs support learning how to meet the social and emotional needs of their community and students in order to improve services. This course will have something for school, public, academic librarians, and beyond!

Live sessions are also available on demand 

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

Certificate of completion provided 

15 professional development credits are available

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

Group Rates

Have a team attend and increase your impact!

Discounted registration fees are available for groups of 3 or more. When you register your team for our online courses, they will be placed in the same small workshop group, where discussions and project-based assignments receive feedback from an experienced librarian.

Send us a request for a quote.

If your group prefers to work separately, just let us know.

Curriculum Advisor

Megan Emery Schadlich

MLIS, Author, Speaker, and Creator of The Healing Library 

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.

Course Format

One-Week Timeline (Course Runs 3+ Weeks)

DAYS 1-2 On Demand	DAY 3 2.5 hours	DAYS 4-7 1-2 hours (optional)
PRE-LIVE SESSION - Resources - Discussions - Bonus Content	LIVE SESSIONS - Guest speakers via webcast - Q&A via chat - Recordings available on demand	WORKSHOP - Project-based homework, applied to your job - Personalized feedback from a facilitator - Group discussion in a workshop setting	3-WEEK WORKSHOP - Facilitator-led feedback WEEK 1 Looking inward WEEK 2 Looking outward WEEK 3 Create plan of action

Inspiring Live Guest Speakers + Facilitated Group Workshop for Project-Based Learning

Live session with Andrea Blackman and Tasneem Ansariyah Grace	Live Guest Speakers Each Week Engage with presenters via live video stream, visual presentations, and chats Map out your own equity initiatives with guidance from an expert advisor Leave with refined, robust strategies designed to make a lasting impact on your community Workshop tangible antiracist approaches to your work with input from peer groups

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) Instructor-led online course features personalized interaction over 3+ weeks

Facilitator-led workshop

Online Classroom Organizes All Materials Workshop assignments to help you make progress on your goals Individualized attention from course facilitators who work with you in a coaching environment in the workshop to help sort out challenges Ongoing group conversation via discussion forums

Early Access On Demand Resources

Early Access and Ongoing Resources To Support Learning Supporting resources (articles, videos, worksheets) in the online classroom to provide a foundation for your work Access all course content for six months after the course ends Bonus: Register early and get immediate access to archival video recordings from related courses and other bonus content

Week 1: SEL Foundations and Applications in Libraries 

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

SEL Foundations: CASEL, Needs Assessments, and You

This session will lay the groundwork for understanding SEL and the specific ties it has to librarianism. From there, we’ll unpack the idea of “social emotional librarianship” and define the ways it can be applied to a range of library contexts. This session will also teach you how to conduct a needs assessment to better understand your community’s needs and how best to support them. This session will be the foundation from which everything else in this course is built, and will bring together SEL theories with tangible applications you can implement in your library today. 

Speaker: 

Workshop Q&A | 2:45-3:00 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET

Community & School Programs that Change Lives: Roundtable

In this rapid-fire session, you’ll hear from several minds behind new initiatives that address the needs of community well being. Each panelist will present a short snapshot of their latest work, and the group will host an extended Q+A session to answer your questions about partnerships, parameters of success, budgeting, and whatever else you want to know!
 
The Healing Library - Learn about The Healing Library, a series of kits to help ease healing from trauma, and the way Anne Arundel County Public Library adapted the unique lending program to meet their community’s SEL needs. 
 
Intergenerational Community Circles - Learn about this Restorative Justice-based program that combines peace circles and intergenerational community reads–building community, offering support, and more. The program is led by trained library staff, community partners, college students, and local middle grade students who all act as guides through thought-provoking and challenging discussions of titles like Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You and the March series at Oak Park Public Library in Illinois. Originally intended to be in-person, the program launched during the pandemic and has been a success in a virtual setting.
 
Slam Poetry in Schools: Community through Art - Learn about ways to center equity, social-emotional learning, and community art in your school library with slam poetry. This art form is inherently communal and has been proven to provide young people with tools to express themselves and to build empathy for others with different life experiences. This program will be led by nationally-recognized slam poet and PhD student whose research focuses on the integration of performance poetry into educational spaces as a method for student engagement with justice, community, and wellness.  

Speaker:

Optional Session 3 | 3:45-4:30 pm ET

Highly targeted for rural and/or small libraries: Lessons From The Social Workers in Rural and Small Libraries Project

Learn ways that small, rural or underfunded libraries can partner with social workers or social service organizations to address needs in the library community. You’ll learn insights into the transformational program, The Social Workers in Rural and Small Libraries Project, which has helped connect librarians and patrons to available resources and deepen their understanding of social services available to patrons. Leave this session with ideas for wide-ranging community partners and grant writing tips to support this work.

Week 2: SEL as a Tool for Organizational Change 

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Social Emotional Communication: How To Develop Compassionate Communication as Personal Philosophy 

Strong leadership skills ideally extend to all library staff as they take ownership of their individual roles and contributions to the library at large. Best-in-class communication practices benefit from strong social-emotional skills and can be the ticket to reaching patrons and colleagues during challenging times. In this session, you’ll learn strategies for communicating openly and honestly as a way to shift organizational culture, connect with employees, and engage your community. You’ll learn a framework for participatory decision making and tips for communication strategies you can adopt as an individual or as part of your department or team.
 

Speaker:

Workshop Q&A | 2:45-3:00 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET

Restorative Justice as Organizational Culture

Restorative justice is practice that focuses on repairing harm, and healing for both the people directly involved in a situation as well as the community at large. The restorative approach relies on proven techniques of forgiveness and empowerment rather than punishment. In this session, you’ll learn how restorative justice can guide a powerful shift within an organizational culture. There will be actionable takeaways, like de-escalation techniques, that you can include in your practice immediately, as well as resources to measure the success of outcomes, ways to continue learning about restorative justice, and how to engage with other libraries already doing this work.
 

Speaker:

Optional Session 3 | 3:45-4:30 pm ET

Highly targeted for academic/public libraries and/or leaders: Solidarity as Strategic Plan

Embedding social and emotional support and solidarity into libraries requires intentionally weaving these values into the foundations of our work. In this session, you’ll learn how to advocate for yourself and staff members or colleagues by setting clear, values-driven policies, practices, goals, and objectives directly into your institution’s driving documents at multiple levels: strategic plans, vision statements, needs assessments, and action plans. 

Week 3: Whole-Person Librarianship: Using SEL for Yourself, Your Library, and Your Community

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Wellness, Rest, and Boundaries: How to Advocate for Yourself and/or Your Staff

Frontline workers have to face some of the hardest challenges in libraries and classrooms, and no matter how much you might love the work, it’s easy to burn out quickly. This session is all about centering teacher, librarian, and staff needs, including strategies on setting and maintaining boundaries, advocating for yourself in the workplace, and prioritizing wellness through rest and connection to others through affinity groups. 
Speaker:

Workshop Q&A | 2:45-3:00 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET

Whole Person Librarianship: Lessons from the World of Social Work to Modernize Librarianship

Lessons learned from social work-library collaborations can bring profound change to the practice of librarianship. In this session, you’ll learn about Whole Person Librarianship – the application of social work to improve library public service –  and how it can serve you. You will learn examples of the evolution of social work partnerships in libraries, discuss how to choose and prepare for these types of partnerships strategically, and how to set healthy, supportive boundaries to grow personally, professionally, and as a community.
 

Speaker:

Optional Session 3 | 3:45-4:30 pm ET

Highly targeted for school libraries: Social Emotional Librarianship in School Settings

Learn ways that teacher librarians can incorporate social-emotional and trauma-informed practices into their schools. Advocating for social-emotional content and practices can be especially difficult in schools because of constraints from administrators, parents, and state governments. This session will teach you tangible ways to manage those challenges and give you practical ideas to infuse your school library with healing-centered programs.

Full program will be announced soon. Past speakers for this program are listed below.

	Sonia Alcantara-Antoine, Director, Baltimore County Public Library
	Callan Bignoli, Director of the Library, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
	Ricardo Cardenas, Manager at Anythink Commerce City library
	Laura Efrom, Library Associate at Anne Arundel County Public Library
	Stephen Jackson, Director of Equity and Antiracism, Oak Park Public Library
	Tiffany Russell, Social Workers in Rural and Small Libraries Project
	Megan Schadlich, MLIS, Author, Speaker, and Creator of The Healing Library
	Tatiana Swancy, Restorative Practices Coordinator at Oak Park Public Library (IL)
	Sara Zettervall, Whole Person Librarianship author and MN librarian