RAILS Executive Director Deirdre Brennan talks with Karen Keefe, Executive Director of Hinsdale Public Library, about trends libraries should be paying attention to, what library staff can do to start identifying relevant trends, and the Library Forecasting Interest Group.

Relevant Links:

• https://www.libraryforecasting.com/
• http://www.ala.org/tools/future/

Intro/Outro music by Julie Jurgens, https://himissjulie.com

RAILS Executive Director Deirdre Brennan talks with Keith Michael Fiels, recently retired Executive Director of the American Library Association (ALA), about his 15 years of service at ALA, including accomplishments, favorite moments, challenges, and other stories from the road.

Relevant links: http://www.ala.org

Intro/Outro music by Julie Jurgens, https://himissjulie.com

RAILS Executive Director Deirdre Brennan talks with Larisa Good, Director of Warren County Public Library District in Monmouth, Illinois, and Michelle Simmons, library trustee and RAILS Board member, about innovative things that small (and all) libraries can do to engage their communities.    

Relevant Links:

http://www.wcplibrary.org/

Intro/Outro music by Julie Jurgens, https://himissjulie.com

RAILS Executive Director Dee Brennan talks with Liz Aviles, Vice President of Market Intelligence at Upshot, about the marketing agency’s report on seven retail trends to watch in 2017 and how libraries can capitalize on these trends to better serve their customers.

Relevant links:

• Seven retail trends to watch in 2017
  https://upshot.agency/happenings/2017-trends

Intro/Outro music by Julie Jurgens, https://himissjulie.com

RAILS Executive Director Dee Brennan talks with Rebecca Teasdale, Senior Evaluation and Research Associate at the Garibay Group in Chicago, about how libraries can use evaluation to improve their programs/services and for organizational learning. 

Relevant links:

• Team-Based Inquiry: A Practical Guide for Using Evaluation to Improve Informal Education Experiences
  Available as a free download from: http://www.nisenet.org/catalog/team-based-inquiry-guide
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook
  Available as a free download from: https://www.wkkf.org/resource-directory/resource/2010/w-k-kellogg-foundation-evaluation-handbook
• Evaluating the Impact of Your Library (book)
  Sharon Markless and David Streatfield
  Facet Publishing, UK, 2012
  http://www.worldcat.org/title/evaluating-the-impact-of-your-library/oclc/976189791

Intro/Outro music by Julie Jurgens, https://himissjulie.com

RAILS Executive Director Dee Brennan talks with Margaret Peebles, Division Chief of Public Services at Gail Borden Public Library District, about the crucial role libraries can play in helping patrons deal with  "fake news," including how to evaluate what's "real" online.  

Relevant Links

http://gailborden.info/fakenews

Intro/outro music by Julie Jurgens, https://himissjulie.com

RAILS Executive Director Dee Brennan talks with Andrew Medlar, Assistant Chief, Technology, Content and Innovation at Chicago Public Library, about the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and DPLAfest, April 20-21, 2017, in Chicago.

Relevant Links

• Digital Public Library of America
  https://dp.la/
• DPLAfest
  https://dp.la/info/get-involved/dplafest/april-2017/
• Chicago Public Library
  https://www.chipublib.org/
• Black Metropolis Research Consortium
  http://bmrc.lib.uchicago.edu/
• Chicago Collections
  http://chicagocollections.org/

Intro/outro music by Julie Jurgens, https://himissjulie.com/

RAILS Executive Director Dee Brennan talks with Ryan Livergood, Executive Director of Warren-Newport Public Library, about how libraries can get started with fundraising, different strategies and events libraries can try, identifying donors and building relationships, the importance of establishing policies, and much more.

Relevant Links

Warren-Newport Public Library District website
http://www.wnpl.info

Library Strategies
http://librarystrategiesconsulting.org

The Fundraising Librarian
http://www.fundraisinglibrarian.com

Intro/Outro music by Julie Jurgens, https://himissjulie.com/