Leadership Project Descriptions

Sarasota County Library System

Develop a training program curriculum outline with learning objectives for young adult librarians based on the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth and Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents. As part of the training program, librarians will develop a professional portfolio demonstrating the achieved YALSA competencies.

Jayme Bosio

Palm Beach County Library System

Assess and recommend a process for mapping the library's community using demographics, data from the integrated library system and spatial data.

Sarah Brown

Lee County Library System

Complete a digitization initiative pilot project for the Lee County Library System. Aspects of the initiative include creating policies and procedures for system-wide use, recruiting and training volunteers, and determining needs for making the initiative sustainable.

Allison George Nova Southeastern University

Create a library drop-in service for student athletes during the 2015 fall and winter semesters. Student athletes will have preset dates and times when they can stop by to receive one-on-one research assistance from a librarian at the Athletics Academic Center, where student athletes are already required to attend study hours.

Kristin Heifner Volusia County Public Library

Develop a teen tech lab that will provide an opportunity for teen patrons to experiment and learn technology skills. The project will provide a fun and low pressure way for teens to learn the basics of coding, circuitry and other technology skills.

Angela Jenkins- Vaccaro

Broward County Libraries

Plan and implement an employee volunteer program within Broward County Libraries. Library staff will engage in community-based volunteer projects (e.g. Habitat for Humanity and coastal clean-ups) to raise public awareness of the library as a vital part of the community.

Jarrod Jones

Polk State College Library

Develop an online information literacy module for first year Education students enrolled in online classes to teach about accessing library resources. Instructors will be able to assign sections or the entire module to students as a part of their coursework. The module will include text- and video-based instruction and games/quizzes to assess student learning.

Michelle Keba

Nova Southeastern University

Design and pilot a set of assessment tools for measuring the impact of library instruction sessions for the School of Education. The information gathered from the assessment will be used to modify and improve future instruction sessions.

Marisha Kelly

Palm Beach State College

Develop an informational workshop series in collaboration with the Library Learning Resource Center, the Student Learning Center and Academic Advising. Workshops will provide critical information, tools and skills for helping students pass the Health Education System, Inc. exam that is required for entry into Palm Beach State College's registered nursing program.

Stacie Larson

Maitland Public Library

Collaborate with health educators from Florida Hospital and the American Diabetes Association to create a series of workshops on living with diabetes. These workshops will track participants from beginning to end, evaluating their health and well-being pre- and post-participation with surveys and physical measurements. The workshops will address not only health information but also the creation of delicious, diabetic-friendly dishes with demonstrations by the chef from Florida Hospital.

Lynlee Lebensart

Palm Beach County Library System

Develop recommendations for a system-wide professional development program that supports professional and personal growth for all library employees.

Christina Lee

Martin County Library System

Plan and host a teen focused event called FanFest that will bring together fans of popular movies, TV shows, books and comic books. FanFest will jump-start teen events in the library system for the rest of the year and will provide input from the teens for future programs.

Dagmar Lopez

Osceola County Library System

Create the Art @ the Library project to establish a more productive and meaningful relationship between the library and local artists and groups. This relationship will enhance the cultural experiences the library can offer, showcase local talent in a community setting, and support creativity and learning for all age groups.

Claire Miller

South Florida State College Library

Research best practices and develop a pilot project to begin fall 2015 to assess in-person library instruction through a combination of functional and knowledge-based assessments.

Nadine Nance

Palm Beach Atlantic University

Re-organize and revitalize the existing children’s literature space to create a more user friendly collection supporting the academic goals of the education department. The resources will be organized and color coded, and the area will be decorated to make it a more welcoming space.

Jill Nightingale

Palm Beach County Library System

Recommend changes to the current materials donation policy as well as identify a unified procedure for accepting materials. The recommendations will be based upon information and input from friends of the library groups and library branches as well as identification of best practices.

Marianne Reeves

Palm Beach County Library System

Research and recommend best practices for collecting and managing powerful personal stories from users of the Palm Beach County Library System to demonstrate the real-world impact and success of our libraries and librarians.

Megan Robinson

Manatee County Public Library System

Initiate Remind!, a system-wide text message notification system for alerting patrons about programs and services. Starting out, these notifications will be targeted to specific age groups with general information. If the project proves successful, it will be branch specific and provide programming information.

Diana Rojas

Palm Beach County Library System

Examine Palm Beach County Library System's annual performance review process and propose changes, enhancements and improvements to the process.

Sylvie Szafranski

Martin County Library System

Complete Success in the Sunshine, a toolkit that can be used to conclude and evaluate projects in a positive light, helping organizations leverage and celebrate success.

Amy Thompson

Martin County Library System

Create a more welcoming space for teens at the Hobe Sound Public Library so that they will come together to hang out, do homework, read, learn, and share library resources.

Aramis Troche

Palm Beach County Library System

Launch a probe into existing industry procedures related to Japanese light fiction in library collections. Data collected will be synthesized into an advisory report for library administration. The project is part of a broader re-examination of the status of the current graphic novel collection in the Palm Beach County Library System and the way it is positioned physically, promotionally and organizationally.

Margarita Velazquez-Mercado

Volusia County Public Library

Develop a directory of technical and other services available in our community centers and businesses. This directory will give staff and patrons quick access to information about scanning services, shelters, computer repairs and more.

Ann Wenger

Broward College North Campus Library

Develop and deliver library outreach programs for seniors to introduce them to the range of library services they can access conveniently from home; increase the library’s presence in the community and market library services to attract users to branches; and develop a set of program outlines/scripts to make it easy for librarians to deliver programs.

Sara White

Seminole County Public Library

Establish and strengthen relationships with K-12 faculty at public schools near the Seminole County Public Library's central branch.

Susan Zimmerman

Palm Beach County Library System

Assess current Palm Beach County Library System employee recognition programs and make suggestions for changes and/or enhancements.

Mary Balint

Walton County Public Library System

Coordinate the development of a staff training day for the Walton County Public Library System and create a model that can be adapted annually to continue the event in perpetuity.

LisaMarie Bartusik Pensacola State College

Create a prototype for collaborative events between the library and campus departments. These events will provide a venue for sharing the expertise of the Pensacola State College community, re-imagining the library as a community place and reaching out to campus members who do not visit the brick-and-mortar libraries.

Natalie Binder

Jefferson County Library

Establish a digital recording studio for use by two groups in our community: teens interested in recording and sharing their original songs, poetry and stories; and adults interested in recording their oral histories.

Nancy Brockman

Bay County Public Library

Create Books to Go,a community service program sponsored by the Northwest Regional Library System and based mainly in Gulf County. The goal is to distribute some of the library's extra books to more rural areas and to citizens that may not be able to utilize the library. Various groups and individuals sponsor sites and/or create boxes to hold the books.

Regina Burgess

Northwest Regional Library System

Formalize the Northwest Regional Library System volunteer program by developing a procedure manual for staff, a manual for volunteers, volunteer job descriptions, training plans for each job, and video tutorials for volunteers.

Melissa Davis

West Florida Public Library System

Develop and implement a summer reading program for adults.

Stephen Efird

Bay County Public Library

Update the existing social media policy and develop a social media plan to increase the interaction between the Northwest Regional Library System and patrons.

Lynn Elliott

Bay County Public Library

Initiate a collaboration between the library and organizations serving the unemployed and underemployed. This collaboration will bring experienced job coaches and trainers to the library as part of a series of job seeker workshops on topics such as interviewing, resume building and developing skills.

Zedra Hawkins

Washington County Public Library

Develop Traveling Reading Informational Programs (TRIP). The library, in partnership with the Council on Aging, will offer a platform for learning computer skills and digital techniques.

Samantha Hudson

Northwest Regional Library System

Promote and encourage the use of Northwest Regional Library System's history resources.

Michael Lane

Pensacola State College

Design a pilot program at Pensacola State College that provides library students and new librarians high-level on-the-job training combined with early career leadership opportunities and mentoring relationships.

Natalie Marshall

Flint River Regional Library System (GA)

Collect, map and tag policies from regional libraries similar to the Flint River Regional Library System with the goal of mounting the tagged system on the Georgia Public Library Service website. This would provide a one-stop location for library directors and administrators to find examples of policies they need to build for their own systems.

Jenni McKnight

Florida State University

Develop and implement a student recognition project that provides personal and professional development to all Florida State University Libraries student assistants. This project includes career training, headshots, team building workshops and finals week empowerment goody bags.

Carly Peary

Wilderness Coast Public Libraries

Create and pilot a professional development program that formalizes staff training initiatives and concentrates on customizable delivery.

Lori Leigh Riddles

West Florida Public Library System

Create A Spark for Change, a staff idea-sharing platform that includes an employee recognition program for bright ideas that are shared and implemented successfully.

Renae Rountree

Washington County Public Library

Create Washington Wifi, a pilot project sponsored by an innovation grant from the Panhandle Area Library Network (PLAN) designed to allow library patrons to check out Internet service. This pilot project utilizes prepaid Wi-Fi hotspots to allow those who, because of their socioeconomic status or their lack of infrastructure or technology training, can’t have Internet service to easily procure access through their local public library.

Christy Shorey

University of Florida

Develop a pilot project designed to upload the body of research generated by an emeritus professor to the University of Florida’s Institutional Repository (IR@UF). This pilot will serve as a model to market similar services to other faculty members at UF with the aid of subject specialists/library liaisons.

Gnanabhanu (Gina) Somasundaram

LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library System

Create Student Volunteers Empowering Adult Patrons with Our Library Technology, a project that utilizes the talents of local high school students to offer library patrons one-on-one basic computer help on topics such as preparing a simple resume, applying for jobs online, using Facebook, downloading library e-books and more.

Kellie Sparks

University of West Florida

Create the University of West Florida Library Career Boot Camp with the Career Services department. The boot camp is a series of instructional sessions that culminate in students participating in and observing a live mock interview in a seminar type environment. It is designed to educate students on the variety of library resources available as well as provide valuable tips on best practices related to resumes, cover letters and interviewing.

Catherine Vanstone

Southwest Georgia Regional Library System (GA)

Create a training manual for the Southwest Georgia Regional Library System to provide information related to policies and procedures to ensure a high level of quality service. The manual will address common public service duties as well as answer typical staff questions.