Tag Archives: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)

INELI-MENA Reunion:

The International Network of Emerging Library Innovators- Middle East and North Africa (INELI-MENA) was a unique e-training leadership program funded by Global Libraries Initiatives (GL) at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and conducted by the Arab Federation for Libraries and Information (AFLI); INELI-MENA targeted 31 librarians across the MENA region.

Upon the success of the program, and with the support of AFLI; our innovators took upon themselves to build national networks in their countries in order to deliver what they learned during the training program to their colleagues. National networks were established in Egypt; Sudan, Libya; Tunisia, Palestine from 2018-2021.

As part of AFLI’s role in sustaining INELI-MENA and the national networks, AFLI thought of gathering all the innovators from both INELI-MENA and the national networks in one e-training program entitled SEEDS (Staff E-training on Emerging technology & Developed Services)

The e-training course focused on Emerging Technology and started in Jan. 14th till Mar. 6th 2023. A call was sent to all innovators, 41 applied to join the course, 29 innovators succeeded to finish the course and obtained their certificates, the other couldn’t make it due to their to wok and families’ responsibilities

The course included the following topics: introduction to emerging technologies; emerging technology in libraries, Big Data; Artificial Intelligence; Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR) -participants were asked to work in teams to complete an action plan to benefit from VR & AR applications in their libraries-; Internet of Things (IOT), and concluded with feedback from the trainees which was very positive, as the skills acquired in this training have direct application to the needs of public libraries in the MENA regions.

Topics of the modules were prepared by Professor Emad Saleh, Head of Librarianship Department, Faculty of Arts, Helwan University. Thanks to INELI-MENA innovators who helped in mentoring the program with me Ruqiya Hussain Hassan (United Arab Emirates); Badiaa Rahmoni (Morocco); Doaa Abdallah & Mustafa Tuhami (Egypt).

It is worth mentioning that AFLI was the 2022 winner of the prestigious EBSCO Information Services Library Staff Development Award for implementing SEEDS program. The award is presented annually to a library organization whose application demonstrates the greatest merit for a program of staff development designed to further the goals and objectives of the library organization.


Photo of the participants from the online graduation Ceremony

 

SILL: leadership training program for Public librarians

Strengthening Innovative Library Leaders (SILL) is a freely foundational leadership training curriculum designed to build leadership and innovation skills for anyone who works in a public library. The training was developed at the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs in partnership with librarians around the world from Armenia, Bhutan, Haiti, India, Myanmar, Namibia, and Nepal[1]. The project is funded by the Global Libraries Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation[2].

SILL was developed to be used by trainers with different levels of training experience and familiarity with the topic. It is also designed to be easily adapted to the local library context and translated into different languages.

The training is divided into 4 interactive modules focusing on Leadership, Innovation, Planning, and Communication, The learning modules are:

1. Leadership Styles for Librarians

This module will define the concept of “leadership” and introduce Goleman’s 6 styles of leadership.
2. Library Leaders as Innovators

This module will introduce library innovation trends, approaches, and strategies.
  3. Library Leaders with a Plan

This module will outline how to create realistic goals and plans
4. Library Leaders as Communicators

Participants will learn about the 4 communication styles and identify the style they use most often. They will also practice communicating with different styles in a work setting.

 

Photo from SILL website

In addition, the training components emphasis on less formal lecture and more focus on group activities and discussions, the components include:

Icebreakers; leaning activities; minis lectures; problem-solving activities; individual handouts and team summaries

In order to start training you should begin by reading the “Getting Started with SILL” guide, which contains all of the information you will need.

This is indeed one of the amazing resources that really deserve to be highlighted and worth seeing as it offers free training program on leadership for all librarians

References:

[1] https://blogs.ifla.org/cpdwl/2019/12/10/cpdwl-podcast-project-episode-3/

[2]https://www.library.illinois.edu/mortenson-leadership/about/

 

Turn the page and start advocating for your library

In 2011, I was one of the librarians who enrolled in e-training course entitled: Turning the page 2.0. It was originally developed in 2007 by the Public Library Association (PLA) in the USA in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Turning the page is one of the great courses in advocacy, which I highly recommend if you intend to conduct a training on advocacy at your library.

Turning the Page: Supporting Libraries, Strengthening Communities! Is an advocacy training for librarians and public libraries. The training curriculum -as mentioned in the website- was designed for the public library community – librarians, library directors, library staff, and partners – to help effectively advocate for funding, policies, and other support that will allow libraries to continue to meet the needs of their communities.

The curriculum contains 15 training sessions’; the website identified five sessions as “core” sessions based on your needs, – rather, than the full 15- that are essential to any training.

  1. Introduction
  2. Value of the Public Library (Core)
  3. Defining Advocacy (Core)
  4. Developing Your Advocacy Goal (Core)
  5. Identifying Target Audiences (Core)
  6. Using Library Perception Information and Impact Data
  7. Creating Library Advocacy Messages (Core)
  8. Creating a Library Story
  9. Telling Your Library Story
  10. Effective Presentations
  11. Media Planning and Outreach
  12. Social Media and Advocacy
  13. Making a Library Funding or Policy Request
  14. Building and Sustaining Library Partnerships
  15. Putting Advocacy Plans into Practice

Although the curriculum and the other resources on this website are, free to use and to share, but you are requested to review the licensing agreement and to attribute the curriculum before using. To find more about this course please visit:

https://www.publiclibraryadvocacy.org/

References:

  1. https://www.publiclibraryadvocacy.org/
  2. publiclibraryadvocacy.org/about/