Free webinar focuses on the ways libraries can support Cooperative Extension

CHICAGO — Join the project leads of the Digging DEEP project for a webinar that provides an in-depth discussion of the surprising results and relationships that came out of the project.

When the 2016 Knight News Challenge on Libraries posed the question, “How might libraries serve twenty-first century information needs,” librarians from Penn State University Libraries and Schlow Centre Region Library, both in State College, Pennsylvania, knew just how to respond: by better supporting our colleagues in Cooperative Extension. Selected as one of 14 winners from over 600 proposals, Digging DEEP: A Digital Extension Education Portal for Community Growth focused on better understanding Penn State Extension professionals' research needs and challenges. You might associate Cooperative Extension with your local 4-H or Master Gardener program, but Cooperative Extension professionals provide open educational opportunities in many areas of major current interest and need—including agriculture and food, home and family, the environment, and community economic development—in nearly every county in every state in the U.S., and they need our support to achieve their mission of translating research into accessible information for our communities.

We'll explore Cooperative Extension professionals' unique research workflows, challenges, contexts, and needs; the strategies we developed to empower our Extension colleagues and their applied research; the special roles of both academic and public libraries in supporting the Cooperative Extension mission; and our exciting future plans. We'll also discuss our experiences with a Knight Foundation Prototype Grant and the innovation it enabled. Come prepared to learn more about working with Cooperative Extension programs and professionals, participate in brainstorming new ways that libraries can support the critical mission of Cooperative Extension, and join a community of practice.

Learning Outcomes:

After this session, you will be able to:

• Define Cooperative Extension and identify intersections between Extension and libraries
• Describe the research goals, needs, and challenges unique to our Extension colleagues
• Discuss strategies for supporting the research needs of Extension colleagues
• Discuss strategies for and examples of collaborating with Extension colleagues on programming
• Participate in a profession-wide conversation about future collaboration with Cooperative Extension professionals

Join us at 2:30pm Eastern on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017 for this free webinar! You can register for this free event here.

This presentation's panel includes Rebecca K. Miller (Penn State University Libraries), Maria Burchill (Schlow Centre Region Library), and Lauren Reiter (Penn State University Libraries).

ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions (ELS) produces high-quality professional development events and materials for the library profession. ELS events cover modern issues on a wide variety of topics in formats that include live workshops, asynchronous eCourses, and print publications. We help ensure that today’s library employees have access to the professional development opportunities they need, whether they are brushing up on the basics or expanding their horizons with cutting-edge tools. Contact us at elsmarketing@ala.org.