2025 Virtual Conference: Connection

Adapt your Craft: Accessible Crafting and Maker Activities
Zoe Lopez, South Brunswick Public Library

Craft programs bring people together in libraries. But for many, arthritis, carpal tunnel, injury, and other chronic pain conditions make crafting uncomfortable and unsustainable. Learn about tools and strategies you can use to make your craft programs more accessible, and how to expand your maker services for those living with chronic pain.

Branching Out and Bolstering Connections in an Overconnected World
Julie Knapp, Heather Lubchansky, Jessica Osolin, & Julia Thomas, Sussex County Library System

Creating a cohesive staff and community experience across a multibranch system is challenging—especially in a world of constant digital communication that can often feel impersonal. The Sussex County Library System, with six branches across a large geographic area, has focused in recent years on strengthening internal communication and collaboration. These efforts are enhancing staff engagement, increasing productivity, and creating a more unified library experience for our patrons.
This session will highlight practical, replicable strategies for building connections through technology training, collection and program development, staff recognition, marketing, outreach, and more. Attendees will gain insights into how improving internal connections can lead to stronger staff morale, more efficient operations, and better service to the community.

Chronicling Connection: How Reports Showcase Library-Campus Synergy
Susan Van Alstyne & Rita Keene, Centenary University

Rita Keene and Susan Van Alstyne have partnered for three years to create the Library Impact Report each fiscal year. Our library team gathers data while Rita designs the reports using Canva, highlighting key events and collaborations with campus departments, faculty, and the community. In our presentation, we will outline our purpose and methodology, showing how our report design has evolved over the past three years. We will also showcase the Centenary University printed yearbook that the library has successfully produced for the last two years. Rita’s creative Canva designs have turned the yearbook project into a team-building experience, engaging all departments to ensure they are represented. Attendees of this session will leave inspired and empowered, with a practical plan to create their own impactful reports that enhance storytelling and foster connections within their organizations.

Academic libraries are uniquely positioned to build meaningful connections that advance student success, strengthen faculty collaboration, and support institutional goals. In this session, hear about five strategic partnerships our library has developed — with general education curriculum co-chairs, academic departments, program directors, summer program coordinators, and orientation organizers. Learn tips for initiating, maintaining, and/or expanding collaborations at your own institution. Leave with a clearer sense of how to recognize opportunities, build rapport, and tailor library services to meet evolving campus needs — all through the lens of connection.

NJ Division on Civil Rights and its Link to Libraries
Fannie Chan Jarvis, Stephanie Menezile, & Patricia Williamson, NJ Division on Civil Rights

Like libraries, the NJ Division on Civil Rights (DCR) looks to foster community connections and to educate the public about the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, New Jersey Family Leave Act, and Fair Chance in Housing Act. As the state agency that enforces the civil rights protections of all New Jerseyans, DCR invites libraries to collaborate and host free (in-person, online, or hybrid) “Know Your Rights” programs. Whether library patrons are long-time residents, students, or recent immigrants, DCR wishes to engage with diverse audiences about their rights under NJ’s anti-discrimination laws.

Through DCR’s community-friendly presentations, library audiences can learn how it is a violation of the NJ Law Against Discrimination if an employer, housing provider, or any place that provides public goods or services (including a hospital, school, and agency) subjects them to bias, harassment, or discrimination based on their disability, religion, race, sexual orientation, national origin/nationality/ancestry, or other protected category. Participants will also learn how to file a civil rights complaint with DCR. 

The Connected Library: Fostering Partnership for Impactful Service
Teresa Villani, Linden Public Library

As a current employee of Linden Public Library, President of the Friends, and former Board of Education commissioner, I have documented along the 11 years of working at the library, the process I went through of creating ties with the school district; forging relationships with local government; reaching the business community, both larger companies and the mom-and-pop shops; and interacting with religious and civic organizations, all in order to help shape the library into the keystone of the community.
Each of these relationships have overlapping components, but also some very different attributes that, I have come to learn, need different approaches. I will discuss both achievements that can be replicated as well as pitfalls to avoid.

Fostering connection and growing capacity are essential components of the support provided to libraries across the state by the New Jersey State Library. Current and upcoming initiatives from the Library Development Bureau will disseminate resources, funding, and education on a variety of topics including information literacy, financial literacy, and digital literacy. This session will give an overview of these programs and share how your library can get involved. 

Mentors Make a Difference
Dr. Moddie Breland, Mercy University & Karen Venturella, Union College of Union County, NJ

The program will focus on the mentoring experience of two academic librarians at different career stages and at other institutions with a shared goal of publishing peer-reviewed articles in library journals. The collaboration began with the ACRL Dr. E.J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor program that pairs an experienced librarian with a librarian new to the field and from an under-represented minority group. The program aims to increase the retention of minority librarians in the profession. The program will also describe how the mentor relationship evolved, hoping it provides insight into mentorship aspects that benefit those in the library profession.

School Outreach: Thinking Beyond the Library Tour
Elizabeth Smith, Plainfield Public Library

This program will go over resources/programs to offer schools who want to do a class visit to the library. It will cover ages from preschool to high school. It will reflect on ways to connect with the students and teachers beyond just providing a library tour. 

ADA Compliance isn't Enough: Making Libraries Accessible to All
Jessica Cowden, Saint Elizabeth University

This program discusses ways to go beyond ADA compliance to make your library accessible and welcoming to patrons with disabilities. Following the law should be a given, but what about all the other information that disabled patrons need in order to feel comfortable in a space? From variable seating options to emergency procedures, I will discuss how to help patrons with disabilities feel comfortable in the library before they even step foot in the building. 

Harnessing Connections to Drive Political Change
Mary Moyer Stubbs, NJ Association of School Librarians & Pat Massey, New Jersey Library Trustee Association

Making and maintaining connections with others can positively affect political change. As library organizations in New Jersey have learned, working together can make a huge difference in advocating for items that include  library funding, intellectual freedom, and information literacy. For example, NJLA and NJASL have worked together with other organizations to build coalitions that have led to positive legislative changes. Too often, library staff and other stakeholders are afraid to engage in advocacy because they don’t know where to start or how to engage stakeholders. Through this session, learn how collaboration leads  to successful legislative campaigns.  Additionally,  learn how to build connections for your library by identifying potential stakeholders and engaging in grassroots advocacy to support your library. Advocacy can become a powerful tool to promote libraries. 

Transform Your Library  with Teen-Led Programming
Valerie Coughlin, Brenda Ramos, & Vanessa Soto, Hoboken Public Library 

By encouraging teens to implement their own library programs, librarians engage with students in a special way, offer unique teen volunteering opportunities, and empower youth leadership. We will address how to create a programming structure that allows teens to demonstrate their talents and develop lifelong skills, while meeting your library's goals. By putting teens in charge, your library becomes a vibrant third space for the next generation!

How to Have Successful Interactions With Our Senior Patrons
Erin DeLucia, The Ocean County Library

Learn how to better serve our older adult patrons. By understanding how we age, we can have successful interactions with our senior patrons. We will also review effective communication tips to ensure outstanding public service to our older adult patrons.

Talk It Out: Sparking Connection Beyond the Book Group
Roberta Panjwani & Lori Steinbacher, Ridgewood Public Library

In an uncertain time when we’re all craving real connection (and a break from our screens), libraries can be a solution. Book groups are a beloved staple—but what about people who aren’t big readers or who have different interests? At Ridgewood Public Library, we’ve found that any program structured around discussion—whether sparked by an article, podcast, short video, or expert speaker—draws in a wide range of participants and often outperforms more passive offerings. In this session, we’ll share how we’ve expanded “book group energy” to a variety of formats that encourage people to talk, reflect, and share. These low- or no-cost programs build community, foster belonging, and center the library as a place of conversation and connection. Whether it’s a town issue or a trending topic, you don’t need a book to get people talking—you just need a space and a spark.

Connecting Through Moments That Already Exist
Elyssa Zylbershlag, Work Wise Labs

Some of the most powerful connections in libraries happen in everyday moments—a quick hello to a regular patron, a hallway chat with a colleague, a familiar question at the desk. This session invites you to rethink those small, repeated interactions as opportunities to build trust and belonging.

Through guided conversation and reflection, we’ll explore how to bring more intention to the moments you already have, without adding more to your day. You’ll leave with fresh insight—and ideas you can immediately try in your own library to strengthen connections and community.