This page is a repository for professional development/continuing education resources, as well as an archive of recordings from previous Metronet events. Check back frequently to see what’s new!
For more information about our upcoming offerings, please visit our Events and Programs Page
Event Archives
Next Chapter: Career Literacy for Library Staff
Upcoming Sessions:
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April 23 | 2-3:30pm | Mini Job Club – Actionable Advice to Improve Your Job SearchJoin our interactive, virtual job club! HR professional Kelsie Bohm will review and provide brief, constructive feedback on resumes, LinkedIn profiles, or give actionable advice on the challenges you’re currently facing in the job search. Participants should email their resumes, LinkedIn links, or questions to hr@metronet.lib.mn.us by Monday April 20th. To encourage participation and respect privacy, this session will not be recorded. While we will do our best to get through as many resumes and questions as possible, we may not be able to review every single one. Even if we don’t get to yours, it is helpful to see other resumes, profiles, and job search challenges receive actionable advice from a professional to get a better idea of how to improve your own!
Previous Sessions:
Session 1 | Oct 30, 2-3:30pm | Recording on Our YouTube Channel | Slides
Cataloging Yourself: Discovering Your Strengths and Characteristics for Career Success
Finding the right job starts with understanding yourself. You will learn practical strategies for identifying your strengths, weaknesses, personality traits, and unique characteristics.
Session 2 | Nov 6 | 2-3:30pm | Recording on Our YouTube Channel | Slides
Circulating Connections: LinkedIn and Public Presence
Build your resume with networking, volunteering, and reaching beyond your system for opportunities. To stand out, combine networking, volunteering, and exploration of opportunities beyond your comfort zone. Networking builds relationships and uncovers job leads, while volunteering develops skills and demonstrates commitment.
Session 3 | Nov 13 | 2-3:30pm | Recording on Our YouTube Channel | Slides
Write on Track – Résumés & Cover Letters
Looking for the next step in your career or just trying to keep your resume current? A well-crafted resume and cover letter will help you stand out. Learn how to tailor your application to specific jobs and showcase your qualifications in an impactful way. Whether you’re entering the job market, looking to advance your career, or just wanting to see what’s out there this session will provide you with the tools to create polished, targeted application documents that get noticed.
Session 4 | Nov 20 | 2-3:30pm | Recording on Our YouTube Channel | Slides
On the Record – Interview Dos & Don’ts
Interviews can be daunting but they don’t have to be! This session will explore what to do and what not to do during the interview process. From answering common questions to navigating in-person versus remote interviews, you’ll gain insight into what interviewers are looking for and how to present yourself clearly and confidently.
Session 5 | Jan 15 | 10-11:30am | Recording on Our YouTube Channel | Slides
Bookending the Interview – Decoding What Comes Next
You’ve made it through the interview, now what? Whether you’ve just made it past the interview step or have received an offer, this webinar will offer practical tips on how to follow up, how to evaluate and negotiate offers, and insight about common mistakes and how to avoid them.
Session 6 | Jan 29 | 2-3:30pm | Recording on Our YouTube Channel | Slides
Researching your options – Explore careers for librarians Join labor market and career experts as they highlight Minnesota’s job market for librarians and spotlight tools to help you identify transferable skills, job prospects and career options. Presenters are from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and include Oriane Casale from the Labor Market Information Office and Kelly Tenner from CareerOneStop. Session moderator is DEED librarian Dru Frykberg.
Bookmarked for Success Description: Effective networking can open doors for your career growth but where do you start? This webinar will offer approachable networking strategies, including tips on building meaningful connections and suggestions on how to begin.
How to write job ads Description: The first step in attracting the right candidates is crafting a clear and compelling job ad. This webinar will guide you through what it takes to write a job ad that stands out, clearly conveys the job duties, and reaches qualified candidates.
Session 9 | March 12 | 2-3:30pm | Recording on Our YouTube Channel | Slides
Beyond the Stacks – Career transitions outside of libraries Description: Library work helps you hone highly transferable skills like research, instruction, project management, community engagement, and technology support that are valuable far beyond traditional library roles. Whether you’re ready to make a change or just looking, we will explore how skills can translate and learn about common library adjacent career paths.
Library Leadership Forum is a professional development book club/discussion group sponsored by Metronet. This forum is designed to bring together library workers across Minnesota to connect and engage in discussions of library work, values, librarianship, and leadership. Each month features a new topic and resources such as books, articles, podcasts, and webinars are shared in advance of each session.
All Minnesota library staff, including job seekers, are welcome with no commitment to attend regularly. Rather than a presentation or training, Library Leadership Forum is a discussion group and active participation is strongly encouraged. Meetings are held on a monthly basis via Zoom and co-facilitated by Carol Jackson and Stacey Hendren.
Register here for Library Leadership Forum on Wednesday, May 20 at 3:00pm (CST).
Topic: Imposter Syndrome and Leadership
Imposter syndrome is not uncommon among library staff, particularly those new to the profession. There’s more to it than a lack of self-confidence, however. Nicola Andrews’s article on It’s Not Imposter Syndrome: Resisting Self-Doubt as Normal For Library Workers makes the case that factors such as precarious labor, racism, and sexism as well as institutional leadership culture can cultivate imposter syndrome. How do we resist self-doubt and improve culture?
Resources:
- For a basic explanation of Imposter Syndrome, read Overcome Imposter Syndrome to Become a Better Leader by Soren Kaplan, Ph.D., Psychology Today, March 19, 2025
- For a deeper exploration around the cultural and institutional issues surrounding imposter syndrome, check out It’s Not Imposter Syndrome: Resisting Self-Doubt as Normal For Library Workers by Nicola Andrews, In the Library with the Lead Pipe, June 10, 2020
Future 2026 dates include:
Thursday, June 18
Wednesday, July 22
Thursday, August 27
Wednesday, September 23
October meeting will be at MLA
Wednesday, November 18
Thursday, December 17
About LLF: Join your library colleagues across MN to connect and engage in discussions of library work, values, librarianship, and leadership. Library Leadership Forum (LLF) is a professional development book club/discussion group sponsored by Metronet. Members of LLF will discuss books, articles, podcasts, and/or webinars and attend meetings held online. This discussion group is facilitated by Stacey Hendren and Carol Jackson.
All Minnesota library staff, including job seekers, are welcome with no commitment to attend regularly. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations and connect with your library colleagues across the state.
Find past and future resources from LLF at http://tinyurl.com/
Questions about Library Leadership Forum? Email Carol Jackson, LLF Facilitator, at cljackson46@gmail.com.
Below are listed resources from previous meetings. Questions about LLF? Contact Carol Jackson at cljackson46@gmail.com.
Library Leadership Forum Resources:
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Here are resources from past Library Leadership Forum meetings:
November 15, 2023 – Vocational Awe and Libraries
January 3, 2024 – Cultural Humility and Libraries
February 14, 2024 – Safety in the Library
March 27, 2024 – Library Advocacy
April 25, 2024 – State of America’s Libraries
May 29, 2024 – Book Bans
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Video about MN Book Bans: https://youtu.be/_sVQ3jFKZmw
July 25, 2024 – Library Bridgebuilding
August 28, 2024 – Readers’ Advisory
September 26, 2024 – Intro to State Library Services
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Video about State Library Services: https://youtu.be/W-xFErpBuk8
November 21, 2024 – Professional Associations
February 27, 2025 – EveryLibrary’s July 2024 report on Project 2025 and Its Consequences for Libraries.
March 26, 2025- Leadership in Times of Low Morale
April 17, 2025- Leadership and Unwritten Rules in the Workplace
May 28, 2025 – Workplace Culture
June, 28 2025 – Conflict Resolution and Leadership
July 23, 2025 – National Leadership Experience
August 21, 2025 – Specialization vs. Generalization
September 14, 2025 – Building Your Resilient Network
November 19, 2025 – Choosing Your Battles
January 28, 2026 – Change Management
February 19, 2026 – Developing Your Leadership Mindset
Talkabout Books Events: This is an online meetup to discuss books of different genres to share what you’re reading and/or to figure out your next read.
- Click here to see all of our previous book lists!
- Talkabout Conversations:
- Library Conversations are a chance to talk about issues and ideas for all types of libraries & their staff. Whether you’re a library media specialist, an academic librarian, a public librarian, or just curious, come chat with us and other librarians and share your thoughts. Or just come and listen, all are welcome here.
- Talkabout Conversation #1: Back-to-School Click here for the notes from this event!
- Talkabout Conversation #2: Holiday Library Ideas Click here for the notes from this event!
- Talkabout Conversation #3 – Social Media In Libraries Click here for the notes from this event!
- Media Specialist Meetups
- View notes from the previous meetups here:
- 2021-22 School Year:
- Sharing Jamboard
- Bookfairs and Library Funding
- E-Resources
- 2022-23 School Year
- Back-to-School Edition
- Advocacy
- State Library Services for Advocacy
Youtube Channel
Did you know that we now have a YouTube channel? Click here to see all of our archived videos! Our current playlists include videos from the Real Life Librarianship series, and our Learnabout Series. See details below for more information about each archived video.
Learnabout Series: brief, one hour or less, informational webinar on various topics. View the full YouTube playlist here Previous topics include:
- Learnabout Google Docs
- In these days of remote work and distance learning, Google Docs is an increasingly important tool. Attend this webinar to learn some new features of this popular tool, as well as some tips/tricks. You should have a basic working knowledge of Google Docs in order for this to be most useful.
- View the recording on our YouTube channel here
- Learnabout Google Drive
- Organization, storage, and file sharing are crucial elements in today’s world. This session will explore what Google Drive can do and some of its lesser known secrets. This is a great place to start for those who are new to the Google universe.
- View the recording on our YouTube channel here
- Learnabout Google Sheets
- Spreadsheets can be confusing and complicated. Let us demystify them for you! Join this webinar to learn more about how Google Sheets operates. This session will accommodate beginner and intermediate users.
- View the recording on our YouTube channel here
- Learnabout Chrome Extensions
- Google Chrome web browser can be a valuable tool, especially if you take advantage of extensions. Confused? View this webinar to learn more about Chrome Extensions, how to use them, some of the most productive, and more! For beginner users of Chrome Extensions
- View the recording on our YouTube channel here
- Learnabout Google Forms
- Need to create a survey? Registration form? Attendance? Want to create a feedback form? Google forms is an easy-to-use and versatile tool for creating web forms. This webinar will give the basics and some of the more useful features of this tool.
- View the recording on our YouTube channel here
- Learnabout Google Sites
- Are you looking to create a website? Perhaps you want your own home page within your organization’s larger site? You can use Google Sites to create your own free and easy website. Take this webinar to learn the basics of Google Sites and leave with enough information to create your first site. For beginner users of Google Sites.
- View the recording on our YouTube channel here
- Learnabout Google Chrome
- Learnabout Google Meets
- Learnabout Google Secrets
- Learnabout Canva
- Learnabout eLibrary MN
- Learnabout Canva Part 2
- Real Life Librarianship Series: panelists who work in different kinds of libraries talk about their jobs in a 2 hour conversation. View the full YouTube playlist here
- Curious about the different types of libraries and the librarians who work in them? Thinking about where you might fit in the library world? Join us in the Real Life Librarianship series to hear real librarians who do a variety of jobs in various libraries explain not only what day-to-day life is like doing these jobs but how to get there. This would be useful for job seekers, library school students, & anyone who is looking to advance or change roles in a library, or anyone who is just curious about other people’s jobs. Click each link below to view the full video.
- Week 1: Academic Libraries
- Week 2: Public Libraries
- Week 3: Special Libraries
- Week 4: School Libraries
- Week 5: Government Libraries
- Week 6: Archivists
- Week 7: Cataloging/Metadata Librarians
- Week 8: Non-Traditional Library Jobs
- Week 9: State-Level Library Services
- Week 10: Small Academic Libraries
- Week 11: Medical Libraries
- Week 12: Library System Directors
- Week 13: Law Libraries
Professional Development Resources
- The Minnesota Libraries Learning Network coordinates training for Minnesota library workers and their supporters, addressing essential skills and knowledge relevant to current library operations and services. Check out the new courses available to all Minnesota library workers at the MLLN website https://mlln.org
- Please visit our Statewide CE calendar here
Minnesota Library Professional Development Network
We are excited to announce the launch of a year-long campaign to support libraries as they grapple with today’s fractured and challenging media landscape.
This campaign will help Minnesota library staff:
- Understand how people navigate the media and information landscape, and how forces within that landscape influence their navigation.
- Learn how to build reflection and intentionality into their information consumption.
- Gain strategies for working with their communities on intentional approaches to information consumption.
- Click Here to view Media Landscapes Events
- Media Landscapes 23 Things Mini-Courses
- This new series of mini-courses, created by the seven Minnesota Multitype Library Systems (Multitypes), meets the needs of Minnesota library staff by helping them understand how their users navigate the present media and information landscape, and how forces within that landscape influence their navigation.
- It is designed to help library staff engage more deeply with the issues and concepts addressed in the Media Landscapes Campaign. By working together through these Things, we will all have a greater understanding of disinformation, information/digital literacy, and how to address these issues in various ways and in various library settings.
- You can find more information, registration, and the mini-courses here: Media Landscapes: 23 Things
