Registration/Exhibits/Networking
and Continental Breakfast

8:45 AM

Introduction and Welcome

Keynote Speaker: James Feldman

Shift Happens—Thriving on Change
Shift Happens all around us. Today there is no shortage of problems that require new shifts or changes in thinking. This keynote is not only humorous and entertaining but also helps you explore new ways of dealing with change in libraries. It’s time to shift your thinking.

Reaching Forward thanks Today’s Business Solutions for its support of James Feldman’s Keynote.

10:00 – 10:15 AM

Author Book Signing
Exhibitor No-Conflict Time
Best Buy Techno Zoo

Take this time to purchase books written by our guest authors, visit the exhibits, and try out new gizmos at the Techno Zoo.

10:15 AM – 12:30 PM

HALF-DAY SESSIONS
These programs will run for two sessions, with a 15-minute break.

Program Tracks:
Customer Service
When Patrons Have Bizarre Behavior…How Should I Respond?

Training
The ABC's of Training Library Shelvers

When Patrons Have Bizarre Behavior…. How Should I Respond?
Learn how to recognize signs of mental illness. Trained family members, who have lived the experience and use non-clinical terminology, will give you practical tips for more effective ways to handle difficult patrons in difficult situations. Refer individuals and family members to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) for free support, education, and advocacy.

Speaker: Pat Doyle, Education Program Director, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) DuPage
Track: Customer Service

The ABC’s of Training Library Shelvers
Library shelvers are hired to pay attention to detail, and it takes time and effort to train them effectively. In this session you will be given practical tools for instructing new employees including examples of encouraging, noncritical, effective language. You will also acquire some methods of tracking and assessing the progress of your new employees.

Speaker: Patricia Tunstall, Adult Services Information Assistant, Indian Trails Public Library District
Track: Training

10:15 – 11:15 AM

SESSION 1

Program Tracks:

Authors
Author Conversations

Customer Service
D-A-T-I-N-G Your Customer
Wired That Way: Foundations

Personal Development
How to View the Second Half of Your Life
Wired That Way: Foundations

Professional Development
The ABC’s of Libraries Today: Asking, Bantering, Conversing, Discussing, Exchanging…

Programming
Author Conversations

Reference
Travel Agents, Typewriter Repairmen, Encyclopedia Salesmen, and Reference Librarians: May These Professions Rest in Peace?

Technology
Geeks Bearing Gifts: Technology Trends for Library Staff

Wellness
Stop Workspace Aches and Pains

Youth and Young Adult Services
Heart Transplant: Bullying and Emotional Abuse

Author Conversations
Join us for a lively, fast-paced program of Author Conversations — Speed Dating Style. Six authors will delight you with their insights about writing and the life of an author. The authors will introduce themselves and address the whole group. Then, the pace will change as each author moves around the room stopping at each table to talk for a few minutes. So, hold on to your hats and enjoy the conversation! Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a drawing for a free book! Authors will be available for a book signing from 1:45 to 2:15 p.m. in the exhibits area.

Get in early – there’s limited seating!

Track: Authors, Programming

D-A-T-I-N-G Your Customer
Do you think your customers are satisfied? Customer satisfaction doesn't always mean customer loyalty. These days, even if your customers appear completely satisfied with your product or service, 40%-50% of them will leave you and start doing business with your competition. This results-oriented speech quickly identifies the six components of successful customer service.

Speaker: James Feldman, Shift Happens
Track: Customer Service

Geeks Bearing Gifts: Technology Trends for Library Staff
How do you check out a digital download? Is the smartphone the new library card? Join two library technology experts for a look at all things digital and their potential impact on current frontline procedures and policies.

Speakers: Toby Greenwalt, Virtual Services Coordinator, Skokie Public Library, and Anthony Molaro, Associate Dean of Library and Instructional Technology, Prairie State College
Track: Technology

Reaching Forward thanks Best Buy for its support of technology programs.

The ABC’s of Libraries Today: Asking, Bantering, Conversing, Discussing, Exchanging…
Looking for a chance to talk about the future of libraries and your place in them? Concerned about the changesthat are happening? Want to network with people from around the State? Here’s your chance! Gail Johnson and Pam Parr will facilitate an entire room of discussions around questions designed to get you thinking about your future. You’ll leave this session energized about what’s next, anticipating changes with delight, and delirious with joy about the future (okay—maybe that’s overkill; but you will have the words to continue conversations with colleagues after the conference).

Speakers: Gail Johnson & Pam Parr, Face to Face Communications and Training, Inc.
Track: Professional Development

Stop Workspace Aches and Pains
Sitting in front of your computer too long? Standing at the public services desk too long? By improving your work area and performing simple exercises as you work, you can help prevent aches, pains, and injuries common to this work environment.

Speaker: Jill Powers, M.P.T., All Things in Motion
Track: Wellness

Wired That Way: Foundations
Join speaker and personality expert Jaclyn Rowe, and explore a unique and exciting way to get motivated. This interactive first session will lay the foundation for transforming work relationships and customer service through personality training. Learn the visible, various, and valuable pieces of your personality puzzle.

Speaker: Jaclyn Rowe, Personality Expert
Track: Customer Service, Personal Development

Reaching Forward thanks LACONI Circulation Services Section for its support of Jaclyn Rowe’s programs.

How to View the Second Half of Your Life
Each one of us incorporates six life arenas that comprise our day: work & career, health & wellness, finances & insurance, family & relationships, leisure & social, and personal development. Today’s session will offer you an opportunity to understand how each arena is distinct and yet blends together into something that represents you. Brief exercises during the presentation will challenge you to envision the next stage of your life.

Speaker: Robert Mesch, Managing Director, Intuitive Wealth Management, LLC
Track: Personal Development

Travel Agents, Typewriter Repairmen, Encyclopedia Salesmen, and Reference Librarians: May These Professions Rest in Peace?
Public library reference service has been on life support for some time now, and forward-thinking libraries are pulling the plug. This program will address the issue head-on: Should public libraries continue to offer reference service; are there alternatives to the traditional reference collection; are traditional reference classes still relevant; and how does this very significant shift in public library service affect the rest of the library staff? This program will respond to these questions and more as it walks through the process one suburban public library is going through as it redefines reference service.

Speaker: Bill Erbes, Bensenville Community Public Library District
Track: Reference

Heart Transplant: Bullying and Emotional Abuse
This workshop will examine cultural factors contributing to bullying and emotional abuse, which continue to reduce our potential as a culture. Aggressors learn which behaviors are acceptable, and we teach those lessons every day. Behaviors are learned. Children are not resilient. Children are malleable. We can take steps to change the culture, reduce bullying and emotional abuse, and help our children and young adults reach their potential.

Speaker: Zak Mucha, LCSW, Social Worker and Author
Track: Youth and Young Adult Services

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

SESSION 2

Program Tracks:

Authors
Author Conversations
The Beat Cop’s Guide to Chicago Eats

Customer Service
Attitudes Are Caught, Not Taught
Wired That Way: Power in Relationships

Marketing
Marketing with New Technology

Personal Development
Attitudes Are Caught, Not Taught
Ten Money Rules to Live By
Wired That Way: Power in Relationships

Professional Development
The ABC’s of Libraries Today: Asking, Bantering, Conversing, Discussing, Exchanging…

Programming
Author Conversations
The Beat Cop’s Guide to Chicago Eats
Disaster Preparedness

Reference
New Children's Reference

Technology
Marketing with New Technology

Training
Disaster Preparedness

Youth and Young Adult Services
New Children's Reference

Author Conversations
Join us for a lively, fast-paced program of Author Conversations — Speed Dating Style. Six authors will delight you with their insights about writing and the life of an author. The authors will introduce themselves and address the whole group. Then, the pace will change as each author moves around the room stopping at each table to talk for a few minutes. So, hold on to your hats and enjoy the conversation! Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a drawing for a free book! Authors will be available for a book signing from 1:45 to 2:15 p.m. in the exhibits area.

Get in early – there’s limited seating!

Track: Authors, Programming

Attitudes Are Caught, Not Taught
It is not what happens to you that counts—it is how you react to what happens to you when Shift Happens!® Jim Feldman offers practical guidance and instructions for gaining inner peace, inner happiness, and mental mastery, with a focus on personal growth, delivered in a humorous style that everyone can follow.

Speaker: James Feldman, Shift Happens
Track: Customer Service; Personal Development

Marketing with Technology
Are you using everything available to market you library? Take advantage of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Youtube, QR codes, and more! Connect with your mobile and tech savvy patrons.

Speakers: Susan Westgate, Assistant Director; Carrie Straka, Adult/Teen Librarian; Karen Kreterfield, Technical Services, Bartlett Public Library District
Track: Marketing, Technology

Reaching Forward thanks Best Buy for its support of technology programs.

The ABC’s of Libraries Today: Asking, Bantering, Conversing, Discussing, Exchanging…
Looking for a chance to talk about the future of libraries and your place in them? Concerned about the changes that are happening? Want to network with people from around the State? Here’s your chance! Gail Johnson and Pam Parr will facilitate an entire room of discussions around questions designed to get you thinking about your future. You’ll leave this session energized about what’s next, anticipating changes with delight, and delirious with joy about the future (okay—maybe that’s overkill; but you will have the words to continue conversations with colleagues after the conference).

Speakers: Gail Johnson & Pam Parr, Face to Face Communications and Training, Inc.
Track: Professional Development

The Beat Cop’s Guide to Chicago Eats
Dave Haynes and Chris Garlington will discuss where in Chicago police officers eat. The discussion expands as Dave and Chris get members of the audience to argue over where the best pizza, bar-b-que, and hot dogs are in their neighborhoods.

Speakers: Dave Haynes & Chris Garlington, Authors, The Beat Cop’s Guide to Chicago Eats
Tracks: Authors, Programming

Wired That Way: Power in Relationships
Ever wonder why people act the way they do? Why your perspective and behavior are so different? Effective communication and successful relationships depend on understanding what motivates people and what motivates you. Jaclyn Rowe will give you clarity and confidence in understanding others and in understanding yourself.

Speaker: Jaclyn Rowe, Personality Expert
Track: Customer Service, Personal Development

Reaching Forward thanks LACONI Circulation Services Section for its support of Jaclyn Rowe’s programs.

Ten Money Rules to Live By
What is the formula for financial success? Karen Chan, CFP and Consumer & Family Economics Educator with University of Illinois Extension, will share Ten Money Rules to Live By, based on her real-life experience working with people from all walks of life. By following these basic rules, you can protect yourself from major financial mistakes, prepare for your future, and keep things simple in the process. Come and get your own financial rule-book.

Speaker: Karen M. Chan, MS, CFP, Extension Educator, Consumer Economics
Track: Personal Development

Two Book Minimum: The Evolution of the Youth Services Information desk
From books to bytes and back again, what children and teens are asking for is an ever-changing assortment of questions, requirements and requests. Take a look back at the children’s reference service of the past, where things stand today and where they may be going in the library of tomorrow.

Speaker: Veronica De Fazio , Head of Youth Services, Plainfield Public Library District
Track: Youth and Young Adult

Libraries in Times of Disaster
The library can be a life-saving source of education and response both before and after a disaster. From effective educational programming that enthralls every age to partnerships within the community, only the library can bridge gaps left by other entities in a community. When disaster strikes, simple changes and preparations made by your library can create not only a haven, but a center for assistance, information, and even healing. Disaster preparedness educator and consultant Eddy Weiss will share the successes of libraries that have implemented small changes to achieve big outcomes in the field of disaster preparedness education and response while sharing how Chasing4Life has become a premier library source for educational programming.

Speaker: Eddy Weiss, CEO, Chasing4Life
Track: Programming, Training

12:45 – 1:45 PM

Lunch in the main ballroom
Menu
Garden Salad, Rolls
Entrée: Cheese Tortellini, vegetable
Dessert: The Rosemont Dessert
Coffee, Tea, Iced Tea

Awards Presentation

1:45 – 2:15 PM

Author Book Signing
Exhibitor No-Conflict Time
Best Buy Techno Zoo

Take this time to purchase books written by our guest authors, visit the exhibits, and try out new gizmos at the Techno Zoo.

2:15 – 3:15 PM

SESSION 3

Program Tracks:

Authors
Things I’ve Learned While Attending the University of Life

Customer Service
Project Compass: Workforce Recovery in Illinois
Wired That Way: Customer Service
Autism

Marketing
Back to Books

Professional Development
The Adaptability App

Programming
eReader or Tablet: Which for What

Reference
Project Compass: Workforce Recovery in Illinois

Technology
Technology to Improve Your Life
eReader or Tablet: Which for What
Back to Books

Training
Autism

Wellness
Your Workspace Doesn’t Have to Be a Pain in the Neck... Shoulders, or Back

Youth and Young Adult Services
Children’s Programming Showcase

Author Keynote: Al Gini, Professor of Ethics, Loyola University Chicago

Things I’ve Learned While Attending the University of Life
In days of old when nights were bold and dragons still roamed the earth, Al Gini went off to college. Because he was the first in his family to attend college, he had no idea what to expect. It turned out that college proved to be a cornucopia of delights. It was Gini's introduction to the world, to the life of the mind, to art, to politics and philosophy, to literature and poetry.

This keynote is based on some of the essays in Al Gini's recent book, Seeking the Truth of Things, a reflection on some of the things he's learned both at college and at the University of Life.

Speaker: Al Gini, Loyola University, Chicago, Graduate School of Business
Track: Authors

Reaching Forward thanks Face to Face Communications and Training for its sponsorship of Al Gini’s Author Keynote.

Technology to Improve Your Life
Despite rumors to the contrary, technology can actually make your life better. There are a number of tools—websites, apps, and gadgets—out there that can help you organize your life, reduce mental clutter, and get things done. Join two experts in library technology as they discuss some of their favorite lifehacking resources.

Speakers: Toby Greenwalt, Virtual Services Coordinator, Skokie Public Library, and Anthony Molaro, Associate Dean of Library and Instructional Technology, Prairie State College
Track: Technology

Reaching Forward thanks Best Buy for its support of technology programs.

Children’s Programming Showcase
Are children dozing off, distracted, or simply not tuning in during your library programs? Discover new and exciting programming ideas for youth at your library! A group of enthusiastic librarians will share innovative new program ideas for every budget that you can incorporate at your library all year round!

Speakers:
Track: Youth and Young Adult Services

The Adaptability App
Adaptability is the most sought-after skill of this decade. Do you have it? Upload for free at thisconference session! The world around us is constantly changing requiring us to rework our work. We’ll talk about how to get ahead of the change curve so that you actually get excited about what’s coming next. Once you’ve uploaded the Adaptability APP you will not only be an asset to your library; your employability will skyrocket! You can be bold, brilliant, and brave about what’s coming next to your library. [**disclaimer: this is not a phone APP; it is a soft skill with a catchy name]

Speakers: Gail Johnson & Pam Parr, Face to Face Communications and Training, Inc.
Track: Professional Development

Your Workspace Doesn’t Have to be a Pain in the Neck…Shoulders,orBack
A healthy and safe workspace is a necessity in today’s fast paced environment. Learn tips to help prevent repetitive stress injuries.

Speaker: Jill Powers, M.P.T., All Things in Motion
Track: Wellness

Recognizing and Embracing Autism within the Library Setting
Given the propensity for some individuals with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) to be attracted to the natural aspects of libraries, it is helpful to demystify the mystery of ASD.
This presentation will acquaint the participants with the various characteristics of ASD, provide participants with tools for recognizing the likely existence of ASD, and provide helpful hints as to how best to relate to and assist those with ASD.

Speaker: Susan Hamre, MA, CCC/SLP, Director of Autism Training Center, Giant Steps
Tracks: Customer Service, Training

Project Compass: Workforce Recovery in Illinois
Library staff are frequently the first responders to the anxiety, confusion, and despair of a faltering economy. Project Compass was designed to help libraries better serve those who turn to them for help dealing with unemployment. This program will present the highlights of the day-long Project Compass workshops that in 2011 were held throughout Illinois and nine other states. Topics to be addressed include an assessment of 21st century skills, collaborations and partnerships available in Illinois, coping mechanisms, success stories, and a list of the 100 things libraries can do to help the unemployted. Participants will also receive copies of the complete Project Compass curriculum.

Speaker: Bill Erbes, Assistant Director, Bensenville Community Public Library District
Track: Customer Service, Reference

Wired That Way: Customer Service
Priceless: the ability to identify the personality of someone else, to adjust your approach and expectations, and to apply techniques that will best meet their needs and desires. This highly interactive session will teach you how to accurately identify the personalities of your customers using visible clues and key questions. Personality expert Jaclyn Rowe will give you proven, practical, and simple tools and techniques for effective communication and customer service.

Speaker: Jaclyn Rowe, Personality Expert
Track: Customer Service

Reaching Forward thanks LACONI Circulation Services for its support of Jaclyn Rowe’s programs.

eReader or Tablet: Which for What
If a library user asks you to explain the differences between an eReader and a tablet, can you? Are you comfortable recommending one or the other? Members from Best Buy's Geek Squad have the anwers you need. Learn about the differences in the various products available and the best uses for each kind of technology.

Speaker: Members of the Geek Squad, Best Buy
Track: Programming, Technology

Reaching Forward thanks Best Buy for its support of technology programs.

Back to Books
A reprisal of an RLA-CE workshop highlights some of the best ways to bring focus back to books and to use technology to promote books more effectively. Becky Spratford will discuss how social media can be used to promote books. And, Jason Smith will share some of his marketing secrets with us.

Speakers: Becky Spratford, Readers’ Advisory Librarian, Berwyn Public Library; Jason Smith, The Book Table
Tracks: Technology, Marketing

Reaching Forward thanks Best Buy for its support of technology programs.