Pacific Northwest Library Association

Public libraries are changing rapidly to better serve their communities, and library staff must constantly redevelop their skills to facilitate this change. Opportunities for professional development, however, are especially limited in rural areas. The Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA), which includes the states of Alaska, Idaho, and Montana, will use its grant to support the PNLA Leads program, offering intensive weeklong training to degreed and non-degreed library staff in these largely rural states. PNLA Leads is designed to develop and enhance skills and aptitudes in areas such as visioning, conflict resolution, commitment to community, personal introspection and growth, mentoring, team building, and risk taking. This professional development project will include leadership institutes in 2013 and 2015 and a train-the-trainer workshop in 2014.