Summer Skills Camp

The summer season is here and with it the always anticipated Summer Reading Programs in libraries across the state.  As your staff gets into the swing of summer, remember that Brainfuse has a fun resource to compliment in-person programs by engaging kids with online learning.  It’s Brainfuse Summer Skills Camp and it’s available to all Iowa libraries using Brainfuse HelpNow.

From staff at Brainfuse, here’s a promo piece to use locally: “Don’t let what you learned in school fade away this summer! Like any other skill, academic skills require practice to stay sharp. Keep your brain engaged and prevent the summer slide by visiting the Online Summer Skills Camp.”

Diane Bizzle with Brainfuse writes “The Summer Skills Camp topics are more or less the same as the ones covered during the rest of the year, just with less detailed lessons, more visual displays, and shorter worksheets. There are more activities and fun suggestions to encourage learning in the summer months and reduce the summer slide.”  

Here are a few examples of Summer Skills Camp activities

• Elementary Science: use baking soda to create a fizzy lemonaide, use lemon juice to create invisible ink, inflate a balloon with baking soda and vinegar
• Middle School Match: design future Super Bowl logos using Roman numerals, use hoola hoops and bean bags to explore Venn diagrams
• Middle School Science: build a solar-powered water purifier, build a solar-powered oven using a pizza box and tin foil

About HelpNow

HelpNow is a unique tutoring, homework help, and studying suite designed to assist patrons of all ages succeed. HelpNow features include:

• Foreign Language Center with a powerful vocabulary builder
• 24/7 Question Center providing explanations of concepts, not answers
• SkillSurfer Learning Library with unlimited access to self-paced learning through lessons, video tutorials, and practice tests on a wide range of subjects
• Summer Skills Camp, Flashbulb Flashcards, cloud storage options, and more!

Lots of Brainfuse marketing materials to help promote HelpNow, JobNow, and VetNow linked from our website at the button below.  If you need help getting started with Brainfuse at your library, please contact your District Library Resource Technician 

Learn More About Brainfuse

WhoFi Debuts New Feature:

Annual Survey Question Sets

The State Library, in partnership with WhoFi, is pleased to offer a new service feature designed to help track some of the statistics needed for the Public Library Annual Survey.  In two webinars next week, WhoFi’s Ashleigh Matos will introduce “Question Sets,” a new feature to make things much easier when completing the Annual Survey, in addition to improving the reporting process to library boards and city councils. 

Ashleigh Matos writes: “Do you find the process of keeping track of library statistics enjoyable?  If not, we have good news to share!  WhoFi is launching a new feature called Question Sets. This new feature standardizes and centralizes the unique information that libraries collect throughout the year.  Question Sets helps with report creation, in addition to providing an opportunity to auto-fill additional questions on the Public Library Annual Survey for you each year.”  

WhoFi is available for free to all public libraries in Iowa through the State Library of Iowa. You do not have to use the other WhoFi Features (WiFi Usage Counter or Community Calendar) in order to use the Question Sets feature.

Question Sets will be made available to libraries with WhoFi accounts this week. To learn more about this new feature and how it could benefit you and your library, attend one of two upcoming informational webinars: choose from Wednesday June 21 @ 3:00PM OR Friday June 23 @ 10:00AM.  

Register in IALearns

ll Iowa Reads Virtual Author Talks This Week

This week, the State Library welcomes the 2023 All Iowa Reads authors in online presentations.  These virtual author talks begin tomorrow June 13 @ 7:00PM wih Sequoia Nagamatsu, author of the adult title How High We Go In The Dark.  Then it’s Niki Smith on Wednesday June 14 @ 2:00; Niki is the author of the children’s title The Golden Hour.  Finally, it’s Angeline Boulley, author of the teen title The Firekeeper’s Daughther, on Thursday June 15 @ 4:00PM.

At each event, the author will be joined by a moderator to discuss their books, their creative process, and take questions from attendees. The Kids and Teens author talks will be moderated by Lola Nakashima-Brooke, the 2023 Iowa Student Poet Ambassador. Special thanks to Beaverdale Books in Des Moines for their generous donation in funding the presentation by Niki Smith.

Attendees will have the option to submit a question ahead of time when registering; there’s also the option of including in the ZOOM chat space during the program. Reading the author’s books in advance is encouraged, but not required. The events will NOT be recorded.

About All Iowa Reads

Established in 2003, the purpose of All Iowa Reads is to foster a sense of unity through reading. Iowans are encouraged to come together in their communities to read and talk about a single book title in the same calendar year. All Iowa Reads consists of three programs, each with one title chosen per year: one adult title, one for teeens ages 12-18, and one for children ages 8-12.

The State Library is sponsoring these conversations to give all Iowans a chance to hear from the All Iowa Reads authors.  All three virtual author talks are free and open to the public.  We encourage you to invite your boards, your Friends Groups, and your local book clubs to watch these presentations.  There’s still time to register and promote these programs locally!  

All Iowa Reads is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act

as administered by the State Library of Iowa.

Register Today For AIR Virtual Author Talks