The New Mexico State Library has announced a range of professional development opportunities for library staff and managers throughout August 2025. The calendar, hosted by the Maine State Library, highlights national events and resources relevant to librarianship.
A new feature this month is the "New to Niche!" section, which will spotlight recently added continuing education trainings and tutorials available through the NMSL Professional Development Niche Academy Learning Platform. These resources cover basic librarianship skills, management, community relations, accessibility, and more. Access is free for New Mexico public library staff with an account, though some tutorials may require additional approval.
Several virtual conferences are scheduled in August. On August 7, SLJTeen Live! offers author panels and discussions on upcoming teen and tween literature. Registration details are available at https://www.slj.com/section/events?eventtype=virtualEvents. Later in the month, on August 26 from 3-6 pm, Library 2.0 will host “The Innovative Library: Creativity, Change, and Impact,” focusing on how libraries are adapting to meet community needs through innovation (https://www.library20.com/the-innovative-library).
Additional training topics include accessibility tools such as text-to-speech (August 21), advocacy strategies for librarians (August 22), scenario planning (August 5), donor engagement (August 11), grant prospecting using AI tools (August 12), strategic planning (August 14), board engagement in technology decisions (August 26), economic insecurity among library workers (August 6), leadership for Gen Z staff (August 7), cybersecurity basics (newly added in July to the Niche Academy platform), fundraising approaches for late summer campaigns (August 7) at https://bloomerang.co/webinars-events/, and peer-to-peer fundraising strategies on August 13 via Candid Learning at https://learning.candid.org/page/course-catalog.
Library professionals can also access pre-recorded webinars at their convenience. Topics include AI-enhanced storytelling for nonprofits at https://bloomerang.co/webinar/ai-enhanced-storytelling-content-creation/, addressing homelessness in small communities through libraries at https://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/homelessness-in-small-and-rural.html, and tips for obtaining ALA grants at https://programminglibrarian.org/learn/make-it-rain-tips-getting-ala-grant.
NMSL’s Professional Development Academy continues to expand its offerings with recent additions in collections care (“Basic Book Repairs” and “Book Repair Clinic”) and cybersecurity (“Your Digital Footprint,” “Creating Strong Passwords,” “Preventing Human Errors”). Training materials from GetSetUp are also under construction.
A foundational training series called LiFT—developed by the Idaho Commission for Libraries with WebJunction support—will eventually replace existing ABLE courses. The Collection Management series is now accessible online via WebJunction at https://learn.webjunction.org/course/index.php?categoryid=130.
Each month’s newsletter features a recommended reading related to librarianship. For August, the highlighted book is *Reference and Information Services: An Introduction* edited by Melissa Autumn Wong and Laura Saunders. According to the release:
“This month’s selection is the most recent addition to the Library and Information Science Text Series, which publishes core librarianship textbooks. The volume offers an in-depth overview of the reference services principles, models, strategies and current tools, including approaches to the reference interview, marketing and promotion of reference services, and reference challenges. The comprehensive section on Sources and Searching covers selection and evaluation of reference sources, search strategies, as well as a great variety of source types, from ready-reference sources to data and statistical sources, to legal, business, health and medicine, and primary and archival sources. The last chapter tackles the future of reference services and strategies of staying up to date on technology, social media and emerging trends. Whether a library science student, early career librarian or seasoned professional anyone can add this volume to their must-read professional development book list.”
Further information about new acquisitions can be found on NMSL’s LibGuides page dedicated to recent titles in library science.
For more details about accessing these resources or creating an account on Niche Academy's platform through NMSL’s subscription service—and regarding required approvals—library staff may contact Ada Negraru at ada.negraru@dca.nm.gov.
