Poster Presentation Session II

FLA 2026 POSTER PRESENTATIONS SESSION II (Wednesday 4pm – 6:30pm)

They See Me Rollin’: Navigating Library Outreach as a Team of One
Morgan Strickland,  Walton County Public Library System

Public library outreach captures the heart of communities through Bookmobiles, outreach programming, and access to the library beyond its walls. Behind this charm is careful planning, logistical coordination, and tireless effort, especially when managed by a team of one. This poster follows 3 years since the Walton County Public Library System’s Words on Wheels Bookmobile relaunch and the creation of its Library Outreach program. It shares growing community connections, expanding accessibility, adapting library programs, and creative ways to attract new patrons. Route adjustments and collaboration with branch staff allowed the Bookmobile and Outreach program to serve patrons from the FL-AL border to the Gulf Coast while maintaining initiatives. Designed as both a narrative and interactive experience, this features a visual roadmap of outreach milestones, operational realities, and pivots when encountering potholes. The map leads visitors to the Outreach Exchange to explore, share, and trade ideas and solutions while reflecting on real-world experiences in outreach. Participants will understand building, tracking, and sustaining on-the-go services for setting realistic goals; identify challenges like mechanical issues and burnout while exploring practical solutions; discover collaborative strategies to expand outreach impact. Attendees become active participants, fostering peer discussions while making the complex work of library outreach tangible and immediately applicable.

StoryBridge: Empowering At-Risk Teens Through Transformative Storytelling
Annie Mena-Omeir & Cynthia Saavedra, MIAMI-DADE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM

StoryBridge was a week-long teen storytelling pilot program developed at the Miami-Dade Public Library System to amplify the voices of at-risk youth living in a local residential shelter. Designed by the Library Operations Manager over Young Adult Services implemented with teen services librarians and storytelling-trained staff, the program created a structured, supportive space for teens to craft and share authentic personal narratives.
Adjunct Professor Christie Koontz of Florida State University developed a focused curriculum rooted in Moth-style storytelling principles. During four days of guided workshops, teens practiced memory recall, narrative structure (beginning, middle, end), voice modulation, transitions, descriptive language, and confidence-building techniques. On the fifth day, participants chose how—or whether—to share their stories: live presentation, small group, one-on-one, audio recording, or opting out, ensuring emotional safety and agency.
Meals, snacks, and interactive activities fostered trust and community. StoryBridge demonstrates how libraries can be transformative spaces where vulnerable youth build confidence, strengthen communication skills, and reclaim their voices.
Objectives:
• Show how storytelling frameworks empower at-risk teens
• Provide a replicable model for short-term, high-impact youth programs
• Highlight trauma-informed strategies and participant choice
• Encourage partnerships to expand services to underserved youth

Tabletop Roleplaying Games for Teens and Adults
Shannon Dann & Savannah Whitby, Volusia County Public Library

Volusia County Public Library offers a variety of enriching programming to meet the needs of a diverse wide-reaching community. When asked about underserved groups, a staff member well versed in role playing games brought the idea of offering monthly separate adult (ages 18+) and teen (grades 6-12) role-playing events to New Smyrna Beach Regional Library. This would provide a venue for adults (ages 18+) and teens (grades 6-12) to create and build worlds while making community connections and socializing. Over the course of one year, both groups have gained popularity. Some participants have even taken leadership roles by becoming Dungeon Masters during monthly game play.   Participants enjoy creating characters to represent themselves and bring new and fantastic worlds to life through collaborative storytelling in game play. The program format was developed to include progression to encourage ongoing regular participation.

This program also acts as a possible “branching” point into other programs such as fiction writing, game development, strategy gaming, and more, all of which serve to grow connections in the community and encourage people to tell their own stories.

Read, Reflect, Respond: Building a Faculty Learning Community
Mary Beth Isaacson & Kayla Kuni, Pasco-Hernando State College 

In the age of generative AI, academic integrity is an area of major concern for teaching faculty. Assignments that were carefully crafted to assess the student’s knowledge of the subject can now be answered in minutes by using a chatbot. Faculty often feel isolated and overwhelmed as they try to navigate rapidly changing technology while still maintaining the validity of their assessments.

This poster session details a successful cross-functional project at Pasco-Hernando State College where the Libraries and Instructional Design teams co-facilitated a faculty book club focused on The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI by Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger, which presents a research-backed vision for academic integrity and offers practical tips for instructors. We will explore the logistics of this model, including recruitment strategies, discussion facilitation techniques and materials, and assessment.

Poster session attendees will learn techniques for implementing a cross-functional professional development event. Although PHSC is a state college, this project could easily be adapted for use in city/county government as well as other academic institutions. This project will also be of interest to LIS and other graduate students who may be interested in teaching.

Next Chapter Book Club: Building Inclusive Communities, One Story at a Time
JB Bishop, Maitland Public Library

Next Chapter Book Club (NCBC) builds inclusive communities through the power of shared stories. Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities meet regularly to read together, build friendships, and strengthen their place in the community.

Since 2002, NCBC has grown from a handful of Ohio clubs to over 300 worldwide. The model is beautifully simple: Members meet regularly as a group with trained facilitators to read aloud and discuss books together. NCBC members range from those who read proficiently to those who cannot read at all. Everyone has the ability to connect to a story and a right to share theirs.

Simply put, NCBC meets adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities where they are, enabling them to create new and lasting friendships, gain confidence, develop self-advocacy skills, and build better connections within their communities.

Session attendees will learn that it's not about literacy. It's about connection. I will provide resources for starting new chapters and share real stories from the Maitland, FL, club.

Our Maitland members include Special Olympics athletes, actors, retail workers, couples, confident (and less confident) readers, and those who just love a good story. Disabilities and differences fade away when everyone gathers to share the human experience through books.

Public libraries are uniquely positioned to be safe spaces for lifelong learning and authentic inclusion. NCBC shows us how, one story at a time.