Bringing Stories to Life:

Author Visits and Guest Speakers in School Libraries

Course Details

July 30, 2026 | 2:00 - 4:00 pm ET

2-Hour Online Crash Course

2 Credit Hours

Recommended for K-12 school librarians.

$135 (Save with early bird and group rates!)

Author visits sound amazing until you start thinking about the logistics, the budget, and the time. This course helps you turn that vague someday idea into something realistic, repeatable, and worth the effort.

Practical ways to find, contact, and coordinate with authors and guest speakers
Clearer strategies for building events that fit your budget and capacity
More confidence planning visits that students will actually remember

HAS PLANNING AN AUTHOR VISIT BEEN ON YOUR TO-DO LIST FOR LONGER THAN YOU CARE TO ADMIT?

You’ve wanted to plan an author visit or speaker event but keep putting it off because it feels like a lot to figure out.
You are not sure where to start with outreach, logistics, or making the event worth the effort.
You want to create memorable library experiences that build real excitement around reading and learning.

You’ll leave with ideas and tools to make author visits and guest speaker events a realistic, repeatable part of your library program.

CHOOSE SUMMER SESSION

Early bird rate is $102 through June 30, 2026. Standard rate is $135 through July 30, 2026.

Need flexibility? If you can’t attend live, you’ll get access to the recording for 6 months.

Invoice or PO options: Orders of $600 or greater can choose invoice at checkout. For orders under $600, please do not check out online. Submit this form, and we will process your order manually.

Need approval? Email this course to your supervisor.

TRAINING A TEAM?

If multiple librarians at your school or across your district help plan literacy events, this session gives everyone a practical, shared approach to author visits and guest speakers.

Multi-seat discounts are automatically calculated in the cart.

Buying for a larger group? Explore all purchasing options

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What You'll Learn Who This is For All the Details

AFTER COMPLETING THIS COURSE, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO:

Find, contact, and coordinate with authors and guest speakers, and structure visits for maximum engagement across your school community.
Plan author visits and speaker events that fit your actual budget, including creative alternatives when in-person visits are not an option.

You will leave with practical next steps and a clearer sense of how to make author visits a realistic, repeatable part of your library program.

If you’re someone who:

has been meaning to plan an author visit or speaker event but keeps putting it off because it feels like a lot to figure out
isn’t sure where to start with finding authors, reaching out, or making the logistics work
wants to create something meaningful for students, but needs it to be realistic for your time, budget, and capacity
is trying to build more excitement around reading and the library, but needs ideas that will actually land with students
wants events that feel engaging and worth the effort, not something that’s stressful to plan and underwhelming to attend

This course was built for you.

This course is especially useful for:

school librarians planning or supporting author visits, assemblies, or literacy events
library staff working with teachers or administrators to bring in guest speakers
librarians looking to expand programming beyond the usual events or book-related activities
anyone responsible for student engagement, reading promotion, or school-wide programming

If part of your job is creating experiences that get students excited about books, authors, and ideas, you’ll find this useful.

A great author visit can turn a reluctant reader into an enthusiastic one, spark a student's interest in writing, and remind your whole school community why the library is at the heart of it all. This two-hour live course is built to help you make that happen practically, creatively, and on a real school budget.

You'll explore how to find and connect with authors and speakers, and how to structure visits for maximum engagement. You'll also discover creative alternatives to in-person visits that expand what's possible even when travel budgets are tight. You'll leave this session with practical next steps, fresh inspiration, and a clearer sense of how to make your next author visit your best one yet.

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE

This course is designed for K-12 school librarians.

SESSIONS AND PRICING

Early bird pricing ends one month before the session deadline. Course materials unlock on the session deadline date.

Rate + deadline	Summer Session
Early bird deadline	June 30, 2026
Early bird price	$102
Standard deadline	July 30, 2026
Standard price	$135
Course date	July 30, 2026 2:00-4:00 pm ET

GROUP OPTIONS

Training a team? Choose the setup that matches how you want to plan and pay :

Group course enrollment: Enroll 3+ staff in this course and save.

Bulk course credits: Prepay once, get the highest per-seat discount on every course, and assign seats later.

Unlimited annual licensing: System-wide access for a year with no per-course approvals.

Request Discounted Group Pricing

Questions? Email groupsales@libraryjournal.com.

COURSE FORMAT

This will be a 2-hour online crash course and will include:

Live sessions: Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field. All sessions are recorded for on-demand access for six months after the course ends.

Facilitated discussions: Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers.

Asynchronous workshop: On-demand project-based modules connecting what you’re learning to your professional practice. Includes peer-to-peer sharing via discussion forums.

Online classroom: The virtual learning platform holds all course content and remains accessible for six months after the course ends.

Note: The asynchronous work is designed to be completed over three weeks, but you will have six months of access to work at your own pace.

EXPECTED TIME COMMITMENT

If you attend or watch recordings of all live sessions and complete the online workshop, you will spend approximately 2 hours on this course. You will earn 2 hours of professional development credit and a School Library Journal certificate of completion.

ON-DEMAND ACCESS

All live guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on demand for six months following the initial broadcast as part of your purchase.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

Complete all course requirements to earn 2 professional development credit hours and a School Library Journal certificate of completion. Certificates are emailed upon completion.

ACCESSIBILITY

All video recordings feature auto-captioning. If you require accommodations, please email course-support@libraryjournal.com upon registration and we will make our best efforts to support your needs.

SUPPORT

For technical or course-related support, please contact course-support@libraryjournal.com.

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