« Previous Entries
» Next Entries

Library Development

Library Development, Services to Older Adults
Libraries Go Boom! Library Service to Older Adults and Baby Boomers
April 14th, 2010 | Permalink | Comment?

The Boomers Are Coming! How to Serve Today’s “Senior Citizens”

On April 6, Douglas C. Lord, of the Connecticut State Library’s Division of Library Development and active WebJunction contributor, shared best practices related to services to older adults with a special emphasis on the Baby Boom generation. He discussed the characteristics and needs of Boomers, and shared ideas on how library programming can respond to those needs. We also looked at what the future holds as Boomers continue to age and the next generation enters seniority.

>> View Archive
Breaking News from DLD, Library Development
We Want to Hear From You!
January 12th, 2010 | Permalink | 1 Comment

The Connecticut State Library’s Division of Library Development has begun a long range planning process to examine the needs of Connecticut libraries and determine our service priorities. Library service is undergoing dramatic changes at a time of severe budget constraints and Library Development believes that it is essential to carry out a planning process to determine priorities for our funding and staffing resources in the coming years.

As part of this process we are seeking input from the Connecticut library community. You are invited to participate in one of the five focus groups we will be holding in January and February; one each for school and academic librarians and three for public librarians. We would very much appreciate hearing the thoughts and concerns of the library community as we deliberate our future and welcome those interested to attend one of these sessions. The dates and times are listed below. To sign up for a session please do so through our CE calendar

Thank you very much for assisting us with our planning.

Academic Librarians:
Naugatuck Valley Community College, Waterbury, 9:30 – 12:30, Feb 5th (snow date Feb 12th)

School Librarians:
Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., Feb 10th (snow date Feb 17th)

Public Librarians:
Willimantic Library Service Center, 9:30 – 12:30, Jan 26th (snow date Jan 27th)
Trumbull Public Library, 9:30 – 12:30, Jan 28th (snow date Jan 29th)
South Windsor Public Library, 1:00 – 4:00, Feb 16th (snow date Feb 17th)
Breaking News from DLD, CT Library Community, Children and Youth Services, Grants and Reimbursements, Libraries and Technology, Library Development, Services to Immigrants & Non-English Speakers, Services to Older Adults
LSTA Grant Program
November 18th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

The Connecticut State Library is pleased to announce the availability of approximately $125,000 in Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding for grants in seven categories. Program grant awards will range between $3,000 and $25,000.

See the LSTA page for applications, deadline, workshop information, program categories, and application guidelines.

LSTA funds are provided through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.
Breaking News from DLD, Library Development
At My Library Creative Essay Contest
November 5th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

@ your library is seeking an original, creative essay for its first ever At My Library Creative Essay Contest. The winning essay will illustrate the participant’s experience at their local library and demonstrate the fundamental spirit and importance of American libraries. The Grand Prize Winner will receive $350 and a People’s Choice Award Winner will receive $100! The top ten finalists will have their essays published on the atyourlibrary.org Web site. For additional information vist At My Library Creative Essay Contest Web site.
Grants and Reimbursements, Library Development
H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant
October 7th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

The annual H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant award, donated by the H.W. Wilson Company, consists of $3,500 and a 24k gold-framed citation.

It is awarded to the library organization that demonstrates the greatest merit for a program of staff development designed to further the goals and objectives of the library organization.

Deadline: Postmarked by December 1
Breaking News from DLD, Children and Youth Services, Grants and Reimbursements, Library Development
Bridgeport Roman Catholic Dioceses awarded IMLS Planning Grant
September 28th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

The Bridgeport Roman Catholic Dioceses has been awarded an Planning Grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services to implement the “Creating Global Learning and Cultural Centers through Advancing Digital Resources in our School Libraries” project. This grant will make the school libraries a hub through which the individual student on a laptop, or a team working in a connected classroom, can access international learners and global resources.

Working with the Connecticut State Library, the dioceses will investigate strategies to enhance parochial school libraries and build strategic partnerships with other school libraries and public libraries. They will explore issues around broadcast redistribution of synchronous and asynchronous learning tools, the capacity to network library holdings and access workflows, and resource sharing among partner institutions.
Grants and Reimbursements, Library Development
Ezra Jack Keats Minigrant Program
September 17th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

Consider the Ezra Jack Keats Minigrant Program for public schools and public libraries. Minigrant awards are $500.

Though they welcome new ideas, creative programs funded in the past have included:
- Ongoing pen-pal projects bringing disparate communities together,
- Multi-cultural portrait projects,
- Art projects culminating in art shows, murals, or quilts,
- Bookmaking,
- Creation and performance of puppet shows,
- Inter-generational journals
Breaking News from DLD, CT Library Community, Grants and Reimbursements, Library Development
Wintonbury Branch Adult Literacy Program, video clip
August 28th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

The Wintonbury Branch of Bloomfield’s Prosser Library is launching its Adult Literacy program Monday, August 31 in partnership with Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford. This is a program kickstarted with a lot of energy from librarian Laura Vaaselle with a little help from a small Community Needs Assessment LSTA grant.

Check out this brief video clip on the branch’s front page says it all.

The Wintonbury Branch is offering a safe place for folks to prepare for programs like Adult Basic Education and G.E.D. classes.
Children and Youth Services, Grants and Reimbursements, Library Development
Future funding trends
August 21st, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

Some indications of what a couple of giant funders and their partners are committing money to in the near future. Press releases are below in order of appearance.

Gates Foundation: Half a Billion Dollars on Teacher Effectiveness, Education, Early Childhood Learning
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has added half a billion to the $2B it has already spent on quantifying what makes a teacher effective and tying that data to student achievement. Over the next five years, the foundation plans to develop and test methods to rate teachers while conducting experiments at a handful of school districts around the country designed to explore new ways of recruiting, training, assigning, and assessing teachers.

Partnering with Viacom, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation presents the Get Schooled initiative on September 8 with a thirty-minute special aired on Viacom networks. Get Schooled: You Have the Right is the result of five years of effort. It is designed to provide a platform for corporate and community stakeholders to address the challenges facing U.S. public schools. The special will provide real-life examples of how a commitment to education and a drive to overcome obstacles can create a path to success.

In Washington state, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with Thrive by Five Washington to grant $8 million to two community education partnerships that have shown success in helping prepare children to enter kindergarten ready to learn. Awardees have developed programs and services for children, families, and caregivers, including home visitation for expectant families, play-and-learn groups for toddlers, resources to support language development and literacy, and a kindergarten transition program. In addition, the programs help childcare providers increase the quality of care they offer and provide families with objective information about child care in their community.

AT&T: $865 Million for Education, Environment, Volunteerism Programs
AT&T plans to fund programs that strengthen communities, stimulate economic growth, and ensure the nation’s global competitiveness. The ongoing efforts, outlined in the company’s 2008 Citizenship and Sustainability Report, include AT&T Aspire, a $100 million multiyear education initiative designed to help mitigate the U.S. high school dropout crisis; a $565 million commitment to roll out more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles over the next decade; and a continued effort to encourage employee volunteerism. Last year, AT&T employees and retirees volunteered 10.3 million hours, valued at more than $200 million, to improve communities where they live and work.

Gates Teacher Effectiveness

Gates Get Schooled press release

Gates Ready to Learn press release

ATT press release
Library Development
National Executive Service Corps
August 4th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

The National Executive Service Corps (NESC) is a NFP affiliation of over 300 consultants who help “nonprofit organizations solve their operational problems, meet their challenges, grow and…more effectively serve their communities.”

Fees vary according to “the complexity of the problem posed by the nonprofit and the amount of time required to complete the consulting assignment.”

They have many available services, which include fundraising strategies, branding, board retreat facilitation, and operations review & organizational analysis.
NESC brings “proven business planning and management skills to the nonprofit sector — cultural and performing arts organizations, senior citizen homes and centers, museums, churches, human services and social services groups, individual schools and boards of education and even municipalities and government agencies.”

Connecticut clients include:
Old Wethersfield’s Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum: marketing, boosting revenues.

Senior Services of Stamford board retreat: improved fund-raising, improving efficiency.