Public libraries who need statistical charts for advocacy or evaluation should try these Automatic Chart-Makers.  A simple two-step process with these Excel files (no Excel expertise required) creates charts that compare your library to other libraries or state averages.  You can copy and paste the charts into documents or presentations.  These chart-makers have been updated recently so that you can print the complete suite of charts (or produce a PDF) which you can distribute to staff or Board members.

Rallying Your Community: Mobilizing the Grassroots will be the topic of a free webinar sponsored by ALA’s Committee on Library Advocacy.

In a difficult economy, the citizen voice is more important than ever. Learn how two community organizations, the Sustainable Library Citizens Coalition of Indianapolis-Marion County (Ind.) Public Library and Urban Librarians Unite of New York City, have used their voices to impact library funding.

Laura Johnson, deputy director, public services, of the Indianapolis Public Library and Tara Seeley, senior grants officer, Central Indiana Community Foundation, will share their story of engaging the Indianapolis community to successfully advocate on behalf of libraries and librarians.

Lauren Comito, director of communications and operations, Urban Librarians Unite, will describe this group’s radical tactics for promoting and supporting libraries in the New York area.

Marci Merola, director of the ALA Office for Library Advocacy, will moderate the webinar and demonstrate practical applications of resources from the ALA Office for Library Advocacy.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Online

For additional details and registration information visit: ALA:Rallying Your Community: Mobilizing the Grassroots

Are you wondering:

*What the latest thing in YA literature is?
*Who are the emerging authors, and the ones falling out of favor?
*What are the best resources for evaluating books for YAs?
*If graphic novels are just comic books in disguise?
*If reading online is really reading?

The world of young adult literature is an inherently dynamic one and one that, in the last decade, has become among the most active in publishing. Each new publishing season brings a plethora of new titles, new forms, and new formats, many of which require new methods of evaluation. Keeping up with all of these changes and the new titles flooding the market can be a full-time job. This webinar will help students identify new trends and the best new titles and resources for collection development.

At the end of this webinar, attendees will be familiar with current:
*Trends informing the dynamic field of young adult literature
*YA Fiction – both novels of realism and genre fiction – that are ‘first selections’ for YA collections
*Non-fiction for both recreational and classroom use
*Graphic novels and comics
*Useful resources for collection development

Thursday, April 26, 2012
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Online

This webinar will be of interest to both public and school library staff with young adult collection development responsibilities.

For additional details and registration information visit: InfoPeople: Teen Literature Update 2012

Digital photos are fragile and require special care to keep them accessible. But preserving any kind of digital information is a new concept that most people have little experience with. Technologies change over time and become obsolete, making it difficult to access older digital photos. Learn about the nature of the problem and hear about some simple, practical tips and tools to help you keep your digital photos safe.

Learning Outcomes:

• the nature of the problem
• simple practical tips to describe and save digital photos
• tools that can be used

Thursday, April 26, 2012
2:00 p.m. – 3:00p.m.
Online

Who Should Attend: Anyone with an interest in preserving personal digital photos and other digital information.

For additional details and registration information visit: ALCTS: Preserving Your Personal Digital Photographs

• Thinking of enhancing early literacy environments in your library?
• Wanting to learn more about technology for young children?
• Can’t decide what type of early literacy technology to add to your library?

This webinar will review the benefits of technology for young children, the types of technology available, and how to incorporate the technology into your library. Find out how libraries can play a role in enhancing early literacy technology experiences and the importance of promoting technology for all ages.

At the end of this webinar, participants will understand:

• the debate over technology use for young children
• how technology can be used to enhance early literacy
• the types of early literacy technology available
• how early literacy technology connects with Every Child Ready to Read 2
• the libraries role in offering early literacy technology

This webinar will be of interest to all library staff serving children and youth, as well as library managers.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Online

For additional details and registration information visit:  InfoPeople: Leveraging Technology to Support Early Literacy in the Library

The Faith Hektoen Award is given annually by the Children’s Section of the Connecticut Library Association to recognize the efforts of an individual or group that has made an impact on library services to children in Connecticut at the local, regional, or state level. The 2012 winner is Linda Williams who works at the Willimantic Library Service Center. See the nomination summary for more. Linda will receive her award at the upcoming CLA Conference. Congratulations, Linda!

Does your organization need a new web site? One that is more dynamic, easy to update and can easily incorporate social media and other ways to communicate with your library’s patrons/customers? WordPress (free, opensource) may be the answer. WordPress is a powerful web Content Management System (CMS) that has grown far beyond its origins as a blogging tool.

WordPress can be used to power your library website and help you build a dynamic web presence for your library, school, personal web site, business or other project. Its ease of use and flexibility make it a perfect choice for libraries that are struggling to keep their websites up to date and/or looking for a more up-to-date look for their website. Its extensibility via plugins and other customizations make it a great choice for more complex sites as well.

This webinar will cover:
*Examples of sites built with WordPress
*Why WordPress is a great choice for schools & libraries
*Hosting options and requirements
*WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
*Making it look great: Themes
*Building blocks of WordPress: Posts & Pages and more!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Online

You’ll leave the webinar with an understanding of how to get started building your own WordPress site and be able to evaluate whether WordPress is the right solution for your library’s needs.

For additional details and registration information visit: GLA: WordPress for Library Websites

Need an easy way to handle your organization’s accounting transactions? Join our free webinar, QuickBooks Made Easy for Nonprofits and Libraries! to learn more about how you can streamline your day-to-day business with the new 2012 updates to Intuit’s QuickBooks.

During this webinar, we will be hearing from instructor Gregg Bossen about how this tool can aid your nonprofit or library, giving you an in-depth look at the new updates to the QuickBooks software.

Wedsnesday, April 18, 2012
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Online

This webinar is appropriate for technology decision makers in nonprofits and libraries.

For additional details and registration information visit: TechSoup: Quickbooks Made Easy for Nonprofits & Libraries!

The popularity of bibliotherapy has seen a resurgence in the last few years with an emphasis on using both fiction and non-fiction reading in highly creative ways. Its aim now is to increase individual well-being rather than simply focus on self-help and psychological disorders. These changes offer a renewed role for bibliotherapy in your library!

•Does your Library Mission include a call to serve the educational and developmental needs of your community?
•Are you looking for ways to engage a wide representation of your community?
•Do your professional goals include reaching out to the most vulnerable, sensitive, and in need of help and enriching their lives?
•Did you know that bibliotherapy is a perfect way to serve your community and address your Library Mission – all while offering the most rewarding programming of your career?

This webinar will review the benefits of bibliotherapy for all ages, provide examples of programming and services available, and share with you how to incorporate the use of bibliotherapy into your library.

At the end of this one-hour webinar, participants will:
•Know the definition and stages of bibliotherapy
•Learn the benefits and limitations of bibliotherapy
•Know four ways bibliotherapy has been used in libraries
•Learn ways to implement bibliotherapy services in a library setting

This webinar will be of interest to Adult, Teen and Children’s Librarians and Academic Librarians.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Online

For additional details and registration information visit: InfoPeople: Healing Reads: Bibliotherapy for the 21st Century

In order to receive a Connecticard payment next year, public libraries must submit a Ccard Expenditure Report form for the payment you received LAST YEAR, i.e. April 2011.

If you have spent this money, please go to this online form:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CCardExpReport
and report now how the money was spent.  The amount of the payment is available on the report form.

If you have not spent this money, you have until Nov. 1, 2012, to submit your report.