Interested in developing leaders in your organization? The WebJunction Illinois Course Catalog has just added a series of courses related to leadership skills. Enrollment is free for all registered users of WJIL. Visit the Illinois Course Catalog and click on the “Leading Organizations” topic under the ”Organizational Management” heading.

• Leadership Essentials 1: Motivating Employees
• Leadership Essentials 2: Communicating Vision
• Leadership Essentials 3: Building Your Influence as a Leader
• Leadership Essentials 4: Leading with Emotional Intelligence
• Leadership Essentials 6: Leading Innovation
• Leadership Essentials 7: Leading Change
• Leadership Essentials 8: Creating Your Own Leadership Development Plan

Every week the Illinois State Library honors a recipient of one of the literacy grants awarded by Secretary of State Jesse White and the Illinois State Library Literacy Office. This week they shine the spotlight on Kishwaukee College in Malta.

A 29 year-old single mother, who dropped out of school after the 9th grade, realized she needed a GED to obtain a job. She took GED classes and passed every test but math. After failing to pass the math test, the woman was referred to the Kishwaukee’s adult literacy program. With assistance from a tutor, the woman improved her math skills, took the GED math test again and passed. She obtained the GED certificate she needed to enter the Certified Nursing Assistants class at Kishwaukee.

The 2010-2011 booklist for the popular and highly acclaimed Illinois State Library Read for a Lifetime program for high school students is now online at the State Library website.

Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White has awarded FY2010 Live and Learn Construction Grants to twenty-four Illinois public libraries to help pay for essential capital improvements.

“This important grant program helps public libraries pay for the cost of projects such as remodeling for handicapped accessibility, new carpeting, interior or exterior painting, and in some cases new construction or additions to existing facilities,” White said. “Many of our public libraries simply don’t have sufficient funds to pay for these improvements on their own, though in some instances these grants do require local matching funds.

“Our public libraries are cornerstones of our communities, and they have never been more important. During these difficult economic times, statistics have shown that more and more citizens are using their local public library for things like free Internet access, CD’s, DVD’s, newspapers and magazines. I am pleased to be able to award these grants through the Illinois State Library to help maintain the infrastructure of our public libraries, and help them remain the best resource available to citizens for information.”

White said the libraries receiving grants are:

Huntley Area Public Library District, $10,394
Streator Public Library, $50,000
Wilmington Public Library District, $7,472
Hinsdale Public Library, $34,858
River Forest Public Library, $2,700
Bourbonnais Public Library District, $2,782
Peru Public Library, $42,254
Selby Township Library District in DePue, $12,415
Evans Public Library District in Vandalia, $15,000
Dodge Memorial Library in Olive Branch, $5,402
Rosiclare Memorial Public Library, $15,500
Bellwood Public Library, $25,000
Eldorado Memorial Public Library District, $25,000
Maywood Public Library District, $25,000
Frank Bertetti Benld Public Library, $25,000
Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library in Sullivan, $6,300
Evansville Public Library, $24,500
Park Forest Public Library, $25,000
Cahokia Public Library, $13,000
Alsip-Merrionette Park Public Library District, $125,000
Champaign Public Library, $112,465
Hope Welty Public Library in Cerro Gordo, $31,500
Quincy Public Library, $125,000
Peoria Public Library, $49,258 for improvements at the Lincoln Branch

Apply by March 31 to receive $2,000 programming grant

(ALA, CHICAGO) – The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office announces five new reading and discussion themes based on the popular Let’s Talk About It model and inspired by the National Endowment for the Humanities’ (NEH) Picturing America collection. The Let’s Talk About It: Picturing America series has been developed to support public libraries in their efforts to conduct high quality humanities programs that highlight the Picturing America collection and engage audiences in dynamic, timely conversations about American art and history.

To encourage use of Let’s Talk About: Picturing America, and the Picturing America collection the ALA Public Programs Office and NEH are offering programming grants of $2,000 to 30 public libraries. All public libraries who received the Picturing America collection are eligible to apply by March 31. For more information, and to begin an online application, visit http://www.programminglibrarian.org/picturingamerica/

The Illinois State Library Literacy Office announced that effective at 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 11th, the Web-based version of the Penny Severns Summer Family Literacy Grant application will become available.  Once the Web-based application is posted, the PDF version will no longer be available.   Please plan accordingly.

If you have already begun to work on the PDF version of the application, please be certain to save that document on your desktop or your hard drive.  You will be able to cut and paste from the PDF version into the Web-based version.

Here are important technical instructions for using the Web-based version of the application:

• You are encouraged to develop the proposal offline using a word processing program. The Web-based application does not have spell or grammar check capabilities. Compose and check the document using your word processing program, then copy and paste the proposal into the Web-based application.
• Be aware of the character limits within the text boxes.
• A timer within the Web-based application will expire after 30 minutes with no activity. Typing within one section or screen does not activate this activity monitor. After 30 minutes, any information on the screen will be lost.  Clicking the “Save” button periodically will prevent that data loss. When you click “Save” or “Next,” your valid data is also saved.
• A shaded progress bar at the top of every page will indicate your advancement through the application.
• Navigational directions, “Previous” and “Next”, appear at the bottom of every page.  Use those buttons rather than the back and forward arrows in your browser.
• To make a change within a text box, use your back space key.
• You may logout before finishing or submitting your application.  When you re-enter the application, you will be directed to the last place that you entered data.

This Web-based application for the Penny Severns  Summer Family Literacy program is a PILOT PROGRAM.  The Illinois State Library is working toward automating all of our grant programs, from application to submission of reporting forms.

This pilot application is the first step in that direction. Your input and suggestions regarding the pilot application process are welcomed.  Please submit feedback via email to Beth Paoli  so that we may document your suggestions. 

If you encounter any problems or have questions in preparing the Web-based application, please do not hesitate to contact  the Literacy Office at 800-665-5576, extension 3,  or 217-785-6921.

Gail Borden earns nation’s top library award
The Courier News
It is the community and the partnerships the community has created with its library that drives those attributes, …

Pritzker Military Library hires new director
Time Out Chicago (blog)
On Friday, Pritzker Military Library announced that it hired John Zukowsky, former Art Institute of Chicago architecture curator, as its interim director. …

Branches given 6 months to find new funding
Evanston Review
3 to pull the branch libraries off the chopping block, said, “I said to the branch library and library supporters, unless there is a funding stream that’s …

Lisle mourning teacher, longtime library board member
Chicago Daily Herald
Whether it was as a teacher in Lisle Unit District 202 or as a longtime Lisle Public Library board member, those mourning …

School Libraries Receive Grants
Pontiac Illinois Community News
Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White has awarded Fiscal Year 2010 School District Library Program Grants totaling almost …

State Bar donates Lincoln books to Edwardsville Public Library
St. Clair Record
Accepting the books is Deanne Holshauser, library director. In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth in 2009, the ISBA is donating a set …

Illinois public libraries face 16 percent funding cut
Peoria Journal Star
Every public library in the state – big, small and medium-sized – will receive significantly less than each has come to expect from the …

Glen Carbon library named best in nation
Belleville News Democrat
It’s been a banner year for Glen Carbon — now its library has been named best in the country. …

Police open office inside Chicago library
ABC7Chicago.com
Chicago police launched a new program Saturday by opening a satellite office in a public library. …

Jesse White awards Public Library Per Capita and Equalization Aid Grants
Quad-Cities Online
Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White has awarded Fiscal Year 2010 Illinois Public Library Per Capita and Equalization Aid Grants …

Kathleen Henn is a partner and Gregory Smith is an associate attorney with the law firm of Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, Ltd., who write an article each month focusing on different aspects of library law.

“In this part of the series we will discuss the First Amendment’s role in censorship and filtering…Insofar as censorship and filtering are concerned, there are two main problems with unrestricted Internet access at libraries: first, the federal government has stated that as a matter of policy children should be protected from offensive content online. Second, unrestricted Internet access at a library can lead to lawsuits against the library if a patron is unwittingly exposed to sexually explicit material or if a library employee is exposed to such material and claims that a hostile workplace environment exists.”

Read the f ull article on WJIL
Part 2 of the First Amendment Series
Part 1 of the First Amendment Series

Every week the Illinois State Library honors a recipient of one of the literacy grants awarded by Secretary of State Jesse White and the Illinois State Library Literacy Office. This week they shine the spotlight on Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville.

One family has reaped enormous benefits recently from the Southwestern Illinois College Family Literacy Program at Madison Middle School. Last year, one of the students enrolled in GED classes at Madison became homeless. She and her children moved from place to place, staying with friends and family members. The Family Literacy staff at Madison encouraged the student to keep working on her education in spite of the situation around her. She did continue to attend classes, and her children accompanied her, since childcare is provided while she attends classes. The woman’s children are in a safe learning environment and feel comfortable with their mother nearby. The woman persevered with her studies and passed the GED test. She enrolled in vocational education classes to become a Certified Nursing Assistant, completed that training and will be taking her state board exam. Most importantly, the woman has found housing for her family. With both education and a home, the woman’s outlook on life is positive, and her children are happy to be in a home with their mother.

Applications are now being accepted for Penny Severns Summer Family Literacy Grants. These grants provide instruction and educational activities to improve the basic reading, math, writing skills or English language proficiency of parents and children together during the summer months. Applications and other information are available here.