THIS WEEK AT THE ILLINOIS STATE LIBRARY (May 4, 2007)
Jesse White, Secretary of State and State Librarian
Anne Craig, Director
GRANT TALKIN’……STAYIN’ CONNECTED
AN IMPORTANT REMINDER that FY08 LSTA grant applications are due at the State Library NEXT WEEK! Applications that are hand delivered must arrive here by 4:30 p.m. next Friday May 11. Other applications must be postmarked no later than May 11.
Online hearings to discuss the State Library’s goals for the use of LSTA funds for the next five (2008-2012) years will be held in the OPAL Auditorium beginning next week. If you would like to participate in the discussion, please join ISL staff from your computer:
* Wednesday, May 9, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
* Thursday, May 10; 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
* Tuesday, May 15; 10:00 am – 11:30 am
To participate, go to the OPAL Auditorium.
Please test this web site prior to the meeting because you may need to install a plug-in.
Sign in as yourself and leave the password field blank.
With a microphone, you can join the conversation; typing your comments in the text box will also add to the discussion.
ASK?AWAY ILLINOIS AWARENESS WEEK MAY 7-11
Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White is urging Internet users who have not tried the free, innovative Ask?Away Illinois 24/7 virtual reference program to log on to the site next week during Ask?Away Illinois Awareness Week May 7-11.
“Ask?Away Illinois has been a remarkable success since the Illinois State Library launched this new initiative a little more than one year ago,” White said. “Internet users are discovering the wonderful benefits of having access to qualified reference librarians anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Students with questions regarding their homework, consumers with questions about products, even partygoers seeking answers to trivia questions can log on to Ask?Away Illinois and get accurate information night and day.
“People want and need reliable information and answers. Librarians are trained information professionals, and their expertise is now available beyond a library’s daily operating hours. Virtual reference programs like Ask?Away Illinois are truly revolutionizing the way people are receiving information.”
Users can find Ask?Away Illinois by logging on to askawayillinois.info or finditillinois.org. Since the program was launched in April, 2006, more than 23,000 users have used Ask?Away to get answers to their questions. The most recent available statistics for March, 2007 show 230 participating Illinois libraries responded to 737 email questions and took part in 2880 chat sessions. Questions may be posed to librarians in both English and Spanish.
Ask?Away is staffed by the 24/7 Reference Consortium, a group of hundreds of libraries across the country and around the world that work together to provide the service. Illinois librarians contribute time to the consortium, and users benefit from the expanded service.
Libraries already provide many services that users can access from outside of the physical library building, including online library catalogs, full-text of magazines, newspapers, books and other online resources. AskAway is another way of expanding the services that libraries already provide.
“The Internet can be a difficult thing to navigate, and information can be hard to find,” said Secretary White. “Sometimes the information a user needs is only available from a library resource. Thanks to Ask?Away, experienced librarians help users easily locate and evaluate the information they are seeking. Ask?Away is all about getting help wherever you are, whenever you need it.”
TWO WEEKS UNTIL IOUG ANNUAL MEETING
This year’s Illinois OCLC Users’ Group annual meeting will be held at DePaul University, Loop Campus in Chicago on May 16. The annual meeting will begin with registration and a continental breakfast at 8:00 am in Room 8005 of the DePaul Center located at 1 East Jackson Boulevard in Chicago. Opening remarks will begin at 9:00 am and the day’s events will conclude at 3:00 pm. Register online ($40 fee includes breakfast and lunch) to attend this event.
WEBJUNCTION ILLINOIS WANTS YOUR PICTURES!
As part of the upcoming launch of WebJunction Illinois later this year, developers want to create a “group portrait” of the Illinois library family. They’re looking for photos of your libraries, your library staff and volunteers, programs at your libraries, special collections, artwork and artifacts – basically the people, places and things that comprise libraries in Illinois. School, public, special or academic libraries and regional library systems are all invited to be a part of this historic project.
Go to the LibraryU homepage to find out how to upload to the Illinois Libraries Flickr photo group, then look for the results of your contributions to take center stage when WebJunction Illinois goes live this summer. Please be sure that your library has a release for photos that you upload that include images of any people other than library staff.
PATENT LIBRARY GETS PRAISE
The State Library’s Patent and Trademark Depository Library and PTDL librarian Margaret Collins get favorable mention in an article in the new issue of Springfield’s Own magazine. Columnist C.L. Crockett profiles Springfield inventor Rudy Boswell, and in her piece talks about how she learned of Boswell from Collins “when I was hanging out at my favorite hideout, the Gwendolyn Brooks State Library on Second Street”. Well done, Margaret!
WORKPLACE SKILLS ENHANCEMENT
As part of the Secretary of State/Illinois State Library Literacy Office’s Adult Literacy Grant Program, Workplace Skills Enhancement grants are awarded each year to provide on-site educational services to employees wishing to increase their reading, writing, math or language skills. One of our WSE grant recipients is the famous Eli’s Cheesecake Company in Chicago. Eli’s employee Marc Schulman recently wrote a blog article that features their Workplace Skills Enhancement grant.
E-RATE NEWS
E-Rate requires that your Technology Plan pre-date your Form 470. Be sure to print a dated copy of your Technology Plan for your files. If you use TechAtlas to create your plan, print a copy BEFORE submitting a Form 470 because TechAtlas changes the date on your plan every time you make any change like correcting a typo. Also, when creating a Technology Plan, see that it specifically states that your budget is sufficient to cover the non-discounted telecom costs and support the equipment needed to fulfill your plan. Give dollar estimates for your included budget years.
EMERGING WRITERS COMPETITION
The State Library was delighted to learn that week that Rhino magazine is going to publish one of the winning poems from last year’s Illinois Emerging Writers Competition sponsored by Secretary of State and Sate Librarian Jesse White. The poem by Anthony Coman of DeKalb is entitled “House”.
STAFF WORK WEEK
Neil Kelley and Mark Shaffer conducted workshops in Springfield and Benton on FY08 Live and Learn construction grants.
Mary Downing took part in a Reaching Forward South conference planning committee meeting.
Sharon Ruda took part in a meeting of Talking Book Center directors in Springfield.
Connie Frankenfeld attended a three-day conference in Chandler, AZ on Libraries and Archives in the Digital Era
Dorothy Whitney attended two Chicago-based “Nights of 1000 Stars”, sponsored by the Westside Literacy Coalition and the Southside Literacy Coalition. At the Night of 1000 Stars adult literacy students come together to celebrate their achievements with their fellow learners, their tutors and their families. The students may read their own compositions, sing a song or perform in some way. They may read a statement about the past year’s learning experience and how far they have progressed in strengthening their literacy skills.
Cyndy Colletti attended the Illinois Adult and Continuing Educator’s Association Board meeting to report on the status of the Illinois State Library Literacy program.
Mark Shaffer attended a Senior Celebration planning meeting.
GOVDOCINFO
We couldn’t pass up this opportunity to tell you about an unusual event that is going to occur two days from now. At 3 minutes and 4 seconds past 2 o’clock on the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be-look at this closely–02:03:04 05/06/07! Did you know the United States government has an “official” time? The site has links to other interesting sites concerning time. You can mark your calendar now for June 7, 2008, when we’ll be looking out for 03:04:05 06/07/08!
CULTURAL AWARENESS: DIVERSITY IN ACTION
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. From the Asian American Writers Workshop, the following is a listing of Asian American Authors and some of their works:
- Flippin’: Filipinos on America Edited by Luis H. Francia and Eric Gamalinda; ISBN 1-889876-01-1. For the first time, Filipino and Filipino American writers telling their lives in their own words.
- Contours of the Heart: South Asians Map North America Edited by Sunaina Maira and Rajini Srikanth; ISBN 1-889876-00-3. This anthology critically explores the family tension about, and the concept of, “home”.
- Voices Wandered: An Anthology of Poetry and Art by Asian American Youth Edited by Dianna Ng, Nisha Mirani, Karina Liu and Helen Lee; (ISBN Not Listed) The first of its kind, this is a collection of poetry and artwork written, compiled and edited entirely by Asian American Youth.
- The Man With My Face By Jennifer Tseng; ISBN 1-889876-17-8. The author of these poems transmutes “the deep hunger of the bi-racial daughter into moving poems, letters of filial love, to ‘the man with my face’.”
- Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writings Edited by Elaine H. Kim and Laura Hyu!
n Yi Kang; ISBN 1-889876-13-5. A groundbreaking collection of new fiction and poetry from an array of emerging, innovative voices. - The NuyorAsian Anthology: Asian American Writings About New York City Edited by Bino A. Realuyo; ISBN 1-889876-07-0. This dynamic collection of prose and poetry maps life in New York City as writers attempt to decipher its ever-elusive meanings.
- Tokens? The NYC Asian American Experience On Stage Edited by Alvin Eng; ISBN 1-889876-09-7. A companion book to NuyorAsian, Tokens takes a look at the historical and contemporary New York stage world via a “verbal” mural of interviews.
For more on Asian authors, see www.aaww.org/books_anthologies.html .
ILLINOIS DIGITAL ARCHIVES
Today marks the anniversary of a tragic event in our nation’s history, when four Kent State University students protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia were shot and killed by National Guard troops. The Elmhurst College Archives has a collection of photos of anti-Vietnam war marches.
NEW TITLES IN THE STATE LIBRARY COLLECTION
File for divorce in Illinois, by Diana Brodman Summers, Sphinx Pub., 2006
Justice in robes, by R. M. Dworkin, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006
Legal office procedures, by Joyce Morton, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006
Place of families: fostering capacity, equality, and responsibility, by Linda McClain, Harvard University Press, 206
ILLINOIS INVENTOR OF THE WEEK
In honor of Asian Heritage Month, Sung C. Lee of Wheeling is this week’s Illinois inventor of the week. On February 20, 1996, Lee was assigned Patent Number 5,492,319, for “Indoor Golf Chip Shot Practice Apparatus,”. The Illinois State Library Patent & Trademark Library is available to assist you with your patent and trademark questions. Contact us at (217) 782-5659.
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 16-Illinois OCLC Users’ Group Annual Meeting, DePaul University, Chicago
May 23-Spotlight on Achievement and Spotlight on Service awards for literacy students and volunteer tutors, Springfield
June 3-8-Small Public Library Management Institute, Springfield
June 5-”Empowering Library Staff to Meet the Needs of the Spanish Speaking Community”, Metropolitan Library System, Chicago, register at www.islcleo.org
June 10-15-Institute for School and Public Librarians, Bradley University, Peoria
September 20–Government Documents Conference, Illinois State Library
October 9-12-Illinois Library Assn. Annual Conference, Springfield
Questions about “E-News from the ISL” should be referred to Pat McGuckin, Illinois State Library, pmcguckin@ilsos.net or 217-558-4029. Please let me know if you ever have trouble accessing any of the website or e-mail links listed in the weekly newsletter.