This week it’s all about Illinois. There really is no place like home, and it’s amazing the things you can discover about the Illinois Library Community on WJIL. It’s all below in the latest “What’s New @ WJIL.”

Contents: Resources | Courses and Learning | Community | What could I do with…? | What’s New RSS Feed

“What’s New” RSS Feed Want the latest “What’s New @ WJIL” to come to you? Add the RSS feed to your blog reader.
[http://webjunctionworks.org/il/blog/index.php/category/new-wj-il/feed/]

Remember, if you ever stray past the rainbow’s edge…. or if you find yourself somewhere unfamiliar and you want to return to WebJunction Illinois, just click your heels twice or click the “Illinois” link under My Account. Look for Abe Lincoln in the banner of WJIL to know that you have found your way home.

What are the benefits of “home”? When logged in WJIL users can…

• Take courses for free. And who doesn’t like free?
• Join in discussions and post documents to the site
• Create and join Illinois related groups
• Develop a network of colleagues through inviting friends from your “My WebJunction”

Resources

The Illinois Focus

WebJunction Illinois is a customized instance of WebJunction Global which includes selected relevant content from the WebJunction Global site with the addition of Illinois-specific content and resources to create a seamless global, yet customized perspective for Illinois library staff.

However, if you really want to find the content that is specific to Illinois, or if you want to post a document intended only for the Illinois Library community, we’ve tried to make it easier for you. Here are a few tips about where to find that Illinois focus.

• Click on the Illinois Center tab. Topics under this hierarchy such as the Illinois Learning Center, WJIL Course Catalog Help, the Illinois Wimba Archives and materials from recent Illinois conferences such as On the Front Lines are all specific to Illinois. You’ll also see a feed with updates to the Illinois State Library website and information on Featured Statewide Initiatives and ISL Programs and Centers such as the Diversity Program.
• Go to the Grants tab and you’ll find all things related to Illinois grants, including updates posted by LSTA grant recipients. Explore the updates and find creative ideas and inspiration for your own library, or for future grant applications.
• Look for the (IL). You’ll also find IL specific information sprinkled throughout other areas of the site such as Technology, Library Management and Library Services. To help you better identify the IL specific pages we included (IL) in the naming of the pages. You can see an example of this by visiting the Illinois TechAtlas and Library Law Articles pages.
• Browse the Illinois Library Community in the Member Center. Look for information on Illinois Groups, Degree and Certification Programs and Illinois Library Standouts.

Library Law: Registered Sex Offenders in the Library

Every month the law firm of Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, Ltd. provides a new article related to Library Law. Thanks to permission from the North Suburban Library System and Metropolitan Library System, WJIL has been able to develop an archive of these articles on the Library Law Articles page.

• Public libraries are recognized as “the quintessential locus of the receipt of information,” and the right to some level of access to a public library is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment right to receive information. To that end, all individuals are welcome in public libraries, but some individuals may be excluded based on individual behavior that violates the law or library policies
• Path: [Library Management -> Organizational Management -> Library Law Articles]

FY09 LSTA Updates

LSTA grant recipients from 2009 are now beginning to post their updates to the WJIL site on the LSTA Grant page. Here is just a sampling of what some of your Illinois colleagues have done with their LSTA grant funds. Click on the links to download the full updates and keep coming back for more as the list grows!

• Fostering Information Fluency Through Technology: Catherine Oedewaldt, Pleasant Plains High School, This In Sync with Technology Grant Program was designed to equip the students and staff of Pleasant Plains High School with technology to facilitate information fluency instruction
• In Sync with Active Learning: Kathy Wickline, Unity Junior High School Library, This grant provided Unity Junior High School Library with the necessary technology to energize UJHS students to improve their skills in the areas of reading, writing, math, and science. The use of laptops and a projection system allowed for all students to actively participate and delve into developing new skills as well as furthering existing aptitudes.
• Read, Blog, Grow: Promoting Book Genre Variety: Karen zuber, St. Joseph Library, Encourage students to read genre new to them and to share their books with classmates on their blog.
• Think Outside the Box: Jennifer Henderson/ Lincolnwood Jr. Sr. High School/ Panhandle CUSD#2, Think Outside the Box expands library services by providing technology presentation tools (interactive white boards, laptop computers, projectors and carts) to empower students and faculty with information literacy skills.
• Path: [Grants » ISL Grants » LSTA]

Courses and Learning

LibraryU Courses in the IL Course Catalog

• 15 of the courses developed and created by the Illinois Library Community under the LibraryU brand are currently available (for free of course) in the IL Course Catalog. Just click on the IL Course Catalog tab, then LibraryU under the featured course providers to see a full list.
• Path: [Illinois Course Catalog -> Featured Course Provider: LibraryU]

Illinois Wimba Archives

It’s all about Illinois and how you can use WJIL in this series of 4 succinct (30 minute) archived webinars from the Tea for Two Plus You? series.

• Posting a Document to WJIL
• Creating and Joining Groups
• Registration and Social Networking
• Enrolling in and Launching Courses
• Path: [Illinois Info Center -> Illinois Learning Center -> Online Learning -> Illinois Wimba Archives]

Community

Illinois Standouts: The Gridley Public Library District

• The Gridley Public Library District (a member of the Alliance Library System) is proving that you don’t have to serve a big population to provide big service. Find out more about how this small town library is meeting the needs of their community with creative, innovative and educational programs and services.

Illinois Libraries in the News

• Every week you can get a quick overview of Illinois Libraries that are making the news. Look closely, you just might see yourself.
• Path: [Illinois Info Center -> Illinois Libraries -> Illinois Libraries in the News]

What Could I do with…the Illinois Library Community?

Collaborate, learn, network, communicate, contribute and discuss – all on WebJunction Illinois. Register today!