Yearly Archives: 2010

Upcoming WJ Webinar: Understanding Unemployment Insurance and Its Impact on Your Library Customers

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The upcoming WebJunction Webinar Understanding Unemployment Insurance and Its Impact on Your Library Customers is scheduled for Thursday 1/27/2011 beginning at 1:00 PM Central Time.

One simple change in library hours can have an unexpected impact on a large number of library patrons: Unemployment Insurance (UI) customers. In this webinar, we will be joined by an Unemployment Insurance Specialist from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, who will explain out how the service works. In addition, Alice Neve, Public Service Manager at St. Paul Public Library, will describe how your library can support UI customers. Using her library as an example, she will describe how to collaborate with local UI offices, analyze challenges and implement solutions throughout your library system. This session is the first in a series brought to you in collaboration with the Jobs and Small Business Task Force of MELSA, serving the eight public library systems of the Twin Cities metro region of Minnesota.

To register for this free webinar visit L2.

Upcoming WJ Webinar: Best Small Library in American 2010

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The upcoming WebJunction Webinar Best Small Library in America 2010 is scheduled for Tuesday 1/18/2011 beginning at 1:00 PM Central Time.

Library Journal’s annual Best Small Library in America Award, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was created in 2005 to encourage and showcase the exemplary work of libraries serving populations under 25,000. After the Glen Carbon Centennial Library in Illinois was recognized as an “honorable mention” in the 2008 awards, its staff resolved to win the award-and they did!

Their successful results are seen in their commitment to hire and inspire staff to provide “more than you expect” service to patrons, and in their stellar outreach and programming that leverages partnerships and technology every way they can. As we await the naming of the 2011 winner (expected February 1, 2011), we’re pleased to bring you this webinar exploring the inner workings of GCCL, in collaboration with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries and featuring GCCL library director, Anne M. Hughes and Library Journal’s executive editor, Rebecca Miller.

Visit L2 and register for this free webinar and attend to support this wonderful Illinois Library achievement!

Literacy Spotlight: DeLaSalle Institute Family Literacy

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This week the Illinois State Library honors DeLaSalle Institute Family Literacy at Toman Library in Chicago. A single mom took a year off from literacy program studies following the birth of her second son. She returned to the family literacy program to continue improving her English speaking skills and brought her sons with her.

The early childhood staff observed her oldest son’s lack of progress in speaking, and assisted in getting him tested. The boy qualified for speech therapy in the home and enrolled in the preschool program at the public school, where staff attended the first Individualized Education Program meeting with the mother.
 
The woman became confident enough to attend school conferences without staff, and brought back reports on how well her son was progressing after each meeting. Thanks to early intervention, her eldest son will enter kindergarten prepared for school. After two years, the youngest son has exceeded all developmental benchmarks and will be moving into the 3 to 5-year-olds program.

Penny Severns Literacy Grant Update

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The online Penny Severns Summer Family Literacy Grant Application is now available and is due Tuesday, February 1, 2011, at 4 p.m. A webinar grant information session was offered December 8, 2010, and can be viewed at the link provided above.
 
The Penny Severns Summer Family Literacy Grant is funded with LSTA funds, used in cooperation with local literacy programs to serve low literate and limited English proficient families. For more information, please email Beth Paoli or call her at 217-785-6923.

Borders Literacy Donation Program

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For the eighth year, Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White, the Illinois Literacy Foundation and Borders stores collaborated to raise funds for local literacy programs and promote literacy awareness in Illinois.
 
From October 5 through November 1, 2010, Borders cashiers asked customers at the time of purchase if they wished to donate a dollar or more to benefit literacy programs. Thirty Borders stores, one Borders Express and one Waldenbooks store participated in the 2010 program and raised $ 44, 210. The Illinois Literacy Foundation selected the recipients and matched them with their respective Borders stores.

What’s New @ WJIL: Chart Your Course – A Marketing Toolkit for your library

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ChartYourCourseWant to let job-seekers in your community know what a wealth of resources and services your library has to offer? Use this “Chart Your Course”  marketing toolkit recently added to WJIL as a part of the Workforce Resources collection. Here is a sneak peek at what you’ll find. For the full story and resources follow the links.

Overview

  • Why it’s important to make sure that your community knows what your library has to offer.

Get Started

  • Ideas for setting achievable and measurable goals and objectives as well as a quick survey to help you identify new opportunities to raise awareness.

Tell the Story

  • How to find the story and develop the key messages and talking points.

Reach out to the Community

  • Outreach strategies for a number of key groups and tips on how to sustain your efforts.

Marketing Materials

  • A wealth of customizable ready to use graphic templates such as bookmarks, flyers, graphics, etc. that can be used in reaching job-seekers. All assets are branded with the marketing  slogan “Chart Your Course – The latest news about Jobs and Careers is always at Your Library.”

The Future of Illinois Library Cooperation: Update

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Article from ILA E-News, December 14, 2010

FILCOn Tuesday, 14 December 2010, representatives of the Illinois library community met with Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White to present an action plan for statewide cooperative services, such as delivery and other priorities.  Secretary White agreed to consider awarding an LSTA grant to support the effort and requested that a formal request for funding be submitted to the Illinois State Library by the Illinois Library Association (ILA).

Based on information and resources identified in the Future of Illinois Library Cooperation planning documents, the group requested funding to analyze current delivery needs and prepare a formal RFP/RFI to identify best practices and service models, culminating in an implementation plan to redesign delivery in the most efficient and cost effective manner.  The project will intersect with on-going work of the regional systems and other consortia.

The request for funding will be submitted to the Illinois State Library in December with notification anticipated in early 2011.

Attending the meeting were: Illinois Secretary of State Chief of Staff Thomas Benigno, Oak Park Public Library Executive Director Deidre Brennan, ILA President Gail Bush; Illinois Secretary of State Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Programs and Policies Terri Coombes, Illinois State Library Director Anne Craig, Chicago Public Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey, Illinois Secretary of State Executive Assistant to the Chief of Staff Jacki DiCianni, ILA Executive Director Robert P. Doyle, ILA Legislative Consultant Kip Kolkmeier, Chicago Public Library First Deputy Commissioner Karen Danczak Lyons, and Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White.

Download/view the planning documents for Future of Illinois Library Cooperation.

WJIL Course Highlight: Weeding the Library Collection

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“Weeding the Library Collection” is a necessary activity and also, happily, a course you can take via WebJunction Illinois. 

If you mention collection development a lot of library staff think of selecting new materials for the library. Weeding – removing library materials from your collection – is an integral part of collection development. In this course you will discover why that is true and then learn weeding techniques, developing weeding policies and avoiding common pitfalls. The information is relevant to all types of libraries and addresses the weeding of all types of library materials, including adult and children’s collections, as well as print and non-print materials.

This course includes reasons for weeding the library collection and how to identify print and online resources to aid in planning an effective weeding program. Using published weeding guidelines to develop criteria for weeding collections, the developing of a weeding plan for the library (which includes a schedule, criteria for specific subject areas and material types, and procedures) is also examined.

Additionally ways to avoid common pitfalls and problems with weeding such as “unweedable” gifts, “sacred” memorial donations, the “recommended collection size” trap, fear of admitting a selection error, and others are examined along with a discussion of how to incorporate weeding in the library’s collection management policy. Finally, the course helps students identify tools associated with automated library catalogs that can assist in weeding such as inventory reports, collection age reports, and others.

So if you feel the need to weed, this is a course for you.  Details and registration can be found in the WJIL Course Catalog.

Library Systems Update: Southern System Survey of Membership Summary

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The Southern System Planning panel conducted an extensive survey of the membership of the library systems from mid October 2010 to early November 2010. The response to the survey was outstanding and demonstrated the interest in the planned merger between the systems.  Over 750 people took time to participate in the survey.

For a summary of the survey visit the Cooperation Today web site.

Talking Book Libraries Being Restructured

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Two years of long-range planning have led the Illinois Network of Talking Book and Braille Libraries to begin a restructuring process aimed at streamlining services. The network includes the Talking Book and Braille Service in Springfield; Chicago Public Library Talking Book Center; Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center in East Peoria; Southern Illinois Talking Book Center in Carterville; and Voices of Vision Talking Book Center in Geneva. The following changes are being made:

  • Southern will no longer serve as a Talking Book Center but rather will be the machinelending agency for the entire state.
  • Patrons of Southern will now be served by Mid-Illinois TBC.
  • State Library TBBS will issue a statewide newsletter for all patrons of the network.
  • State Library TBBS will house the descriptive video collection.

For additional information visit the Illinois State Library website or WebJunction Illinois.