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Advocacy

Advocacy
Illinois Library Day Set for April 10, 2008
December 17th, 2007 | Permalink | Comment?

Mark your calendar now and plan to take part in Illinois Library Day in Springfield on Thursday, April 10, 2008. This is one of the most important days on the library calendar in Illinois, where librarians, trustees and other library supporters have the chance to meet one on one with their lawmakers at the State Capitol. There will be another march and rally to let everyone know how important libraries are to Illinois.
Advocacy, ILA Updates
ILA Update #23
November 19th, 2007 | Permalink | Comment?

Content from: Robert P. Doyle
Saturday, 17 November 2007
Illinois Library Association
phone: (312) 644-1896
fax: (312) 644-1899
e-mail: ila@ila.org
http://www.ila.org

New Illinois School Board of Education Rules

ILA and the Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) are requesting the Illinois library community to urge the Illinois School Board of Education (ISBE) to support the new rules that require all students to have access to library media programs and staffed by certified library information specialists. ISBE is currently accepting public comments via e-mail rules@isbe.net or mail to Sally Vogl, Agency Rules Coordinator, ISBE, 100 North First Street – S – 493, Springfield, IL 62777-0001. Comments are due by December 24.

The new rules emphasize that school library media programs are essential to student achievement as shown in Powerful Libraries Make Powerful Learners: The Illinois Study and confirmed by studies done in sixteen other states.
The rules are in agreement with the July 28, 2005, “Section 1.755 Requirements for Library Information Specialists,” which states that no one can be assigned to provide library media services unless certified.

Opposition launched by the Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance (ISSMA)* contends that the new rules are an unfunded mandate and that the state board does not have the authority to require certified staff in school libraries. In an ISSMA memo to their membership, school libraries are described as a “luxury” item.

* In the spring of 1993, the executive directors of the four statewide educational management associations — Illinois Association of School Administrators, Illinois Association of School Boards, Illinois Association of School Business Officials and Illinois Principals Association — solidified discussions concerning joint legislative efforts and formed the Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance.

2008 iREAD Orders

Please don’t forget to visit the ILA iREAD site place your order for the Get in the Game: READ! summer reading program Resource Guide and reading incentive products.

Based on orders received, we soon will be ordering the summer reading program materials for delivery in January-February 2008. We want to order correctly to fulfill all orders, to fulfill our pledge to reduce product costs, and, as most frequently requested, to ship materials well in advance of the summer for planning purposes. (Don’t worry about payment now. We will be happy to invoice you for payment at a later date.)

If you have already placed your order, we thank you. If you haven’t ordered yet, don’t miss out. Get in the Game! Come join us.

Illinois Association of College and Research Libraries (IACRL) 2008 Spring Conference, Bloomington, Illinois, March 27-28, 2008

Please join IACRL for a great spring conference “Librarians as Leaders: Energizing our Communities” that will explore the future role of academic librarians as we expand our sphere of influence beyond the library. The submitted presentations and invited speakers will demonstrate how each of us, working individually and together, can energize our communities and be the architects of our future. The conference registration appears in the December 2007 ILA Reporter, and the online registration is on the ILA Web site.

For conference updates and program information, please visit the IACRL web site. For hotel reservations, please contact the Chateau & Conference Center, Bloomington, at (866) 690-4006, or register online . The group name and password is ASCORELI. The single/double room rate is $87 plus tax per night. Please note the conference rate deadline is March 1, 2008.

For more information, email Jocelyn Tipton, Eastern Illinois University or call phone: (217) 581-7542.

2008 National Library Legislative Day

2008 National Library Legislative Day will be Wednesday, 14 May 2008. ILA has reserved a block of rooms at the Capitol Hill Suites, 200 C St., S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003; phone: (202) 543-6000; fax: (202) 547-0883; $239 single and $259 double rate for a junior suite and $279 single and $299 for a one bedroom deluxe, 14.5% sales tax not included. When making reservations, please mention the Illinois Library Association. On Tuesday, 13 May 2008, ALA will hold a briefing day at the Holiday Inn on the Hill, 415 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20001. The event’s registration form will appear in the February 2008 ILA Reporter.

Next ILA Executive Board Meeting

A half-day strategic planning meeting will be held on Thursday, 21 February 2008, 1:00-5:00 P.M. at Prairie Library System, Shorewood. The next day the ILA Executive Board will meet at the same location for its Friday, 22 February 2008 meeting, beginning at 9:00 A.M. Meetings are open and attendance is welcomed.
Advocacy, Research, Technology Planning
Illinois Public Libraries – Your Assistance is Needed!
November 1st, 2007 | Permalink | Comment?

The 2007 National Public Library Funding and Technology Access survey is closing on November 25, 2007 and the Illinois State Library needs your help to complete this survey.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation continues their efforts to bring high quality technology services to all communities. Many public libraries do not have enough funding to keep pace in our fast paced technology world. In turn, libraries have outdated computers and slow, if any, Internet access. The goal of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to obtain enough stable funding to ensure they are able to meet library patrons’ needs for high-quality services and access to information.

In the fall of 2006, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a grant to the American Library Association’s Office of Research and Statistics (ALA) to work with Florida State University’s Information Institute (FSU) to track library funding and technology trends on an annual basis to better understand how to improve support in those areas. These findings are compiled in the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study. This year’s survey has been in the field since September 2, 2007, and will be closing on November 25, 2007.

This survey is vital to all of us! Upon completion of this survey we will have a better understanding of our library’s roles in providing access to the Internet and digital information. The survey data also gives national and state policymakers, library practitioners, and private funding organizations a better understanding of the issues libraries face, along with essential issues that need to be addressed in our communities. Data from past FSU and ALA studies has been used on behalf of public libraries in Congressional testimony, by the U.S. Census Bureau, and even by the U.S. Supreme Court. Finally, this information will inform the foundations’ grant making through our U.S. Libraries Initiative.

The Illinois State Library needs you to be a part of this ‘one of a kind’ national study by completing this survey as soon as possible. In order to have an accurate measurement of the status of funding and technology needs in the U.S. public libraries they must have a maximum number of responses, from us.

Please complete this online survey by November 25, 2007. The survey takes about 40 minutes to complete and the data you provide about your library will be instrumental for us and other library professional across the county, now and in the years to come.

Thank you for your continued support and your desire to help make our libraries all they can be! Anne Craig, Director, Illinois State Library