Your support is vital in the campaign to sustain state funding for libraries at current levels. Please refer to the handy legislative toolkit on the ILA website for more on how you can help. Take a few moments, contact your legislator, and make a difference today!

Illinois Library Day will be held on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 and is a day of advocacy held in Springfield.  It is a time for library supporters to “talk up” libraries with visits to elected officials at the Capitol.  Illinois Library Day is held during the state legislative session and includes training and special briefings the evening before the full day of visits.

For Registration Details >>

Stay up to date on the latest information and register for the first in the series at: www.oclc.org/go/buildingbridges.

Building Bridges #1: Principles of Advocacy
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 1:00 pm Central/11:00 am Pacific

Public library professionals know the importance of demonstrating their value to their local communities. Are you looking for inspiration to jump-start your own advocacy efforts? Join us to better understand how ongoing community advocacy supports the vital role your library plays in the community.

Speakers include:

• Mary Hirsch, Project Coordinator for PLA and Lynn Slawsky, Program Officer, Turning the Page 2.0, who will discuss PLA’s Turning the Page program

• Janet Sawaya, Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who will discuss the foundation’s role in funding public library advocacy programs

• Jennifer Pearson, Senior Manager of Advocacy Programs, OCLC, who will discuss the Geek the Library community awareness program.

People currently receiving federal benefit paper checks will need to switch to an electronic payment option by March 1, 2013. Those who do not switch by the deadline will receive their benefit payments via a debit card so they will not experience any interruption in payment. Having federal benefits paid electronically is safer, faster and more reliable than receiving paper benefit checks.In 2010, more than 540,000 Treasury-issued checks were reported lost or stolen, and had to be reissued.

Libraries can display materials or create a link on their website to make patrons aware of these important changes. Log on to www.GoDirect.org, or call a campaign representative at 952-346-6055 for more information.

Entries need to include name of the library and name, address, phone number and idea of the entrant.  Entries need to include the category of the entry – replicable green idea for business, replicable green idea for residences, creative green idea for business or creative green idea for residences.  Each individual is limited to one entry per category and an individual may only win once.  (However, all great green ideas may be shared as non-entries to gogreenila@gmail.com.)
Entries in the creative ideas categories may be listed without last name on the
gogreenila.info web site.

For more information, click here.

The University is currently recruiting 400 to 600 library systems nationwide to participate in a pilot of the survey tools and supporting materials. Pilot libraries will receive support throughout their involvement and will be asked to provide feedback via survey. A sample of pilot libraries will be asked to participate in a follow-up interview. Participating libraries must begin their flexible two- to four-week survey fielding period by September 12.

Take advantage of this opportunity to evaluate and demonstrate the impact of providing public access technology services in your community. You may register your library for the pilot by creating an account at http://impactsurvey.org. For more information, visit http://impactsurvey.org or contact the survey coordinator at info@impactsurvey.org or 206-543-4324.

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.

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