Workshop - Planning and Management of Buildings

Date: September 16-17, 2009
Time: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM on 9/16; 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM on 9/17
Place: Saratoga Springs Public Library
Presenter: Cheryl Bryan
Cost: $250 for PLA members; $300 for ALA members; $400 for nonmenbers

Planning a building that meets the various needs of your library and patrons is a difficult and time-consuming task that requires specialized skills and knowledge. Learn the principles of building planning and management in this intensive two-day workshop. By the end of the Planning and Management of Buildings workshop, you will be able to:

- Assess the current condition of your building.
- Develop a list of building maintenance and operation procedures, and monitor performance of maintenance personnel.
- Plan a building improvement project, present planning documents, and develop a communications plan to keep stakeholders informed throughout a project.
- Follow the correct procedures when hiring architectural, engineering, and consultant assistance in assessing or improving your building.
- List technology planning needs and associated building requirements.

Visit the PLA Web site for complete course curricula, fees, and to register. Please contact PLA at pla@ala.org or 800-545-2433, ext. 5PLA if you have questions. This course is part of PLA's Certified Public Library Administrator Program.

Workshop - Effective Meetings

Date: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Time: 9:30 AM - noon (coffee at 9:00 AM)
Place: Upper Hudson Library System
Presenter: Mary Fellows, Manager of Youth and Family Services, UHLS
Cost: $15

Meetings are a fact of work life. Meetings can advance understanding and informed decisions – or feed frustration and waste time. In “Control Is Not A Dirty Word: Effective Meeting Management,” Upper Hudson Library System presents a workshop in which you will learn how to:

o Determine when to hold a meeting
o Design a meeting to get the outcome you want
o Keep the meeting on track by managing difficult personalities, conflicts, and interruptions
o Positively influence productivity of meetings you are attending but not running

Whether you are a seasoned manager seeking to hone your skills, a rising star taking on more work or volunteer responsibilities that include chairing meetings, or a victim of painful meetings preparing to act, this workshop offers practical help.

To register, please email Mary Fellows at mary@uhls.lib.ny.us or call her at 518-437-9880 ext. 228. Registration deadline is August 18.

New Mohawk Valley Events Website

Leah at Canajoharie shared this with me:

There is this great new site for goings on in the Mohawk Valley: http://www.mohawkvalleyguide.com/ They do a nice job and have an events calendar that anyone can post to. This is a great way for libraries to get the word out about summer reading programs and events.

Thanks for sharing, Leah!

NYLA Conference 2009

The Early Bird registration deadline for the 2009 NYLA conference is fast approaching! Register by July 21 to secure the best rates for this year's conference, to be held in Niagara Falls from October 14-17. And remember that MVLS has funding available to offset conference costs for one attendee from each member library. Contact Carol for information on receiving this funding.

NOVEL Database Training

Two free online training sessions on Gale's Health and Wellness Resource Center database have been scheduled. All libraries receive this database as part of the NOVEL program. Sessions will be held:

Tuesday, July 14, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Monday, August 3, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Preregistration for these sessions is NOT required. You will simply need to connect to the webinar a few minutes prior to the training start time. Information on connecting can be found here.

Festival of Writers in Rensselaerville

The Rensselaerville Library and the Rensselaerville Meeting Center are going to host a three day Festival of Writers to benefit the Rensselaerville Library from July 31, 2009 through August 2, 2009. There will be events for everyone to enjoy, including a street festival and movie screenings (with the authors of the books upon which the movies are based, and a children’s festival. There will be workshops and discussions with many celebrated writers including William Kennedy and Andy Rooney. Some of the other celebrated writers include Molly O’Neill, Bill Logan, Dan Hofstadter, George Pendle, Natalie Bober, H.B. Gilmour, Deb Lucke, Stephen O’Connor, Helen Benedict, Lance Morrow, Tudson Talbott, returning guest writer Owen Sheers, and others.

All are welcome to attend. Tickets are required for many portions of the event. Registration forms and complete information can me found on the Rensselaerville Library's website, here.

PLS Awards

Deadlines have been extended on the following awards. New deadline is July 31.

The Public Library Section of NYLA announces the following awards:

NYLA Dewey Fellowship
Dewey Fellowships are awarded to three NYLA members, selected by designated Section, to attend the NYLA Annual Conference. Dewey Fellows are chosen on the basis of the following criteria:1) five or more years of experience as a librarian
2) record of accomplishment in the library profession3) involvement in activities to advance the library community.Dewey Fellowship pays for up to $1250 of the cost of attendance of the 2009 NYLA Annual Conference. Additionally, each Dewey Fellow will receive a $100 Gift Certificate for use at the NYLA store, and will be acknowledged on NYLA's website, at the Annual Conference and in the NYLA Bulletin. Deadline: July 31, 2009

Outstanding Public Library Building Awards
There are two awards of $1000 each ; one award will be given to a construction project in a community serving less than 20,000, one award will go to a project in a community serving over 20,000. The 2009 awards will be given for new construction projects (not building renovations). All projects must have been completed by December 31, 2008 for consideration in the 2009 award cycle. Deadline: July 31, 2009

L. Marion Moshier / Asa Wynkoop Award for Distinguished Librarianship
This award is named in honor of two New York State library pioneers who nurtured the growth of small libraries. This award honors a public library Director who has given outstanding service to a community of 7,500 or less. Award recipients are selected by the PLS Board upon the recommendation of the PLS awards committee. The award includes $1,000, a plaque for the library and inclusion on a plaque to be placed in the NYLA office. Attendance at the NYLA conference is a requirement of acceptance. Deadline: July 31, 2009

Continuing Education / Post MLS Grant for up to $250 toward the cost of participating in continuing education or post-MLS study (four awards per year -- deadlines are June 1, October 1, December 1, and February 1).

Please visit the PLS website at http://www.nyla.org/pls for more information and application instructions.

New in the Professional Collection

Game On! : Gaming at the Library

by Beth Gallaway

Books About Reading Books

(From Sue, who is now returning these books to the libraries from whence they came.)

I've been reading parts of some reading books for teachers and librarians that I think have value in what we do and how we interact with kids, and promote reading!

"The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child" is by Donalyn Miller, 2009.

Ok, I've had this book checked out for over a month. I've started it about 6 times. (maybe have had 2 months??) Today, at lunch thought would give one last chance before returning it (because have had about 2 months) and opened in the middle. I'm in the middle of chapter "Cutting the Teacher Strings" and finally the book has awakened me. I guess I needed to cut to the chase and see her examples rather than read the first 1/3 with the philosophy. A sixth grade teacher, she "requires" her students to read 40 books a year. And explains what happens during that road, and she reacts and respects and gives kids the chance to be turned onto reading. Practical examples with snippets of advice in between (I still haven't read the first half btw). And an exemplary bibliography of all the books she has in her classroom at the end. If you've listened to Nancy Pearl's thoughts on creating readers and respect in book advising, this is Pearl in action in a school. (I've got a 9th and a 5th grader, and hearing the stories of teachers in her book really resonates.) I'm returning it so someone else can take a turn! (oh and she has a blog: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/ The June 22 entry has a great entry on summer reading.

You ask why I'm reading these books on the right book for the right reader for the right times? Because it's summer, and I've been setting up online summer reading programs for our members, and every year at this time I start thinking about prizes for reading and what works and requirements and the purpose of the program to begin with and how to make it easy and fun for kids to participate and find the books that they REALLY would like to read and enjoy, no matter their level. I'm also trying to discover ways that will keep the kids coming into the library to get books, and teachers do have a captive audience during the school year!

Then, I discovered Teri S. Lesesne. I interlibrary loaned from the Sage College Library her "Naked Reading: Uncovering What Tweens Need to Become Lifelong Readers" from 2006 and read it, (since obviously didn't have the ability to renew it for 2 months!). Of course, being a skinny book helped! Again, this book is from the captive school professional perspective, but it does have lots of great lists and tidbits of information. (Both Miller and Lesesne are proponents of actually asking kids what and why they read (and don't read) certain books, and respecting their answers.) By tidbits of information, she lists post reading activities, facts, and the every important least favorite post reading activities. And there's a fantastic booklist at the end, for tweens/middle school students.

Again, fascinating reading. I have a better understanding of kids' reading, and how to approach them in a public library setting. Or the friends of my kids that I keep shoving books onto. My next chore is to figure out how to suggest them to teachers for their summer reading. Any ideas? Let me know how you do it!!

Workshop - Book Repair

Date: Thursday, August 5, 2009
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Place: CDLC Headquarters, 28 Essex St., Albany
Presenter: Kary Barth, Kapco Library Products
Cost: $5 (CDLC personal memebrs); $10 (MVLS library staff)

This workshop is designed to demonstrate quick and easy techniques for extending shelf life on general circulating materials. Prevention is the key, but the presenter will be addressing specific common repairs such as: tipping in loose pages, broken spines, torn header caps, ripped and torn pages.

Registration is limited to 25 people. Complete a registration form by July 24.