Webinar - Serving the Young Adult Population : It's Not Just About Video Games

Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Place: Online
Cost: Free

Need to develop or improve your library services to youth? This webinar will provide you with a basic primer on how to attract and keep young adults interested in your library services and programs and how to create an atmosphere of inclusion comfortable for you, your staff and your local young adults. Join Jill Jarrell, librarian, author and web content consultant, and Maurice Coleman, Technical Trainer at Harford County Public Library, to learn about materials and tactics that can help bring the reluctant reader back into the library and how to create a safe and welcoming space for your young adults.

Preregistration is required for this event, click here to sign up.

Webinar - Emergency Succession Planning

Date: Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Place: Online at http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/420/index.html
Cost: Free

Succession planning is something that most of us think about as a long-term process with mid- to distant-future outcomes. But what happens when:

• your Assistant Director suddenly announces her early retirement, effective in two weeks?
• a key department manager unexpectedly moves out of state?

Succession planning is a form of risk management, and in order to be effective, particularly in an emergency situation, the process should start before you need it. During this interactive session, webinar participants will learn how to create an emergency succession plan for critical library positions, including being able to identify the positions for which such a plan is needed and being able to assess your library’s risk of losing key staff.

To get the most out of this presentation, be sure to download handouts in advance and be prepared to work on a plan during the webinar.

At the end of this one-hour webinar, attendees will have created an Emergency Succession Plan for one position. They will also be able to:

• define the steps needed to create an emergency succession plan.
• identify the positions for which an emergency succession plan is needed.
• create an emergency succession plan for a critical library position.
• assess the risk of losing key staff.

This webinar will be of interest to staff in all types of libraries, those involved in library leadership, library directors, human resources and training and development staff, and members of Boards of Trustees will benefit from this webinar.

This webinar is free of charge and required no preregistration. Visit the link above beginning at 2:30 PM on November 2 to join in.

Grant Opportunity - Family Literacy Library Services Program

The online application for the New York State Family Literacy Library Services Program is now open to public libraries and public library systems in New York State. Applications will be accepted through Friday December 10, 2010 at 5:00 PM.

The New York State Family Literacy Library Services Program helps libraries provide family literacy services to children and their parents or caregivers. Family literacy projects in libraries teach parents and caregivers how to nurture literacy skills in very young and school age children. Libraries that focus on family literacy provide materials and programming that encourage interest in reading and literacy-related activities. Instructional workshops and literacy-rich environments in the public library will help expand family use of the library. Priority for funding is given to projects that include partnerships between libraries or library systems and community organizations. In previous years successful partnerships have been established with schools, preschools, weekend and summer learning programs, museums, public television, historical societies, environmental centers, agencies and cultural organizations.

FAMILY LITERACY PROGRAM INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES:
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/familylit/index.html
NOTE: You may access the online application through this page.

DIRECT LINK TO THE FAMILY LITERACY LIBRARY SERVICES ONLINE APPLICATION:
https://eservices.nysed.gov/ldgrants/index.jsp

TO APPLY FOR A USER NAME AND PASSWORD:
http://eservices.nysed.gov/ldgrants/ldgext/litRegistration.do

Grant Opportunity - Adult Literacy Library Services Program

The online application for the New York State Adult Literacy Library Services Program is now open to public libraries and public library systems in New York State. Applications will be accepted through Friday December 10, 2010 at 5:00 PM. New York State's Adult Literacy Library Services grants help libraries offer services which will improve adult literacy on the job and in the home. The grants encourage libraries to become community literacy leaders and to strengthen partnerships among local literacy providers.

ADULT LITERACY PROGRAM INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES:
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/literacy/index.html
NOTE: You may access the online application through this page.

DIRECT LINK TO THE ADULT LITERACY LIBRARY SERVICES ONLINE APPLICATION:
https://eservices.nysed.gov/ldgrants

TO APPLY FOR A USER NAME AND PASSWORD:
http://eservices.nysed.gov/ldgrants/ldgext/litRegistration.do

Webinar - Strategic Reality Check

Date: Thursday, October 28, 2010
Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Place: Online at http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/458/index.html
Cost: Free

Times change and plans need to change with them. If your library has experienced a significant budget, staffing, or management upheaval, you should probably take a fresh look at your strategy.

We’re all familiar with planning processes that take months to develop and require endless meetings. There is another path.

The Strategic Reality Check is a process developed by consultants Joan Frye Williams and George Needham to assist libraries in moving quickly to revise and update their strategic plans.

This focused, pragmatic process consists of four parts:

• Community check-in: What is important to your community? How does the community see itself and its future?
• Service assessment: Where are you now? What are you telling yourself and what are you telling the world? Does the service you provide match the goals set out in your public statements?
• Guiding principles: What makes your library tick? What motivates you? What criteria should inform day-to-day decision making about policies and services?
• Recommendations: Where do you go from here? What course corrections will enable your library to align itself more effectively with your community? How will you sustain this strategy into the future?

This one-hour webinar will provide an overview of the Strategic Reality Check, suggest ways your library might tune up its plans, and serve as an introduction to the full day Infopeople workshops on this process that George and Joan will be leading in December. It will be of interest to directors and other top administrators in all types of libraries. The webinar is also suitable for branch managers and library board members.

Webianrs are free of charge and no preregistration is required. Just visit the link above beginning at 2:30 PM on October 28 to join in.

Webinar - Rural Library Funding Opportunities

The ALA Washington Office will host a webinar to assist rural libraries with pursuing funding opportunities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at 2 p.m. EST October 29.

Cheryl Cook, the Rural Development Deputy Under Secretary of Agriculture; Carla Anderson, the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of e-Copernicus, a Washington consulting firm expert in broadband; and Kevin Cherry, Senior Program Officer for the Institute of Museum and Library Service’s Office of Library Service, will participate.

The presenters will discuss the three USDA programs with funds available for rural libraries – the Distance Learning and Telemedicine program, the Communities Facility program and the Community Connect program.

Click here (https://ala.ilinc.com/perl/ilinc/lms/register.pl?activity_id=xyvbmfs&user_id) to register for the webinar.

Workshop - Digitizing Historical Photographs

Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Time: 9:15 AM - 1:15 PM
Place: Schenectady County Public Library - Central Library
Cost: Free

The NYS Archives is offering this free workshop and since they have space available, they are opening it to the library community.

This workshop will:
* address what you can digitize and why you should do it
* present the scanning process and the creation of the metadata for the scanned item
* discuss how you can use digitized photographs

The workshop is free, but pre-registration is required. Register by calling 798-5717 or visit http://iarchives.nysed.gov/WorkShops/workshopsDetailServlet?id=1532&cat=0.

Webinar - The New Medline Plus

Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Place: Online
Cost: FREE

MedlinePlus.gov has a completely new look and design, plus some worthwhile new content that will appeal to users. You will appreciate the quality and reliability of the site; your users will appreciate being able to easily find understandable health information that is just right for them.

This one-hour webinar will:

•showcase all of the content areas you need to know
•demonstrate useful search strategies
•provide tips on finding appropriate materials to meet the needs of your patrons, no matter their age or situation.

You'll really like the new ways you can access MedlinePlus – on cell phones or mobile devices and even on Twitter. We will throw in some surprises that everyone will love!

At the end of this one-hour webinar, attendees will:

•fully understand the depth of content of the new MedlinePlus.gov website
•be able to identify quality, understandable health information that is easy to read
•confidently recommend unique resources and multilingual health information for special populations in the community
•be able to suggest new ways of accessing MedlinePlus content
This webinar will be of interest to all library reference staff who provide health information to the public.

There is no need to pre-register for this webinar - just visit http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/366/index.html starting at 2:30 PM to join in. If you are unable to attend the live event, you can access the archived version the day after the webinar at http://www.infopeople.org/training/webcasts/list/archived.

New in the Professional Collection

Mother Goose on the Loose : The Award-Winning Early-Literacy Program (2 CD set)
by Betsy Diamant-Cohen

New in the Professional Collection

Crash Course in Library Services to Preschool Children
by Betsy Diamant-Cohen

Workshop - MockArena : Evaluating the Best Books of 2010 for Children and Teens

Date: Thursday, December 9, 2010
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Place: Upper Hudson Library System
Presenters: Mary Fellows, UHLS and Sue Rokos, MVLS
Cost: Free for MVLS and UHLS library staff ; all others $15

Boost your collection development knowledge and polish your reader’s advisory skills with this UHLS/MVLS workshop. You'll hear bookflashes for the best books of the year. Then we'll enter the arena for discussions and mock elections for the Caldecott, Newbery, Geisel, Sibert, and Printz Awards. Awards. We’re planning on examining six books in each category, with a possible exception being ten titles in Caldecott.

Here is a list of the first three titles in each category for you to begin checking out. Watch for List #2 November 1!

Mock Caldecott Nominations:
City Dog, Country Frog, by Mo Willems, illustrated by Jon J. Muth
Dust Devil by Anne Isaacs, illustrated by Paul Zelinsky
Meanwhile by Jason Shiga

Mock Newbery Nominations:
The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
Countdown by Deborah Wiles
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Mock Geisel Nominations:
Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same by Grace Lin
Max Spaniel: Funny Lunch by David Catrow
Benny and Penny in the Toy Breaker: A Toons Book by Geoffrey Hayes

Mock Sibert Nominations:
Birmingham Sunday by Larry Dane Brimner
Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot by Sy Montgomery ; with photographs by Nic Bishop
Sir Charlie Chaplin by Sid Fleischman

Mock Printz Nominations:
As Easy As Falling off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

Mark your calendars and register now using this online form! MVLS and UHLS libraries may register for free; all others $15.00. Contact Sue Rokos, srokos@mvls.info for more information.