Podcasting for Schools and Libraries

Library consultant , Linda Braun, has developed a website on podcasting as a companion website to her new publication Listen Up! Podcasting for Schools and Libraries [Information Today, 2007]. Included within this website are links to recommended podcasts, software & tools, and articles & blogs.

Have you discovered EngagedPatrons.org?

From the American Library Association website:
" Engagedpatrons.org provides low-cost and free Web site services for public libraries. The site went live in May 2006, enabling even small- and medium-sized libraries the ability to offer high-quality Web services to their patrons, services that most would otherwise be unable to provide.... These services include:

• Library events listings, including patron-initiated online registration;
• Blogs, including patron comment capabilities;
• Contact forms for soliciting patron feedback;
• RSS feeds for events, blogs or other custom feeds;
• Custom database applications for libraries wishing to make local databases Web-accessible. "

High Gas Prices Threaten WMRLS Bookmobile

Dear Bookmobile Colleagues,

The WMRLS Bookmobile program is threatened by the very high gasoline prices that we are all paying today. The bookmobile is a large truck that travels to about 75 libraries in our 4 counties. It is currently on the road 2 or 3 days a week and we need to reduce that schedule to 2 or fewer days a week if we stand a chance of continuing this important traditional service.

Bookmobile Department staff members are looking at our libraries to compare them in these ways:

• which libraries evidence the most need of the service by showinga history of borrowing larger numbers of materials each visit
• which libraries are served with multiple stops by WMRLS Deliverytrucks each week in addition to the bookmobile service
• which libraries are in communities that have smaller populations(the Together We Thrive grant, for example, is aimed at libraries in towns of under 2500 population)
  

Geography is also being taken into consideration because it is possible that some libraries which are close to WMRLS headquarters might be able to send staff or volunteers to our headquarters to borrow directly from WMRLS. How much delivery service our bookmobile libraries receive is also important because those that get multiple deliveries weekly are in a stronger position to request deposits of materials by delivery van in lieu of a bookmobile visit.

Soon I will be having conversations with the Directors of libraries that seem to us to be best situated to give up bookmobile service at this budget-challenging time. But we would love to hear from you if you think that you can manage without bookmobile!

I invite you to think about the criteria I mentioned above as well as the relative strengths of your own collections; if you think that you can replace bookmobile service with deposits that we would deliver by van, or if you could send staff or volunteers to WMRLS headquarters by appointment to select directly, I'd love to talk to you about these possibilities.

All that is certain right now is that changes are needed. I thank you very much for giving this your consideration.

Sincerely, Mary King, Regional Librarian, WMRLS

Manga Manga Manga!

Teens love manga, the Japanese style of comic books, and many fans try their hand at writing and illustrating their own manga. Now they can get advice and insider tips during free drawing workshops at the Springfield City Library led by Bettina Kurkoski, the published and award winning artist of My Cat Loki. Bettina will give fans an inside look into the life of a manga artist and how she got into the industry. From a step-by-step walkthrough of her working process (scripting and storyboarding, toning and lettering, and everything in between) and tools of the trade, to tips and techniques to get you started on your own manga. Teens can bring their own work for a mini-critique session following the discussion.

Sign up for one of these workshops:

Monday, July 21, 6-8 pm, Central Library Community Room, 220 State Street;

Tuesday, July 22, 11 am-1 pm, Pine Point Branch Library, 204 Boston Road;

or Tuesday, July 22, 2-4 pm, Forest Park Branch Library, 380 Belmont Avenue.

Teens can call 263-6828, ext. 425 or sign up online at http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/

Kurkoski grew up in Western Massachusetts in Montague, and now lives in Plymouth, where she works as a freelance illustrator. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 1996 with a BFA in Illustration, she entered Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga 2 competition in 2003, and placed as a runner-up. Though My Cat Loki is Bettina's first professionally published series, she also illustrated the convention exclusive cover for Star Trek the Manga: Shinsei Shinei, both cover and short story "Communication Breakdown" for Star Trek the Manga: Kakan ni Shink ou and her latest, Warriors: Rise of Scourge, all available from Tokyopop.

A regular guest at Springfield Library Chibiconn, and a familiar artist on the New England Anime convention circut, Bettina is one of the most giving library guests we have ever hosted. Her workshop is HIGHLY recommended by this Anime Librarian!

Sarah H-W

Springfield city Library

ABC News: "Could Google Monopolize Human Knowledge?"

Must reading from the ABC News website:

"Could Google Monopolize Human Knowledge?
As Microsoft Backs Away From Digitizing Old Texts, Some Worry One Source Could Privatize It All By GREGORY M. LAMB, CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 12, 2008"

ALA Conference Blogs

Read about individual librarian's ALA Annual Conference reflections by visiting the ALA Blogging Annual website. Of very special interest is the wonderful Anaheim en Mass. blog which is authored by members of the Massachusetts School Library Association.

Free Louis L'Amour Book Offer

To celebrate the centennial of Louis L'Amour's birth, Bantam Books is giving a complimentary copy of his memoir EDUCATION OF A WANDERING MAN to "any free lending library in the U.S.A.". Click for more:

http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/lamour/

Focus group for "What are you expecting from MLS grads today"

What are you expecting from MLS grads today?

As part of its ongoing assessment activities, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at Simmons College has asked Claudia Morner of JMA Consultants Incorporated to conduct a series of focus groups to learn what employers of graduates with a master's degree in library and information science want in new employees. The question
she will ask is "what should recent MLS graduates be able to know, do, and think about?"

Opinions gathered at the focus groups on student outcomes will be presented to the faculty and dean of the school and will help ensure that the program meets the changing needs of library science employers.

One focus group will be conducted in Western Massachusetts on July 17th from 2-3:30 at GSLIS West office located at 19 College Street, South Hadley, MA.

If you are interested in attending and sharing your thoughts, please contact Claudia Morner at mornerjones@verizon.net to signup. She will confirm your registration and send you driving and parking directions.

--
Terry Plum
Assistant Dean, Simmons GSLIS
19 College Street
South Hadley, MA 01075
413 5332400 (office)
413 5334334 (fax)
terry.plum@simmons.edu

Geocaching Anyone?

What is Geocaching? Good question! During Southampton’s first Community Read, funded through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and sponsored by the MBLC, residents of Southampton found out exactly what geocaching is. The theme for our Community Read was “Sense of Place” and so we planned activities and programs that would help to develop a fuller sense of the place we call Southampton. Through Geocaching, Southampton residents explored a local park in search of “treasure”!

Geocaching is a high tech treasure hunt in your neighborhood, but instead of searching for an actual “X” on a map using a compass to guide you, you use latitude and longitude coordinates and a GPS receiver to find the prize. Geocachers look up coordinates to a location on the Internet, and use their GPS receiver to guide them to the treasure, or cache, hidden by another geocacher. A traditional cache might be a Tupperware container with a notebook and small prizes inside. Once you find the cache, you sign the logbook and may take something from the cache and leave something else in its place for the next “treasure hunter.”

The Edwards Public Library in Southampton hosted Brian White, a local expert Geocacher, who created a cache at Conant Memorial Park in Southampton, right across from the library. Residents and avid Geocachers turned out to hear Brian explain geocaching and then trekked out to the park with GPS units to locate the cache. Rules state that a cache cannot be buried, but it can be hidden underneath sticks or brush. The GPS coordinates will lead you close to the cache, but from there you will need to search for the actual location of the treasure. See www.geocaching.com for more about geocaches in your area.

Need a GPS receiver? The Edwards Public Library is the first public library in the state to have a GPS receiver for loan! You must come to the library to check it out and can use it for 2 days at a time to go on geocache adventures. Check it out! There are over 3000 geochaches in Massachusetts and nearly 400,000 worldwide.

Maybe the next time someone asks you, “What are you doing this weekend?”, you can tell them, “Using a multi-billion dollar satellite system to find Tupperware hidden in the woods!” Brian White says “Fantastic parks, hidden caves, historical locales, beautiful waterfalls – you’ll be exposed to it all through geocaching. And by spending time on the hunt with friends and family, you’ll probably end up finding a lot more to treasure than a simple geocache.”

~ Karen Kappenman, Director, Edwards Public Library, Southampton

NSLS Fast Facts Library Surveys

Are you looking for librarian feedback on employee recognition programs? Student Trustee and Teen Advisory Boards? Information on CD/DVD repair? If so, one informative website to check out is the North Suburban Library System's (NSLS) Fast Facts webpage.

NSLS, located in Wheeling, Illinois, conducts on-going surveys of its member public libraries on library-related topics and issues.

~ Janet Eckert, WMRLS

...and speaking of stereotypes

The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians in Film will be shown this Thursday in Scibelli Hall Theatre at STCC.

Showtime is 7:00 p.m.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Refreshments and doorprize!

Visit http://library.stcc.edu/hollywoodlibrarian.asp for more info and directions.

100 Awesome Youtube Vids for Librarians

From the website "100 Awesome Youtube Vids for Librarians" by Laura Milligan

"Librarians should no longer be thought of as fuddy duddy types with long dusty cardigans or pince-nez dangling around their necks. These days, public librarians and academic librarians are on the cutting edge, dedicated to bringing their resources and their patrons into the 21st century with technology. Librarians are also bloggers, IT professionals, database managers, technology mavens; and these YouTube videos and tutorials are just for them. Watch these vodcasts and recordings to learn about new library tools, interesting literacy campaigns and outreach programs, and even hysterical videos about library stereotypes that are circulating on the Internet."