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"