Survey - Statewide Delivery Working Group on Ergonomics and Safety

Dear Massachusetts libraries of all types and sizes:

The Statewide Delivery Ergonomic Work Group needs your input. With delivery becoming such a major issue for libraries, we’d like to collect information about equipment and furniture you have found that makes your delivery areas and operations easier and safer. We will post the results, and will also include them in delivery workshops to be conducted across the State in the fall.

If you have items to suggest, please participate in our brief survey at

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=iCcOLDBP0emb25nRYUCRsw_3d_3d

Please try to coordinate within your library to avoid duplicate suggestions from your library.

It would help if you can supply a link to the specific item from the vendor’s web catalog. Otherwise, we’d like at least the name of the vendor and the name of the product. It would really help if you can also supply us with the item’s catalog number, if you can find it easily. And, if you can think of something that might be useful but you don’t know if it exists, where to get it, or what it costs, let us know. We’ll do our best to locate it for you and for everyone.

Thanks so much for your help in guiding libraries across the state to products that can make everyone’s work easier and safer. .

John Ramsay, Regional Administrator
Western Massachusetts Regional Library System
P.O. Box 609, South Deerfield, MA 01373
(413) 665-9898 x. 113
(413) 665-8877 fax
jramsay@wmrls.org
WMRLS Website: http://www.wmrls.org/

Top 10 WMRLS Webpages ~ June 2010

What are the current Top 10 WMRLS Webpages?

Join our WMRLS WIMBA CE Coffee Break for a 7 minute webtour!

Name: WMRLS Classroom - 06/24/2009 13:39
URL: http://67.202.209.252/launcher.cgi?room=wmrls_classroom_2009_0624_1339_57

Instructions:
Select "Participant Login"
Room ID: wmrls_classroom
Name: (Write your name, pseudonym, and/or library name)

Note:

The first time that you visit this website, you may be prompted to run the Wimba Classroom Setup Wizard to ensure that your computer is ready to run this online continuing education program.

North Adams Public Library offers free passes to Herrmann’s Lipizzaner Stallions of Austria Event

Attention Children’s Librarians:

The North Adams Public Library will be hosting the Herrmann’s Lipizzaner Stallions of Austria on Friday August 28 @ 7 pm, Saturday August 29 @ 7 pm and Sunday August 30 @ 2 pm and offers your library two complimentary tickets to be used as prizes for your summer reading program.

If your library is interested in receiving two free tickets please respond to this email and we will send them to you in delivery. Children under six are free, so if a child under six is awarded this ticket during the Summer Reading Program, the ticket may be used by the adult that brings this child. The cost of a ticket is $12 for adults and $8 for children 6-13.

Contact: North Adams Public Library [napl@bcn.net]

Beth Gallaway presents: Pain in the Brain (Library Behavior)

Thanks to all of you who participated in the WMRLS workshop "Pain in the Brain" that I facilitated on Wednesday morning, June 10 at the WMRLS headquarters in Whatley MA! Notes, slides, photos and podcasts (somewhat muted audio - be sure to turn up the volume!) follow.

Audio from all sessions is online at http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&id=30366.

Beth G.

Notes: Icebreaker: Things we find rewarding about working with teens

Links: http://www.delicious.com/informationgoddess29/brain

Drawing Exercise

Drawing Exercise Audio: http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=30366&cast=141871&castPage=

Group 1: Draw a TEEN, from a LIBRARIAN pov

• androgynous
• ipod
• cell phone
• texting
• talking
• trendy clothing
• eyes are - asleep or bored
• piercing
• love wikipedia
• barefoot or expensive sneakers that are untied or sandals in winter
• packs
• text the pack when alone
• unlit
• tattoos
• emo hair
• food & drink
• trail of trash
• waste
• games
• facebook or myspace
• chewing tobacco, sunflower seeds

Group 2: Draw a LIBRARIAN, from a TEEN pov

• old (at least over 25)
• concerned with enforcing rules (no skateboards, no cell phones, no talking loudly, no running, no food & drink, no FUN)
• "Do Not Disturb" sign
• behind a desk
• frowning
• bun & specs
• image may depend on where you grow up and the environment
• shushing action
• fists
• ruler!
• alone
• computer screen as a wall

Group 3: Draw a TEEN, from a TEEN pov

• important thing is being watched (through a magnifying glass)
• in a group
• high tech (cell phone, laptop, ipod)
• designer clothes
• librarian: you're too loud
• being judged all the time
• fashion
• concern - is he looking at me? am i measuring up
• hormonal
• multiple groups
• look older & sophistcated alone, younger when with parents
• insecure
• self-absorbed
• adults are insignificant - interfering annoying sound
• hungry for adult approval, ear to bend
• play it off as cool
• pulled in multiple directions (social pressure, school, etc)

Group 4: Draw a LIBRARIAN, from a LIBRARIAN pov

• androgynous
• many hats all at one time
• cape with a bolt of lightening
• superhuman
• flat shoes
• specs
• smiling
• pleasant
• computers AND books (Twilight)
• pulled in many directions
• social pressures

Questions for the group:
Are there any similarities in these images?
Does we all look like this? Do teens?


Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/informationgoddess29/wmrls09brain

Wmrls09brain

Audio for Slides & Discussion:
Behavior Lecture & Discussion, Part 1
Behavior Lecture & Discussion, Part 2

Handouts:

• Handout: Understanding the Brain
• Handout: Brain Tip Sheet
• Handout: YALSA's Young Adults Deserve the Best: Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth
• Handout: Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents
• Book Coupon: Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, 4th Edition
  

West Springfield Public Library Promotes Summer Reading 2009 on YouTube

New Monday Hours starting July 1

Starting July 1, the Greenfield Public Library will have new Monday hours: 1:00pm - 8:00pm with hours the rest of the week remaining unchanged: Tuesday and Wednesday 9:30am - 8:00pm, Thursday and Friday 9:30am - 5:00pm, and Saturday 9:30am - 2:00pm.

With the monies budgeted by City Council, the Library will be able to remain open on Mondays, reducing service hours instead of closing for the day. Despite an overall budget cut and a loss of three positions, the Library staff is dedicated to remaining open as many hours as possible to serve the residents of Greenfield and the surrounding communities. Though saddened we will be losing Monday morning, the staff looks forward to seeing everyone throughout the summer and the rest of the year.

New Infotrac Password as of July 10!

For libraries that use cookie authentication to access the Gale databases, the password will be changing on July 10 and you will need to re-set the password at each workstation in your library.

If all the computers in your library have a static IP address, you are unaffected by this and do not need to do anything!

You will soon receive a letter that includes the confidential password that you will use to re-authenticate your workstations. Under the terms of the state’s licensing agreement with Gale, this password is for use only by library staff responsible for database access and is not to be shared with other staff or with patrons.

If you have questions, feel free to contact Shirley Keech at skeech@wmrls.org or 413-665-9898, Ext 125.

UMass Amherst Libraries Goes Green with Recyclable Bags

The UMass Amherst Libraries are discontinuing the use of plastic “rainy day” book bags. The Libraries now offer recyclable, compostable bags to users to protect their books from bad weather. The earth-friendly bags are available in the Du Bois Library lobby and at the Circulation desks of the Du Bois Library and the Integrated Sciences and Engineering Library.

For more information, contact Emily Silverman at 545-0995, or essilverman@library.umass.edu.

Westhampton Library Groundbreaking Ceremony

The Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new Westhampton Library took place this Saturday, June 6. It was a perfect day, and a large crowd (200+ ?) showed up, most carrying shovels to help break the ground.

Event at the Carle

At The Museum

Birthday Bash and Children's Book Festival with Western Massachusetts Illustrators’ Guild

June 13, 2009 ~ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Free with Museum Admission

Celebrate, connect and create!
In honor of Eric Carle’s 80th birthday and the 25th anniversary of the Western Massachusetts Illustrators' Guild (WMIG), The Carle is hosting a day filled with book-signings, readings, and demonstrations by WMIG artists, hands-on activities in the Art Studio, and special performances by Smithsonian Folkways Children's music recording artist Elizabeth Mitchell. Complimenting the art in the galleries will be an exhibit of original art by some of New England’s favorite illustrators as well as an art sale, silent auction, and raffle.

Featured artists include: David Costello, Diane deGroat, Elizabeth Finney, Linda Graves, John Steven Gurney, Laura Jacques, Gary Lippincott, Jeff Mack, Bob Marstall, Shelley Rotner, Ruth Sanderson, Nicole Tadgell, and David White. For more information on events, please visit www.carlemuseum.org/Programs_Events/Upcoming/WMIG

This event sponsored by FamilyFun magazine and The Bank of Western Massachusetts.

~ Rosemary Agoglia, Curator of Education, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 West Bay Road, Amherst, MA 01002, t (413) 658-1114, f (413) 658-1139, rosemarya@carlemuseum.org

NEW! Our new Web address is http://www.carlemuseum.org

June 6 - Everyone Digs at Westhampton's Groundbreaking Ceremony

Library Summer School - Take an online course for FREE!

Greetings Colleagues,
One of the many benefits of WMRLS membership is free admission to WebJunction's online library continuing education workshops. The WebJunction course catalog covers a wide range of topics and is continually updated. Consult the WebJunction Online Course Catalog and complete our WMRLS Online CE Registration Form to receive a WMRLS code that will enable you to take the course for free. On June 15, WMRLS will issue the confidential coupon code to all staff of member libraries who complete our online registration form. This coupon code must be redeemed by August 31. You will have access to the course that you select for one full year.

Below is a selection of the topics covered by the WebJunction online courses. On June 15, WMRLS will issue a confidential coupon code to all staff of member libraries who complete our online registration form:


Application Software
Adobe Acrobat (8)
Crystal Reports (2)
Databases (19)
Desktop Publishing (12)
Excel (25)
Flash (3)
Graphics (13)
Microsoft Office (general) (4)
Outlook (23)
PowerPoint (13)
Project (16)
Visio (6)
Word (29)

Customer Service & Interpersonal Skills
Communication (11)
Customer Service (14)
Ethics & Values (6)
Interpersonal (41)
Learning (personal) (15)

Library Management
Advocacy & Outreach (1)
Budget & Finance (13)
Facilities Management (6)
Friends & Trustees (1)
Funding (1)
Marketing (12)
Policies & Procedures (3)
Library Services
Children (7)
Readers Advisory (1)
Reference & Information Resources (4)
Technical Services (8)
Young Adults & Teens (2)

Networking & Security
Email Systems (9)
General Networking (9)
General Security (17)
Servers (20)
Telecommunications (3)
Wireless (5)

Operating & Automation Systems
Linux (23)
Windows (17)

Organizational Management
Leading Organizations (28)
Legal Responsibilities (8)
Project Management (21)
Strategic Planning (12)

Personnel Management
Hiring (6)
Staff Training & Development (17)
Supervision (18)
Workplace Safety & Compliance (18)

Technology (general)
Basic Computer Support (4)
Hardware (4)
Technology Planning (16)
Video (5)

Web Design & Development
Web Design (33)
Web Development (19)

~ Sincerely, Janet Eckert, Western Massachusetts Regional Library System