Web 2.0 Week at WMRLS ~ Today: WebNotes

At the recent WMRLS Reference Roundtable on January 14, Christopher Franks, Librarian of the High School of Commerce, Springfield shared highlights of  WebNotes .  "WebNotes is more a single user tool, but it offers various means for sharing annotated sites which could be valuable for reference services."

Says Christopher, "I use it with my high school classes and gave a presentation on it, and social bookmarking, at the Health Care Pathways Conference in November 2009.

View Christopher's presentation on What is Web 2.0? and what can it offer educators?

2011 MBLC Legislative Agenda

Posted to the ALLREGIONS email discussion list on Janurary 21, 2010:

The 2011 MBLC Legislative Agenda is available on the agency’s website: http://mblc.state.ma.us/mblc/legislative/leg-agenda.pdf

Also available is a PDF version that prints (double-sided) on 11 x 17 paper which folds in half to make the agenda one sheet. Please let me know if you would like me to email you this version.

~ Celeste Bruno,. Communications Specialist, Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, 98 North Washington Street, Boston, MA 02114; 617-725-1860 x208; 800-952-7403 (in state); Fax: 617-725-0210; celeste.bruno@state.ma.us; www.mass.gov/mblc

Mt. Holyoke College Library hosts "Harry Potter's World"

Mount Holyoke College Library, Information, and Technology Services (LITS) is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibition, Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine on Thursday, January 28, 2010 in the Williston Library Court. The traveling exhibition was organized by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. The exhibition tour is coordinated by the American Library Association Public Programs Office, Chicago.

Harry Potter's World uses materials from the National Library of Medicine's History of Medicine collections to explore Harry Potter's world, its roots in Renaissance science and the ethical questions that affected not only the wizards in J.K. Rowling's books, but also the historical thinkers featured in the series.

LITS has partnered with the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, and the South Hadley Public Library to sponsor a wonderful list of events, such as, concerts, lectures, and book discussions that will be held during the exhibit (January 28 - February 26, 2010). In addition, Archives and Special Collections will be displaying an exhibit, Magic at Mount Holyoke: An Exhibition of Primary Sources from Archives, Art Museum, Botanic Garden, Biology and Geology Departments, during the month with rare and unique treasures drawn from Mount Holyoke's own collections, bewitching images of science and sorcery, of plants and potions, of creatures and monsters and mysteries from the natural world will be on display. The complete list is available on the website at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/harrypotter

If you would like more details about the exhibit, including information about visiting the exhibit, please email mailto:harrypotter-exhibit@mtholyoke.edu

Thank you for your time and we hope you'll be able to visit the exhibition and help us spread the word!

Respectfully, Leigh Mantle, Reference Librarian, Research and Instructional Support Library, Information and Technology Services, Mount Holyoke College,  South Hadley

Web 2.0 Week at WMRLS ~ Today: Facebook

Wikipedia defines Facebook as "...a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves."

Karen Demers, Adult Services Librarian, Wilbraham Public Library says "We are fairly new to using this, but we use it as another way to promote Library Events.  Our profile was originally created by our former Teen Librarian, so our first batch of fans had been mostly high school students."

Springfield City Library's Book Group Makes the News!

Janet Stupak, Community Relations Coordinator, Springfield City Library, writes a monthly column for The Republican that appears in Neighborhoods Plus section of the paper. Posted below are a few lines from today's issue:

"Book group opens hearts and minds
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
What's on your mind as you head off to the airport to catch your plane?

Something like, do I have my toothbrush, bathing suit and sweater? Not so for Paula Nelson, who told me "I have literally rushed here with a suitcase in my car on the way to the airport. This is my favorite thing! I wouldn't want to miss anything." She may pick up a book to read on her trip, but on that particular Wednesday she drove to the Central Library to attend the meeting of the Wednesday Book Group." Read more about it ...

Web 2.0 Week at WMRLS ~ Today: Meebo

Wikipedia defines Meebo as "... a browser instant messaging program which supports multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, .NET Messenger Service, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat and XMPP."

The Greenfield Public Library uses Meebo to offer live chat assistance to our patrons when the Information Desk is staffed.  We answer reference questions, renew materials, provide instruction, etc.  Our patrons can access our chat service through several different IM sites and through the widget on our homepage. ~ Jessica Pollock, Information Services Librarian, Greenfield Public Library

Web 2.0 Week at WMRLS ~ Today: Wordle & Simply Box

The Wiktionary defines Web 2.0 as "The second generation of the World Wide Web, especially the movement away from static webpages to dynamic and shareable content and social networking."  This week, the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS) will celebrate Web 2.0 applications as they apply to library service.

Today, we will take at look at the "More Than Word Art" tool, Wordle and the "web bookmarking tool for visual learners" SimplyBox via the archived session of our first WMRLS Continuing Education Coffee Break Session "Best Websites for Teaching and Learning".

Your invitation to view the archived session of our recent January 8 WMRLS CE Coffee Break Session on Best Websites for Teaching and Learning:

Name: WMRLS Classroom - 01/08/2010 10:00

URL: http://67.202.209.252/launcher.cgi?room=wmrls_classroom_2010_0108_1000_22
Room ID: wmrls_classroom
Name: [Enter your name}


~ Sincerely, Janet Eckert, WMRLS

Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) Library Presentions

The following message was posted to the WMRLS Email Discussion List on Wednesday, January 13:

Dear Colleagues,


Just in case you did not catch initial posting about the Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) Library Presentions being held in the western region and through out the state, please check out below the upcoming date for the Western Region and seriously consider attending this information session.

January 27, 2010

1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Adams Free Library, 92 Park Street, Adams, MA - Directions

A few colleagues in attendance at the DRC Presentation held in Agawam included: Nancy Menard (Palmer); Nancy Contois (Chicopee), Joe Rodio (South Hadley). We recommend that Directors attend this informational session for several reasons:

- Great awareness session for Library Directors to learn more about potential roles of libraries during a disaster for your community

- Great Opportunity to develop professional relationship with your local Emergency Management Director (extend invitation to attend meeting)

- Great recognition for libraries as a resource for NEMA, MEMA, Emergency Management Directors, and the community

- Great opportunity to begin the process to be considered as a Pre-designated DRC site

- Great training opportunities for library staff to learn about disaster assistance resources

For more information or questions contact Judy Whitcher at MEMA. (Additional dates available in other regions):

Judy Whitcher, Disaster Recovery Coordinator
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency
(508) 820-2057
Judy.whitcher@state.ma.us

Don't miss this great opportunity to learn about DRC and libraries. Thank you !

~  Nancy Menard, Director, Palmer Public Library

M.N. Spear Memorial Library Event at Barnes & Noble on January 18

David Anthony Durham, author of Acacia and The Other Lands will be doing a reading at Barnes & Noble, 335 Russell Street, Hadley, on Monday, January 18th at 3:00 pm.

~ Mary Anne Antonellis, Director, M.N. Spear Memorial Library

Exhibit: Writing the Landscape: Books from the Library of American Landscape History

The UMass Amherst Libraries is hosting an exhibit “Writing the Landscape: Books from the Library of American Landscape History.” The exhibit features several books developed by the Library of American Landscape History (LALH) and photographs by noted landscape photographer Carol Betsch. The exhibition is on view from February 1 through May 20, 2010.

A reception will be held on February 4, 2010, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. The exhibit and reception will be in the Learning Commons on the Lower Level of Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst.

The Library of American Landscape History is a nonprofit organization based in Amherst, MA, whose mission is to educate and promote thoughtful stewardship of the land. The award-winning LALH publishing program includes books, surveys, and reprints of classics in the field, such as the Book of Landscape Gardening by Frank Waugh, founder of the program of landscape architecture at UMass Amherst. Carol Betsch is the managing editor of UMass Press, with whom LALH maintains its primary publishing partnership.

For more information, contact Madeleine Charney (mcharney@library.umass.edu, 413-577-0784) or Jessica Dawson (jdawson@lalh.org, 413-549-4860).

Image credit: Carol Betsch - West Gazebo before Storm, Gwinn estate, Cleveland, OH. Gwinn, an important American estate of the Country Place Era, is featured in a recent LALH book, A Genius for Place.

Wheeler Memorial Library Maintains Essential Services

Photo caption: At the final stop of the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System's bookmobile at the Moore-Leland Library in North Orange, Dianne Salcedo and Manuel King, library employees; bookmobile driver David Ferland, and library volunteer Norman Flye, select materials to supplement the library's collections.


Wheeler Memorial Library Maintains Essential Services

Wheeler Memorial Library Director Walt Owens has announced that the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System's (WMRLS) bookmobile service made its last stop today at the Moore-Leland Library in North Orange. The bookmobile, which provided supplementary deposit collections for Wheeler Memorial Library and other libraries across Western Massachusetts is the latest victim of the continuing state budget crisis.

Fortunately, the heavily used delivery service that allows library patrons to receive books and other materials from libraries across Massachusetts will continue unchanged, at least for now. According to Owens, this service is essential for library patrons to have access to a much broader range of media and books than the Orange libraries could possibly afford. "While we will miss the supplementary bookmobile collections", said Owens, "we are very pleased for our patrons to still be able to benefit from the access to materials from all Massachusetts libraries." The Wheeler and Moore-Leland Library patrons borrow approximately 10,000 books per year through the regional library's delivery service.

Owens reports that the Library Trustees are committed to maintaining programs and services during the current economic downturn. The use of reserve funds from bequests and accumulated state aid has allowed the library to maintain hours and staff at current levels, although those funds are very limited. "Orange residents need the library more than ever during hard times, and the Trustees and Library Staff are committed to being here for them," said Owens.

According to Mary King, Regional Librarian with WMRLS, a variety of things make this step necessary---a decade of budget problems, a more recent lack of drivers to take the bookmobile out and also a lack of technical services staff to promptly acquire and process a collection, and most recently the very real threat of huge budget cut for next year with possible mergers of regional library systems.

~ Walt Owens, Wheeler Memorial Library, Orange

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