M.T. Anderson to speak at Westfield State College

M. T. Anderson, author of "Feed" and "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing" among others will be speaking at Westfield State College on February 26. He'll be in the Scanlon Living Room from 3:30 - 5:30 pm.

~ Barbara Diamond Goldin, Emily Williston Memorial Library, Easthampton

Wii will Rock at West Springfield Public Library

West Springfield Public Library just received the exciting news that we have been awarded a Teen Tech Week mini grant from YALSA, the young adult division of ALA. The grant was sponsored by Verizon and is intended to bring technology into the library in innovative ways. We plan to use the grant to purchase a Wii game system and Rock Band for the youth department, and hold our first program during national Teen Tech Week, March 8-14th. The theme of this year's Teen Tech Week is "Press Play @Your Library". The inclusion of gaming in our program line-up at the library will compliment a music-sharing program designed earlier in the year by our high school interns, and will also hopefully draw in new users. We have an active population of teen and tween patrons who visit the library regularly to play a variety of games online. This next step incorporating technology in our library has patrons and staff equally enthusiastic. If anyone has run a successful game tournament or has tips and tricks for helping such a program go smoothly we welcome your suggestions and ideas!

Regional and Network Statewide Planning Summit Survey

Dear Western Region Libraries:

WMRLS strongly urges staff at all our member libraries of all types to take the easy-to-complete online planning survey.

We need to know what support services and resources are most important to your library and its users. The results of this survey will help shape future service directions and the very structureof organizations that exist to help libraries statewide. These include the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, the Regional Library Systems (including WMRLS) and the automated resource sharing systems (like C/W MARS and MassCat).

So, let your needs be known, no matter what size or type library you work at or represent. In these difficult times, it's clear that State funding is insufficient to provide everything we want. Things will need to change, and we need to know what services are priorities for your library and how they should be provided.

Thank you,
John Ramsay, Regional Administrator, WMRLS

"Capture This!"

Yesterday’s “Capture This!” roundtable discussion brought together nearly a dozen people who are exploring screen capture options for remote training of library patrons or staff. Interested?

View "Capture This!" roundtable resources

A great example of the use of screen capture can be seen by viewing the brief video on conducting a search for medical information using the Gale databases. This video was created by Karen Demers,Adult Services Librarian, Wilbraham. Thanks, Karen!
Check it out!

WFCR Broadcast: "Libraries Popular in Tight Times"

WFCR reporter recently interview WMRLS Administrator, John Ramsay, on the impact of area libraries during the current tight times. Listen to: Libraries Popular in Tight Times

Information on upcoming Library Legislative Breakfasts

Candidate for Library Patron of the Year!

As if US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger hadn't endeared himself to the nation already, he has earned a special place in the hearts of librarians everywhere. Read the AP story below.

Library lets late fees fly for Hudson pilot
A book checked out to Chesley Sullenberger was left in the cargo hold

Updated 8:43 p.m. ET, Mon., Feb. 2, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno library to pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger: You're forgiven.
The US Airways pilot splash-landed his jetliner in the Hudson River on Jan. 15, and everyone on board escaped safely. But left in the cargo hold was a book Sullenberger had checked out from California State University, Fresno, through his local library near Danville.
Library officials say Sullenberger asked for an extension and waiver of overdue fees. The pilot and his spokeswoman didn't return messages seeking comment Monday.
The librarians say they were struck by Sullenberger's sense of responsibility and did him one better: They're waiving all fees, even lost book fees, and placing a template in the replacement book dedicating it to him.
The book's subject? Professional ethics.

Forbes Library Health Events

Get your life in shape with Forbes Library!

Did you know that Forbes Library is offering free fitness classes and nutrition workshops? Thanks to a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the community of Northampton will be working on its fitness! The $5,000 grant, overseen by reference librarians Jen Ditkoff and Rick Hart, gives people access to free nutrition classes, fitness workshops, teen wii sports, pilates, functional training workouts, strength training and more!

Forbes Library was selected to receive the Health Access strand of the Equal Access grant, administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). As part of the grant requirements, both Ditkoff and Hart participated this past spring in a professional development program in community-responsive librarianship developed by Libraries for the Future (LFF). LFF is a national non-profit organization whose purpose is to increase innovation and investment in 's libraries. Forbes Library designed a series of fitness and nutrition programs after polling the community to see what they would like for health programs. Partnering with local organizations, Forbes gives you an opportunity to get your life in shape!

It all started off with a workshop on how to start a fitness program, led by USA Triathlon coach and Certified Personal Trainer Martha Grinnell of Dynamic Training.

Upcoming February events include a nutritional workshop with local cookbook author Leslie Cerier on Saturday February 7th from 12:00 - 2:00, Teen Sports Gaming with Wii and Dance Dance Revolution on Wednesday February 11th and 25th from 3:30 - 5:00 and a fitness class with Pioneer Valley CrossFit on Saturday February 21st at 2:00.

Check out the full listings of health programs at www.forbeslibrary.org/events, call 413-587-1012, or stop by Forbes Library to pick up a monthly calendar.

~ Posted by the staff of the Forbes Library, Northampton

Take the (Legislative) Bus!

To all:


Please open the link below to find information about Taking the Bus to Boston for Library Legislative day. This year it will be held on Thursday, April 2. It will leave from WMRLS at 6:45, travel to Table & Vine (formerly Town & Country) in West Springfield, on to the Palmer Public Library and the CMRLS Headquarters in Shrewsbury. Our final stop will be the state house where we will have the opportunity to visit with our legislators personally to convey to them the importance of library service in our communities.

I'm told that the start of the day is held up until our bus gets there! So be a part of this important group and travel to Boston to make your voices heard. Hope to see you on the bus!


http://friends.wmrls.org/2009-bus.pdf


Lynn

Arms Library Event - Western Mass. Writer Brings War Home

At the Arms Library in Shelburne Falls on February 6 at 7 p.m.

Tyler Boudreau's powerfully written Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine is the subject of a reading on February 6, 2009 at 7 p.m. at The Arms Library, Shelburne Falls, Mass.

There is no charge for this event, which will be held in the downstairs Langford Meeting Room. Information: 413-625-0306; or, email armslibrary@gmail.com .

Boudreau will be speaking at a number of local public libraries through the months of February and March, as well in Los Angeles with Scott Ritter and Nadia McCaffrey. Information on those readings: www.tylerboudreau.com

Writes David Bowne Wood, National Security Correspondent, The Baltimore Sun and author of A Sense of Values: American Marines in an Uncertain World.

"This is a deeply stirring book, angry and funny and insightful, about war and those whom war envelopes. It will bring knowing nods of recognition from veterans; it may shock others. To all of us, Tyler Boudreau offers a profound gift: the moral clarity we need to welcome the warriors back home."

With twelve and a half years spent serving the country's Marine Corps on active duty, Captain Tyler E. Boudreau was on March 1, 2004 deployed to Iraq as the Assistant Operations Officer for 2d Battalion, 2d Marines (2/2) based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Upon his return from Iraq in the fall of 2004, Boudreau assumed command of a rifle company (Fox 2/2), and prepared to deploy again to Iraq. But by April 2005, his concerns about the war combined with his deep affection for his Marines, made him unable to remain in uniform any longer. He relinquished his command and resigned his commission.

He spent his final days in the Marine Corps calling parents and wives to let them know their Marines had been wounded in war.

Boudreau has been published in Progressive, in The New York Times Op/Ed, Huffington Post, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, and, The Seattle Times, and, has made a number of media appearances.

The Stockbridge Library News and Events

The Stockbridge Library News and Events

Roy Blount to appear in the Stockbridge Library's Winter Reads Series

For Immediate Release: Contact: 413-298-5501 STOCKBRIDGE, MASS.

Roy Blount, a local Western Massachusetts author, will speak at the Stockbridge Library on Sunday February 22 at 4pm. The discussion is part of the Winter Reads Series held on Sundays throughout the fall and winter. The author of 21 books, Roy Blount seems to have written in just about every form about most things, including the first woman president of the United States, football, and what barnyard animals are thinking. The most recent, Alphabet Juice, is the topic of this Stockbridge discussion. A contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly, he writes a regular column ("Gone Off Up North") for The Oxford American, and has done so in the past for Esquire , The New York Times, Atlanta Magazine , Inside Sports , The Soho News , Men's Journal, Conde Nast Traveller, The San Francisco Examiner, Spy, and The Atlanta Journal. His work has appeared in 174 books and many magazines and journals. His first book, about hanging out with the Pittsburgh Steelers, About Three Bricks Shy...And the Load Filled Up , was named one of the 10 best sports books ever, by Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post, and called, by Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker , "the best of all books about pro football." Norman Mailer said of his second book, Crackers, "Page for page, Roy Blount is as funny as anyone I've read in a long time," and Time placed Blount "in the tradition of the great curmudgeons like H.L. Mencken and W.C. Fields." Blount is also featured regularly as a panelist on the NPR news/comedy quiz show, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me . Winter Reads includes writers from the region, in the warm and friendly atmosphere of a casual literary salon. This year, Chauncey Loomis, Jim Shepard, and others have been part of the series. Each writer comes to talk about a specific book, play or story, and leads a discussion as well. Members of the public are invited to read the book and join the discussion, or simply come to listen and to enjoy refreshments and literary companionship. The series is free and open to the public, but space limited. For further information, or to confirm date and book titles, please call the Stockbridge Library at=20 413-298-5501.

Remaining Winter Reads Schedule:
(Discussions are scheduled for the third Sunday of the month at 4 p.m. unless otherwise noted):

March 15: Michelle Gillett, poet & Berkshire Eagle columnist, will discuss The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.

April 19: Peter Bergman, Executive Director of The Edna St. Vincent Millay Society, will discuss Millay poetry book to be announced.

New PowerSearch Widget! Give it a Try!

Read More About It! Visit our WMRLS Online Databases webpage.

WMRLS Night at the MassMutual Center A Grand Success!

Thank you to all of our member libraries that participated in our WMRLS Night at the MassMutual Center fundraiser on Saturday, January 24. According to the Republican newspaper, there were 6,789 people in attendance at the sold out game, the most since November 16, 2001.

The Falcons were very pleased by the turnout, and they hope to offer another fundraising opportunity for WMRLS next year, with more advance notice so more libraries can join in the fun. ~ Sincerely, John Ramsay, Administrator, WMRLS