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."

Basic Book Repair Workshop on June 19

Congratulations to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) and to MBLC Preservation Specialist, Gregor Trinkaus-Randall who are being honored with the 2008 Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections, given jointly by the American Institute for Conservatin of Historic and Artistic Works and the Heritage Preservation. ~ Complete information

This morning, Gregor is leading the workshop "Basic Book Repair: Getting It Right - Good In-House Repairs of Library Materials". Several participating librarians have requested that we take photos of this program in order that they can better promote how they continually update their library skills* to best serve their communites.

* One of the many benefits of WMRLS membership is free-of-charge continuing education workshops for member library staff on such topics as basic book repair, reference databases, long range planning, and guidance for library staff in new technologies.

Western Massachusetts Health Information Consortium meets at WMRLS

Friday the 13th was a very lucky day for WMRLS! We had the good fortune to host the Spring Quarterly Meeting of the Western Massachusetts Health Information Consortium. A selection of photos from our morning meeting follows!

Lenox Middle and High School Students are finalists in Gale's Video Contest

Congratulations to the student film-makers of the Lenox Middle and High School who produced a video promoting “Tom Sawyer” . This fun and informative video is now a finalist in Gale’s Video Contest! The video that receives the most votes between Monday, June 9, and Friday, June 13 will win $2,500 for themselves and another $2,500 for the public or school library of their choice. View the video at http://www.gale.cengage.com/librareo/

Event Reminder

Come One, Come All!!!
Thursday, June 29, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Scibell Hall Theatre at Springfield Technical Community College
Film info at www.hollywoodlibrarian.com
details at http://library.stcc.edu
contact kim at knoel@stcc.edu

MLA Conference Report ~ Nancy Pearl

Massachusetts Library Association Annual Conference 2008 Report

Two reports on Nancy Pearl's MLA programs.

Opening Books, Opening Doors: Providing Effective Readers’ Advisory Service

What an exciting program I attended at MLA! Nancy Pearl talking about Readers’ Advisory services. I felt like I was listening to the queen of Readers’ Advisors. I mean, who could know more about this service than Nancy Pearl? Nancy brought up the question that all librarians everywhere fear the most: Can you help me find a good book? Desk paralysis sets in, the mind goes blank and the stomach knots. No matter how many great books you may have read in the last month you can’t remember a single one of them. And I thought that was just me!

Nancy has 2 rules for a good Readers’ Advisor:

1. It’s not about you (your likes or dislikes when it comes to reading)

2. You need to read widely (outside your comfort zone) and ask yourself what it is in this book that someone else might enjoy?

Nancy started out talking about using the whole library when providing readers’ advisory services to your patrons. Thinking more broadly about the kinds of books your readers are asking for, and making the connections to the non fiction section of the library makes so much sense, and provided that “aha!” moment for me for that patron who can’t get enough of her favorite mystery writers – how about true crime and the paranormal for starters? I have to admit I hadn’t thought along those lines before. The first patron I steered in that direction was completely overjoyed to find this “new” area of our library! Nancy calls this doing “holistic RA”.

Finding that perfect book for your patron is about finding an experience that that patron can relate to, enjoy, and wants to replicate. Basically, everyone relates to books through at least one of four “doorways”.

The “doorways” to enjoyment that readers everywhere experience when they read the books they love vary from reader to reader and from book to book. First, there are books that use story as the doorway: you know a person enjoys books with a story doorway when you hear them say something like this about a book they loved: “I couldn’t put it down, I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. I couldn’t wait to see what happened next!” Examples of books that have story as the doorway are: Michael Crichton’s Prey, Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code, and books by authors such as John Grisham, James Patterson, and Robert Parker. Non fiction connections for people who enjoy story as the main doorway to a book could include True Crime or Adventure such as The Perfect Storm.

Second, there are books with Character as the doorway. People may say “I loved the people in this book, I missed the characters when I finished that book, I felt like I knew them!” Books with Character as the doorway usually have a character’s name in part of the title such as John Irving’s Prayer for Owen Meany or James Joyce’s The Dubliners or Finnegans Wake. Non fiction connections for people who enjoy character as the main doorway to a book would include memoirs and biographies.

Third, some books use Setting or Place as the largest doorway. Lovers of these books claim that the time and place are so well evoked that you know it as well as you know your own house, town or country. Examples of books with this type of doorway include Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News, Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Arch Bishop, or A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini. Science Fiction or Fantasy books use Setting as the largest doorway.

Finally, there are books with Language as the largest doorway. People who appreciate these books mention that the book was really well-written, or that they loved the writing. These books are the book award winners. They tend to be the slowest moving books, and what happens next is not that important. Books like The amazing Adventures of Harry and Clay, The Book Thief, and books by Ian McKeun, Rumor Godden, Alice Hoffman and John Updike would all be examples of books with Language as the largest doorway.

All books include the four doorways mentioned above, but one of the doorways is largest and it is this distinction that draws a certain type of reader to the book.

“A good book is any book that you liked” – Nancy Pearl

~ Karen Kappenman, Director, Edwards Public Library, Southampton


Book Buzz 2008

I am sorry to say I thought the session was over when everyone in the room rushed up to grab their free copies of novels by panelists Katherine Hall Page, Linda Barnes, and Mameve Medwed. While I missed the reviews for new titles coming out I thoroughly enjoyed the author panel moderated by Nancy Pearl.

It is usually interesting to get insight into the author behind the book and this case was no exception. Mameve Medwed, author of How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, admitted she is never able to read her own books. When she is done they are dead and gone. Medwed admitted she is always listening in. Eavesdropping led her to the first line in her upcoming novel, “It all started with the twin pharmacists.” Carlotta Carlyle creator Linda Barnes has an acting background and often hams it up just to hear the voices, cadences and accents of her characters (Although when asked she wouldn’t “perform” for the audience.)

Katherine Hall Page talked about her Faith Fairchild series. Developing Faith Fairchild as a caterer was Page’s way to give her protagonist access to a wide number of characters and situations. And yes, she does try out all the recipes included in her mysteries.

All three authors agreed romances and mysteries were often trivialized – likened to sitting at the children’s table at Thanksgiving. Shelving all fiction together would be a better way to garner acceptance. Nancy Pearl chimed in saying she would like to see neighborhoods of books.

Each had an answer when asked about the problems with publishing. Barnes wished franchising would be eliminated. Medwed reminded us it is the book itself that matters. And finally, Page lamented that publishers are putting their money in bestsellers while cutting mid-list authors and new voices.

~ Deb Kern, Director, Dickinson Memorial Library, Northfield

MLA Conference Report ~ Journal, Journal on the Wall

Massachusetts Library Association Annual Conference 2008 Report

A behind the scenes look at the review process, this session was an entertaining conversation, prodded by questions from the moderators, between Publisher’s Weekly (PW) Reviews Editor Jonathan Segura, and Library Journal (LJ) Senior Editor Nancy Aberman. They answered a variety of questions from how reviewers are chosen to why a book receives a starred review.

While PW’s main audience used to be booksellers now, like LJ, librarians are a major focus. Both editors spoke of the growing importance of their online presence. Finding reviewers is a constant challenge. LJ reviewers receive a byline. PW reviewers receive a small stipend. Aberman said when hiring reviewers she tries to find out not just what they like to read, but what they can write about. Reviews in both journals are 200 words but in PW that includes the title (and those long subtitles). PW reviews consist of a summary and evaluation. LJ reviews are a combination of educated opinion, credentials and that all important recommendation at the end.

One question that stood out was about the all important starred review. The questioner stated she purchased these books and oftentimes they didn’t circulate. Both editors were unapologetic. Outside of the best-selling authors, this is a way to get attention for new and mid-list authors – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

~ Deb Kern, Director, Dickinson Memorial Library, Northfield

Online Reading Program for Public Libraries - ReadsinMA

This week, our ReadsinMA website was updated to promote our 2008 Wild Reads at your library Summer Reading Program. As a part of its three year library public relations campaign, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) is funding online library summer reading advertisements in six of our major newspapers--The Berkshire Eagle, The Boston Globe, Cape Cod Times, Daily Hampshire Gazette, Springfield Republican, and The Worcester Telegram. At this writing, Berkshire radio station WBRK 1340 AM and Boston radion station KISS 108 AM are airing 30 second library summer reading program radio announcements. To listen to the recordings, visit our Massachusetts Regional Library Systems 2008 Summer Reading Wiki. We gratefully acknowledge MBLC Public Relations Specialist, Celeste Bruno & the wonderful team at Buyer Advertising for creating and coordinating this important promotion of libraries.

• Upcoming Webinars that overview ReadsinMA (aka SummerReader)
• Register your public library for ReadsinMA
• ReadsinMA Library Information Webpage

~ Janet Eckert, WMRLS