Increased funding to support Civil War reading and discussion series
By Donna DiMichele | March 25, 2011
The ALA Public Programs Office and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced an increase in funding for the Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War reading and discussion program grant. Following the application process, 50 selected public, academic and community college libraries will receive a $3,000 grant to support the reading and discussion series in their library in addition to books, promotional materials and other programming support. Applications must be completed by April 19.
The program grant includes:
- A $3,000 grant from NEH to support program-related expenses.
- Twenty-five copies of two titles: “March” by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, 2006) and “Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam” by James McPherson (Oxford University Press, 2002) and 50 copies of a forthcoming Civil War anthology of historical fiction, speeches, diaries, memoirs, biography, and short stories, edited by national project scholar Edward L. Ayers and co-published by NEH and ALA.
- Promotional materials, including posters, bookmarks and folders, to support local audience recruitment efforts.
- Training for the library project director at a national workshop, where they will hear from the project scholar, expert librarians and organizers and receive a program planning guide, materials and ideas. As part of the grant, NEH will pay for two nights of lodging in Chicago for the library project director.
Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War follows the popular Let’s Talk About It model, which engages participants in discussion of a set of common texts selected by a nationally known scholar for their relevance to a larger, overarching theme. More information including project guidelines
Topics: Grants, Literacy | Comments Off on Increased funding to support Civil War reading and discussion series
Three RI institutions awarded preservation grants
By Donna DiMichele | March 24, 2011
Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced today 54 awards totaling $152,112 for American Heritage Preservation grants. IMLS received 146 applications requesting $412,952 in funds.
“We are proud to be partners with the Bank of America Foundation in making these awards. American Heritage Preservation Grants enrich communities’ sense of place and identity,” said Susan Hildreth, IMLS Director. “These projects help libraries and museums care for collections that tell powerful stories about life in the U.S.”
For more information about this grant including program guidelines and contacts.
Newport Art Museum and Art Association – Newport, RI
Award Amount: $2,465
Contact: Ms. Nancy Grinnell
(401)848-8200×111
ngrinnell@newpoertartmuseum.com
The Newport Art Museum will conserve an oil portrait of its founder, Maud Howe Elliott, painted in 1937 by Mabel Norman Cerio. In connection with the museum’s centennial in 2012, staff will focus attention on both the artist and the sitter, beginning with an exhibition entitled “Remembering the Ladies: Women and the Art Association of Newport” in 2011.
North Scituate Public Library Association – North Scituate, RI
Award Amount: $2,900
Contact: Mr. Nicholas Beams
Reference Librarian
(401)647-5133
beams2004@yahoo.com
The North Scituate Public Library Association will use grant funds to treat a nineteenth-century oil-on-canvas portrait of Jonah Titus, who resided in Scituate, Rhode Island, and served as lawyer, town moderator, justice of the peace, representative in the General Assembly, and candidate for attorney general for the Suffrage Party.
City of Warwick – Warwick, RI
Award Amount: $3,000
Contact: Marie Ahlert
City Clerk
(401)738-2000×6212
marie.t.bennett@warwickri.com
The City of Warwick will conserve military discharge records recorded by the city. There are 20 volumes that begin in 1945 and extend to present day, with discharges for veterans who served in conflicts from World War II through Kuwait. These records will be valuable to veterans and families in efforts to understand more about and secure documentation relevant to programs, assistance, benefits, burial in veterans’ cemeteries, and tax exemptions.
Topics: Grants, News & Information, Preservation | Comments Off on Three RI institutions awarded preservation grants
Computers in Libraries Conference, Washington DC
By admin | March 23, 2011
Day 2
One point here that keeps coming up is the idea of “buzz” and digital usage in the 21st century library. Who is talking about our library? What are they saying? Where are they coming from? Where do they go? How do we find out? In a session entitled, “Cool Tools: Measuring, Visualizing, and Analyzing What Libraries Do” several options were explored.
The most popular is Google Analytics. Anyone with a Google Account can take advantage of this free tool. Google provides the user with a code to embed right into your page. This allows you to check in to count clicks and usage and provides visual charts and graphs of the information. This is especially useful if you are thinking about restructuring your library’s website. Where are people going? What do they consistently miss? This is mostly straight statistics counting in your digital environment to compliment what you already measure inside the library. In a world where people expect a 24/7 environment, this simple measure can be very telling about your online presence.
Most libraries have a Facebook page. Facebook has recently added a feature for fan pages and groups to monitor usage. It is relatively easy to count friends, likes, and reposts, but it is considerably more difficult to count the engagement level of your friends or fans. This tool allows an admin to follow the amount of people directed to your page, viewing your page, or clicking on your links. These counts constitute buzz. Libraries will always have vocal advocates, but fostering this online involvement is becoming equally important.
If your library maintains a Facebook page, a blog, and also tweets, you may find HootSuite useful. This site acts as a social media dashboard, allowing you to post to several social media platforms at once from one place. It was mentioned that using this tool for emergency library closings or sudden changes in programming had been especially helpful. The site also offers real time aggregated statistical information about usage and influence.
If you are interested more in what people are saying outside your library, you may want to check out howsociable.com. It measures total web visibility using nearly every known social media tool on the web. It counts mentions from all corners of the web and allows you to see those mentions, whether somebody tweeted, “the librarian at X Library was super unfriendly” or posted to Facebook, “just went to a reading with David Sedaris at X Library and it was AWESOME!” These candid reactions are more helpful than a formal survey, since what we communicate is becoming more and more instantaneous.
These are only a few of the sites that are offering feedback in the online environment, and are ones that I, in particular, was impressed and intrigued by. If you are interested in more of these tools, feel free to email me, and I’d be happy to point you to more.
Google Analytics Blog
HootSuite
HowSociable
Topics: 21st Century Skills in Libraries, Future of Libraries, Technology | 1 Comment »
Computers in Libraries Conference, Washington DC
By admin | March 22, 2011
Day 1
Yesterday I attended several great sessions here at the Computers in Libraries conference, but I’d like to highlight one in particular to share.
Cindy Hart is the Virtual Librarian at the Virginia Beach Public Library. Besides working on web-based projects, she also closely monitors the engagement of their patrons in the digital environment. Essentially, it is the measurement of the value of social media in their community. One of the great things the Virginia Beach library has done is build their social media and digital initiatives into their strategic plan and vision statement. Without clear goals, libraries end up using digital tools for digital tools’ sake, not to enhance the quality of their services.
The notion of enhancing, not necessarily changing, services is a point that sometimes gets lost in the rush to adopt new technology. She stressed that although it seems like the library world is telling us to change our image, she suggested taking the public perception and building off of it. We all know that when we hear “library” we think “books.” Why should we change that? Instead, let’s use that perception to our advantage. For example, the Virginia Beach Public Library held a festival called “The Big Read,” a month-long celebration of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. In addition to highlighting his works in the library, they also integrated internet content, such as “Reads Like,” an independent Facebook page, and even had Mr. Poe himself review books! From the outside, this does seem like a big project, but as I thought about it, I realized that if the program is taking place anyway, all these elements could go into the planning process. In the “Big Read” example, that project was finite, but it offered an opportunity to try new ways to involve the community, to great success.
All this created a way not only to involve patrons, but also to listen. What works? What doesn’t? What are people saying about it? These are certainly good points to consider when implementing new technology and when thinking about reaching more residents of your city or town.
Virginia Beach’s “The Big Read” can be found here
Of course, feel free to email me if you are interested in more details of this session.
Topics: 21st Century Skills in Libraries, Future of Libraries, Technology | Comments Off on Computers in Libraries Conference, Washington DC
Retirement Party for the Jamestown Public Library Director, Judith Bell
By chaichin | January 19, 2011
Susan Aylward, Director of the North Kingstown Free Library shared the following news with us:
Retirement Party for Judy Bell
The party will be held at the Jamestown PAC on Feb 25th at 6pm. It will include a dinner buffet and a cash bar. Tickets are $25 per person. Larger donations are accepted and will go towards a gift for Judy. Checks should be made out to the Friends of the Library, with the note that it is for Judy’s party. Tickets can be purchased at Bakers Drug Store, the JTN Library and the JTN Press Office — all in Jamestown.
Checks can also be mailed to the Friends at
The Friends of the Jamestown Library
c/o The Jamestown Library
26 North RdJamestown, RI 02835-1434
For mail-ins, the deadline is February 16th and the tickets will be mailed back to you.
Topics: Events | Comments Off on Retirement Party for the Jamestown Public Library Director, Judith Bell
Getting the most out of technology
By karen | December 30, 2010
I always enjoy reading Personal Tech in the NY Times, my feeble attempt at keeping up to date on technology. This week is no exception, with two interesting posts.
10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Technology offers a number of useful tips, though possibly the most useful is the revelation that both Firefox and Google Chrome browsers apparently have a feature called bookmark syncing, which will update your books on all your computers using Chrome or Firefox. (This is a new feature in Firefox 4, currently in Beta; Chrome syncs bookmarks through your Google account.) This is definitely worth exploring, especially with the news that Yahoo is sunsetting Delicious, one of the most popular (and best, IMHO) social bookmarking tools. While Delicious says don’t panic, I’m concerned enough to look for new alternatives.
And David Pogue’s column is a weekly must-read. This week: The Pogies: Best Tech Ideas of the Year. This is not about the best products, but the best ideas or just features, in products. Check it out, Mr. Pogue always has something interesting to say and in a style that’s amusing and accessible.
Topics: Technology | Comments Off on Getting the most out of technology
Mango adds 7 languages
By admin | December 28, 2010
On Nov 15 Mango added 9 new languages (see Mango, AskRI Updates). On Dec 10 they added another 7:
- Czech
- Dutch
- Tamil
- Slovak
- Ukrainian
- Croatian
- Indonesian
So now whether you’re going to Prague, Amsterdam or Jakarta, you can go armed with the ability to communicate with the natives.
If you’re going to ALA Midwinter, make sure you stop by the Mango booth and say hello to our favorite Mango Man, Marco. Marco loves RI Libraries and one of these days we’ll get him out here to share the Mango love.
If you want to learn more about Mango, every Tuesday at 2 p.m. starting Jan 18, Mango holds webinars about 45 minutes in length which go over, in detail, what makes Mango unique. Topics include language learning trends and the Mango Methodology along with a live demo every week with a new participant to illustrate the ease and effectiveness of Mango.
Topics: News & Information | Comments Off on Mango adds 7 languages
Serving the 21st-Century Patron
By karen | December 16, 2010
Libraries are adapting their services, programming, and approach, both to meet changing expectations and to help patrons build the skills they need to thrive in today’s world. This month WebJunction explores the various ways that libraries are moving to 21st-century models.
WebJunction offers a variety of online courses on Customer Service. In particular, check out the Customer Service for Libraries course set that will build your skills to provide excellent service and deal with the difficult situations that can arise when working with the public. WebJunction courses are free for members of WebJunction RI.
Topics: Continuing Education, Resources | Comments Off on Serving the 21st-Century Patron
Free photo editors
By karen | December 2, 2010
If you missed OLIS’ recent continuing education on free photo and image editors, check out the great list of resources compiled by Technology Guru Shane Sher from the Providence Public Library. Free photo editors covers everything from simple tools to multi-featured software that rivals PhotoShop. And check out Shane’s blog while you’re there, the Providence Public Library Tech Blog – it has a wealth of information on a wide range of tech topics presented as only Shane can.
Topics: Resources, Technology | Comments Off on Free photo editors
What librarians make
By admin | November 30, 2010
If you have not yet read What librarians make. A response to Dr. Bernstein and an homage to Taylor Mali by Joyce Valenza in the School Library Journal blog, put aside a few moments to read a fantastic testimony to the role of school librarians. And all librarians. It is inspirational. My favorite quote:
Library is not merely a place to get stuff. It is a place to invent, to create, to make stuff, to collaborate on stuff, and to share stuff. It is more kitchen that grocery store. More transformational than transactional.
Libraries today are both transformational and transactional, but it’s the transformation that makes the library different than the bookstore. As Ms. Valenza writes, librarians are not an anachronism, and libraries are not sacred cows. They are vibrant parts of our society.
Read the article. And thanks to Aaron Coutu for bringing this to our collective attention.
Topics: Future of Libraries, News & Information | Comments Off on What librarians make
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