One of my colleagues recently came across this library advocacy site and thought it would be a good thing to share.
I agree!
This is courtesy of Library and Information Science News.
Want to keep up on what's happening with efforts around the country to help save libraries? There's a great new site for that, appropriately named Save Libraries. Their motto is "When one library is in trouble, ALL libraries are in trouble." This project is being run by Lori Reed and Heather Braum. They can’t do this alone and are looking for additional help creating and maintaining the content on this site.
Save Libraries is a grassroots effort to compile information about libraries in need of our support. Save Libraries will aggregate information about current advocacy efforts, archive advocacy efforts, and provide links to resources for libraries facing cuts. The project began barely two weeks ago, and is already attracting attention.
Please email us at savelibs (at) gmail (dot) com for questions, comments, or concerns. Please tag your Web content with savelibraries to make it easier for us to find and collect it.
Kudos to none other than our own Blake Carver and LISHost.org for donating hosting for this site and getting WordPress up and running within minutes. This site is dedicated to advocacy for libraries–getting the message out about why libraries are important.
We’re looking for advocacy information, testimonials from patrons and staff, photos, videos, anything to help save our libraries. Please pitch in!! Use the tag savelibraries or #savelibraries on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to this site please email savelibs@gmail.com.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Keith Richards...Librarian!
This truly has to be one of my favorite stories.
Keith Richards, the grizzled veteran of rock’n’roll excess, has confessed to a secret longing: to be a librarian. After decades spent partying in a haze of alcohol and drugs, Richards will tell in his forthcoming autobiography that he has been quietly nurturing his inner bookworm.
He has even considered “professional training” to manage thousands of books at his homes in Sussex and Connecticut, according to publishing sources familiar with the outline of Richards’s autobiography, which is due out this autumn. He has received a reported advance of $7.3m for it.
The guitarist started to arrange the volumes, including rare histories of early American rock music and the second world war, by the librarian’s standard Dewey Decimal classification system but gave up on that as “too much hassle.” He has opted instead for keeping favoured volumes close to hand and the rest languishing on dusty shelves.
To read more, go to the American Library Association's web site www.ala.org.
Keith Richards, the grizzled veteran of rock’n’roll excess, has confessed to a secret longing: to be a librarian. After decades spent partying in a haze of alcohol and drugs, Richards will tell in his forthcoming autobiography that he has been quietly nurturing his inner bookworm.
He has even considered “professional training” to manage thousands of books at his homes in Sussex and Connecticut, according to publishing sources familiar with the outline of Richards’s autobiography, which is due out this autumn. He has received a reported advance of $7.3m for it.
The guitarist started to arrange the volumes, including rare histories of early American rock music and the second world war, by the librarian’s standard Dewey Decimal classification system but gave up on that as “too much hassle.” He has opted instead for keeping favoured volumes close to hand and the rest languishing on dusty shelves.
To read more, go to the American Library Association's web site www.ala.org.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Supporting Your Library
As I write this column, your library is preparing to hold its first signature fundraising event on April 22nd to benefit the Palm Harbor Library Endowment Foundation. Like other non-profit organizations, we too are looking for ways to raise revenue beyond our traditional means. Not surprisingly, this is primarily due to declining property values which has impacted your library over the past three years. The repercussions will be more severely felt this coming fall as we begin our new fiscal year on Oct. 1st. There will be more on that in a future column.
In the meantime, the library has developed ideas (and are looking into others) to lessen the expected financial shortfall. Here’s where you can help out:
Naming Rights
Palm Harbor Library has been developed a plan to name library areas and other physical properties. Some highlights of the new policy include:
1) Donors (individuals, corporations, etc.) may choose a major service area within the library, a meeting or conference room or a landscaped area.
2) All donors who contribute will be recognized with appropriate name signage for that underwritten area.
3) Each naming right has a life span of five years. At the end of the term, the current donor will be given first right of refusal before it is offered elsewhere.
4) Contributions may be paid over the five year period with minimum annual payments.
5) Proposals for naming rights should be submitted to the Library Director and should contain specific information in support thereof.
To date, we have been able to rename three areas. They are “The E. W. Martin Conference Room” and two “ExxonMobile Study Rooms”. To receive pricing information, just contact me directly at gene@phlib.org.
Friends Giving Tree
This long standing fundraiser is clearly seen on two walls as you walk into the library’s lobby. To purchase a “leaf”, it is $100. To purchase a “stone”, it is $1,000. It can be either as a memorial or as an honorarium. All monies support the Palm Harbor Friends of the Library which in turn support various library activities.
NAME YOUR DAY!
Palm Harbor Library has developed a new program entitled “Name Your Day”. The purpose is to celebrate an individual at the library on a particular day for a fee.
Here are some highlights of this new service:
1) The fee is $50 for one day of service.
2) The day can be any day during normal library operating hours.
3) All applications are to be submitted to the Library Director for approval.
4) Services for one day will include the following:
- name(s) on library road sign
- name(s) on one bookplate of book of choice
- name(s) on all library electronic signs
- name(s) listed on library’s website and the Library Director’s blog
- name(s) on “Name Your Day” certificate
- one reserved parking space
FOUNDATION BOARD
At one time all libraries used card catalogs. Well, like so many other things, they had their moment in the sun. Or did they? Instead of throwing ours away, we used the furniture piece to house material but also we took the front piece with the handle of each draw and placed it with others on a large board. For a donation of $500, you can now have a name inscribed, either as a memorial or as an honorarium on the front draw piece of your choice! Be a part of the library’s history and help with its future.
I do appreciate how your taxes support the library but indeed we will fall short this year of what you have come to expect. I ask you today to look towards your library and think how else you can support it. There are some wonderful opportunities here.
In the meantime, the library has developed ideas (and are looking into others) to lessen the expected financial shortfall. Here’s where you can help out:
Naming Rights
Palm Harbor Library has been developed a plan to name library areas and other physical properties. Some highlights of the new policy include:
1) Donors (individuals, corporations, etc.) may choose a major service area within the library, a meeting or conference room or a landscaped area.
2) All donors who contribute will be recognized with appropriate name signage for that underwritten area.
3) Each naming right has a life span of five years. At the end of the term, the current donor will be given first right of refusal before it is offered elsewhere.
4) Contributions may be paid over the five year period with minimum annual payments.
5) Proposals for naming rights should be submitted to the Library Director and should contain specific information in support thereof.
To date, we have been able to rename three areas. They are “The E. W. Martin Conference Room” and two “ExxonMobile Study Rooms”. To receive pricing information, just contact me directly at gene@phlib.org.
Friends Giving Tree
This long standing fundraiser is clearly seen on two walls as you walk into the library’s lobby. To purchase a “leaf”, it is $100. To purchase a “stone”, it is $1,000. It can be either as a memorial or as an honorarium. All monies support the Palm Harbor Friends of the Library which in turn support various library activities.
NAME YOUR DAY!
Palm Harbor Library has developed a new program entitled “Name Your Day”. The purpose is to celebrate an individual at the library on a particular day for a fee.
Here are some highlights of this new service:
1) The fee is $50 for one day of service.
2) The day can be any day during normal library operating hours.
3) All applications are to be submitted to the Library Director for approval.
4) Services for one day will include the following:
- name(s) on library road sign
- name(s) on one bookplate of book of choice
- name(s) on all library electronic signs
- name(s) listed on library’s website and the Library Director’s blog
- name(s) on “Name Your Day” certificate
- one reserved parking space
FOUNDATION BOARD
At one time all libraries used card catalogs. Well, like so many other things, they had their moment in the sun. Or did they? Instead of throwing ours away, we used the furniture piece to house material but also we took the front piece with the handle of each draw and placed it with others on a large board. For a donation of $500, you can now have a name inscribed, either as a memorial or as an honorarium on the front draw piece of your choice! Be a part of the library’s history and help with its future.
I do appreciate how your taxes support the library but indeed we will fall short this year of what you have come to expect. I ask you today to look towards your library and think how else you can support it. There are some wonderful opportunities here.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
We're More than Just Books!
Nearly one-third of Americans age 14 or older – roughly 77 million people – used a public library computer or wireless network to access the Internet in the past year, according to a national report released today. In 2009, as the nation struggled through a recession, people relied on library technology to find work, apply for college, secure government benefits, learn about critical medical treatments, and connect with their communities.
The report, Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries, is based on the first, large-scale study of who uses public computers and Internet access in public libraries, the ways library patrons use this free technology service, why they use it, and how it affects their lives. It was conducted by the University of Washington Information School and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Low-income adults are more likely to rely on the public library as their sole access to computers and the Internet than any other income group. Overall, 44 percent of people living below the federal poverty line used computers and the Internet at their public libraries.
To read further, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.
The report, Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries, is based on the first, large-scale study of who uses public computers and Internet access in public libraries, the ways library patrons use this free technology service, why they use it, and how it affects their lives. It was conducted by the University of Washington Information School and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Low-income adults are more likely to rely on the public library as their sole access to computers and the Internet than any other income group. Overall, 44 percent of people living below the federal poverty line used computers and the Internet at their public libraries.
To read further, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Emerging Leader
What a way to end Women's History Month with a notice about an emerging leader in the library profession.
The New Members Round Table (NMRT) is announcing that Janel White, Broadcast Librarian at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., is the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship to sponsor her participation in the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders Program.
White applied to participate in the Emerging Leaders program out of a desire to give back to ALA, the library community, and her patrons. “ As a librarian, it is my duty to not only serve my patrons but also the field of library science by constantly evolving, overcoming challenges, exploring new ideas and contributing to the profession,” says White. “Attending both the mid-winter and annual meetings as well as networking with my peers as part of this program will prove to be an invaluable experience for me in fostering further techniques of critical inquiry, developing the willingness to examine complex issues and improving my ability to communicate effectively.”
To read further, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.
The New Members Round Table (NMRT) is announcing that Janel White, Broadcast Librarian at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., is the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship to sponsor her participation in the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders Program.
White applied to participate in the Emerging Leaders program out of a desire to give back to ALA, the library community, and her patrons. “ As a librarian, it is my duty to not only serve my patrons but also the field of library science by constantly evolving, overcoming challenges, exploring new ideas and contributing to the profession,” says White. “Attending both the mid-winter and annual meetings as well as networking with my peers as part of this program will prove to be an invaluable experience for me in fostering further techniques of critical inquiry, developing the willingness to examine complex issues and improving my ability to communicate effectively.”
To read further, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Women's Roles in WWII
Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about women laborers in the wartime industry is that, before the war, they were all housewives unfamiliar with work outside the home. It is true that approximately 5 million women who entered the labor force between the years 1940 and 1944 were first-time workers, many of them married, white, middle-class women responding to government recruitment campaigns directed at homemakers. Still, in total, some 19 million women worked for wages during the war years. Roughly three-quarters of these women had known wage work before World War II; the war industries provided lots of sought-after employment for the many women who had been laid off during the years of the Great Depression, and offered career opportunities, higher wages, and new challenges for the millions in low-paying or mundane positions.
To read further, see www.shmoop.com.
To read further, see www.shmoop.com.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
And the Awards Keep Coming
Well-known librarian, educator and tireless reading advocate Nancy Pearl has been selected the winner of the 2010 Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award, an honor administered annually by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).
The Monroe Award honors a librarian, library and information science researcher or educator who has made a significant contribution to library adult services. Pearl has an extensive career in librarianship and most recently was, until August 2004, the executive director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library. During her time there, she expanded readers’ advisory services beyond the library walls with the establishment of the One Book/One City reading event, which became a model for similar events now held around the country. Since 1993, Pearl has also taught readers’ advisory and genre literature courses at the University of Washington’s ISchool.
To read further, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.
The Monroe Award honors a librarian, library and information science researcher or educator who has made a significant contribution to library adult services. Pearl has an extensive career in librarianship and most recently was, until August 2004, the executive director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library. During her time there, she expanded readers’ advisory services beyond the library walls with the establishment of the One Book/One City reading event, which became a model for similar events now held around the country. Since 1993, Pearl has also taught readers’ advisory and genre literature courses at the University of Washington’s ISchool.
To read further, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
