All Iowa Reads ICN Session Reminder!

Don't Miss Out! Thursday, January 26, 2006. At 6:30 pm, First Lady Christie Vilsack and Dale Ross from ISU will discuss Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. The session will not only feature discussion about the 2006 All Iowa Reads book, but information about where to get support for your own discussion groups as well.

For a look at all ICN sites statewide—and to register online—go to this website: http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/cgi-bin/cecat/
If you’re not already a registered user, you’ll first have to establish a user account before you can register for this and other upcoming classes.

Award Winners Announced

The novel Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins has won the 2005 John Newbery Medal and Chris Raschka won the 2005 Randolph Caldecott Medal for The Hello, Goodbye Window, written by Norton Juster.

The awards were announced this morning at the ALA’s midwinter conference in San Antonio.

For a list of the honor books named for both medals, as well as winners of the Printz award for Young Adult Literature and the first annual Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for beginning reader books, see this Publisher's Weekly news release.

Tummy Time in the Quad Cities

The Bettendorf Public Library has expanded their popular "Tummy Time" program, designed for children (and their parents!) aged birth to three. The program is held in cooperations with the Bettendorf Community Schools' Birth to Five Program. Programs are 45 minutes long and included a variety of activities. [Source: "Pages" --BPL newsletter]

ILA Legislative Update

Take a moment to read the first 2006 legislative update from the Iowa Library Association.

In it, you'll find updates on what our legislators are talking about in Des Moines.

Davenport Public Library--Fairmount Branch = WOW!

I had the pleasure of attending the new Fairmount Branch grand opening on Saturday, January 14th. I've never seen a library so busy and packed with curious people--what a wonderful sight! When I arrived sometime after 9:00 am the parking lot (100+ spaces!) was FULL! Director LaWanda Roudebush reports that more than 15,000 people saw the library that day. Congratulations to the staff, board, friends, and the City of Davenport for this remarkable achievement.

Below are a few snapshots from the Grand Opening Ceremony.

Director LaWanda Roudebush welcomes the audience to the new branch.

Mayor Ed Winborn speaks of the success of the project.

Former Mayor Charlie Brooke (now 6th Ward Alderman) congratulates Davenport.

State Librarian Mary Wegner speaks of the importance of libraries to Iowans.

DPL Board President Greg Lundgren thanks everyone for their hard work.

Architect Tim Downing speaks of his role and thanks Davenport.

Mike Lonergran of Priester Construction speaks of Priester's long history with DPL.

Quad Cities' 1st Poet Laureate Dick Stahl reads a poem in dedication to the new library.

The Quad Cities' area Book Cart Drill Team performs to the theme song for television's "Rawhide."

Public Library Statistics Now Available

Gerry Rowland from the State Library reports that the most current library statistics for Iowa have been loaded into the online reporting tool, WebConnect. To login to the system, librarians may use their WebCollect logins and passwords, or use one of several generic passwords (available on the State Library's Statistics Website.

Please remember that WebConnect is only compatible with Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater. Feel free to call Southeastern Library Services if you'd like a "walk-through" of WebConnect's great functionality.

Youth Services Roundtable a Success!

Thirteen librarians representing Youth Services departments from 12 different libraries in Iowa gathered at the Fairfield Public Library on Wednesday, January 11th to discuss issues related to providing quality service to Iowa's children. Communities represented included Donnellson, Ft. Madison, Keokuk, Centerville, Bettendorf, Richland, Fairfield, Keosauqua, LeClaire, Mt. Pleasant, and Oskaloosa.

The librarians discussed a variety of important topics, including providing outreach services to local daycares, getting teenagers involved in library programming, and the pros and cons of offering awards for Summer Reading Programs. Mary Camerson, Youth Services consultant from the State Library was present and offered great advice, as well as free books for librarians to take back to their libraries.

The group overwhelmingly reported that they'd like to meet again. Plans are in the works for a late summer/early fall meeting.

Congratulations Davenport Public Library--Fairmount Branch set to Open!

Emily Navarre and I, (Emily Weaver) had an "exclusive" tour of the brand new Davenport Public Library--Fairmount Street branch on Friday, January 6. LaWanda Roudebush, director, was our tour guide and the Emilies had plenty of questions to ask and many compliments to pay. As library consultants, it is our job to be proud of library developments. As Davenport residents, however, we can't wait to start checking out books!

A grand opening celebration will be held this Saturday, January 14th, with an official kick-off at 10 am. (the doors open at 9:00 am) Guest speakers, local dignitaries, clowns, the local Book Cart Drill Team, and a performance by the local opera company--it will be an entire day of celebrating.

Until then, enjoy some photos of the new library!

UPDATE: 40% discount available on Award books this year. Perfection Learning is offering this discount. To cash in, be sure to place your order by February 24, 2006. More details and pricing are available here.


IASL Iowa Children's Choice and Teen Choice Nominees Announced

View the nominees for the IASL (Iowa Association of School Libraries) Iowa Children's Choice online. The nominees for the Teen Award have not been posted online. If you'd like to see a full list, feel free to email us at SLS!

If your library is interested in purchasing the titles, there is a way to get the books for less money! To do so, please wait on your ordering until the AEA receives all the bids and releases the winner (mid-December on the IEC website; we'll try to remind you!). Vendors compete to give us a low price on a set of the books. This past year those who ordered saved almost $90 off the list price for a complete set and received a free poster. Using this discount, libraries in the state of Iowa saved a total of $47,113.44 last year. Please help the group continue to get these great prices by supporting the winning vendor.
[Source: Mary Cameron, State Library of Iowa]

PSAs for SLPs

What does that mean? The Collaborative Summer Library Program has released a series of six audio Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for use by member libraries in the promotion of libraries' implantations of the 2006 summer library program (SLP), "Paws, Claws, Scales & Tales" at your library.


You can get them by visiting:
http://www.cslpreads.org/psa.htm
[Source: Mary Cameron, State Library of Iowa]