PROFESSIONAL BOOK OF THE WEEK

Title: Managing Budgets and Finances: A How-To-Do-It Manual

Authors: Arlita W. Hallam and Teresa R. Dalston

Summary:

For those new to developing a budget from scratch, or needing to understand an existing one so you can update it, this book lays out the basics of what you need to know. Topics are clearly organized to orient the reader, and the many sample budgets and financial documents add value to the text. Even if you are only in need of a refresher on the topic, this is the perfect book to review.

SLS Board Member Gayle Trede Celebrates 25 years

Congratulations to SLS Board Member Gayle Trede! She has been the Director of the Mount Pleasant Public Library for 25 years. Her Board of Directors, Friends of the Library Board, staff and family helped celebrate this milestone at Tuesday's Board meeting. Gayle was also honored with a resolution from the Mount Pleasant City Council to commemorate her years of service at their meeting on Wednesday.

Albia was one of the SLS libraries attending the Facebook page we offered in partnership with SWILSA this week. Albia reports they already have 67 fans of their Facebook page!

Way to go Marilyn!

PROFESSIONAL BOOK OF THE WEEK

Title: Early Literacy Storytimes @ your library: Partnering with Caregivers for Success

Authors: Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Diaz

Summary:

Nationally-known speaker, and frequent visitor to Iowa, Saroj Ghoting, along with Pamela Martin-Diaz have compiled years of experience and research into a rich resource on developing storytimes which enhance early literacy efforts. Broken up into three sections on learning more about early literacy research and issues, how-to’s on incorporating the information learned into your storytimes, and what you need to do to keep your efforts going, this book is an asset to anyone looking to learn how to do storytime or someone who is looking to overhaul current storytime practices.

Customer Service Training Video
This 23 minute video is aimed at businesses but could prove to be a valuable tool as you train your front line staff in customer service. You might even be able to use it for a county meeting or staff in-service day!

http://bit.ly/1NeiRp

Webcast: Doing More With Less: "Training Up" SPONSORED BY: Polaris Library Systems and Library Journal

Event Date: 10/20/2009 02:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Gate counts keep going up, but staff levels are not. Patrons’ technological needs are increasing as many have lost their jobs and access to computers at the same time. Older patrons with little computer experience are finding that many insurance and financial forms need to be completed online. Is your staff ready to serve? Library employee training budgets aren’t exactly getting fatter either, often forcing staff to just learn on the job or stagnate. And what about new hires? Are they expected to have already learned about your library’s technology as part of their education? A group of training experts will discuss how ‘training up’ library staff can help stretch and boost the level of technological customer service your library can offer to patrons, and to the library itself. The webcast will also cover Web 2.0 tools and applications that make training sessions, documents and support readily accessible and available on-demand, 24/7. From academe, we’ll hear how one library school program is preparing its students for high touch high tech careers in our public, school, special and academic libraries.

Library Journal's annual award for the Best Small Library in America

The award, cosponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was founded to encourage and showcase the exemplary work of these libraries. Now in its sixth year, the award honors the public library that most profoundly demonstrates outstanding service to populations of 25,000 or less (see link for eligibility).

The winning library will receive a $15,000 cash award, a feature story in the February 1, 2010, Library Journal, membership and conference costs for two library representatives to attend the Public Library Association Biannual Conference in 2010 in Portland, OR, and a gala reception at the conference.

For complete eligibility and submission requirements: http://bit.ly/4fSRUQ

LeClaire Community Library in the News

Congrats to the LeClaire Community Library and their partnership with a local medical practice which got them featured in the Quad-City Times:

“LeClaire doctors hand out prescription for reading” - http://www.qctimes.com/news/local/article_4edea96e-aefe-11de-9ae0-001cc4c002e0.html

PROFESSIONAL BOOK OF THE WEEK

Title: Library 2.0: A Guide to Participatory Library Service

Author: Michael E. Casey and Laura C. Savastinuk

Summary:

This book isn’t an overview of tools to be used in “library 2.0” (though there is some of that), it’s an explanation of what it means to provide library 2.0 service. If you are looking for ways to expand your library’s service mission and the reasoning behind choosing certain avenues over others, read through this clear explanation of how to take your library to the next level.