How can you resist Summer Reading Program challenges? The children's librarians at the Musser Public Library were challenged to row across the pond at their Nature Center if the kids in the community read 15,000 books. Videographic evidence is available at YouTube :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/MusserPublicLibrary

How Not to Tweet

David Lee King offers up some advice to libraries looking to increase their presence with Twitter. http://bit.ly/g5zmu

Redbox at Libraries

Have you seen the bright red box, aptly named Redbox, at local retailers? Libraries are getting into the scene, earning 3 cents of every dollar earned by the company. Information on libraries using the boxes at http://bit.ly/5UAzr.

WrestleMania Reading Challenge Closes July 31

Teens and tweens at your library could win a trip to WrestleMania XXVI in Phoenix, and you could win $2,000 for your library! Just complete Teen Read Week™ registration at www.ala.org/teenread and say “yes” to the WrestleMania Reading Challenge by July 31.

Best Thrillers of 2009

Awards were determined by the International Thriller Writers. View the winners at http://bit.ly/Jlrn0.

Choosing the Best Web Browser

PC Magazine’s takes and links to reviews of the top recent entries to help you make your choice. http://bit.ly/K84EQ

3D Moon Landing Adventure from Google Earth

This great site includes moon tours of the landing sites narrated by the astronauts, view models of the spacecraft, and more! Interest is high right now with the anniversary of the Apollo mission, bookmark for your patrons! http://earth.google.com/moon/

YALSA Announces 3 Online Courses This Fall

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), will offer three online courses this fall: AIMing at Tweens Advising, Involving, Motivating, taught by Teri Lesesne; Graphic Novels and Teen Readers: The Basics and Beyond, taught by Francisca Goldsmith; and Reaching Teens with Gaming, taught by Beth Gallaway. Register at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/onlinecourses/info.cfm#current. They are expensive but an easy way to get a conference session experience.

PROFESSIONAL BOOK OF THE WEEK

Title: Library Services to Latinos

Editor: Salvador Guerena

Summary:
A compilation of essays and research articles, this anthology provides valuable insight into working with Latino populations. Topics include working with immigrant populations, outreach strategies, Hispanic student in community colleges, and developing Spanish language collections.

FRIENDS OF THE BURLINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY TO HOST SALE Bargain lovers, get ready. The Friends of the Burlington Public Library will have hundreds of books for your low-priced reading pleasure at its spring sale Friday June 26th and Saturday June 27th. Most hardbacks will be only $1 and most paperbacks only 50 cents! Members of the Friends organization will be admitted to the preview sale from 3 to 6 p.m. on Friday, and everyone is welcome to browse Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If you would like to clear space on your shelves for those bargains, donate your good quality books at the Footnotes shop.

Another library abandons DDC

As part of its customers-first philosophy, the Rangeview Library District in Northglenn, Colorado, is replacing the Dewey Decimal Classification with its own WordThink system. The new method was generated from a book-industry standard for organizing materials. Materials are arranged by simple categories like history and science instead of a numeric system. The district’s new Bennett branch opened May 30 with the new organization in place, and by the end of the year all Rangeview branches will use WordThink....
Business Wire, June 2

10 ways to tell if you are a solo librarian
John Clark of the Hartland (Maine) Public Library wrote this for the initial issue of MLA to Z: The News-to-use-letter of the Maine Library Association, April 2007, pp. 3–4 (PDF file). You can identify with it even if you don’t work in a public library. “10. You have done story hour while simultaneously checking out books and answering a reference question over the phone.”...
OPL Plus, June 2

Arts programming in a public library

Jude Schanzer writes: “We all know that libraries are no longer confined to brick and mortar. No longer can the library be looked at as only an informational and educational center. Some call us ‘community centers’ now. I say we are ‘cultural centers,’ with all that those words conjure up in our minds. Performance, visual arts, literature, history, discussion, innovative thought, and more are part and parcel of what can be found in a cultural center. Sounds like a library to me.”...
Programming Librarian, May 19, 26, June

New Virtual Conference sessions
Attend Annual Conference from your desktop this year with ALA’s new Virtual Conference. ALA will offer 10 interactive, hour-long web sessions on July 13 and 14. These interactive programs—from ALA’s Washington Office, the Office for Intellectual Freedom, and several other divisions and offices—will be the next best thing to being at the conference itself. Topics include accessing stimulus money for broadband deployment, greening your library, and best customer service....

19 new Great Web Sites for Kids

ALSC has placed 19 new websites on its Great Web Sites for Kids list. Great Web Sites for Kids are those considered the best for ages birth to 14, outstanding in both content and conception. As applied to websites for young people, “great” should be thought to include sites of especially commendable quality that reflect and encourage young people’s interests in exemplary ways....
ALSC Blog, June 3

Top 10 pet peeves about patrons
Brian Herzog writes: “Usually I’m a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, and I really do enjoy my job. But I thought I’d share a list of the top 10 things that patrons do that can really irk me. Not that I expect every patron interaction to be perfect and wonderful, of course; these are a just few things that make bad days worse. I tried to limit this list to things unique to library patrons, and this list (which ended up being longer than I expected) is in no particular order.”...
Swiss Army Librarian, June 2

Congratulations to the Wilton Public Library!

Wilton broke ground on June 12 for a facility to house a branch of the Muscatine Community College, a community center and the library. Ideally situated near senior housing and across the street from a school, this facility has been the center of amazing fundraising and community support.

PROFESSIONAL BOOK OF THE WEEK

Title: The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times

Author: Marylaine Block

Summary:

Block, author of the website Neat New Stuff I Found on the Net, explores strategies and programs which help libraries thrive in trying economic times. Chapters are broken into service areas and tasks such as children, teens, marketing, outreach and community involvement. Case studies are used to highlight points about each topic. A useful guide for any library serving the public today.

2009 ALA Annual Conference Friends Sessions

This year the Annual Conference is in Chicago. There is a two part session on “Nuts and Bolts for Friends” on Saturday, July 11. You do not have to attend both, but the second session will not be a repeat of the first.

Nuts and Bolts for Friends

Saturday, July 11, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Come hear experts talk about ways to improve your Friends of the Library group and maximize the Friends' ability to raise money, increase membership and work effectively with their library. Be prepared to share your best practices and your stumbling blocks with other Friends from across the country. This program is part one of a two part series (the second to be held in the afternoon). It is not required that you attend both but the second session will be a continuation of discussions and not a repeat. Speakers: Susan Schmidt, Past President, Friends of Libraries U.S.A.; Robin Hoklotubbe, Secretary, Friends of Libraries U.S.A

For more information on the session and costs, visit http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/upcoming/annual/2009/registration.cfm.

Prepub Alert from Library Journal’s May 15 issue: Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, Nicholas Sparks’ The Last Song, Joyce Carol Oates’ Little Bird of Heaven, Craig Furguson’s American on Purpose, Jane Goodall’s Hope for Animals and Their World, Sue Monk Kidd’s Traveling with Pomegranates, Lebron James’ Shooting Stars, James Patterson’s The Murder of King Tut and Elizabeth Thomas’ The Hidden Life of Deer (from the author of The Hidden Life of Dogs).