7 Steps To Make Computers Accessible for Seniors

A great set of tips from makeuseof.com. This will probably become a growing issue as the senior population continues to grow.

4th annual National Friends of Libraries Week
October 18-24, 2009
Use this week to promote the Friends in the community and provides a great opportunity for your library and Board of Trustees to recognize the Friends for their help and support of the library.
For more information and resources for Friends, libraries and Boards, take a look at the ALTAFF Web Site.

Gear Up For National Gaming Day
November 14, 2009
Gaming kits available from SLS! Reserve yours at SLS's Web Site.

More information from ALA's Press Release .

RECOGNIZE YOUR TRUSTEES

Applications for Trustee awards are accepted 9/15 through 12/15 for three Trustee awards from ALTAFF (Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations). For information on the awards, visit http://bit.ly/1WQgQO.

Let them know about your great Trustees!!

SLS Sponsors In-Person Viewing Location for Online Conference

Southeastern Library Services is sponsoring an in-person viewing location for the online conference, The Art of Fundraising and Grant Writing. Participants are welcome to come and leave as their schedule allows. The sessions we have chosen to view are:

10:00 AM - Keynote: Peter Pearson "Tough Times and Successful Library Fundraising"

11:00 AM - Keynote: Kitty Pope "Grant Writing and Fund Raising: It Takes a Team"

12:00 PM - LUNCH BREAK

1:00 PM - Track A - Lisa Valdez "Fundraising: Letter Writing Campaigns"

2:00 PM - Track B - Stephanie Gerding "Grant Writing for Libraries"

3:00 PM - BREAK

3:30 PM - Track B - Panel "Fundraising Outside of Grant Writing"

4:30 PM - Track C - Fundraising events

More information regarding the conference can be found at http://www.fundraisingconference.org/.

Up to 7 continuing education credits are available depending on how many sessions you attend.

Date: Thursday, November 19^th

Time: 10:00 am to 5:30 pm

Location: Mt. Pleasant Public Library – 2^nd floor Community Room

Wine and Wii Fundraiser from Lincoln City, NE
A new way to raise money, with fun for everyone! Read about the event, as well as find contact information for the Foundation for Lincoln City Libraries at http://bit.ly/1te3A.

Making Web 2.0 Work - from the October 2009 issue of Computers in Libraries
This is a great article on how 2.0 technologies work (or don't) for libraries, with some suggestions on making them work or work better for your library. If you don't subscribe, you can be added to our circulation list for the periodical, or contact us for a copy of the article.

New OCLC Prototype Can Help You Choose Classification Numbers

Classify is a prototype service designed to support the assignment of classification numbers for books, DVDs, CDs, and many other types of materials.

The prototype provides access to more than 36 million WorldCat records that contain Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) numbers, Library of Congress Classification (LCC) numbers, or National Library of Medicine (NLM) Classification numbers.

The records are grouped using the OCLC FRBR Work-Set algorithm resulting in a work-level summary of the class numbers assigned a title. You can retrieve a classification summary by ISBN, ISSN, UPC, OCLC number, or author/title. Some examples are:

The EPA Offers Consumer Education on E-cycling: Could Your Library Play a Role?
EPA is working to educate consumers and others on why it is important to reuse and recycle electronics and what the options are for safe reuse and recycling of these products. State and local governments, manufacturers, and retailers, who are already aware of the pressing need to better manage these materials, are providing more opportunities to recycle and reuse this equipment.

BANNED BOOKS WEEK

Banned Books Week is starts September 26. For resources and ideas on how to participate, visit http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/index.html and follow the links at the bottom.

In down economy, libraries are on frontline of connecting Americans with online government, job resources from ALA Direct 9/11/2009

PROFESSIONAL BOOK OF THE WEEK

Title: Managing Money: A Guide for Librarians

Author: Anne M. Turner

Summary:

Do you feel like finances are often another language? Turner clearly lays out a number of concepts and situations which directly impact library budgets. Major topics include budgets, purchasing, requesting bids for projects, audits and finance departments.

Books for Babies Grant Opportunity

The Associationof Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF) has partnered with Nordstrom to offer 10 grants of $500 each to put towards the purchase of Books for Babies kits to "selected Friends of the Library groups, women's groups, libraries and other nonprofit organizations" who raise $1,000 for the project.

The application deadline is October 1, 2009, and more information can be found here.

EAST CENTRAL LIBRARY SERVICES TO SPONSOR WORKSHOP

TODDLE OVER WITH MUSIC

You can't sing or you are afraid to? After this workshop, you will put music in your storytimes! Jerri Heid, Youth Services Librarian at the Ames Public Library, will teach librarians why music is important for your programs and for children's emergent literacy skills. You will learn how you can use other people's music to your advantage, where to purchase music, a bibliography of songs to use and most importantly, gain the confidence and comfort to add music to your programs. Come dressed in casual clothes, ready to have fun!

When: Friday, October 9

Where: North Liberty Community Library

520 Cherry Street

Time: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

CE: 5

Cost: $20, lunch, refreshments & handouts provided

Registration Deadline: October 5

You may register on-line in the CE catalog or contact East Central. Please mail your check to the address below.

East Central Library Services
222 3rd St. SE, Suite 402
Cedar Rapids IA 52401

Contact: Linda Lumsden
Phone: 319-365-0521
llumsde@ecls.lib.ia.us

Congratulations to Letts Public Library!

As part of this year's I-JOBS grants, the city of Letts will receive $400,000 for the creation of a new community center and library.

I-JOBS Libraries announcement

Author visits on the cheap!

Looking for a way to have children's authors visit your library? Is your budget so tight you wish you could lose those few extra pounds? Why not bring the authors in to visit over the Internet?

A list of authors willing to do 20-minute visits using the online conferencing software, Skype, is available on author Kate Messner's blog: http://kmessner.livejournal.com/106020.html. She also wrote up an article on how to do online author visits for School Library Journal, "Met Any Good Authors Lately?", in the August 2009 issue.

Hugo winner in the region!

Congratulations to John Klima, Instructor with Palmer College of Chiropractic Libraries in Davenport and Substitute Librarian at Bettendorf Public Library, for his win at last night's Hugo Awards. He won the Best Fanzine Award for his 'zine, Electric Velocipede. John is also a three-time nominee, including this year, for the World Fantasy Award for the Special Award - Non-Professional, again for his work with Electric Velocipede. This year's World Fantasy Awards will be given out in October.

Last night's Hugo winners also included:

# Best Novel: The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK)
# Best Novella: “The Erdmann Nexus”, Nancy Kress (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2008)
# Best Novelette: “Shoggoths in Bloom”, Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Mar 2008)
# Best Short Story: “Exhalation”, Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
# Best Related Book: Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008, John Scalzi (Subterranean Press)
# Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
# Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: WALL-E Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter, story; Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, screenplay; Andrew Stanton, director (Pixar/Walt Disney)
# Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon, & Zack Whedon, & Jed Whedon, & Maurissa Tancharoen, writers; Joss Whedon, director (Mutant Enemy)

Davenport Public Library Uses Facebook to Document the Library's Programs

The Davenport Public Library's Facebook page serves to keep "fans" up to date on what the library is doing, including programs, building projects, and more. Now they've added photos to their page to document programs and projects as well. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!

To see how their photo page looks, visit http://bit.ly/1D5WB. To see their home page on Facebook, visit http://bit.ly/lAR3m.

Anyone else using Facebook to promote the library and "talk" to patrons? Use the comment feature on this page to tell us about it!

PROFESSIONAL BOOK OF THE WEEK

Title: Something Musical Happened at the Library: Adding Song and Dance to Children’s Story Programs

Author: Rob Reid

Summary: Are you looking to freshen up your storytimes by adding songs? Maybe you want to freshen up the songs you already are using. Reid has compiled a comprehensive listing of books, songs and dances which can be combined to create an interactive and fun storytime program.

Twin Cities Film Festival - About Libraries!

Videos should be available after the festival on YouTube and and member library web sites. When they become available we'll let you know - watch some for inspiration on how to market your library using video. The article on the festival is at http://bit.ly/4kEeJq.