Here's a summary of what many libraries across the country are doing in these tough economic times.
Ohio - Unlike Texas, Ohio libraries receive most of their funding from the state. The governor is proposing cuts of more than $200 million for libraries. The Ohio Library Council has waged a very visible media campaign to save their libraries. View it at http://saveohiolibraries.com/. Since the budget cuts are proposed at this time, there are no announced closings or layoffs. The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County is seeking a five-year, one-mill levy on the city's ballot. If the levy does not pass, PLCHC will close 15 to 20 branches out of 40.
Seattle - Seattle Public is expecting $1 million in cuts and will limit check outs and impose extra fees. Currently, users can check out up to 100 (!) items but that will be reduced to 50. Users will also be allowed only 25 holds. ILL use is currently free, but customers will have to pay $5 per transaction beginning in October. They will also impose fines for children's materials and increase nonresident card fees. The library will also close for one week in September - http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=info_visit_holidays_budgetcuts.
New York City - Originally, a 22% budget cut was proposed for three of New York City's library systems - Queens, Brooklyn and NY. The drastic cuts were restored somewhat and kept the libraries open 6 days a week and avoided any massive layoffs. This was due to a strong cry from the public supporting libraries. I came across this site http://www.support.nypl.org/ which I thought you might find interesting. It promotes different membership fees for library groups.
Muncie, Indiana - Closed two of five locations June 1 and converted a third location to a noncirculating genealogy facility. The library has already reduced from 78 FTEs to 63 FTEs and will lose an additional 20 positions later this year. Check out their "Tough Times, Tough Choices" site on their budget at http://www.munpl.org/default.asp?PageIndex=726.
California - Libraries are suffering a double dose of budget woes. Not only is the state slashing library funding, but the state is also borrowing from local governments and that reduces local funding to libraries as well. Every type of public library will be affected. Santa Cruz will cut $1.2 million from its $12.6 million budget resulting in reduced hours, decreased materials and raised fees and fines. The state library of California will also close several days a month due to enforced furloughs for employees.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Talking Book Program
As many of you know, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission has a Talking Book Program which circulates audio materials to disabled patrons at home. Currently, patrons must use a very old and clunky tape player for their audiocassettes.
The Talking Book Program will be debuting a new digital talking book and cartridge player in the next few months. You can see the new player here http://www.loc.gov/nls/businessplan/playerdescription.html. I've seen a demo of the player and it is really easier for patrons. It's much smaller and lightweight for those with hand/joint problems. The cartridge is an USB connector in place of bulky tapes or CDs. The buttons are really large and easy to see or feel.
General links for the Talking Books can be found here http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/tbp/engbrochure.html including instructions for patron eligibility and registration including an application form in Spanish. There is also a link to the collection which currently includes 80,000 titles and magazines/newspapers.
The National Library Service for the Blind and Visually Handicapped site is http://www.loc.gov/nls/.
The Talking Book Program will be debuting a new digital talking book and cartridge player in the next few months. You can see the new player here http://www.loc.gov/nls/businessplan/playerdescription.html. I've seen a demo of the player and it is really easier for patrons. It's much smaller and lightweight for those with hand/joint problems. The cartridge is an USB connector in place of bulky tapes or CDs. The buttons are really large and easy to see or feel.
General links for the Talking Books can be found here http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/tbp/engbrochure.html including instructions for patron eligibility and registration including an application form in Spanish. There is also a link to the collection which currently includes 80,000 titles and magazines/newspapers.
The National Library Service for the Blind and Visually Handicapped site is http://www.loc.gov/nls/.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Organizing Your Personal Titles List
Are you at that point where you can't remember if you read a particular title or not? Do you need a way to list the books you've read in something better than an Excel list or Word document? How about those patrons who want to mark up either western or romance paperbacks because they can't remember if they read them or not? Would you like to participate in online book discussions with a group that is interested in similar genres?
There are several online services that will organize your personal reading - what you've read, what's on your wish list and provide social sites for readers. Most of these services work pretty much the same and are free - except for LibraryThing that will charge you for any list over 200 titles. You create an account, then add the books, write reviews, rate the titles and share your books with others. You can also add more than books such as DVDs, computer games and music on some sites.
My Library in Google Books is found at http://books.google.com/books?uid=17981071956566413743. It's a typical Google service with lots of options.
LibraryThing http://books.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=75375&topic=9259&hl=en has 700,000 users and is highly recognized in the library crowd.
GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/ is the one that I belong to and can recommend. There are a lot of users involved in lively discussions.
Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/ advertises itself as a social media site that focuses on books. I've never used it, but it's popular in my Yahoo discussion group.
Reader 2 http://reader2.com/
Gurulib http://www.gurulib.com/
Some church libraries keep up their catalogs with sites like these.
There are several online services that will organize your personal reading - what you've read, what's on your wish list and provide social sites for readers. Most of these services work pretty much the same and are free - except for LibraryThing that will charge you for any list over 200 titles. You create an account, then add the books, write reviews, rate the titles and share your books with others. You can also add more than books such as DVDs, computer games and music on some sites.
My Library in Google Books is found at http://books.google.com/books?uid=17981071956566413743. It's a typical Google service with lots of options.
LibraryThing http://books.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=75375&topic=9259&hl=en has 700,000 users and is highly recognized in the library crowd.
GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/ is the one that I belong to and can recommend. There are a lot of users involved in lively discussions.
Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/ advertises itself as a social media site that focuses on books. I've never used it, but it's popular in my Yahoo discussion group.
Reader 2 http://reader2.com/
Gurulib http://www.gurulib.com/
Some church libraries keep up their catalogs with sites like these.
School/Public Library Cooperation
As we all know, the words cooperation and collaboration are used a lot these days especially for public and school libraries. Here are a few resources that have popped up that you may or may not be aware of:
TSLAC now offers a free online course, "Everyone Wins - When School and Public Libraries Cooperate!" which is found at http://onlinetraining.tsl.state.tx.us/. Willie Braudaway recommended this course to me and I took it. It takes about 2-3 hours to complete. (Pay attention to everything - there is a test!). This course discusses several cooperative ventures that are being done in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S. Most of the material is done in audio so you do need speakers to finish this course.
I found several sites that have good assignment alert forms for public libraries. Assignment alerts are done by teachers or school librarians. They fill out an online alert for the public library before the students begin flooding the library for materials. Tulsa Public Library's is here http://teens.tulsalibrary.org/virtual/assignment.asp and Wichita Falls Public Library's is here www.wfpl.net/assignmentalert.htm. Both of these forms are simple to fill out and give enough information for the receiving public library to reserve those materials for the class. You could easily adapt either form to your Web site.
There is an article in the May/June issue of Public Libraries, "A Common Purpose: Public/School Library Cooperation and Collaboration." The author discusses the elements of success (communication, cooperation and respect) and give a solid list of practical suggestions such as summer reading, educating teachers on public libraries and school reading lists.
TSLAC now offers a free online course, "Everyone Wins - When School and Public Libraries Cooperate!" which is found at http://onlinetraining.tsl.state.tx.us/. Willie Braudaway recommended this course to me and I took it. It takes about 2-3 hours to complete. (Pay attention to everything - there is a test!). This course discusses several cooperative ventures that are being done in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S. Most of the material is done in audio so you do need speakers to finish this course.
I found several sites that have good assignment alert forms for public libraries. Assignment alerts are done by teachers or school librarians. They fill out an online alert for the public library before the students begin flooding the library for materials. Tulsa Public Library's is here http://teens.tulsalibrary.org/virtual/assignment.asp and Wichita Falls Public Library's is here www.wfpl.net/assignmentalert.htm. Both of these forms are simple to fill out and give enough information for the receiving public library to reserve those materials for the class. You could easily adapt either form to your Web site.
There is an article in the May/June issue of Public Libraries, "A Common Purpose: Public/School Library Cooperation and Collaboration." The author discusses the elements of success (communication, cooperation and respect) and give a solid list of practical suggestions such as summer reading, educating teachers on public libraries and school reading lists.
Free Online Training
If you are looking for free training for you or your staff, I've found two well known sites that are good places to go to.
You Tube http://www.youtube.com/ has great free training videos on a variety of subjects. The time and quality of the training varies, but there are a lot of videos available to you. Just type in the product name in the search box. I searched for Excel and came up with 26,900 videos. I've used it several times myself for specific problems that I was having with Photoshop. In my experience, the trainers were tech guys in their office cubicles teaching how to do very specific functions in Photoshop. The videos lasted under 5 minutes.
Microsoft www.microsoft.com offers training on the Office suite of products (Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, Publisher and several others) for the 2003 and 2007 year releases. One of the nice features on the Microsoft site is that you can download a free 60-day version of the product that you are looking for. The Microsoft site doesn't offer videos, but uses graphics to show how to accomplish tasks. Find the free self-paced training here http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/default.aspx.
Microsoft also links to other free tech training through BrainStorm Inc. http://www.brainstorminc.com/cbt/microsoft/index.html, Lynda.com http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA103523831033.aspx, and HP Learning Center http://h30187.www3.hp.com/campus.jsp?campusId=10129.
Some of these sites require some software such as Windows Media Player or Quick Time Player so if you have trouble viewing any of them, check the system requirements.
You Tube http://www.youtube.com/ has great free training videos on a variety of subjects. The time and quality of the training varies, but there are a lot of videos available to you. Just type in the product name in the search box. I searched for Excel and came up with 26,900 videos. I've used it several times myself for specific problems that I was having with Photoshop. In my experience, the trainers were tech guys in their office cubicles teaching how to do very specific functions in Photoshop. The videos lasted under 5 minutes.
Microsoft www.microsoft.com offers training on the Office suite of products (Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, Publisher and several others) for the 2003 and 2007 year releases. One of the nice features on the Microsoft site is that you can download a free 60-day version of the product that you are looking for. The Microsoft site doesn't offer videos, but uses graphics to show how to accomplish tasks. Find the free self-paced training here http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/default.aspx.
Microsoft also links to other free tech training through BrainStorm Inc. http://www.brainstorminc.com/cbt/microsoft/index.html, Lynda.com http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA103523831033.aspx, and HP Learning Center http://h30187.www3.hp.com/campus.jsp?campusId=10129.
Some of these sites require some software such as Windows Media Player or Quick Time Player so if you have trouble viewing any of them, check the system requirements.
Dropping Dewey
Rangeview Library District in Colorado made the news this week with their announcement that they are eliminating the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) from their books. See the original article from Library Journal here http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6663145.html?industryid=47105. The library's official announcement can be found here http://www.rangeviewld.org/rangeview-library-district-%E2%80%9Cbreaking-dewey%E2%80%9D and you can see a photo of their spine labels.
Rangeview is the first library to implement a new cataloging system in all of its locations. Maricopa County Library District http://www.mcldaz.org/default.aspx dropped Dewey in a couple of branches a few years ago. In Texas, Southlake Public Library http://www.cityofsouthlake.com/SouthlakeGovernment/City_Departments/Library/default.asp is currently converting its collection away from Dewey, although I only found Dewey numbers in their catalog.
So what are these libraries using in place of Dewey? It's not LC (Library of Congress) classification. They are using the Book Industry Study Group's Book Industry Standards and Communication (BISAC). BISAC has 52 major subdivisions as opposed to Dewey's 10. It is considered more intuitive and user-friendly and found in bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders. BISAC's subject headings are here http://www.bisg.org/standards/bisac_subject/index.html. Rangeview adapted their own classification scheme from BISAC and called it WordThink. Baker & Taylor have BISAC and WordThink subject headings available for their titles.
If you are interested in what some in the library community are saying about this, check out the Annoyed Librarian's blog http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/580000658/post/690045469.html.
Rangeview is the first library to implement a new cataloging system in all of its locations. Maricopa County Library District http://www.mcldaz.org/default.aspx dropped Dewey in a couple of branches a few years ago. In Texas, Southlake Public Library http://www.cityofsouthlake.com/SouthlakeGovernment/City_Departments/Library/default.asp is currently converting its collection away from Dewey, although I only found Dewey numbers in their catalog.
So what are these libraries using in place of Dewey? It's not LC (Library of Congress) classification. They are using the Book Industry Study Group's Book Industry Standards and Communication (BISAC). BISAC has 52 major subdivisions as opposed to Dewey's 10. It is considered more intuitive and user-friendly and found in bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders. BISAC's subject headings are here http://www.bisg.org/standards/bisac_subject/index.html. Rangeview adapted their own classification scheme from BISAC and called it WordThink. Baker & Taylor have BISAC and WordThink subject headings available for their titles.
If you are interested in what some in the library community are saying about this, check out the Annoyed Librarian's blog http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/580000658/post/690045469.html.
A T & T Grants
I have been trying to find out more information about AT&T grants, but I have trouble navigating their site. So in an effort to save you some time, here's what little I know about them:
The site states that AT&T will be announcing their new direction in the near future (they worked with schools and student success in 2008). I can't find any information on the date they will announce their new direction.
According to the site, "AT&T makes corporate contributions throughout the year in the form of project-specific financial support to nonprofit organizations in communities where AT&T has a significant presence." After reviewing several news releases about A T & T grants, the San Antonio area seems to be a significant presence to them.
The main page for grants is here http://www.att.com/gen/landing-pages?pid=7735.
They are interested in these general areas: strengthening our communities, investing in people (especially diverse populations) and innovation and technology.
I found this article at ehow.com. - http://www.ehow.com/how_2090676_get-att-grant.html. I can't vouch for its accuracy, but it looks reasonable to me - except for #3!
Follow the directions AT&T has set forth to obtain one of their grants. Some say that AT&T grants are solicited by AT&T and not vice versa. However, AT&T's website explains the process. Follow all the directions that the website sets forth and receive your invitation to solicit the grant.
Set up a 501(c)(3). AT&T grants money to two types of organizations. The first organization is a 501(c)(3) public charity. A public charity, according to the IRS, is an organization whose purpose is to relieve the poor, advance religion, advance education, erect a public structure, lessen the government's burden, eliminate prejudice, defend rights, and combat community deterioration. Look up the eHow article on how to get the 501(c)(3) tax status. Make sure the organization's purpose is broad enough that it seeks to address an AT&T focus area.
Set up the second type of organization that AT&T grants money to- a governmental instrumentality. A governmental instrumentality includes public libraries, fire and police departments, and public social service organizations. Start a public library by going to your community's governing council. Ask for an ordinance for the maintenance of a public library. Have books donated and then approach AT&T for a grant for other resources.
Choose one of AT&T's focus areas and approach them for a grant in that area. AT&T focuses on programs that begin to solve the issues surrounding quality of life. Quality of life is defined as including organization's purposes that are improving education-especially technology, advancing community development, services that aid community needs, and organizations that grow cultural assets.
Submit an application. AT&T accepts applications throughout the year. An application can be found on AT&T's website or by calling 1-800-591-9663. Follow the directions of the online application and attach all extra documents that the application asks for. An incomplete application will diminish your chances of being considered for the grant.
Get recognized by AT&T. Increase your chances of receiving an AT&T grant by being the type of organization that AT&T grants to. Be leaders in the community. Forge strong ties with community leaders and the people of the community. Diversify your organization's workforce. Be a welcoming organization to people of all abilities and cultures. Change your community for the better and be recognized for it.
I can't find an application form but the article above suggests calling 800/591-9663 for an application. Remember, they haven't announced what they are interested in funding this year, so you might want to wait until we know more.
I'll keep you posted.
The site states that AT&T will be announcing their new direction in the near future (they worked with schools and student success in 2008). I can't find any information on the date they will announce their new direction.
According to the site, "AT&T makes corporate contributions throughout the year in the form of project-specific financial support to nonprofit organizations in communities where AT&T has a significant presence." After reviewing several news releases about A T & T grants, the San Antonio area seems to be a significant presence to them.
The main page for grants is here http://www.att.com/gen/landing-pages?pid=7735.
They are interested in these general areas: strengthening our communities, investing in people (especially diverse populations) and innovation and technology.
I found this article at ehow.com. - http://www.ehow.com/how_2090676_get-att-grant.html. I can't vouch for its accuracy, but it looks reasonable to me - except for #3!
Follow the directions AT&T has set forth to obtain one of their grants. Some say that AT&T grants are solicited by AT&T and not vice versa. However, AT&T's website explains the process. Follow all the directions that the website sets forth and receive your invitation to solicit the grant.
Set up a 501(c)(3). AT&T grants money to two types of organizations. The first organization is a 501(c)(3) public charity. A public charity, according to the IRS, is an organization whose purpose is to relieve the poor, advance religion, advance education, erect a public structure, lessen the government's burden, eliminate prejudice, defend rights, and combat community deterioration. Look up the eHow article on how to get the 501(c)(3) tax status. Make sure the organization's purpose is broad enough that it seeks to address an AT&T focus area.
Set up the second type of organization that AT&T grants money to- a governmental instrumentality. A governmental instrumentality includes public libraries, fire and police departments, and public social service organizations. Start a public library by going to your community's governing council. Ask for an ordinance for the maintenance of a public library. Have books donated and then approach AT&T for a grant for other resources.
Choose one of AT&T's focus areas and approach them for a grant in that area. AT&T focuses on programs that begin to solve the issues surrounding quality of life. Quality of life is defined as including organization's purposes that are improving education-especially technology, advancing community development, services that aid community needs, and organizations that grow cultural assets.
Submit an application. AT&T accepts applications throughout the year. An application can be found on AT&T's website or by calling 1-800-591-9663. Follow the directions of the online application and attach all extra documents that the application asks for. An incomplete application will diminish your chances of being considered for the grant.
Get recognized by AT&T. Increase your chances of receiving an AT&T grant by being the type of organization that AT&T grants to. Be leaders in the community. Forge strong ties with community leaders and the people of the community. Diversify your organization's workforce. Be a welcoming organization to people of all abilities and cultures. Change your community for the better and be recognized for it.
I can't find an application form but the article above suggests calling 800/591-9663 for an application. Remember, they haven't announced what they are interested in funding this year, so you might want to wait until we know more.
I'll keep you posted.
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