Illinois - Rural Outreach

Needs Assessment Resources

2007-07-24T18:00:05Z

Just found this great resource on Needs Assessment Strategies from Iowa State University Extension Services.

I'd love to see the start of a collection for assessment tools so please share your favorites here!

Thanks,
JP

Re: Bookmobiles

2008-02-12T01:25:36Z

I don't know how we would operate without our bookmobile. They did 52,000 in circ and all of the schools in our district really depend on it. We put 16,000 in savings every year for a new and and have started to look.

Grants for Children's books

2008-01-09T17:06:39Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 2008

The Libri Foundation is currently accepting applications for its 2008 BOOKS FOR CHILDREN grants. The next deadline is Jan. 25th.

The Libri Foundation is a nationwide non-profit organization which donates new, quality, hardcover children's books to small, rural public libraries throughout the United States. Since October 1990, the Foundation has donated over $3,500,000 worth of new childrens books to more than 2,300 libraries in 48 states, including Alaska and Hawaii.

In order to encourage and reward local support of libraries, The Libri Foundation will match any amount of money raised by your local sponsors from $50 to $350 on a 2-to-1 ratio. Thus, a library can receive up to $1,050 worth of new children's books. After a library receives a grant, local sponsors (such as formal or informal Friends groups, civic or social organizations, local businesses, etc.) have four months, or longer if necessary, to raise their matching funds.

The librarian of each participating library selects the books her library will receive from a booklist provided by the Foundation. The 700-plus fiction and nonfiction titles on the booklist reflect the very best of children's literature published primarily in the last three years. These titles, which are for children ages 12 and under, are award-winners or have received starred reviews in library, literary, or education journals. The booklist also includes a selection of classic childrens titles.

Libraries are qualified on an individual basis. In general, county libraries should serve a population under 16,000 and town libraries should serve a population under 10,000 (usually under 5,000). Libraries should be in a rural area, have a limited operating budget, and an active children's department.

Please note: Rural is usually considered to be at least 30 miles from a city with a population over 40,000. Town libraries with total operating budgets over $150,000 and county libraries with total operating budgets over $350,000 are rarely given grants.

Applications are accepted from independent libraries as well as libraries which are part of a county, regional, or cooperative library system.

A school library may apply only if it also serves as the public library (i.e. it is open to the everyone in the community, has some summer hours, and there is no public library in town).

A branch library may apply if the community it is in meets the definition of rural. If the branch library receives its funding from its parent institution, then the parent institutions total operating budget, not just the branch librarys total operating budget, must meet the budget guidelines.

Previous BOOKS FOR CHILDREN grant recipients are eligible to apply for another grant three years after the receipt of their last grant.
Libraries that do not fulfill all grant requirements, including the final report, may not apply for another grant.

Application deadlines for 2008 are: (postmarked by) January 25th (NOTE:
THIS IS AN EXTENSION), April 15th, and August 15th. Grants are awarded January 31st, April 30th, and August 31st.

Application guidelines and forms may be downloaded from the Foundation's website at: www.librifoundation.org.

For more information about The Libri Foundation or its Books for Children program, please contact Ms. Barbara J. McKillip, President, The Libri Foundation, PO Box 10246, Eugene, OR 97440. 541-747-9655 (phone); 541-747-4348 (fax); libri@librifoundation.org (email). Normal office hours are: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Pacific Time.

John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award

2007-08-15T21:15:59Z

Read the [url http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2007/august2007/jcda08.htm]press release[/url] for the 2008 John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award contest. The deadline for entries is December 6, 2007.

Inaugurated in 1946, the Award honors effective strategic communication: the art and craft of getting the right message to the right audience at the right time and getting the right results. Entries may represent any library public relations program that supports a specific project, goal, activity or a sustained ongoing program (e.g. the promotion of a summer reading program, a year-long centennial celebration, fundraising for a new library, an awareness campaign or an innovative partnership in the community).

Winners Receive a $3,000 Grant!!

Marketing workshops in Denver and Kansas City

2007-07-09T18:44:31Z

This just came to my attention:
Marketing as If Your Library Depended On It is a free, two-part class to help your library improve its effectiveness, its finances and its political support from users and decision-makers. As a participant, you will immediately apply ideas you learn in class at your library and then share your results in presentations and online. Although the focus of the class is medical libraries (this is an MLA CE class), the program is aimed at a multi-type audience: academic, special, public and school librarians are welcome to attend. Enrollment is limited, so please apply soon! Feel free to spread the word.

You can choose to attend the class at two locations: Denver and Kansas City, Missouri. Each class has two sessions. Each session will be held from 10 am to 5 pm. (The two sessions are not duplicates; this is, in effect, a two-day class spread over several weeks.)

Friday, August 24, 2007 and Friday, November 2, 2007 Anschutz Medical Campus Building 500-Bruns Conference Room Colfax & Ursula-Aurora, Colorado. The UCDHSC Anschutz Medical Campus is located in the east central part of the metro Denver/Aurora area southwest of the intersection of I-70 and I-225. The main entrance is north on Ursula St. from Colfax Ave. Ursula is between Peoria and I-225. Building 500 is at the North end of Ursula at the round-about.

Friday, September 7, 2007 and Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - Kansas City Public Library, Westport Branch, 118 Westport Rd., Kansas City, MO 64111.

After July 10th, registration will be available at http://nnlm.gov/mcr/

What makes this marketing class special?

- A curriculum that accurately explains what marketing is: Conducting conversations with your past, current and potential library users and decision makers and then applying the main toolspartnerships, targets and benefit statementsto improve the library's relationships with the people who use it and those who finance it. Past participants say how surprised they were to find out that library marketing was more than brochures and press releases and how quickly they leverage their library's effectiveness, even with a bare bones budget and no extra staff.

- Free support for a real marketing project, one that you can reasonable conduct even with your busy schedule in just a few days.
We provide simple, one-page reports to help you structure your project, and unlimited e-mail and phone support over a two-month period.

- The opportunity to share your ideas with your colleagues from around your region. You will return to class about two months later for a second session, where you will discuss your experiences, good and not-so-good. Past attendees have said that although the first session is very useful, the second session is the icing - dozens of ideas about marketing, politicking, advertising, promotion, research and strategic planning from library peers in the region. Even if you are not able to finish your marketing project, you are still invited to join the conversation and learn more about marketing in libraries.

- Reporting ideas online. Whether or not you are able to attend the second day, you will still be able to post your reports online to share with the greater library community.

Facilitator: Pat Wagner and her husband Leif Smith own Pattern Research, Inc., a 32-year-old research and training business in Denver. Pat has been working with libraries as a trainer and consultant since 1978, focusing on personnel, management, leadership, marketing, career and strategic planning issues. She has a checkered past in the performing, visual and literary arts as a poet, graphic designer, publisher, writer, radio talk show host and printer.

Pat is a LAMA/ALA Regional Institute trainer and conducts CE programs for the Medical Library Association. She is a frequent presenter at state and national library conferences, including ALA, MLA, and SLA.
Pat also has contributed articles to state and national library publications, most recently: Conflict Management for Libraries:
Strategies for a Positive, Productive Workplace, ALA Editions, 2005; Connecting With Campus & Community: Real-Life Marketing & Promotion Strategies for College Libraries. Haworth Press, 2006; Library Marketing Services, March-April 2006: Designing Promotional Materials That Are Legible.

This free program is open to non-medical librarians and library associates as well as medical library personnel. The only requirement is that you are or will become a member of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine - MidContinental Region. If you are not a member, you can easily apply on the website (http:// nnlm.gov/mcr/). If you are not a hospital librarian, they will want to apply for Affiliate status.

Questions and comments? For content questions, please contact Pat Wagner, at pat@pattern.com. Logistics and information about the National Network of Libraries of Medicine: Barb Jones, Missouri Liaison, University of MissouriColumbia; 1-800-338-7657; jonesbarb@health.missouri.edu.

Spanish Language Outreach

2007-05-16T15:27:12Z

I know this is last minute, but I'm hoping there are folks out there who have selected this area in their action planning who would be willing to speak briefly about their library's activities at next weeks' [url /do/Navigation?category=13496]Rural Webinar[/url]. We've got plenty to cover but were hoping for some of your stories as well. If you would like to bring your experience to the discussion, email me this week: petersoj@oclc.org.

Thanks so much,
Jennifer Peterson

Re: Bookmobiles

2006-10-13T17:11:10Z

Hi and welcome to both of you!

I have this nostalgic romantic notion about bookmobiles. Even though I grew up in the city, we had a bookmobile visit out grade school regularly. It was always a special day, like a field trip. There was something so enticing about climbing into the big vehicle and being intimately surrounded by books, like a playhouse of learning or something. I think it's the bookmobile's interior environment that offers more than just a delivery van ever could. Stll, a van is better than nothing for reaching isolated communites

I hope you can find a way to continue (and start!) the services. I'd love to hear from others who have bookmobile service and how it works for them. I know that some of them are equipped with computers and even with Internet connections where possible.

Re: Bookmobiles

2006-10-13T04:51:50Z

We are a small library district in SW Colorado. Pagosa Springs in the largest town in the district and we are the only library. Unless the voters approve a 1.5 mill levy increase in November, we will not be in a position to even think about a bookmobile. If the mill levy doesn't pass, we would like to start mailing books to our patrons in outlying areas of the county. The idea of your van also sounds interesting and not as expensive as purchasing a bookmobile, even if it is used. I would like to hear more about how your books by mail and van delivery work. I would like to know how your patrons request their books, which delivery method works better; mail or van delivery, and course the cost to the library. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sustaining the Rural Library presented by Dr. Bernie Vavrek on OPAL

2006-09-26T15:22:47Z

NOTE: This event will be held in the OPAL Auditorium. You will find the Auditorium at:

http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0

First time visitors to OPAL will find instructions for joining an OPAL meeting at the end of this message.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday, October 4, 2006 beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 9:00 a.m. Central, 8:00 a.m. Mountain, 7:00 a.m. Pacific, and 2:00 p.m. GMT:

Sustaining the Rural Library: A Discussion of Current Trends Facing Public Libraries

What are the current trends and issues affecting the operation and administration of rural public libraries? What are some strategies for sustaining rural libraries? Join Dr. Bernard Vavrek for a discussion of current challenges and future opportunities for rural public libraries.

Bernard Vavrek is Professor of Library Science and Chair of the Department of Library Science at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. He is also director of the Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship, an entity dedicated to supporting rural and small libraries across the United States. He is an active member of the American Library Association and the Association of Rural and Small Libraries. Currently, he serves in an advisory role to the Rural Library Sustainability Project, and MaintainIT, two programs sponsored by the Gates Foundation. His teaching specialties include reference resources, rural library services, marketing, and public access computers.

Sponsor: State Library of Kansas
Location: OPAL Auditorium

This OPAL online program is free and open to everyone. There is no need to register. For current information about this event, as well as live links into the online meeting room and to background information, please visit the following URL:

http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Instructions for joining an OPAL conference:

To join an OPAL conference, you will need:
1. An Internet connection (high speed preferable).
2. Headset (preferable because it minimizes feedback) or speakers.
3. A microphone. (A headset with built-in microphone is preferable.)
4. A web browser. (Internet Explorer is recommended but other browsers work. To view archived OPAL sessions, you will need Internet Explorer.)

Instructions for installing the OPAL plugin and for joining a meeting:
1. Go to the OPAL Auditorium at:
http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0

2. If this is your first visit to OPAL, click on "Install Plugin" and follow the instructions to install the "tcConference" plugin.

3. When the installation is complete, return to the yellow sign in page at:
http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0

4. Type your name in the white box labelled "Name:" and click on the "Enter" button.

5. You should now be in the OPAL Auditorium.

You can find archived training and orientation sessions for OPAL at:

http://opal-online.org/archiveopal.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cindi Hickey
State Library of Kansas
chickey@kslib.info

Bookmobiles

2006-09-21T15:01:48Z

We are working on a new five year plan, 2007-2012. Our bookmobile (our 4th!) has 97,000+ miles on it. We know that it will probably die (or become very ill!) during the coming five years. We have priced bookmobiles. We are brainstorming about fallback positions if we're not able to afford a new bookmobile, even spaced over several fiscal years. Ideas so far are - second hand bookmobiles (e-Bay!), smaller (than our current 22' ) vehicles which allow for limited selection (does anyone have one of these already?!). We already have a van to deliver boxes of requested materials, books by mail, and homebound service, but there is much greater use of the bookmobile than these other services, and our % of patrons who are children is largest on our bookmobile than at any of our 5 library locations. Anyone want to help us puzzle out what an alternate to a bookmobile could be, and have the same use/popularity/efficiency? Also, is there any guide to help us make hard choices, such as,"If there are fewer than x patrons or x circulation (as a % of our total use, or as hard numbers), you can't really justify a bookmobile"? Thanks! We live in the Shenandoah Valley so have many country roads and little towns and hills and dales. Ours is a very personal service, with grateful isolated patrons bringing in homegrown veges and homemade treats for this very much appreciated service. Over the years our county supervisors seem to like this service which goes outside the bigger population centers and into the towns in their own districts. I don't even like to think about trying to find an alternate to bookmobile service when this bookmobile passes away. But I admit I'm an old dog now, myself. LindaKrantz

Re: Web Site re-vision

2006-08-14T18:13:21Z

I had a few changes to my web page. I added some new local links and did a few other changes. My patrons haven't said much, but hopefully someone will see a difference.

Amy

Re: Web Site re-vision

2006-07-26T17:08:13Z

Some valuable info to consider when rethinking the layout and navigation of your website. The following link includes a discussion, visual, and links related to SirsiDynix's work with Kent State on tracking eye movements on web pages:

http://stephenslighthouse.sirsi.com/archives/2006/07/eye_tracking_an.html

Findings jive with other usability studies:
- Left side navigation is most effective
- Readers rarely scroll down "below the fold"
- Images (as opposed to text) help dictate movement/focus

Hope this is helpful!

Mike Burkett
WebJunction Support

Re: Library Connections Brainstorm

2006-07-18T16:30:31Z

Thanks for posting this great idea! I've added it to the brainstorm list.

Re: how to get a bond vote passed???

2006-07-17T21:35:32Z

Another example of impact statistics, this time from New York State Public Library:
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/stackup.htm

I think that it is always important to show people that the return on their $5-10 per household tax increase will have an exponentially greater return.

Andrea

Re: Library Connections Brainstorm

2006-07-17T17:31:32Z

The Sugar Grove Library will join in with other libraries across the nation in a day of remembrance and celebration. According to Bill Erbes, of the Bensenville Community Library "libraries represent the sum of all human knowledge, and they represent equal access to that knowledge. libraries represent freedom of expression, celebration of diversity, a playing field that is level, preservation of heritage, and commitment to the future."

The Sugar Grove Library will open our doors for service at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, September 11, 2006 and remain open for 24 hours. During this time we will host Ceremonies at our Flag Pole, story time, patriotic videos, a night-time quilting bee, community gatherings, and visits from our local Heroes with the Sugar Grove Police and Fire Departments. The Sugar Grove Library Friends will be hosting a Coffee/ Snack Bar throughout the event.

We invite our community to join us throughout this remembrance to read, reflect and resonate with pride in celebration of our American freedoms. Most of the time we just provide library business as usual, with people acknowledging how special it is to have the opportunity to be with us as we all remember.

Our internet connection is always a busy one. It is well used during this 24 hour time period! Last year we participated in an international IM conversation as outlined here: http://sugargroveyouth.blogspot.com/

If you are choosing to mark the day in anyway please also consider registering your activity at The September Project site.

http://www.theseptemberproject.org/venue.aspx

Public Library/Public School collaboration in rural communities

2006-07-03T22:13:09Z

A question was sent our way...

"Help needed:
Any word of creative public library/public school cooperation in building lifelong learning campuses or some such way of serving both groups in rural areas? I have the report put out by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction but am looking for non-traditional ideas."

I'm not familiar with the Wisconsin report, but can offer up a resource I put together when in grad school (attached) on Family Literacy collaboration efforts between public and school libraries. I would love to hear from the WJ rural community of interest! Thanks for the great question.

Re: how to get a bond vote passed???

2006-06-30T20:54:45Z

Mary Beth, thanks for sharing this excellent resource. And thanks 'rosall' for asking the question.

Although there are many intangible benefits of libraries, funders definitely like to see some facts and figures. There is an equivalent message in this [url http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=8496 ]Dear Mayor letter[/url] written by Bob Watson, a library director in Illinois. You might also want to look at the [url http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=1204 ]Demostrating Impact: Making Your Case[/url] focus page.

btw, the PowerPoint above is a big file (>7 M and takes awhile to download, even on a fast connection. However, it is worth it --it's beautifully put together and is packed with great information and easy-to-read charts.

Re: how to get a bond vote passed???

2006-06-30T19:37:05Z

It would be helpful to come up with a presentation that gives the community an idea of how the library benefits the community. For instance, Florida did a Return on Investment study in 2004 to determine how their libraries were benefiting the community. They discovered that Floridas Public Libraries Return $6.54 for every $1.00 Invested!

You can find the whole powerpoint presentation here: http://tinyurl.com/epseo

Good luck,

Mary Beth

Message was edited by:
blg3 --I hope you don't mind that I converted your very long url into the tiny url. The long urls force the message window to get extra wide and forces the reader to do a lot of scrolling back and forth. --Betha, Community Assoc.

Re: Outreach Definition

2006-06-30T19:27:27Z

I'd be willing to help.

MB

Re: Web Site re-vision

2006-06-30T19:25:59Z

Hi Nancy,

Have you considered rethinking your web site as a blog? Much easier to maintain and update. I work in a regional consortium of libraries, and a number of our libraries have done this in some form - they've either incorporated a blog into their web site or have chosen to use a blog as their web site.

Here's a link to the pages: http://www.selco.info/about/members/blogs.html

Good luck!

Mary Beth