Want to know more about how you can use social media to connect with your community?
Drop Sophie Brookover a line!

It was a treat to see staff from so many member libraries at our Spring Membership Meeting last week. We created a photo album on Facebook, and a Storify archive of tweets from the day. We'll include full coverage of the Spring Membership Meeting in this week's E-Update.

Around New Jersey, Cherry Hill PL & Piscataway PL were listed among Libraries You Should Follow on Instagram. Nice work!

Held on April 10, 2015, on the campus of Rutgers University-Camden, Telling Untold Histories was the first public history unconference held in New Jersey. Events like this highlight spaces where libraries are already active, and where we could be forging new partnerships, helping people at their points of self-identified need.

Vineland Public Schools' Landis School is the recipient of the ALA/Information Today Library of the Future Award. Says the vice principal of librarian Sally Goode: “Our library is not exceptional because we have these 21st-century learning tools. It is exceptional because our teaching staff believes in its value. It is exceptional because our librarian is exceptional.” Congratulations, Sally! (See the photo on the right)

Of course, we are bursting with pride for NJASL President and Clearview Regional High School’s Arlen Kimmelman, who has just been announced as the winner of the inaugural Ruth Toor Grant For Strong Public School Libraries from AASL. Arlen’s proposal includes working with students in marketing, broadcasting and media classes to develop a PSA campaign for the district’s school libraries. “The project will produce PSAs and marketing materials and will incorporate an open house event that will include an author visit, reading assistance dogs, a student art exhibit and a school librarian themed trivia game show.”

Despite this great news for NJ school libraries, The Press of Atlantic City reported on school librarian cuts in the face of tight budgets.

In library advocacy news, EveryLibrary has partnered with the Creative Action Network to create high-quality artwork for use by library campaigns, free of charge. This effort is the beginning of EveryLibrary’s forthcoming VoteLibraries project. (See the image below)

Outside the Lines: Libraries Reintroduced returns for 2015! This week-long event highlights the innovative work of today’s libraries in publicly visible ways. The organizers are holding two webinars in May - learn how you can participate (one webinar has already happened).

In the world of ebooks and publishing, the White House announced its ConnectED Library Challenge, a program to get free e-content into the hands of low-income students around the country. Jessamyn West asks: “Aren’t Libraries Already Doing That?” Enjoy this handy updated chart showing the current state of ebook lending relationships among the Big Five publishers, distributors & library consortia. Another useful guide: Keeping Track of YA Book Releases.

Preservation Week Round-Up: ALA’s Preservation Week was April 24-30. Here are some interesting tidbits. Lost Houdini film restored at NYU (See the image on the left) Take a look at these 1935 photos of a shelving collapse at a federal depository. Sadly, the after-photo is not much worse than the before-photo... Try this DIY recipe for book repair - works better than repair tape!

[ Compiled by Jessica Adler ]