March 24, 2016
We are always working to improve the delivery service and regularly communicate with our vendor. At our most recent meeting with Dynamex, they reported an astonishing fact: 75% of the packages sent through the service have labels that are not date-stamped by the sending library.
This date-stamping is used to triage the package sort and to expedite items. It also help us identify where and why there are any delays in the sort/delivery.
Two things libraries need to do to help move things along efficiently:
1. Date-stamp the front of every label, and stamp the back of every label with your library’s name
2. Prioritize your bins by first sending materials that are filling requests before sending out bins with simple returns
Please share this information with all staff involved in your delivery. We will check in with the vendor next month to see if there is any improvement.
A partnership between the Library of the Chathams and two Girl Scouts, Zoe Iorizzo and Emma Dowling, has resulted in the opening of a mini-library in the Morristown Soup Kitchen.
Dowling and Iorizzo approached Library Director Karen Brodsky about working with the soup kitchen for their Girl Scouts Silver Award project, and Brodsky matched them with Mary Kennedy, head of Technical Services at the library. The mini-library takes the form of a library cart on long-term loan to the soup kitchen, along with a variety of donated books, and weeded books in good condition.
The girls recently shared that the mini-library has been running well and the soup kitchen’s guests enjoy having access to good reading material to go with their meals. Kennedy remarked that “this could be a program worth expanding to other soup kitchens or even homeless shelters.”
We’d love to know more about other partnerships between libraries and food security organizations, so please do sbrookover [at] librarylinknj.org (drop us a line) if you have one to share with us. If you have photos, include them, as well!
Images courtesy of Jason Koestenblatt, Chatham Patch
Gale Cengage Learning has a special offer on Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) eBooks for LibraryLinkNJ public and K-12 school libraries. Whether your library already has GVRL or not, your eBook purchases will be available via the GVRL Platform.
Below is a sample of the discount terms. The offer runs through August 31, but discount amounts change after March 29, so please visit the discount page for full details, including title lists for the collections mentioned here.
Public Library Members Who Purchase by March 29, 2016:
- Purchase 2 -9 Gale eBook Front List Titles: Receive 15% Off!
- Purchase 10 -19 Gale eBook Front List Titles: Receive 25% Off!
- Purchase 20 – 29 Gale eBook Front List Titles: Receive 35% Off!
- Purchase 30 or More Gale eBook Front List Titles: Receive 40% Off!
- Order by March 29th and Select FOUR FREE eBook Titles from the ‘Gale Classics’ List
School Library Members Who Purchase by March 29, 2016:
- All Gale eBook Front List Titles: Save 25% Off
- Purchase 2 -4 Titles: Select TWO FREE eBook Titles from the ‘Gale Classics’ List
- Purchase 5 or More Titles: Select FOUR FREE eBook Titles from the ‘Gale Classics’ List
Remember to visit the discount page for full offer details, trial access, and vendor contact information.
LibraryLinkNJ has renewed our discount offer on Junior Library Guild: print books, ebooks and audiobooks. The renowned collection development and book review service rarely offers discounts on its already-discounted packages, so please do take this opportunity to see if the offer can work for your library.
The offer is available to LibraryLinkNJ public and K-12 school library members through September 30, 2016. Visit the discount page for complete pricing details, along with trial and vendor contact information.
LibraryLinkNJ has a renewed and updated discount offer with Capira Technologies for our public library members.
Capira's customized mobile apps personalize your library for an optimal patron experience, including state-of-the-art functionality and services, such as digital library cards, self-checkout, remote renewal capabilities, and much more.
CapiraConnect utilizes iBeacon technology to allow libraries to interact with patrons in a whole new way. Small battery-powered Bluetooth proximity sensors placed throughout your library building, combined with the CapiraConnect app installed on iOS or Android devices, send push notifications to patrons’ devices, including account, event, shelving and contextual information as they move about the building with their device.
LibraryLinkNJ public library members receive 10% off CapiraMobile and 20% off CapiraConnect. View complete details, including Capira in the news and local testimonial! This offer is good through February 28, 2018.
Webinar: Keep It Social, Stupid! Social Media Strategy Real Talk
Tuesday, April 19, 2016 | 3:00-4:30 PM
Presented by Maryann James-Daley, Web & Social Media Librarian, DC Public Library
Audience: all library staff involved in developing online communications
Your library’s active in social spaces. You’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. But how do you make sure you’re using those spaces efficiently? And how do you plan for future growth -- and unexpected developments? In this session, we will discuss how to take your library’s social involvement to the next level with Web-based tools and basic strategies.
Learning Objectives:
After participating in this webinar, you will be able to:
- Create a strategic document for your library’s social spaces
- Audit tools to increase employee social productivity and monitor user engagement
- Create a framework for keeping up on social posts during absences, emergencies and times of low staffing
- Establish a rubric for branching out into new social spaces – and determining which to ditch
Registration is open now and spaces are going fast - register today!
Save the Date!
Workshop: Makerspace Next Steps: New Ideas and Strategies for Community Engagement
Date: Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Location: Monroe Township Public Library (Middlesex County)
Audience: Staff from all library types who are actively involved in directing the initiatives of their library's established makerspace. Libraries are welcome to send up to two participants.
Cost: $25 per participant, with a limit of 50 participants total.
Are you actively involved in directing the initiatives of your library’s makerspace? Are you interested in bringing your library’s makerspace programming, events, and materials to a wider, more engaged audience in your community? If so, we want you to save the date for this interactive workshop with the community engagement experts from P’unk Ave.
P’unk Ave’s deep roots in design, web architecture, and community development make them a perfect fit for this next step in the Makerspace Project we launched with the NJ State Library in 2014. (You may remember Geoff DiMasi as the keynote speaker from our 2014 Spring Membership Meeting.)
We’ll open registration for this event on April 20. We hope to see you there!