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Fall Membership Meeting -- Join Us!
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LibraryLinkNJ’s Fall Membership Meeting will be held on Thursday, December 5, 2013 in three locations around the state.
Join us to enjoy refreshments, networking, tech giveaways and an energizing keynote, Every Day We’re Hustlin’: Making a Difference In Our Communities, with Christian Zabriskie, Founder and Executive Director of Urban Librarians Unite.
Win an iPad or Nexus Tablet!
We will be raffling off two devices from last year’s Tech Speed Dating equipment at each location.
- iPad 2 with Retina display: wifi equipped, 16GB
- Google Nexus 10 Tablet: wifi equipped, 16GB
Audience: Everyone! We’ve selected three venues across the state (connected by videoconference) to it make as convenient as we can, so please come out to network and participate with your colleagues!
Space is limited, so don’t delay — register today!
Date: Thursday, December 5, 2013, 1:45 - 4:00 PM – three locations to choose from! Full agenda & registration information.
Every Day We’re Hustlin’: Making a Difference In Our Communities with Christian Zabriskie
Over the last four years Urban Librarians Unite has made a huge impact despite being a tiny organization with minimal resources.
They've been part of advocacy fights that have won hundreds of millions of dollars in budget restorations, have spoken up for librarians in NYC schools, and have responded to Hurricane Sandy. They have established Mini Libraries and dispatched a Volunteer Library Brigade to get librarians out into the streets.
Christian Zabriskie, the founder and executive director of ULU, will discuss leaning into the controlled crazy and how a small group of dedicated people can make a big impact even with no money. He will talk about what worked, what didn't work and how libraries can serve their communities in unexpected ways. |
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Mobile Contract Awards |
LibraryLinkNJ is pleased to announce that the following eleven member libraries have been granted contract awards under the second round of LibraryLinkNJ’s Mobile Project, NJ Libraries On The Go, for a total subsidy of $61,450. The contract awards ranged from $500 to $10,000.
Mobile Contract libraries for 2013-2014:
- Bergen County Cooperative Library System (BCCLS)
- Bernards Township Public Library
- Elizabeth Public Library
- Gloucester City Free Public Library
- Library of The Chathams
- Monmouth County Library
- Moorestown Public Library
- Ocean County Library
- Pals Plus Consortium
- Parsippany – Troy Hills Public Library
- Warren County Library
The contract libraries selected the following vendors: Boopsie (7), Infor (1), LibraryAnywhere (1), Polaris (1), and Sirsi/Dynix (1).
The population served by these eleven members is 3,277,723 – 37% of the current state population. This figure fulfills the project goal to expand and enhance the number of member libraries that have a mobile presence useful to, and used by, their customers.
In addition to the Executive Director, the Mobile Evaluation Task Force included Melissa Brisbin (Cherry Hill Public Library, formerly Cape May County Library), Janice Cooper (Board liaison, Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan), Joanne Roukens (LibraryLinkNJ Assistant Director), and Jenny Tong (East Orange Public Library). Warm thanks for their time and energy.
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Delivery Contract Renewal, Plus….
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We’re very pleased to announce a contract renewal with our delivery vendor for calendar year 2014. |
Some important points to share with all pertinent library staff:
- Delivery Vendor Velocity Express LLC was purchased and the new company name is Dynamex Operations East, Inc. (“Dynamex”). Shout it loud and clear. The delivery vendor now is not Comet, not CD&L, and not Velocity, but Dynamex. The same NJ drivers and warehouse staff remain in place. Drivers will have new blue uniforms sometime in January that might even match the color of our tote bins.
- Bags: Costs for plastic bags have increased 7% since last year. We expect efficient use of the plastic bags provided by the office and the reuse/redistribution of bags for an appropriate amount of time. Please discard them once they’re torn and grungy.
- Out of state? Big trouble: Loaned materials from outside New Jersey cannot and must not be placed in the delivery system. The borrowing library is responsible to return out-of-state ILL materials on their own dime.
- Schools: Few school libraries are participating in the delivery service. Some schools have been removed from delivery during this fiscal year. Staff should double-check to be sure a school is still on delivery before shipping materials to school libraries.
Kudos to your library staff who communicate quickly to the office with delivery problems!
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Reminder: Closure for Weather
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As they say in Westeros, Winter Is Coming, and with it, winter weather and library closures. Please bookmark our handy Closed For Weather form so you can let us know to skip delivery on days when you’re closed.
Please only use this form for weather-related closures.
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Contract Award - Next Chapter Book Club for New Jersey Libraries (NC4NJL). |
LibraryLinkNJ encourages libraries to expand the areas of diversity services and recently awarded a contract of $9,850 to the Scotch Plains Public Library.
At the invitation of Cheryl O’Connor, Scotch Plains Public Library Director Meg Kolaya developed a project proposal linked to the Statewide Strategic Plan goal area, The Library as Community Anchor. Using the project template from the Statewide Strategic Plan, Meg and Pamela Brooks, Head of Adult Services and Reference, developed a proposal with the following premise: "A group of five to eight people with intellectual disabilities, regardless of their reading skills, gather with…volunteers in a local bookstore, coffee shop, or café to read aloud and discuss a book for one hour a week.” This is the Next Chapter Book Club’s model community literacy program for People with Intellectual Disabilities. LibraryLinkNJ has contracted with the Scotch Plains PL to gather, train and mentor select staff from six volunteer member public libraries across the state to develop and launch local Next Chapter Book Clubs by June 2015. The project is Next Chapter Book Club for New Jersey Libraries (NCBC4NJL).
Pamela Brooks shares her experience to pique your interest:
“We are very enthusiastic about sharing participation in Next Chapter Book Club with more New Jersey libraries through NCBC4NJL. Our library’s involvement with Next Chapter Book Club has been an amazing experience on so many levels. On Tuesday evenings we leave our library at 5 pm, drive the 5 minutes to our local Panera Bread, and await the arrival of our club members. And then the fun begins!"
“We are told repeatedly that “book club” is the high point of so many club members’ weeks. What we volunteers did not anticipate is that it has become a bright spot in our busy weeks as well, energizing us, and enriching our routines with laughter, warmth and the joy of sharing a love of books and reading with others.
“Think about the benefits: the library is a community anchor, even when it moves beyond brick and mortar walls. Restaurant-goers who recognize us from the library see us engaged in the community in a very positive way. People who are not regular library users are curious and supportive when they observe the clubs in action. We volunteers give an hour and see our efforts rewarded as reluctant readers become enthusiastic book lovers, people who often face isolation and ostracism form a close and supportive group bond and practice skills like ordering food, paying with the correct money, interacting with restaurant staff, and making conversation. The library shines as an example of how vision, coupled with personal interaction can foster community inclusion while addressing the needs of the differently-enabled. We volunteers go home tired but happy. We invite you to join us any Tuesday evening to experience a meeting, and see if NCBC4NJL is right for your library.”
Additional information will be shared at the sites of the December 5 membership meeting.
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TechEx
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Guest Contributor Tyler Rousseau is posting each week in November on Makerspaces. |
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Tyler is the Emergent Technologies Coordinator at the Monroe Township Public Library and a member of the team that created the award-winning technology lab, Studio M. You can view his Makerspaces posts, or check out his first two posts right here:
FAQs for 3D Printers - Tyler explains what exactly 3D printers are and how they work. He also provides must-know tips and tricks for offering a 3D printer for public use.
Why 3D Printing - Responding to reader feedback, Tyler answers a fundamental question: why are we doing this in libraries, anyway?
Also, did you catch TechEx Digest in October? Around the middle of each month, we will post a round-up of our favorite posts to the LibraryLinkNJ Forum. If you are signed up to receive forum posts from the Announcements board via email, you will receive the Digest automatically. You can manage your email subscriptions when you log into your LibraryLinkNJ account.
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Continuing Education Updates & Opportunities |
Resources from Past Programs
Not to toot our own horns or anything, but have you seen the incredible treasure trove of materials from our past programs? Put continuing education on your schedule with tools like recorded webinars! Handouts! Slide decks! How-To Tips! Collection Development! Programming! Working With Tablets & E-Readers! Pinterest! Google Drive! Customer Service! All this & more awaits you at our Past Programs & Materials page.
Facebook Forums: An Experiment in Flexibility
So far, we’ve held two Facebook Forums on our Facebook Page this fall. This is a way of using Facebook as a real-time discussion venue, where we harness the fast pace of social media conversations as well as participation based in part on serendipity to host occasions for online networking and idea-sharing.
Our first two topics have been Time & Stress Management and Social Media 201: We Have Facebook & Twitter, NOW What?! We’ve added links to each conversation -- which you can contribute to anytime -- at the Facebook Forum page on our website.
Our next Facebook Forum will be held on December 4th, and we’ll be discussing How We Collaborate Now -- what collaboration tools do you use, at work or personally, to help you work smarter? Co-host John LeMasney has written a reflective blog post on this topic already -- use it as a prompt for yourself or share it with your colleagues.
For the December Forum, we’ll continue the experiment by holding the conversation over three one-hour blocks: 11 am - 12 pm, 2 pm - 3 pm, and 8 pm - 9 pm. You don’t have to be a member of the NJ library community to participate, so if you have friends & family members who would enjoy and benefit from participating in this discussion, spread the word!
January Webinars
Practical Outreach for Every Community
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 | 10-11:30 AM
Presented by Keisha M. Miller, Beth Halliday and Allen McGinley
Description
With so many competing options for information and entertainment at our fingertips, it’s more important than ever for library staff to get outside of the library and promote their valuable services to the communities they serve, regardless of size and demographics.
Join Keisha M. Miller, Beth Halliday and Allen McGinley, librarians in teen, children’s and adult services, for an energizing and interactive webinar packed with practical advice, tools, and techniques for revitalizing outreach services to children, teens, and adults.
Learning Objectives
After participating in this webinar, you will be able to:
- Develop a better understanding of the community you serve, and its demographics;
- Identify opportunities for reaching new users in your community;
- Develop innovative approaches to engaging & retaining new users, and
- Implement these strategies to revitalize outreach services while balancing your time and responsibilities.
Registration for this webinar will open at 9 AM on Monday, December 2.
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Leading From the Library
Thursday, January 30, 2013 | 3-4:30 PM
-- Details & registration to come
Save The Date for this boffo webinar with 2012 Library Journal Mover & Shaker Jennifer LaGarde!
Lynda.com - Common Core: Exploring K-12 Standards and Keeping Up with Educational Technology
Got 30 minutes? Discover how the Common Core State Standards impact the work of librarians and teachers with middle school teacher Aaron Quigley’s Common Core: Exploring K-12 Standards. Common Core is designed to standardize education across the nation, and school librarians and teachers are expected to implement CCSS. It’s an important topic for public and academic librarians, as well, in our role as partners in the education of students. Aaron explains what the standards are designed to do—prepare high school students to be college- and career-ready—and breaks down the guidelines for math, English literacy, history, science, and other subjects.
Keep up to date with educational technology with this new series Teacher Tips. Pick and choose from these short (most under 20 minutes) training videos from Aaron Quigley. The series covers a variety of productivity apps, learning management systems, and other technologies, using a project-based approach that simulates the real K–12 or university classroom environment. Each introduces a new tip you can use to be more efficient, and increase student achievement. Aaron also covers concepts like the flipped classroom, Common Core Standards, and the role of social media in education.
This massive lynda.com online training library is available free to all members of LibraryLinkNJ. Details on the program and our monthly registration procedure can be found on our website. |
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