WMRLS-One-Blog

MLA "Don't Close the Books on Libraries!" Rally on November 4

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Approximately 300 library supporters (including the 46 western and central Massachusetts librarians and supporters who took our Friends of WMRLS and Friends of CMRLS funded "Bus to Boston") rallied for our libraries at yesterday's MLA Legislative Committee's Don't Close the Book on Libraries protest at the State House in Boston.

Visit the MLA Website for a listing of media coverage of this important event.

AND

Visit our WMRLS Flickr Website to view photos of this rally taken by our western Massachusetts contingent (we'll be updating this webpage throughout the day).

Annual Meeting of the Council Of Members - Tuesday, November 17

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:01:00 +0000

Dear Members of the Western MA Regional Library System (WMRLS):

The 2009 Annual Meeting will be one of the most important in the almost-50 year history of WMRLS. It will take place at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at the Agawam Public Library. Details, directions and an online registration form are at http://www.wmrls.org/council/ . There you will also find links to documents (agenda, nominating slate, minutes, FY11 budget and plan of service) that will be reviewed and presented for approval. If you’d like, please print them to review them and bring them with you to the meeting.

The Regions just sustained State budget cuts yesterday. Their exact impact is yet to be determined. The budget for next year (FY11) is initially forecast to be reduced by at least 28%. All this news has already forced us to end our beloved bookmobile service at the end of December 2009. There is talk about consolidation of Regions, with the final number of Regions not yet determined. Many of you have expressed your concerns, and have questions about the future of WMRLS and its services.

After required business is transacted, considerable time has been set aside for Rob Maier, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, to offer us an update on the State budget situation for libraries. He will also talk about the process underway to forge future directions for Regions and their services. There will be ample opportunity for people to ask questions so they can better understand what might lie ahead for all of us.

We hope to have a great turnout for this important Annual Meeting!

Thank you,

John Ramsay
Regional Administrator, WMRLS

Governor Announces Budget Cuts To FY2010 State Budget

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:04:00 +0000

The following message was posted to the allregions email list at 1:38 pm today:

The Governor outlined today at a press conference in Worcester his list of 9C spending cuts to the FY2010 state budget. These are emergency cuts to the FY2010 state budget due to a projected $600 million revenue shortfall in the first quarter of the fiscal year. The Governor is required by law to reduce the state budget if revenues are not sufficient to the fund the state budget for FY2010. The Governor did not reduce funding in line item 7000-9506 ( Technology and Automated Resource-Sharing, line item 7000-9101( MBLC Administrative account), or in line items 7000-9402(Worcester Talking Book Library) or 7000-9406 (Perkins Talking Book Library).

However, the Governor has reduced funding for line item 7000-9401 (State Aid To Regional Libraries) by $514,000 in FY2010. The Governor has also reduced funding by $284,000 for line item 7000-9501 for State Aid To Public Libraries in FY2010.

Maureen Killoran, Head of the
Library Advisory and Development Unit
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
98 North Washington St., Suite 401
Boston, Mass. 02114
Tel: 617-725-1860 ext.220
1-800-952-7403 ext.220
email: maureen.killoran@state.ma.us

November is Family Literacy Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Our WMRLS FAMILY LITERACY MONTH Online Reading Program is Ready to Share!

One of the exciting new features of ReadsinMA Online Reading Program is the Import/Export Feature. Now one librarian can create a specialized online reading program and share the code with all participating libraries. Creating a program can sometimes take hours upon hours but importing a program takes less than a minute!

Complete information on our ReadsinMA program is posted on our ReadsinMA Librarian Information & Sharing Blog

This grant funded software program is available free-of-charge to every public library in the commonwealth (and to 6 school libraries in each region). For additional information on this program, contact Janet Eckert, WMRLS.

www.ReadsinMA.org is supported by your local library, the Massachusetts Regional Library Systems, and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, with funding from the Institute of Museums and Library Services, an independent federal agency that grows and sustains a Nation of Learners because lifelong learning is critical to success.

BOOKMOBILE service to end December 30, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:07:00 +0000

The following message was posted to the WMRLS Email Discussion List on Friday, October 23,2009

Dear Colleagues,

I am sad to let you know that the WMRLS Executive Board has approved a proposal to permanently take the bookmobile off the road at the end of December 2009. The actual proposal, which was developed after much discussion among WMRLS staff members, is attached to this email.

A variety of things make this step necessary---a decade of budget problems, a more recent lack of both drivers to take the bookmobile out and also technical services staff to promptly acquire and process a collection, and most recently the very real threat of a huge budget cut for next year with possible mergers of regional library systems. In addition, the growing number of small libraries joining C/WMARS and MassCat networks has required that the regional library put increasing resources into the WMRLS Delivery Service, and that is a trend that is not expected to slow down.

Any library that has a scheduled bookmobile visit during October, November and December will see the bookmobile as scheduled. It is your decision whether you borrow from the bookmobile as usual or only return materials. We will be working with our “bookmobile libraries” to facilitate the return of the collections they have from WMRLS now. We also will continue to fill deposit requests for materials that we will send out by delivery. You can find the deposit request form online at http://www.wmrls.org/services/additional/suppleme.html

The bookmobile program began before the regional library system did, back in the days of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Projects Administration in the 1940’s. WMRLS has continued this old-fashioned and beloved tradition as a needed and vital service to the smallest of western Massachusetts’ communities. We have found it challenging to continue the program as it was in its most proud days, so it is with feelings of great sadness that we see it to a graceful end.

Sincerely, Mary King, Regional Librarian, WMRLS

FY2011 Budget and Regional Services

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:59:00 +0000

The message below was posted to the "All Regions" email discussion list on Tuesday, October 27, 2009:

To: All Regions

The Board of Library Commissioners received 250 comments on the proposed FY2011 budget. Thank you to those who took time to share your thoughts and ideas with us. Many of your comments are reflected in this update.

Over the last few weeks I have met with the staffs and executive boards of the Western, Central, Northeast, Metrowest and Southeastern regional library systems to brief them on the overall state budget issues that have led to the proposed 28% reduction in regional budgets for FY2011, and to discuss how we move forward together to plan for regional services needed by libraries and residents under these very constrained fiscal circumstances. I will attend each of the regional annual meetings in November to provide an update and to answer questions as time permits.

For now it is important that we focus our energy on assessing and prioritizing regional services. To this end, the regional administrators have contracted with Linda Braun to facilitate two discussions. First, all regional staff will gather to identify and prioritize regional services from their point of view as providers. Second, all regional executive board members will gather to prioritize services from the point of view of regional members. This work will be completed in December. From January through March we will work from the service priorities to design the best possible regional structure to provide the most complete set of services possible. From April through June we will work out the legal and fiscal details of the new structure. And as early as possible in FY2011 a transition to the new structure will take place.

Several issues have been raised in comments submitted to the Board of Library Commissioners in October and in the meetings with regional staff and executive boards that I would like to share with you.

First, beyond the major regional services (delivery, database licensing, continuing education and training, and many more) it is eminently clear that libraries of all types appreciate and want to preserve the relationship between their staff and regional staff. The single greatest challenge in restructuring the regions is to design a system that sustains this relationship. I am hopeful that this can be done.

Second, current regional staff should be retained. However, the reality is that there will simply not be positions for all current staff given the constrained budget.

Third, the restructured regions should continue to be multi-type and not revert to public library only regions.

Fourth, restructuring should be viewed as merging of existing regions and not as dissolution of regions. Merging means preserving the strengths of our regional system; dissolution suggests starting over.

Finally, it is of utmost importance that the current regional systems drive this process so that it ultimately results in a restructured regional program that reflects the needs of all member libraries. In short this restructuring will be best if it is a ground up not top down process.

END
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert C. Maier, Director
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
98 North Washington Street, Suite 401
Boston, MA 02114
Ph (617) 725-1860 x249

Springfield City Library: Friends of Library Play Important Role

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Featured in today's The Republican

"Friends of library play important role"

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

"Do you think of your friends often and appreciate how much they do for you? Springfield City Library has been blessed with the best of friends since 1984, with the founding of the nonprofit organization the Friends of the Springfield Library Inc. For 25 years the group's purpose has been to "foster appreciation, conservation and development of the resources of the Springfield City Library system and to cultivate an awareness of the benefits it provides." .. READ MORE

Bus to State House for MLA Rally for Libraries

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Dear Western Region Library Supporters:

The Friends of the Central and Western Regions have chartered a bus to help people get to the State House in Boston for the Nov. 4 MLA Library Rally. This year, with deep State budget cuts threatening the very existence of Regions and other statewide services, it is extremely important that library supporters show up and let legislators, decision-makers and the media know how important libraries are, especially in these difficult economic times.

The bus will start at Table & Vine in W. Springfield, then the Palmer Public Library and the Central Region headquarters in Shrewsbury. Due to the cost and short advance notice, we are not able to provide a stop at WMRLS Headquarters in Whately.

For more details and the registration form, click on
http://www.eventkeeper.com/code/events.cfm?curOrg=WMRLS#1550289

After clicking on “Register” please complete the form, including your stop, and submit the form.

Seating is limited, so please register as soon as possible.

There is no charge for the bus to riders, although donations will be accepted on the bus if people want to help defray the costs.

Many thanks for your interest and support of statewide library services.

~ John Ramsay, WMRLS Regional Administrator

WMRLS Basic Library Techniques in Reference: Fall 2009 Session One

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:39:00 +0000

WMRLS thanks the Massachusetts Library Aid Association for generously sponsoring our recent day-long Basic Library Techiques in Reference Institute at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Pittsfield.

42 enthusiastic librarians attended this event which was led by Belinda Boon, Assistant Professor at Kent State University. Professor Boon granted us permission to post a selection of the workshop handouts on our WMRLS Continuing Education Workshop Notes webpage.

Dr. Boon also showcased the Library Video Network title (available for loan from the WMRLS Professional Collection) - Conducting the Reference Interview and recommended the Massachusetts Regional Library Systems Sample Reference Policies website.

‘Shades of Stockbridge’ will return to the Stockbridge Library

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:28:00 +0000

STOCKBRIDGE, MA – On Saturday, October 17, between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., the Stockbridge Library Historical Collection will host an event called ‘Shades of Stockbridge.’ During the evening, ‘spirits’ of Stockbridge past will roam around the library and mingle with visitors who may either eavesdrop or speak with them.

These spirits, or shades, represented by area residents, range from Ephraim Williams, one of the original founders of the town; Georgiana Allen, daughter of Harriet Beecher Stowe; Cyrus Field, who laid the transatlantic cable; Nathan Jackson, the founder of the Stockbridge Library and early Williams College benefactor; Catharine Sedgwick, one of the first female American authors to be recognized internationally; Mark Hopkins, President of Williams College, H. Augustus Lukeman, sculptor of Stone Mountain, GA and the Soldiers Monument in Pittsfield; Emily Tuckerman, an early summer resident; and others. They represent several eras, from 1700 to 1920, and they can talk about the era of the founding of Stockbridge until the early 1900’s. They will reminisce and also give their impressions, some favorable, some not, about Stockbridge today.

The Gentleman Burglar, a genuine Stockbridge character in the late 1800’s, sometimes shows up at these events as well.

The Victorian term ‘shade’ means spirit, explained Barbara Allen, curator of the Historical Collection. She sees the event as a fun way to learn local history, as well as being entertaining.

A $5 donation is requested. No reservation is required. For more information, call 298-5501.

November 4 - RALLY FOR LIBRARIES!!!

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:34:00 +0000

Please join library colleagues and supporters for MLA’s rally for libraries! “Don’t Close the Books on Libraries” will take place on Wednesday, November 4th at 11:00 a.m. on the steps of the State House in the “well area”. Massachusetts Center for the Book’s annual MA Book Awards will be held inside the State House from 12:30 – 2:30 p.m., so plan to attend this exciting event following our rally so that we can celebrate and support Massachusetts libraries and authors!

We will have 250 signs printed with our slogan, and so need a minimum of 250 people to carry them. We need every MA public library to send at least one staff members, trustee or friend, so that a big message can be sent regarding the devastating impact of funding cuts to the Commonwealth’s libraries. Now more than ever we must let our legislators know that cuts to libraries will negatively impact the many citizens who rely on their libraries for Internet and technology resources, books and research materials, and for help in finding jobs.

Your participation is vitally important to the future of MA libraries!

Krista McLeod & Jackie Rafferty, Co-Chairs

MLA Legislative Committee

Bushnell Sage Library 7th Annual Local Authors Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Bushnell-Sage Library's 7th Annual Local Authors Day

Saturday, November 7, 2009 from 10 to 12:30

On the first Saturday of November for the past 6 years, the Trustees and Friends of the Bushnell-Sage Library in Sheffield, MA, have hosted a Local Authors Day to celebrate local talent. Due to the space limitations at our library, we are able to host only the first 50 who accept from our database of over 230 local authors. Those 50 include authors and illustrators of children’s books, poets, cookbook writers, historians, writers of self-help books, sociologists, philosophers, and sports and mystery writers. It is a social event, not a fundraiser, for the authors and illustrators, whose profession is often a solitary one.

We are most fortunate in our corner of the tri-state area in western Massachusetts to have as much literary talent as we do. Our authors include a Peabody Award winner, an Emmy winner, and two Caldecott medal winners.

The authors and illustrators bring their books to display, sell, and autograph. The public often brings in books they already own for the authors and illustrators to sign, or they come to chat with the participants, or they bring their children to meet “real” writers. There is a coffee hour for the writers just before the public arrives and a luncheon for the participants after the morning’s event.

A group of volunteers prepare all the refreshments, the Selectmen and Town Administrator take part, the police direct the traffic, and the Friends of the Bushnell-Sage Library host the coffee hour and the luncheon. Those who work on the event feel privileged to celebrate our local talent at this popular annual event.

For more information, call 413-229-7004.

~ Nancy Hahn, Director, Bushnell-Sage Library, Sheffield

Western Massachusetts Library Club Fall Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:01:00 +0000

Tuesday, October 27 at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Keynote speaker Barbara Elleman will speak about her book Tomie dePaola: His Art and His Stories. Ms. Elleman is also the author of Virginia Lee Burton: A Life in Art. There will be time for viewing the exhibits, library, and gift shop. Lunch will be immediately afterwards at Judy's in downtown Amherst. If you plan to attend, please email Mary Senecal at msenecal@cwmarlsorg or telephone Frank Taplin at 413-534-0867. Registration deadline is October 26. Directions

Friends of WMRLS First Annual BOOK IT TO THE LIBRARY Slide Show

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:28:00 +0000

The Republican Editorials: "Region's libraries need our support"

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:59:00 +0000

"Region's libraries need our support"

By The Republican Editorials
October 07, 2009, 5:34AM

"Western Massachusetts libraries took more than their fair share of cuts this year as cities and towns struggled to make up for reduced revenues that are the result of the recession...." READ COMPLETE EDITORIAL

The Massachusetts School Library Annual Conference WOWS!

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:31:00 +0000

The Massachusetts School Library Association held their annual conference at the Sturbridge Host Hotel on October 4 and 5. I had the good fortune to attend. In the coming weeks, my goal is to review the bounty of information that I gathered at this wonderful conference and to share it with WMRLS members via our WMRLS-One-Blog and by weaving the lessons that I have learned into upcoming WMRLS Continuing Education workshops. ~ Sincerely, Janet Eckert, WMRLS

My first blog post, inspired by MSLA Conference, focuses on two fantastic Web 2.0 resources - Wordle and GoAnimate

GoAnimate: Laura Beals D'Elia, Librarian of the Fay School Library in Southborough, conducted an excellent workshop titled "My Favorite Tools". Laura shared that at the beginning of the school year, each department was alloted 5 minutes to overview the services that they provide to administrators, teachers, students, and parents. Laura and the team of librarians at the Fay School met this challenge by producing a 5 minute animated video (that is both fun and informative) titled The Library Gadget 3000 [Adobe Flash 10 is required]

Wordle: While I was aware of Wordle, I thought of it as an enhanced Word Art tool (and no more). In his keynote address titled "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Key Challenges Today for Tomorrow's School Libraries", Dr. Ross Todd utilized Wordle to highlight its "tag cloud" function. That is, Dr. Todd pasted one library's mission statement into Wordle which immediately showcased the library's serious flaw - the Wordle "tag cloud" clearly showed that this library was promoting itself rather than the services that it provides to its community. (I decided to test our WMRLS Mission Statement and pasted our Mission's text into a Wordle page. I am pleased to report that we have passed Dr. Todd's "tag cloud" test in that our services of working with libraries to cooperate, communicate, and share is dominent within our WMRLS Wordle.)

1st Annual Book It to the Library Road Race

noreply@blogger.com (njr) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:50:00 +0000

The road race on Saturday, October 3, 2009, was a success. Rain poured down on surrounding towns, but not on runners and walkers. Lots of librarians and civilians turned out to support the Western Region and libraries in general. Participants got some fresh air and exercise, met new people, and toured the bookmobile and a delivery van. It was a very rewarding day. If you'd like to see more pictures look a few articles down. If you'd like to see the results, they are listed on the CoolRunning website; the race was sanctioned by US Track & Field. If you'd like more information on conducting such an event, please attend the Friends of WMRLS Annual Meeting this Friday, October 9 at the Bushnell-Sage Library in Sheffield. Registration information in on the Western Region Continuing Education Page.

~ Jan Resnick, Assistant Regional Administrator

DATABITES!

noreply@blogger.com (Shirley Keech) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:56:00 +0000

Looking for those HELP screens in the Gale Infotrac database? They are now tucked in the toolbox. Click on the "Toolbox" link at the top of the screen and select "HELP" from the drop-down menu!

Shirley Keech
Research and Database Specialist, WMRLS

Friends of WMRLS Annual Meeting - Friday, October 9 from 10 to noon

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:36:00 +0000

Be sure to register online to attend our upcoming Friends of WMRLS Annual Meeting

Friday, October 9 from 10 to noon at the Bushnell-Sage Library in Sheffield

After a brief business meeting Leverett Library Director Linda Wentworth will report on what it took to organize the extremely successful 1st annual BOOK IT TO THE LIBRARY Road Race, which just took place as a fundraiser for WMRLS on October 3. The race was a huge success and lots of fun, so come to learn the nuts and bolts of how you can organize your own community road race! We will also hear from Regional Administrator John Ramsay about what is happening in the budget struggle for regional library systems next year. The Friends of WMRLS support the regional library with monetary donations and organizational help. They advocate for libraries all across Massachusetts and make it possible for all of us to meet with our elected state officials at Legislative Breakfasts and at the State House each spring.

Thank you to each of the sponsors of our First Annual BOOK IT TO THE LIBRARY Road Race!

“The Indispensible Librarian: Confessions and Tales from a Proud Profession”

noreply@blogger.com (Leslie Schaler) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Are you exploring career options? The Occupational Outlook Handbook says “librarians use the latest information technology to perform research, classify materials, and help students and library patrons seek information.” Whatever your image of a librarian, we want to share stories with you from cutting-edge practitioners in a dynamic and rewarding profession.

On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., the UMass Amherst Libraries is hosting a Library Career Reception on Floor 26 in the Du Bois Library, UMass Amherst. The event is open to anyone interested in seeking a degree in library and information science with the goal of becoming a librarian, including students, faculty, staff, and the general public. Light refreshments will be served. Space is limited, RSVP to libadm@library.umass.edu by Monday, October 19, 2009.

Come hear about the work of today’s librarians, learn about graduate degree programs in library and information science, and ask questions. The panel of presenters includes; Gale Eaton, University of Rhode Island; Lauri Kolakoski Fennell, National Network of Libraries of Medicine; Steven Folsom, Image Collection Library, UMass Amherst Libraries; Terry Plum, Simmons College; Beth Girshman, Jones Library; Beatrice Pulliam, Providence College; Jay Schafer, UMass Amherst Libraries; and Georgina Trebbe, Wilbraham Middle School.

For more information contact Christine Turner (cturner@library.umass.edu, 413-577-1026).

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Today is Part One of the
WMRLS Basic Library Techniques in Reference Institute

Many thanks to the Massachusetts Library Aid Association for funding this event!

Designing Publicity for Teens

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:25:00 +0000

Designing Publicity for Teens
by Mia Cabana, Assistant Youth Services Librarian, West Springfield Public Library

1. Size does matter

The size of your publicity does matter! On one end of the spectrum is the giant banner option. Using the biggest paper you can find (sometimes I tape two widths together for maximum effect) use paint to write your information in larger-than-computer-generated font. An extra-large poster is an eye-catching way to publish a big message. Sometimes an equally effective way to distribute publicity to teens is to make your flyers smaller than a full printed page. This cuts down on paper waste and also designates the teen flyers as separate from other publicity materials around the library. For example, our monthly schedule of teen programs is designed to fit on a half-sheet of paper. Usually we have just enough programming happening to fill up a half-page without looking sparse, as opposed to our programming for younger children which requires a full sheet of paper. Designing flyers that are the shape of bookmarks is also a good way to give your publicity longevity. If a teen is using a flyer as a book mark they are less likely to lose it among all the other paper they must organize, and serves as a continual reminder about the upcoming program. We have also planted flyers that are this shape in popular materials that concern an upcoming program. Randomly slipping our iPod-style flyers in a sampling of the teen CDs a few weeks before our music sharing program occurs, or tucking bookmarks about an upcoming drawing workshop in books from the manga collection, helps to disperse the message to the teens most likely to be interested in such a program.

2. Language: Slang and other Salinger tactics.

Teens today are a generation surrounded by tongue-in-cheek media, from The Simpsons to The Daily Show or The Onion. The thing that makes these medias valuable is not only their satire, but their intelligence, and this principle can be applied to teen publicity materials. Your flyers and posters can include opinions, clever asides, or jokes that set the tone of an event, while still effectively conveying the relevant information of What Where How and Who. While there is certainly something to be said for brevity and clarity in all advertising, teens seem to have a higher appreciation for wordiness than their juniors who may still be struggling with reading, and adults who have been conditioned to seek out the most relevant information from a constant barrage of language. An example of this was a poster we made advertising our poetry slam. It was printed in an old-English style font on a background that looked like parchment. The text was faux-Shakespearean, which one patron was so taken with that he insisted on reading it out loud repeatedly in his best Monty Python accent. (It got annoying after a while, but there’s no doubt that he did his part to spread the message to other patrons, vocally.) Teens also have an appreciation for language that speaks to them. Listen to the phrases they actually use amongst themselves, and beware the pitfall of slang that is trying too hard to sound cool.

3. A quick word about clip art

Teens are aware of clip art that looks too ‘babyish’ or over the top. Fortunately, versions of Word and other Office programs now include some genuinely cool stock photography options. By limiting your search to only the photo medium, you can find some surprisingly sophisticated images. Sometimes choosing a neutral image actually packs a lot of punch. For our New Year fun survey we chose photographic images of glowing candles. It was vaguely goth, vaguely mystical, vaguely New Year’s party. I’ll admit that we pretty much stole this idea from the hyper-popular cover design of the Twilight series, which is a good tactic to make our jobs easier; look to the publishing industry to see what the graphic designers who are trained and paid to appeal to teens are doing, and take your cues from well-received book covers. This helps keep your materials looking current, and reinforces the literature in your collection. We also find that using photographic images almost exclusively for our teen publicity helps designate it on sight as different from our children’s materials. Not only does this appeal to teens, it is also helpful to parents and caregivers who might be trying to grab information in a hurry. Including a few images in any written document is a quick and easy way to make it pop out as instantly more attractive and professional.

4. Original artwork- use your talented teens!

Our library has a sizeable community of budding young artists. Noticing that they were excited to have their artwork hanging in the teen area, we decided to take it one step further and ask them to contribute drawings to use in our publicity. One of our high school interns designed the iPod-style flyer we use for our music sharing program, complete with a picture of a DJ and turntables. Other teens are contributing avatar-versions of themselves to include on a poster about the Wii Rockband event we hold monthly. Original artwork gives teens a sense of ownership, helps to build community, and starts to ‘hype’ an event even before the publicity gets out there. We even got in on the action ourselves, creating a manga character known as Level 6 Librarian who appears occasionally on publicity. Quiz Night flyers feature collaged magazine images and are lettered in handwriting rather than by computer, giving them a unique, slightly subversive look. (One teen even told us she uses the Quiz Night flyers to decorate her locker at school, and as you can imagine we were pleased as punch about this!)

One note on original artwork: store it in a safe place. With teens we generally allow them to keep their original and make a photocopy so that nothing happens to an irreplaceable work of art. Keep a folder where all original artwork can be stored, especially if you plan to use it repeatedly for flyers. Scanning the images as jpeg files would also be a good option, if possible.

5. Technology

Using technology for teen publicity deserves its own article, but we have used e-mail lists to co-ordinate out teen advisory board with a high degree of success. We also have collaborated with the adult department to harness the power of Twitter to announce programming for the youth room. Using technology for publicity sometimes requires promoting the technology as much as the event itself, so paying attention to what your teens use most is a good way to try to divine where to put your efforts in mastering a new technology for publicity purposes. Having noticed the universal usage of YouTube among our teens, we put a video of our summer reading program promotional skit on YouTube so that it could be accessed repeatedly by teens and all members of the library community.

Friends of WMRLS Annual meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Lynn) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:36:00 +0000

Hello everyone:

As has been announced, the annual meeting of the Friends of WMRLS will be on Oct. 9, 2009 at the Bushnell-Sage Library in Sheffield. Coffee will be offered at 9:30, meeting is scheduled for 10 am - 12 pm. Complete information, directions, and an online registration form are available on the WMRLS Continuing Education website.
Hope to see you there!

We are hoping to make a change in Article 111-Membership, Dues, and Meetings Sect. 2 Dues. Please see below for the change in membership year. For the last few years the membership year has been Jan-Dec. We are petitioning the members to change that to October 1 - September 30.

******************************************************
Changes to BY-LAWS: the Governing Document of Friends of the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System Inc. to be voted on at the Annual Meeting, Bushnell-Sage Library, Sheffield, MA on October 9, 2009 , 10 am to noon.

ARTICLE 111-Membership, Dues, and Meetings

Section 2. DUES: Annual dues of members shall be fixed from time to time by the Board of Directors. Dues to run from October 1 through September 30 of each year.
****************************************************

For your information, the Friends' bylaws are posted on the Friends' website at http://friends.wmrls.org/pdf/bylaws-10-15-05.pdf

Cordially,
Lynn

Friends Sharing with Friends 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Mary King) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:32:00 +0000

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Massachusetts Friends of Libraries held their annual Friends of Libraries sharing session at the Marriott Hotel at Devens on Saturday Sept. 26. Commissioners Vicki Kaufman and Francis Murphy were there, and Commissioner Kaufman donated in support of the upcoming Book It to the Library Road Race which the Friends of WMRLS group is sponsoring this coming Saturday ---thank you Commissioner!

Commissioner Murphy greeted all participants and spoke of the dire budget scenario projected for next year. He reminded everyone to send their comments to Rob Maier and the Commissioners regarding how to handle the projected 16% cut in next year's MBLC budget. The time is now to weigh in, so send your emails to Robert.Maier@state.ma.us or attend the special budget hearing to be held at the Boxborough Library this Thursday, October 1. The future of regional library systems like WMRLS could depend on it.

The Friends of the Wilmington Memorial Library spoke about several fundraising efforts that have really been successful. Their Book Store Next Door is an ongoing library book sale with regular hours each week, run by volunteers. They also have many successful partnerships with businesses and restaurants under the category Bon Appetit, events which bring in funds to help the library, don't require much time to organize, and appeal to everyone's desire to eat out locally!

The Topsfield Public Library, with a town population of about 6400, celebrated its 10th library building anniversary and the 40th anniversary of the Friends of the Library. Library Director Jaclyn White described how they held two lovely local celebrations that honored the library and the Friends but was sensitive to the tight budget times. Over 350 people enjoyed the day at a cost of less than $1.00 a person!

The Worcester Public Library is "Celebrating 150 Years" and has colorful banners all over the city to prove it! Library events, grants, in-kind donations are all being used to make the anniversary year very special, and a major event to which the Friends of the Worcester Public Library is contributing.

The final program of the day was called Creating a Successful Region-wide Friends Group, and to my surprise it came from the WMRLS area. A representative from each of the Friends groups for the Agawam Public Library, the Chicopee Public Library and the Palmer Public Library talked about the one-year-old Pioneer Valley Friends of the Library organization which invites Friends of any library within a 15 mile radius of Springfield to get together to trade information and discuss common problems and solutions. Marcia Capuano of the Agawam Friends and Carolyn Fitzgerald of the Chicopee Library Friends are instrumental to this group but the monthly meetings are hosted at different libraries and run by the host libraries, after a library tour. Barbara Benedetti of the Palmer Friends group spoke of their hugely successful May Basket Raffle to benefit Top Floor Learning which is housed at the Palmer Library; the annual raffle raises as much as $9000.

Thank you to Maureen Killoran and Brian Donoghue of the MBLC and to Alice Welch, President of the Massachusetts Friends of Libraries for putting together a great day of information and inspiration for Friends of Libraries all across Massachusetts.

Please comment on MBLC Budget

noreply@blogger.com (The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS)) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0000

To: Massachusetts Libraries and Library Users

The Board of Library Commissioners budget cap for FY2011 is a 16% reduction in total funding from this year (FY2010). This is a much more dramatic cut than we have been required to take at this point in the budget-making process than in preceding years, and the resulting reductions in program funding require Board direction.

In order to assure that the library community can comment on the potential impacts of this budget, the location of the October 1 Board meeting has been changed to the Sargent Memorial Library in Boxborough. The regular monthly meeting will be called to order at 10:00 and run until about 11:30. At that time the Board will take a half hour break and at Noon convene a budget comment session. Please take this opportunity to comment to the Board on how to direct a 16% budget cut. The Board asks that speakers limit their presentations to 5 minutes to assure that all who wish to be heard have that opportunity. Written comments for the record are requested and electronic versions of comments are most useful. It is not necessary to appear in person to comment. Comments may be submitted to robert.maier@state.ma.us.

To give a sense of the magnitude of this reduction, one option under consideration is: reduce funding to regions and library of last recourse by 28% (use the remainder of this fiscal year to develop a consolidation plan with the regions), reduce funding to automated networks by 27%, reduce funding to the talking book programs by 16%, level fund State Aid to Public Libraries and the agency administrative account. Clearly, each of these is challenging for the Board, for our libraries and for the residents we serve.

Please take these opportunities to let us know what you think. The Board can make the best possible budget recommendations only after hearing from a broad segment of the library community. This is going to be a very challenging year for all of us and there is no end in sight to the fiscal challenges facing the Commonwealth. Revenues continue to decline and federal stimulus funds used to balance the FY2010 budget will not be available in FY2011. The road back will be rocky at best, so the changes we make in FY2011 should be viewed as permanent.

The Board will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, October 6 at the agency offices beginning at 10:00am. The purpose of this special meeting is to consider the comments received on October 1 and determine how to meet the 16% reduction. The Board’s budget submission which must meet the cap is due October 9.

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Robert C. Maier, Director

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners

98 North Washington Street, Suite 401

Boston, MA 02114

Ph (617) 725-1860 x249