Midstate Library Service Center to Re-open October 19

Good news!

The Midstate Library Service Center will re-open to school and public libraries on Tuesday, October 19.

DOL will send a letter this week (via email) to all school and public libraries with details about MLSC services and our new borrowing policies. We urge libraries to review the new policy (to be posted later this week on the DOL website) before visiting MLSC. Please note that we are not able to extend service to the general public.

New MLSC hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 10 am – 4 pm.

MLSC will keep this schedule of reduced hours until further notice. We are continuing the long, arduous process of weeding and merging three book collections (Midstate Library, State Library in Montpelier, and Northeast Regional Library) which will be completed no later than June 30, 2011.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. If you have questions, please contact Jeremiah Kellogg at MLSC (828-232-0) or Assistant State Librarian Christine Friese (828-2714).

ECHO Open Door Library Program Update

ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center will continue to offer the ECHO Library Pass program in 2011. In January all Vermont libraries will receive information on the updated program, new passes, posters, etc.

The current Library ECHO passes, which have an expiration date of October 31, 2010, will continue to be valid and honored at the ECHO Front Desk through January 31, 2011.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact:

Emilie Mattesich
Membership Coordinator
ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
1 College Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Tel: 802 864-1848 x 134
Email: emattesich@echovermont.org

Secretary of State Outreach to Voters with Disabilities

The Department of Libraries is working with the Secretary of State to get special information on voting out to Vermont’s disabled citizens. I am asking libraries to help with this effort by displaying posters and distributing handouts. Please help spread the word!

The following items are available:

Text to send out in an email (Attached here as a Word document)
Postcard handouts (Contact Pat Sears at Spike Advertising for copies. Contact information below.)
8 1/2 x 11 poster (Attached here as a PDF or Pat Sears can send out hard copies.)

Libraries can contact Pat Sears directly to have handouts and posters sent to them: pat@spikeadvertising.com or 802-951-1700.

spikeadvertising.com/Download/SOS/Voting_email.doc
spikeadvertising.com/Download/SOS/voting_poster.pdf

Thank you.

Martha Reid
State Librarian
Vermont Department of Libraries
109 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05609
802-828-3265
martha.reid@state.vt.us

Disaster Assistance Information Available

DisasterAssistance.gov is a user-friendly Web portal that consolidates disaster assistance information in one place. Individuals in need of assistance following a presidentially declared disaster designated for individual assistance can now go to DisasterAssistance.gov to register online.

I Love My Librarian Nominations Open Through September 20

Just a reminder that nominations for the national Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award run through September 20. Nominations are accepted at www.ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.

The award invites library users nationwide to nominate librarians in public, school and college, community college and university libraries and tell how librarians make a difference in their campus community.

Thanks to the generous support of Carnegie Corporation of New York, 10 librarians will win $5,000 and be honored at an awards ceremony in New York in December, hosted by The New York Times.

Free tools to help let library users learn about the award are on the award website by clicking on the “Promotional Tools for Librarians” link.

In 2008 and 2009, ten librarians were honored with the award. You can learn about them, as well as other winners, at www.ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian. Click on the links that say “2009 winners” or “2008 winners.”

Winners of the 2010 award will be announced to the public in December. If you have any questions, please e-mail Megan Humphrey at the American Library Association: mhumphrey@ala.org.

Membership survey…closing September 17th

The Vermont Library Association leadership would like your feedback. Please click on the link to reply to our 5 question survey. Membership Survey

The survey will close on September 17th so please fill it out if you haven’t yet!

Banned Book Week Poster

Each year ALA sponsors Banned Books Week to highlight our 1^st Amendment right to read.

In the past two years the education committee of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Vermont chapter (on which I serve) has offered free ALA posters to 21 school, public and college libraries in order to help them use this week to draw attention to the dangers of censorship.

We have money to do this again this year.

The first ten libraries to email response to this post will receive the ALA Banned Book Week poster offered this year by ALA and shown in the ALA graphics catalog (p. 6) that was recently mailed. The 2010 poster measures 24” by 32” and retails for $16.00.

See the 2010 poster at http://www.alastore.ala.org/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=269

Building Communities Grant Program – 4 Grants Available

The Building Communities Grants Programs consist of five grant programs established and funded by the Vermont Legislature to “help communities preserve important historic buildings and enhance community facilities”. All of these grant programs, with the exception of the Barn Grants, require that the applicant be a non-profit organization or municipality. The deadlines for all five occur in the fall, and selections are made by individual boards through an established selection process. All grants require a match; matching funds from local fundraising efforts are encouraged. The grants of interest to public libraries:

Historic Preservation Grant Program
www.HistoricVermont.org

Cultural Facilities Grant Program
www.vermontartscouncil.org

Recreational Facilities Grant Program
http://bgs.vermont.gov/formsandpublications

Human Services & Educational Facilities Grant Program
http://bgs.vermont.gov/formsandpublications

Save the date! Videoconferencing in libraries

Within Reach: A Live Free Videoconference Connecting All Parts of Vermont to Each Other and the World.

September 21, 2010
1:45 – 3:45 pm
At all VIT sites

We invite library directors, library staff, library trustees, and library Friends to come to this informative and live, interactive presentation. The more the merrier!

Category Archives: News