MEMBER LIBRARY WEEKLY BULLETIN
No. 07-49

December 21, 2007

FLLS will be closed Monday, 12/24 and Tuesday, 12/25.

Video and DVD boxes 

We have about 40 used DVD and 100 new VHS boxes.  If you would like any or all of them, please e-mail me by December 28th.  After that, they will be recycled.  Thanks!

 

List of 2008 Events Dates

The new 2008 list of dates has been put in delivery – you should be getting it soon.  After they went, an error was discovered in May.  The system meeting is May 22nd, not the 24th.  Please note this.  Thanks.

 

South Central Regional Library Council

Grant Writing Workshop

Date/Time: Thursday, January 24, 2008; 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Location:   SCRLC, Downtown Ithaca, NY

Instructor: Barbara Berger Eden, Cornell University

Registration: $45/SCRLC members; $55 non-members.

Audience:
Librarians, directors, and support staff from all types of libraries responsible for grant proposal writing and administration.

In these days of stagnant or shrinking budgets, librarians need to identify alternative sources of funding.  One solution to this problem is to develop a successful grants program. Learn how to master writing a grant proposal by attending this workshop.

Barbara Berger Eden, Director, Department of Preservation and Collection Maintenance, Cornell University Library, has been writing proposals for the past twenty years that have covered a wide-spectrum of library projects. She has been the coordinator of projects that have included digitization of special collections to education and training of library staff.

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Please email dcapalongo@lakenet.org, send or fax this form and payment by

1/10/08 to: 

SCRLC, Clinton Hall, 108 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca NY 14850  

Telephone: 607-273-9106  Fax: 607-272-0740

Confirmation and directions will be emailed promptly.

 Name _____________________________________________________________

 Institution __________________________________________________________

 Address ___________________________________________________________

 Telephone (day) ________________________Emergency* ___________________

 Email Address ______________________________________________________

 *Emergency phone (home or cell) will only be used for a last minute change or cancellation

 REGISTRATION FEE: Refreshments included.

 

Make checks payable to SCRLC:

________ $45 per person for SCRLC members, including staff from member.  Public and school library systems

________ $55 per person for non-members

 MasterCard, Visa, Discover or American Express

 Name of Card Holder _________________________________________________

 Signature ___________________________ 3 digit code from back of card _______

 Credit Card# __________________________________ Exp.Date _____________

Cancellation Policy: Notification must be received 24 hours before the workshop to avoid a $20.00 processing fee. Prepaid registrations cancelled within 24 hours of the workshop will be issued a credit voucher, less $20.00; all others will be invoiced.  Refunds cannot be made for "no shows."

 

NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY:

IT'S A WONDERFUL FRUITCAKE CONTEST
The holidays are many things to many people, and so is fruitcake. Many love the heavy, moist, earthy tastes; some hate the thought of them; others use them for door stops. In recognition of this monumental dessert and its place in our holiday celebration, the Peabody Public Library is hosting the first annual (hopefully) ‘It's a Wonderful Fruitcake Contest.’ Make your favorite, let it stew a while, and bring it in for judging. We have five categories for potential winners, from best tasting to best doorstop. We will have six local celebrity judges on hand to lend their taste buds and their sense of aesthetics. Also to entertain will be the Sigma Eta Chorus with songs of the season. The fun starts on Tuesday, December 18 at 5:30 p.m. 

The Heron's Eye, Peabody (Columbia City, IN)             Public Library, November 2007

 

 PASTOR ORDERS HARRY POTTER BOOKS REMOVED
A Catholic pastor at a Massachusetts parochial school has made all the Harry Potter books there disappear, saying they are spiritually dangerous to children and could encourage them to engage in witchcraft.

The Rev. Ron Barker of St. Joseph School in Wakefield, MA, said he stripped the library there of the fantasy series by British author J.K. Rowling in the last month after discovering the novels were among the 10,000 volumes on the shelves.

"This is a parochial school and I have the moral authority to do this," he said in an interview with FOXNews.com. "For some people, reading those books is a vehicle to become involved in the occult. My basic premise is for the spiritual protection of the children."

Students at St. Joseph's are in grades kindergarten through eight, and range in age from 5 to 14. The Rowling series of seven books follows the adventures of a boy wizard named Harry Potter.

A group of about a dozen parents complained about Barker's decision to yank the books and wrote a letter petitioning him to put Potter back in the school library. Their concerns were included in a response the pastor drafted in the church newsletter, a copy of which he provided to FOXNews.com.

"We must allow our children the space to discover how to make current moral choices on their own," the parents wrote. "While we recognize that some fear that Harry Potter books may lead to the practice of Wicca and Satanism, we respectfully disagree that such fears warrant the removal of reading material from the school library."

Barker contends that parents and children have every right to read the Potter series, of which the seventh and final installment Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out last summer. He suggested they check them out of the public library or get them at a bookstore but maintained they have no place in a Catholic school. "I'm not preventing people from buying books," Barker said. "I'm not marching down to the public library demanding that they burn books. I'm protecting from what could be a danger to some people. Evil is very seductive."

Fox News, October 25, 2007

 

Annette's Schedule

Over the holidays, I will be out of the office for several afternoons as I'm taking a few hours off to spend time with my girls home from college.  I will be out of the office on Wednesday, December 26.  Please contact Sam at snorton@flls.org or 273-4074 x. 29 if you need die-cuts, storytime extensions or puppets.  For all other questions, please leave me a message by phone or email, and I will get back to you as promptly as possible.

 

Youth Literary Award Webcast

Find out the Caldecott, Newbery, and Alex award winners live on January 14th through ALA's webcast:

For instructions visit:
http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2007/december2007/ymawc08.htm

Bookmark this link and avoid going to the ALA website which will be jammed!
http://www.unikron.com/clients/ala-webcast-2008

  

Teen Makeover Contest Follow-up

Check out Kim Bolan’s Blog on our Teen Spaces Makeover Contest and Workshop follow-up: http://indielibrarian.blogspot.com

Snow slows, but doesn’t stop our service to teens!

 

 

Polaris Tip of the Week 12/21/2007

A new custom report has been added to Report Manager. It is entitled AA-Patron Fine Notice Date and is located in the Custom>Public Service>Patron Financial folder. This report can be used by staff to verify when a notice was printed and therefore sent to their library for mailing.  All you need to do is enter the Patron Barcode and run the report to see the Barcode, Patron Name, Library, Date and Time the notice was printed and the amount on the notice.

 

 

ILL - NO Deliveries on Dec. 24, 25, & 31, and Jan. 1. We will have substitute drivers on the Northern route: 12/26 – Don Palmer; 12/27 – George Pierro and 12/28 – Roger Wilmier.

I will be out of the office all next week. If you have any ILL questions please call June Gilligan, ext. 42.  I will return email and phone messages as soon as I can.

ILL – Renewals

Please instruct your staff to not renew Out-of-System ILLs. All renewals must go through the FLLS ILL Dept. When checking out an Out-of-System ILL item, please use the Special Loan feature and select the due date to match the due date on the goldenrod book wrap.

 

RECYCLED REFERENCE Let me know by January 4 if you are interested in either of these two items for your library:

  • 2006 Ulrich’s Periodical Directory

  • 2005/06 New York State Red Book

Thanks to TCPL and AUB for offering “almost new” reference items for use by member libraries and agencies.

 

NEW RESOURCE

Both CIN and FLLS have copies of the Civics and Citizenship Toolkit, a multimedia collection of educational resources for immigrants. It includes: 6 handbooks, 1 set of flash cards, 1 compact disc, 1 videodisc, 1 computer laser optical disc, and 1 quick start guide and is intended for immigrants interested in obtaining U.S. citizenship.  Both copies are available for holds. If you are interested in acquiring your own kit for your library go to http://www.citizenshiptoolkit.gov/ and register to receive one free copy. The Toolkit is a joint venture of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the US Government Printing Office.

 

DATABASES TRAINING - If you haven’t done so yet, please complete the 2008 Training Survey on the Computer network Services webpage. It includes a question about database training priorities. This will help me provide database training that will be most useful to you.

DATABASES – TeLL Me More

We have decided to purchase the language instruction program TeLL Me More. Our hope is to have it up and running before our subscription expires at the end of January.  Please let your patrons know about Rosetta Stone’s decision to terminate our subscription and that TeLL Me More is coming.

 

DATABASES – NOVELny Database Training Webinars 

The first of free monthly online NOVELny database training being offered by the NYS Library is scheduled for January 11 at 1:00 pm. The webinars, conducted by EBSCO Publishing, will be scheduled on a monthly basis starting in 2008. These one-hour sessions will emphasize the new Science Reference Center but will include information relevant to other EBSCO databases. To register or request further information on the webinars, contact David Fiske at the State Library, Division of Library Development by calling 518-486-4857 or by email at dfiske@mail.nysed.gov.  [NOVEL-L@listserv.nysed.gov]

 

LAST QUESTION OF THE WEEK: The worst mining accident in the USA occurred one hundred years ago on December 6, 1907; nearly 400 workers were killed when a coal mine exploded at Monongah, West Virginia. Methane gas ignited in the mine causing an inescapable situation. The explosion was felt eight miles away and shattered pavement and derailed streetcars in the town. What is the chemical formula for methane?

 

Answer: “Methane (CH4) is a colorless, odorless, flammable gas that is the simplest of the hydrocarbons. It is the major constituent of natural gas and is released during the decomposition of plant or other organic compounds as in marshes and coal mines.”

 

References

American Heritage Student Science Dictionary, 2005, p. 222. [Accessed via Science Reference Center (EBSCO) found on www.flls.org → Electronic Databases → Science].

The answer can also be found by searching Funk & Wagnall’s New World Encyclopedia (EBSCO), Grolier encyclopedias, Encyclopedia Americana and the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. You can find these resources at www.flls.org → Electronic Databases → General Reference.

Bonus Question: What is the world’s largest book? Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Kingdom, the biggest book ever produced, is a whopping 5′x7′, 112 pages, weighs 133 pounds, uses a gallon of ink, and requires enough paper to cover a football field. The previous title-holder was John J. Audubon's 19th century "Birds of America," at 2 1/2′x3 1/2′. The book was written by Michael Hawley, a scientist at MIT who has led several student expeditions to Cambodia and Bhutan, a small, isolated country of about 700,000 people. He took thousands of photos and had planned to assemble them into standard book form. But when he began playing around with the images on a state-of-the-art digital printer, he saw how spectacular the pictures looked when enlarged. The price for a copy: $10,000 with proceeds going to Friendly Planet, a charity he founded that has built schools in Cambodia and Bhutan. Hawley said he's gotten about 25 orders so far for the book. A copy of this book can be seen at the King Library, Miami University, in Oxford, OH.

 

References [accessed from www.flls.org → Electronic Databases → Magazines & Newspapers → MasterFile Premier]

  1. “Heavy reading”. Reading Today; Feb/Mar2004, Vol. 21 Issue 4, p14-14, 1/8p, 1c

2.      Hall, Ken, “Own the world's largest book for a cool 10,000”. Antiques & Collecting Magazine; Mar2004, Vol. 109 Issue 1, p17-17, 1/4p, 1c

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION OF THE WEEK : How many listings for Santa Claus can be found in the US Residential database in ReferenceUSA? [Submissions are rewarded.]

 

  • DIRECTORS’ ADVISORY COUNCIL (DAC) MEMBERS:

    If you have any questions or concerns regarding FLLS library service, you are welcome to contact a DAC member from the list below.

    Janet Steiner, TCPL, Ithaca
    Judy Barkee, Ulysses Philomathic Library, Trumansburg
    Lois Maki, Newfield Public Library
    Kay Zaharis, Cortland Free Library
    Sally Otis, Hazard Library, Poplar Ridge
    Sheila Anderson, Seymour Library, Auburn
    Diane Pamel, Southworth Library, Dryden
    Julia Schult, Groton Public Library
    Beverly Dann, Waverly Free Library

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