Idaho Commission for Libraries

Apply for the Fall 2008 through Spring 2009 programs. Get the application here. The deadline is Friday, May 16, 2008. Funding is available for fifteen libraries to participate. Participating libraries provide a $100 cash match.

Congratulations May, 2008 Winners!

• Jan Goodman - Glut: Mastering Information through the Ages
  • College of Southern Idaho
• Colleen Bonnell - Plug Your Business! Marketing on MySpace, You Tube, blogs and podcasts
  • Payette Public Library
• Mary George - Listen Up! Poscasting for Schools and Libraries
  

Attn: Public Library Summer Reading Coordinators

One hundred eleven (111) public libraries signed up to receive free paperback books for their summer reading programs. These books are provided through a grant for $15,000 from the Fred Meyer Fund. We just received the check this week and the books have been ordered. We anticipate that the books will be shipped to the Commission by June 23rd. We plan to begin mailing books to libraries by June 27th. To see if your library signed up to receive books, check the list here.

E-branch in a Box Fall Training Schedule

The Idaho Commission for Libraries will provide a half-day update training session for all current e-Branch in a Box users. This is a great opportunity to brush up on development and troubleshooting skills for the e-Branch administrators. You will have an opportunity to work on your own site customization issues.

The Spring 2008 Books on Tape Update newsletter, order forms, and podcasts are now available for download.

Links:

• Books on Tape Update Newsletter and New Book Order Form
• New Descriptive Videos MP3

FLASH: WebJunction Idaho will be launching in October-- more information to follow soon!

In the meantime here is a list of free WEBJUNCTION WEBINARS for July and August .. be sure to register and enjoy!

Rural Webinars: Motivating Your Board -- Money, Lawsuits, and Facilities

The morning session of Next Generation: Mashed-up, Fried or Half-Baked?, a symposium sponsored by BCR and Idaho Commission for Libraries in Boise, Idaho, provided an overview of open-source software. Marshall Breeding, Director for Innovative Technologies and Research, Jean and Alexander Heard Library at Vanderbilt University, provided the 20,000 foot view.

Summer Reading Coordinators,

The Barbara Bush Foundation announced the 2009 national grant competition for Family Literacy - Deadline: September 5, 2008

Matt Goldner, Executive Dir. Of End User Services, OCLC, provided the following thoughts:
1. Create new paradigms and methods for how we create and delivery library services in today's landscape – challenge current assumptions.

2. User expectations are changing

• Simplicity
• Self-service
• Immediate gratification

Tuesday's session included Ira Frosch, President, Palazzo, Inc., presenting a perspective from outside the realm of library land, and Jamie LaRue, Director, Douglas County Libraries, providing an overview of the efforts of a Colorado library district which is working toward providing a seamless interface for the customer and the library's resources.

Another preservation workshop, this one focuses on AV media:

A Race Against Time: Preserving Our Audiovisual Media Presented by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts

November 6 & 7, 2008 – Save the Date!

Cosponsored and hosted by San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Sessions:

On April 8th, at the 2006 Southwest Idaho Library Association regional conference, the e-branch in a Box pilot project launched!

We're moving closer to the launch of the e-branch project!

At the end of October and beginning of November the Idaho Commission for Libraries will provide training sessions across the state. Sign up! Each library that attends a session will have an e-branch site to work on - with the intent that they'll leave the workshop with a ready-to-launch site.

Our first e-branch in a box trainings will be happening next week! Attendees will begin the setup of their web sites during the training and leave with either a ready-to-go site, or one that they only need apply a little more of what they've learned to make road-worthy.

Please pardon if these thoughts are a bit rambling, but I've excerpted them from an email exchange with one of our e-branch participants:

Part of the work of ensuring the longevity of a project such as the e-Branch project involves change management.

In managing change, it’s important to know what you value, and what to do when those values conflict. For the e-branch project, we’ve developed the following list of values, ranked in priority order:

1. Security
   

The most often heard request from our participating e-branch libraries is "more themes."

On Sunday April 22nd, 2007 we upgraded our Drupal software to take advantage of Drupal's 5.x branch. The process went smoothly, as we'd done much testing and planning in advance.