Happy Birthday to the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT)! This summer marks the tenth year that the Idaho Commission for Libraries-sponsored group has been working throughout the Idaho library community. This group — an output of the 2020 Futures Conference held in 2005 — was charged to serve in a crow’s nest capacity to search for innovation, propose experiments, lead pilot projects, and discover new opportunities for the Idaho Commission for Libraries and the Idaho library community.

As a result SPLAT members during the past ten years have provided a variety of support to their colleagues to enhance Idaho libraries’ capacity to better serve their communities. Outcomes have included the following:

  • The SPLAT couch at Idaho Library Association meetings provides an opportunity for anyone to learn tips and tricks in using technology, share information with colleagues, and connect with others throughout Idaho. During the past 4 years, the couch turned into a room — this year at ILA you will see the return of the SPLAT couch — come connect with SPLAT members, who are creative, inspirational, and downright fun!
  • Members of SPLAT have reached out beyond the borders of Idaho to gain additional insight by attending conferences such as Pegasus, Internet Librarian, Handheld Librarian, ALA, PLA, PNLA, Computers in Libraries, Reference Renaissance, and others. They have returned to Idaho brimming with ideas and tools to share with their colleagues.

The Idaho Commission for Libraries very much appreciates the contributions made by everyone who has been a member of the SPLAT team and would like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude. Thirty-three Idaho library community members have contributed to developing a strong library presence in our communities. To check out who is currently on the SPLAT go to http://splat.lili.org/splat-members/.

Make it a point to get acquainted with these folks – they have lots to share and would love to also learn from you so they can spread the word about coming library trends and what that means for Idaho libraries. Be on the lookout for the SPLAT members at the spring regional ILA conferences – as well as subscribe to the SPLAT blog at http://splat.lili.org
 to keep up with what’s new in library land both in Idaho and beyond!