VT Senate Government Operations Committee holds hearing on confidentiality bill

On January 17, librarians representing VLA and VSLA testified in support of S. 220, a bill to protect the confidentiality of library records. Posted here are links to testimony by Trina Magi, Susan Monmaney, and Karen Lane, a letter from a parent, and the marked-up bill showing changes requested by VLA and VSLA. For a Q&A sheet explaining the rationale behind the bill and a handout you can distribute to patrons, see the January 8 post titled “Library Confientiality Bill Introduced in VT Senate” in the Intellectual Freedom section of the VLA Web site. If you have questions or comments, please contact VLA Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair Trina Magi, 656-5723 or trina.magi@uvm.edu.

Trina Magi’s testimony

Susan Monmaney’s testimony

Karen Lane’s testimony

Sandra Lindberg’s letter

Bill with changes requested by VLA and VSLA

Netflix

A colleague asked me what I thought about the use of Netflix to meet the DVD needs/demands of public library users.  This person was interested in using the Netflix service as a way to provide titles that are either unattainable via inter-library loan or beyond the scope of the library’s collection.  What do you think?  If you’ve made use of Netflix in your library, please share your experience.  Thanks!  -  Judah Hamer 

Public Library Funding and Technology

Update: Feb. 7, 2008 memo

The full report, “Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2006-2007 Report” has been published. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the American Library Association (ALA), the Study is part of a sustained effort to provide current information that describes access to computers and the Internet in U.S. public libraries. It’s also available from the ALA Store

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VLA Advocacy Committee Meeting – All Are Welcome!

The VLA Advocacy Committee will be meeting at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington on Friday, February 15th at noon. The agenda so far is:

  • Revisit our mission, goals and role in the VLA.
  • Plan the “What is a Lobbyist?” event for the VLA Conference.
  • Brainstorm new projects to work on, such as statewide broadband service.

We are a relatively new addition to the VLA and still growing, so please join us as we embark on exciting new projects and shape our committee to best serve the VLA and our collective communities. If you can join us, please let me know. If you can’t join us but wish you could, let me know that, too, as well as best days/times/locations for next time. We can’t accommodate everyone, but we can try!

See you on the 15th!

Helen Linda

celestihel [at] gmail [dot] com

VLA Advocacy Committee Meeting – All Are Welcome!

The VLA Advocacy Committee will be meeting at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington on Friday, February 15th at noon. The agenda so far is:

  • Revisit our mission, goals and role in the VLA.
  • Plan the “What is a Lobbyist?” event for the VLA Conference.
  • Brainstorm new projects to work on, such as statewide broadband service.

We are a relatively new addition to the VLA and still growing, so please join us as we embark on exciting new projects and shape our committee to best serve the VLA and our collective communities. If you can join us, please let me know. If you can’t join us but wish you could, let me know that, too, as well as best days/times/locations for next time. We can’t accommodate everyone, but we can try!

See you on the 15th!

Helen Linda

celestihel [at] gmail [dot] com

Midwinter wrap-up

I was very pleased to be appointed to the Human Resources Development and Recruitment (HRDR) Committee which is an advisory committee and meets once at each conference to advise the HRDR Office in the Chicago offices of ALA. Lorelle Swader is the director of the office which oversees the ALA Joblist and the Emerging Leaders program at ALA among many other things. We met on Monday afternoon and heard Lorelle speak about the programs in her office. I was particularly pleased to be attending as a state representative during the discussion of the emerging leaders program. This is an ALA program which trains young librarians to be leaders in the library field. Thus far the two groups of graduates in the program have been absorbed into the ALA organization. It is my intention to urge the HRDR office to send some of the ALA emerging leaders back  to work at the state level. Lorelle was happy to have me on board as a representative of the chapters and said that they want people in the program to become leaders at the state level as well. I look forward to continuing the work on this committee for the next two years. If you are interested in the program you may get more information from me anytime.

Nancy Wilson

802-453-2366

readmorenow@comcast.net