WASHINGTON (Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday introduced legislation to extend expiring provisions authorized by the USA PATRIOT Act. The provisions are set to expire on February 28.
IRS Provides Assistance for People With Disabilities
Hundreds of the most popular federal tax forms and publications are available for download from IRS.gov for sight impaired individuals. These products range from talking tax forms to Braille formats, and are accessible using screen reading software, refreshable Braille displays and voice recognition software. Click on the links below to download these forms and publications:
The Amelia Bloomer Project
Joy Worland, the director of the Joslin Memorial Library in Waitsfield, highly recommends The Amelia Bloomer Project, a project of the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. Founded in 2002, its mission is to select and recommend quality feminist books for ages birth to eighteen. The committee of seven public, school and academic librarians from all over the country recently met at the ALA Midwinter Conference to create this year’s list.
Joy has been following this project since she first heard of it when working on her MLS, so was thrilled to get to participate this year, spending hours with smart, opinionated, passionate committee members evaluating over 100 books to create this year’s list of 68 books.
The list is a diverse compilation including a picture book about a girl sherpa, a graphic novel about a girl fencer with the potential to save the world, a zine of advice for teen girls, and many more works of fiction and non-fiction exploring and celebrating the stories of resilient and inspiring girls and women.
For more about the project and the complete 2011 list, go to http://ameliabloomer.wordpress.com/
Vermont Online Library/Gale Database Training
Please join the wonderful Stacey Knibloe from Gale for webinars on the Vermont Online Library/Gale Databases. There will be four sessions. If you cannot attend on the day of the event, do not fret, an archive will be available.
Click on the title to register. I will send webinar instructions the day before each session.
Materials Review Sessions: Spring Dates and then Some Changes
At the Materials Review Sessions, Youth Services Consultant Grace Greene orally reviews about 75 recently published books and also displays hundreds more titles that have been favorably reviewed by volunteer Vermont reviewers or, in the case of nonfiction, the review media. All books, with the reviews taped inside, are available for perusal so librarians can see what they are getting before they order. Grace will do two “live” sessions of Materials Review this spring, one in Northfield and one at the Georgia Public Library (in lieu of Milton which is renovating), and three sessions on DVD. RETN will record the Northfield presentation, and that recording will be shown in the other three locations. The books, with the reviews inserted in them, will accompany the DVD, so participants at all sites will have access to all the books. The schedule is as follows:
VLA Public Libraries Calendar Project
DEADLINE EXTENDED!
We invite your participation in creating a full-color wall calendar that celebrates, educates about, and fund raises for our Vermont public libraries.
A home-grown venture, the 2012 VLA Public Libraries Calendar Project arose from the desire to spread the word about all that our vibrant libraries have to offer. Our Calendar Project team includes Marti Fiske, Vermont Library Association (vermontlibraries.org) president and head librarian of Williston’s Dorothy Alling Memorial Library; Marcy Kass, award-winning Williston graphic designer (marcykassdesign.com) and library trustee at the DAML; and Andy Duback, Williston-based, award-winning photographer (andyduback.com). The calendar will be printed in Vermont as well.
Each month will showcase a different library, hopefully one from each county in Vermont. Along with a spacious and inviting calendar, each month will feature:
For more information and submit the survey online (by 1/24/11 1/26/11) please go to http://marcykassdesign.com/vlacalendarproject/index.html
NETSL Award – Call for Nominations
Is there a technical services librarian in your life who has inspired you? Do you have a colleague who has tackled today’s challenges in technical services and triumphed? Do you know a person who leads the way in innovation, collaboration, or data integration? Is there someone you know who puts the service in technical services? If you know of a person who merits any or all of these descriptions, please tell us. We ask you to include documents of support along with the name of your nominee. The requirements are outlined below. The successful nominee will be presented with the award at the NETSL Annual Spring Conference 2020 Vision: A New Decade for Technical Services, Friday, April 8, 2011 , at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. Details of the conference can be found at http://nela.camp9.org/netsl/conference
Deadline for nominations is Friday, February 18, 2011
Public Library PSAs from ALA
ALA just launched Our Authors, Our Advocates , four authors’ free Facebook, Twitter and PSAs to use in spreading the word about how important libraries are. Download all or one at http://www.ourauthorsouradvocates.org.
For Friends, don’t forget Paula Poundstone’s PSA at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/altaff/about/news/poundstone/index.cfm.
Vermont Library Substitute Pool Update
We now have 55 participants in the Vermont Library Substitute Pool (VLSP) representing every county in the state! If you are a person interested in making yourself available to work as a temp or sub in a library, feel free to fill out the Vermont Library Substitute Pool Sign-Up Form hosted at the Vermont Library Association website. Libraries with a staffing need are able to request a single log in to access the VLSP. Email vermontlibrarieswebmaster@gmail.com with the name and email address of your library representative.
If you currently have access to the VLSP list for your institution, I am delighted to announce that I have worked out some bugs in the spreadsheet and it now has proper column headers so that you know what data is in what field. Apologies for the confusion! I think you will find the whole thing much easier to use now.
To sort alphabetically by the column that contains the information you want most, simply right click on the lettered column header above the information of interest and select either “Sort Sheet A-Z” or “Sort Sheet Z-A”. For example, if you want to sort by “County”, that information is held in column “G”. There is also a pull down menu that appears when you roll over the lettered column header and you can sort using that as well.
In addition, we have a new field that allows participants to list the Automated Library Systems, such as Follett or Koha, that they have experience with if they choose to provide that information. All current participants were notified of the change and allowed the opportunity amend their entries with that information. You will see it there now if it has been provided.
Call for Nominations for Vermont Library Association Awards for 2011
There are so many excellent librarians and trustees in Vermont that it is always hard to single out just one of each annually, but there are always ones who are truly extraordinary and deserve to be recognized statewide. Now is the time for you to think about who VLA should recognize this year at the Vermont Library Association Conference, and nominate those deserving colleagues.
VLA is now accepting nominations for two awards:
- The 2011 Sarah C. Hagar Award which is for outstanding service in or significant contribution to the field of librarianship in Vermont. Nominees must be working in a Vermont library and a member of VLA.
- The 2011 Trustee of the Year Award for achievement by a trustee on behalf of his or her library, either during the previous year or during his/her years of service.