URGENT! Call your Representative and tell them to Support the Museum and Library Services Act!

I am forwarding this message from the ALA Washington Office and hope that you will follow-up with calls to Congressman Welch’s office NOW asking that he support the Museum and Library Services Act. This bill will re-authorize the work the LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) federal funding that fuels so many library program across the country. LSTA funding is absolutely critical to quality public library support in Vermont.

LSTA in Vermont is used to support:

DOL library consultant program for public libraries
Summer reading program for children and teens
Cooperative Interlibrary loan program with UVM so that citizens can borrow from UVM collections
Vermont Automated Library System (VALS)
Continuing education program for public library employees
Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Resource sharing grants for public and academic libraries
First Wednesday programs in nine public libraries
Vermont Online Library databases

Ask Congressman Welch to support this bill for full reauthorization of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the LSTA funding. See below for more information.

Rockingham Free Public Library – Bellows Falls, VT (Windham County)

Join our friendly, experienced team and never be bored! We have many opportunities for volunteers here in our beautiful 100-year-old Carnegie Library. All the usual tasks of shelving, shelf-reading and book donations; programs and publicity assistance, general clerical and cleaning.
We also have need of volunteers with experience in cataloging, book processing and…. fundraising!

Call or email:
Wendy O’Connell
rockpub@sover.net
802-463-4270

Check Out the Vermont Library Substitute Pool

In our rural state, many libraries are staffed by a single staff person, or by a very small staff. This can make it a challenge to accomplish large projects within a short time period, have an extended vacation, or take advantage of a professional development opportunity. Also, those librarians who work part-time sometimes would like to expand their experience, network and income with additional work within their profession.

The Vermont Library Association (VLA), Green Mountain Library Consortium (GMLC) and Vermont Consortium of Academic Libraries (VCAL) are excited to introduce the Vermont Library Substitute Pool!

E-Vermont Citizens in a Connected Age Workshop

Vermont librarians are welcome at the Citizens in a Connected Age workshop, December 11 at Castleton State College. A similar workshop will be given March 5, 2011 in Lyndonville. Vermont public librarians attending will receive 5 technology certification credits after completing an evaluation. Joanna Cummings of the Snelling Center for Government organized the workshop as the e-Vermont Community Coordinator. Libraries do not need to be part of the e-Vermont grant to attend.

Volunteers Needed NELA Conference in Burlington, VT 2011

The New England Library Association is holding its annual conference in Burlington in October 2011. The NELA conference committee is busy making preparations and need help from some Vermonters to assistant in designing programs and making connections with Vermont’s resources.

Teen Video Challenge

Hello, all you creative librarians: The Collaborative Summer Library Program and the Vermont Department of Libraries are co-sponsoring a teen video challenge to make a Public Service Announcement promoting reading, libraries and the 2011 summer program, “You are Here,” a theme designed to promote awareness of other cultures and places as well as individual differences. Please let your teens know about this opportunity. States all over the country will be participating in this CSLP challenge, and there will be a winning video for each state. That video will be used as one of the official teen PSAs for next summer. The creator of the video will win $250 from CSLP, and the public library with which he/she is affiliated, will get $100.

The entry form, rules, downloadable brochures and other information are all available here: http://libraries.vermont.gov/libraries/srp/childrenteen/teenvideocontest

The teens can work by themselves or as part of a library program. This is a great opportunity to showcase some Vermont talent!

Deadline for completing the video and getting the forms to me is: March 4, 2011

Volunteers Needed for NELA Conference in Burlington 2011

NELA is in need of about four Vermonters to join the conference committee for program planning. Any previous experience with conferences would be helpful, but not necessary. In particular they are looking for assistance with local contacts, help in learning about Vermont resources and advertising the conference to Vermont library workers. There will be a minimum of travel, the majority of the work will be done by email, etc. The expected dates and locations of meetings are as follows; January 14 in Leominster Massachusetts area, February 24 virtual on web, April 1 in Burlington Vermont and June 6 in Wilton New Hampshire.

For more information and to volunteer please contact Mary Ann List– NELA Conference Chair at malist@cityofportsmouth.com , 603-766-1710 or Mary Ann Rupert –NELA Conference Manager at marupert@pobox.com, 603-654-3533.

Interested in having an MLIS student for an intern?

The Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Rhode Island invites library and information service organizations to register possible professional field experiences (PFE) on their PFE database. This database is intended to help students in the Professional Field Experience (LSC 595) course locate placement sites, and to help potential host institutions attract appropriate student interns.

Students taking LSC 595 (Professional Field Experience) must complete forty-five hours of work for each credit. Students may take the course for anywhere from one to six credits. Details regarding the course may be seen at http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/Academics/Courses/PFE.html. Instructions for viewing the PFE database are also given on this page.

A PFE may be primarily service oriented. For example, the student might work on the Reference Desk and teach information literacy courses in an academic library or the student could catalog new entries in the digital collection of archival institution. The PFE could also be project oriented, where a student could develop a new website or redesign an existing website for a public library or work on a research project for a corporate library. The PFE may also involve a combination of service and projects. The details of each PFE are worked out cooperatively between the student, the supervising library, and the full-time faculty member teaching the course.

If you would like to be listed in the PFE database, please complete the Site Supervisor’s Form at http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/Academics/Courses/PFE/SiteSupervisorForm.pdf and send it to GSLIS as indicated on the form. The full-time faculty member teaching LSC 595 will be happy to work with you and the student to try to find a good match for the PFE.

Vermont Library Conference – Save The Date!

The 117th Annual Vermont Library Conference will be held Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at St Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. This will be an exciting one day event so mark your calendars now and keep your eyes out for updates coming soon!

Vermont Library Conference – Save The Date!