Showcase your library at VLC 2009!

Showcase your library at the “Celebrate Vermont Libraries” party at this year’s Vermont Library Conference

At this year’s conference in Burlington we are planning a big celebration of libraries from 5:30 – 7pm on Tues. May 12th (1st day of the conference). We need displays that will highlight the importance of all kinds of Vermont libraries for conference attendees and guests (legislators, gov’t officials, trustees, library friends, principals, etc.) to view while conversing with each other and enjoying food, drink, and music. We welcome all kinds of ideas that showcase the positive benefits of libraries and what libraries contribute to our communities, such as how libraries have touched the lives of someone, a child, a senior, a community group, visitors to our state, etc.

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Digital Video Production Workshop

Adults (ages 16 and up)

Saturday and Sunday, March 21 and 22, 10:00am-4:00pm

Spend a weekend with media professional Adam Walker who will immerse you in the digital video world and help you to promote your ideas with a video message. Learn about camera controls, different motion techniques, creative angles, tripods, lighting, and iMovie video editing software while creating a 1 minute public service announcement. Then, learn how to post your production onto the YouTube website to share with the world. At the end of the workshop, family and friends will be invited to see the finished products! Bring your own video camera or use one of ours. All other supplies included. Please come to class prepared with at least two ideas for your public service announcement and bring your own bag lunch. Check out www.dogooder.tv for inspiration.

$160 for non-members
$126 for members
http://www.helenday.com/education/adult-classes-sign-up#advideo

VLTA PROGRAMS AT 2009 Town Officers Educational Conferences

The Vermont Library Trustees Association (VLTA), the trustees section of the Vermont Library Association, in conjunction with the Department of Libraries will again offer a series of workshops for trustees and librarians during the spring Town Officers Educational Conferences. TOECs are sponsored by the Vermont Institute for Government, with organizational help from the UVM Extension Service which will mail a registration packet to each library in spring, 2009. If you have any questions, please contact your regional librarian.

To register for any of the TOECs, find the form online at http://regonline.com/2009toec $60 online cost includes morning coffee and lunch. Register online and save $5.00 per registrant!

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Times Argus Query: Do you circulate unusual items at your library?

Hello – I’m doing an informal poll of several libraries in Vermont to find out if many have unusual materials other than books and video/DVDs to check out. For example, I recently learned that Kellogg-Hubbard in Montpelier has a “kill-a-watt” electricity usage monitor that patrons can check out. I know many libraries have digital media players for circulation. What else is out there that’s unusual? It might be a story for the Rutland Herald and Times Argus’ Sunday book page, depending on what I learn.

If your library circulates nontraditional items, I’d love to hear about them and how long you’ve been doing it or any special challenges they pose. Thanks for your time.

Ruth Hare
Editor, Vermont Sunday Magazine section
The Rutland Herald and The Times Argus
(802) 479-0191, ext. 1152
ruth.hare@timesargus.com

ALA Releases Gaming Toolkit

From the Announcement – http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/march2009/olosgamingtoolkit.cfm

Libraries are changing and dynamic places, and no better evidence of that exists than the spread of gaming in the nation’s public, school and academic libraries.

In recognition of this trend and the increasing value of gaming to literacy improvement, the American Library Association, with assistance from a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation, has developed an online toolkit to aid librarians in serving this growing constituency.

The Librarian’s Guide to Gaming: An Online Toolkit for Building Gaming @ your library offers content contributed by expert gaming librarians across the country. The toolkit includes a wide range of resources to help librarians create, fund and evaluate gaming experiences in the library.

Toolkit – http://librarygamingtoolkit.org/

Source: American Library Association

Rock & Roll Library Tour! THE HIGH STRUNG are coming!

Are you looking for a high-energy, summer reading program?

For the past five years the quirky, carefree, energetic music of Detroit’s The High Strung has been electrifying patrons across the nation with their sunny three-part harmonies and witty, lyrical bravado. This year the guitars that accompany the band’s catchy sing-along choruses are roaming the country again, headed in your direction, and the show is only getting better.

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Rock & Roll Library Tour! THE HIGH STRUNG are coming!

Are you looking for a high-energy, summer reading program?
For the past five years the quirky, carefree, energetic music of Detroit’s The High Strung has been electrifying patrons across the nation with their sunny three-part harmonies and witty, lyrical bravado. This year the guitars that accompany the band’s catchy sing-along choruses are roaming the country again, headed in your direction, and the show is only getting better.
Read more→

Library Journal Index of Public Library Service

Congratulations to the five (!!) Vermont public libraries rated among the 256 best in the country in Library Journal’s new index of library service :

Stowe Free Library
Sherburne Memorial Library (Killington)
Fairfax Community Library
Craftsbury Public Library
The Lincoln Library

The “all star” ratings are based on per capita usage as reflected in circulation, visits, program attendance, and public internet usage, and are reported in peer groups based on operating budget. For the full article and to see how your library rated, see Library Journal, 2/15/09, pp. 26-33 and visit www.LibraryJournal.com/ljindex2009.

Y’all are an inspiration!

Amy C. Grasmick, Director
Kimball Public Library
Randolph, VT