ALA Councilor’s Report

Hello from sunny Anaheim! I am happy to again be reporting from annual conference. At the first Council meeting we heard reports of task forces and committees. One report of particular interest was presented by the Digital Content & Libraries Working Group. This is the group that is working with ebook publishers. The group had an initial meeting with publishers in the spring and are now working to create business models and licensing agreements and to find ways to communicate the issues to the library community and the general public. ALA leaders have met with publishers twice more. They will continue to work to increase good access to e-resources.

I was lucky enough to score tickets for the first ever Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Award presentation. Nominees for the award included Anne Enright, Karen Russell, Russell Banks, James Gleik, Robert Massie, and Manning Marable. Anne Enright won for her new book The Forgotten Waltz and Robert Massie won for Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. ALA hopes this award will become the adult Newbery.

At our second Council meeting we passed a resolution encouraging support for school librarians.

It has been a great pleasure representing Vermont at ALA conferences for the past six years.

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Wilson

Champlain College Library Wins National Award

Champlain College has received an Excellence in Academic Libraries Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries. Libraries are continuing to prove that they are still vibrant and vital places for their communities.

This news story aired April 23 on WPTZ and New England Cable News.

http://www.necn.com/04/23/12/Vt-college-library-celebrated-as-nationa/landing_homeandfamily.html?blockID=695122&feedID=8368

Library Snapshot Day (Any Day April 10 – 16)

Taking place during National Library Week (April 10 – 16), Library Snapshot Day is a great way of documenting all the vital services libraries provide to the citizens of Vermont. For more information, please visit: www.vtlibraryday.wordpress.com
The more libraries we have participating, the better our final statistics will be! So be sure to join us for this exciting initiative! We look forward to getting a vision of Vermont libraries!

2012 DOL Workshop Schedule

The Department of Libraries’ 2012 Continuing Education Website and 2012 Calendar are up and running. Whether you’re looking for public library certification or want to broaden your library skills, we have workshops for you.

NEDCC Offers Free Webinar on Preparing Your PAG Application

NEH PRESERVATION ASSISTANCE GRANT (PAG) DEADLINE ANNOUNCED: May 1, 2012

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Preservation Assistance Grants (PAG) help small and mid-sized U.S. institutions improve their ability to preserve and care for their humanities collections, and can serve as the basis for future funding proposals. Grants are for up to $6,000. Don’t miss this opportunity!

NEDCC CAN HELP DEMYSTIFY THE APPLICATION PROCESS:

Free Webinar
WRITING YOUR NEH PRESERVATION ASSISTANCE GRANT
March 22, 2012 from 2-4 PM Eastern time
(Hurry! Seats are limited!)
For more info: http://www.nedcc.org/eblasts/2012PAG.html

Northeast Document Conservation Center
Andover, MA
Preserving Cultural Heritage Collections Since 1973
www.nedcc.org

ALA Councilor’s Report–Part 1

Hello from Dallas. I am very happy to again be reporting on activities at the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association. In this, my final year of serving as your councilor, I will continue to monitor national issues that impact Vermont.

At this conference we are considering a resolution taking a stance against the seemingly secret and arbitrary distribution of ebooks, video, and audio formats by publishers and distributors. The resolution is in draft form now but I hope to report today or tomorrow that we have crafted a strong national response to this practice that withholds content from our customers.

As far as regular ALA business goes, while revenues are down ALA recently purchased Neal- Schumann Publishing in order to expand the ALA publishing arm of the organization, which is actually a good revenue maker for the organization.

Please let me know if you have questions at readmorenow@gmail.com or 802-999-8391

Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Wilson

VOL/Gale Database Training 2/7 & 2/13

Please join the wonderful Stacey Knibloe from Gale for two webinars on the Vermont Online Library/Gale Databases. If you cannot attend on the day of the event, there will be an archive available.
To register, click on the webinar title. I will send the webinar access information and instructions to you the day before each session.
Read more→

Free Online Education Opportunities for January 2012

Listed below are FREE programs American Management Association, ASCLA, Booklist, EDUCAUSE, GrantSpace, Idaho Commission for Libraries, Infopeople, Library Journal, Nebraska Library Commission, Non Profit Webinars, O’Reilly, TL Virtual Café, Texas State Library & Archives , University of Wyoming, Washington State Library, WebJunction, and the Wyoming State Library will be webcasting during January.

Free Online Education Opportunities for December 2011

Listed below are FREE programs Accessible Technology Coalition , ALA, American Management Association, Booklist, Common Knowledge, GrantSpace, Idealware, Infopeople,InSync Training, Library Journal, Nebraska Library Commission, NISO, OCLC, O’Reilly, TechSoup, TL Virtual Café, The TLT Group, and WebJunction will be webcasting during December.

In the event that you aren’t available during those times, or you would like to check out past webinars, here are the links to archived events:

Free Online Education Opportunities for October 2011

Listed below are FREE programs Accessible Technology Coalition , ALA, American Management Association, Booklist, EDUCAUSE, GrantSpace, Idealware, Infopeople, Library Journal, Lyrasis, Library Commission, School Library Journal, TechSoup, Texas State Library & Archives, University of Wyoming, and Webjunction will be webcasting during October.