PLA Blog

ALA Legislative Day: What to Know Before You Participate
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM EDT
Free online webinar presented by the ALA Washington Office

On Wednesday, April 16, advocacy “guru Stephanie Vance will host the Washington Office’s second Advocacy Webinar. (The first webinar was a huge success.)

The webinar comes just as National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) approaches, when our advocacy skills need to be honed to a razor sharp edge. Librarians, friends, trustees and enthusiasts from across the country will be participating in NLLD on May 13 and 14, 2008. Some will be coming to DC to meet with their Members of Congress, while others will be participating in Virtual Library Legislative Day by calling and writing their elected officials from the safety of their own offices.

How can you best prepare for and be effective in these communications? How can you be sure legislators and their staff will hear your message and pay attention? What kinds of federal policy issues should you talk about?

Space is limited, so reserve your Webinar seat now.

A project of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association:

Picturing America, an exciting new initiative from the National Endowment for the Humanities, brings masterpieces of American art into classrooms and libraries nationwide. Through this innovative program, students and citizens will gain a deeper appreciation of our country’s history and character through the study and understanding of its art.

Participating institutions will receive:

• Forty large, high-quality color reproductions of the selected masterpieces (24” x 36”).
• A Teachers Resource Book providing a wide range of ideas and background information to support educators using the works of art in core subject areas.
• Additional resources and lesson plans available through PicturingAmerica.neh.gov.

You can peruse these materials and apply online. Applications are due by April 15, 2008; public libraries, K-12 schools, and home school consortia are eligible.

The Public Programs Office sent out an alert about a new traveling exhibition care of Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, an organization that promotes the study and love of American history, and has developed traveling panel exhibitions for display at schools, libraries, and historic sites.

The exhibition, Abraham Lincoln: A Man of His Time, A Man for All Times, incorporates letters, photographs, and images from Lincoln’s presidency and Civil War soldiers and their families, and is available to academic and public libraries only.

If you are interested in hosting this exhibition, download the application from the Gilder Lehrman Institute site to apply by March 25, 2008. Questions about the exhibition may be directed to Susan Saidenberg at

This just in from the ALA Public Programs Office (PPO):

For the first time ever, readers around the world will be able to participate in a free, live interactive book discussion program, led by [Oprah] Winfrey and [Eckhardt] Tolle. Each weekly class will be presented as a webcast and correspond to a chapter from “A New Earth,” with the discussion focusing on the chapter’s themes. Participants will be invited to take part in the discussion by submitting questions in real-time via the Oprah.com web site.

The 10 weekly sessions will be webcast every Monday night from March 3 through May 5, at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT. To register for the class, log onto www.oprah.com/anewearth. For libraries that can’t participate in real time, archives of each session will be available for download via Oprah.com within 24 hours of the original webcast.

We’d love to hear about public library experiences with this program. You can comment on this post, or send us email and let us know what you’re up to (we’d love to see pictures!), and how it’s going.

Has your library participated in online book groups (real-time or asynchronous) before, and what has your experience been? How do Oprah’s Books play a role with your library users and your local book groups?

It’s not exactly *free* money, since we know a lot of time and energy goes into grant applications. But who can turn down such great offers? Jump on these as soon as possible, the deadlines start as early as January 25.

Great Stories CLUB
Connect with hard-to-reach, underserved teens by conducting a Great Stories CLUB reading and discussion program in your library. Online applications will be accepted through February 1, 2008.

We the People “Created Equal” Bookshelf
Each year, the National Endowment for the Humanities identifies a theme important to the nation’s heritage and selects books that embody that theme to build the We the People Bookshelf. The theme for the 2007-2008 Bookshelf is “Created Equal.” Public libraries are invited to apply online through January 25, 2008.

2008 National Leadership Grants
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting grant applications for the agency’s 2008 National Leadership Grant (NLG) program. IMLS offers applicants an online tutorial for developing a project plan for a NLG applicationThe deadline for submitting applications is February 1, 2008.

10 Ways to Make Your Library Great in 2008—via Web 2.0
1/16/08 11 AM-12 PM PT / 2-3 PM ET (registration is optional)
Excellent note: WebJunction’s webinars are now closed captioned in real time as well as in the recorded archive.

As you think about your resolutions for the New Year, why not resolve to make your library a great educational asset within your community? This webinar will show you how to leverage social networking tools such as del.icio.us and Librarything to enable knowledge sharing and create collections of information around professional development. Ten key themes are presented to empower library staff as well as to increase a library’s value within the community. Presented by guest speaker Ed Rossman, adult services librarian at Shaker Heights Public Library and author of Castles Against Ignorance: How to Make Libraries Great Educational Environments.

Be Safe, Not Sorry: Protecting Your Data
PC Magazine Learning Center self-paced course, four 30-minute webcasts

Are you doing everything you can to protect your data? Malware—from viruses to spyware—continues to plague many businesses, not to mention internal security threats. Does your small business have a holistic security strategy in place?

Don’t have a plan to secure your business data? Let the expert editorial staff of PC Magazine teach you everything you need to know. Attend this course of four dynamic online webcast lessons each of which includes practical downloadable coursework.

Even though we aren’t “businesses” per se, libraries are large organizations dealing with computers — public and staff — and their issues. This course, which you can do at your own pace, offers something a bit deeper than your average article about vanilla virus protection, and will give you excellent fodder for your next coffee with the tech folks.

The American Library Association Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) will give up to five people/institutions a free copy of:

• Librarian: Public and Academic 2007 ALA-APA Salary Survey — ($70 value)

or

• 2007 ALA-APA Salary Survey — Non-MLS: Public and Academic ($100 value)

In exchange for the free reports, recipients agree to write one article (maximum 1200 words) on a topic of national interest by March 2008.

The Librarian Salary Survey has been published since 1982 and covers six positions. The Non-MLS Salary Survey has been published since 2006 and covers more than 60 positions that do not require an ALA-accredited master’s degree in library science. The 2007 Non-MLS Salary Survey also reports salaries for staff employed as librarians but who do not have ALA-accredited master’s degrees in library science.

For more details about the reports, articles, and how to apply, visit the ALA-APA web site. The deadline for article topic submission is November 16, 2007.

Bringing People Together at the Library: Rural Libraries as Place
Presented by the Rural Library Sustainability Project
October 25, 2007
11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET

More and more people are accessing information and resources from home and work computers. Does that mean the physical library will go away? NO WAY! In this session we will talk about the evolving role of the physical library space. We will highlight innovative and interesting rural library examples. Join the Rural In Focus webinar facilitator, Brenda Hough, and guest presenter Cindi Hickey, Continuing Education Librarian and WebJunction Coordinator for the State Library of Kansas. Find information on joining the webinar in addition to archives of past webinars at Rural In Focus.

The webinar is FREE, and advanced registration is not required, you can just show up the day of. Visit WebJunction for information on how to attend the webinar, and to make sure your computer is ready to help you join the conversation. While you’re there, visit the archive of webinars (scroll down a bit on the page) that you can watch at your leisure.

Another excellent free continuing education opportunity from WebJunction’s Rural In Focus Webinars series! These webinars are entirely free and online, so you can participate from the comfort of your desk, at home or at work.

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Library Surveys
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
11:00 am PT/2:00 pm ET
“Surveys can be rich sources of information about your community’s needs and your library’s services and resources. When should you conduct a survey? What are the essential elements of an effective survey? How can you best evaluate your survey results? Colleen Eggett, Training Coordinator from the Utah State Library will be presenting and she has developed a Participant Guide as an option for those attending this session.”

If you’ve never attended a WebJunction webinar before, take a few moments to review the joining the webinar instructions in advance to make sure you’re all set up for the session. Also, feel free to post questions and comments here.

Many thanks to the Public Programs Office (PPO) listserv for sharing these wonderful funding opportunities!

Dollar General Youth Literacy Grants
“Provide funding to schools, public libraries and nonprofit organizations to help with the implementation or expansion of literacy programs for students who are below grade level or experiencing difficulty reading.” Application deadlines: October 5, 2007; February 5, 2008. NOTE: Dollar General also lists literacy grants for adults and families, with application periods beginning in January 2008.

Prime Time Family Reading Time
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH), ALA Public Programs Office, & National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
“Based on illustrated children’s books, PRIME TIME is designed to help low-income, low-literate families bond around the act of reading and talking about books. It models and encourages family reading and discussion of humanities topics, and aids parents and children in selecting books and becoming active public library users.” Application Deadline: November 1, 2007.

Light the Way: Outreach to the Underserved Grant
Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) & Candlewick Press
“This one-time grant of $5000 will be presented in honor of Newbery Medalist and Geisel Honoree Kate DiCamillo to a library conducting exemplary outreach to underserved populations… Special population children may include those who have learning or physical differences, those who are speaking English as a second language, those who are in a non-traditional school environment, those who are in non-traditional family settings (such as teen parents, foster children, children in the juvenile justice system, and children in gay and lesbian families), and those tho need accommodation service to meet their needs.” Application deadline: December 3, 2007.