Monday, December 7, 2009
External Relations
One thing I learned about the External Relations department is all the different ways they can promote a program. I already knew about a fair amount of them, such as the currents, the calendar of events, the web page, the flyers and signs, the school newsletters, and participation in community events (like 4-H), but I didn't know about all the others. We can do press releases, CCPL has a radio station it can use, or announcements through the Community Cable Bulletin Board, Public Service Announcements, paid advertising, direct mail and receipt shout-outs. External Relations has significantly more avenues to advertise through than I knew about.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Assistant Director for Public Services Room
There are seven current members on the Library Board: Keir Knight, Gilda Hogan, Todd Herring, Joyce Muller, Jack Bowden, Mary Lou Dewey, Nancy Lynch.
There are twenty-five people working in my branch, and I have met all of them at one point or another, although I have only had brief contact with some. To meet someone outside of my branch, I waited until I was subbing at Westminster, and met with Michelle Sicotte. She's a page there who occasionally works on the Circ desk, and she's been at Westminster for a little over two years. She's thinking about learning how to do some Info sub work as well, since one of her two girls is about to enter Kindergarten.
The Emergent Literacy Peer Coaching project was begun with LSTA funds. The Emergent Literacy Peer Coaching project "seeks to improve and continue the use of emergent literacy and best practices in story times," (http://www.imls.gov/pdf/StateProfiles/Maryland.pdf) and was responsible for the formation of the Emergent Literacy Peer Coaching wiki available on the intranet.
Someone is eligible for the services of the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped if they are:
"Legally Blind - vision of 20/200 or less with glasses; a visual field of 20 degrees
Visually Limited - difficulty focusing long enough to read standard print without special aids
Physically Limited - difficulty handling a book or turning pages.
Reading Disabled - due to an organic dysfunction such as dyslexia."
They can apply by:
"Print and complete the application and return to LBPH
Request an application at your local public library
Request an application by calling LBPH at any of the numbers listed at the top of [their webpage]."
(All quotes from http://www.lbph.lib.md.us/brochure.html)
Helen, our branch manager, says that Taneytown has never really had much of a problem with challenges to library materials. Under the old system of sharing books, Taneytown didn't get many copies of the controversial material, being smaller than some of the other branches. Usually, when we do have a complaint, it's something with violence or sexual references, and it's resolved by following the regular procedure. She said that because we can point at policy while responding, nobody has been particularly persistent. She did remember a few unusual cases, however. "Heather has Two Mommies," would get repeated complaints. There was one book, "Getting Jesus in the Mood," that members of a local church would check out and then never return, having unsuccessfully tried to have it removed. Helen mentioned a slightly more humorous example of one lady who wanted a warning label on a book because it talked about the non-existence of Santa Claus, and she thought parents should know ahead of time in case their kids wanted to read it.
There are twenty-five people working in my branch, and I have met all of them at one point or another, although I have only had brief contact with some. To meet someone outside of my branch, I waited until I was subbing at Westminster, and met with Michelle Sicotte. She's a page there who occasionally works on the Circ desk, and she's been at Westminster for a little over two years. She's thinking about learning how to do some Info sub work as well, since one of her two girls is about to enter Kindergarten.
The Emergent Literacy Peer Coaching project was begun with LSTA funds. The Emergent Literacy Peer Coaching project "seeks to improve and continue the use of emergent literacy and best practices in story times," (http://www.imls.gov/pdf/StateProfiles/Maryland.pdf) and was responsible for the formation of the Emergent Literacy Peer Coaching wiki available on the intranet.
Someone is eligible for the services of the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped if they are:
"Legally Blind - vision of 20/200 or less with glasses; a visual field of 20 degrees
Visually Limited - difficulty focusing long enough to read standard print without special aids
Physically Limited - difficulty handling a book or turning pages.
Reading Disabled - due to an organic dysfunction such as dyslexia."
They can apply by:
"Print and complete the application and return to LBPH
Request an application at your local public library
Request an application by calling LBPH at any of the numbers listed at the top of [their webpage]."
(All quotes from http://www.lbph.lib.md.us/brochure.html)
Helen, our branch manager, says that Taneytown has never really had much of a problem with challenges to library materials. Under the old system of sharing books, Taneytown didn't get many copies of the controversial material, being smaller than some of the other branches. Usually, when we do have a complaint, it's something with violence or sexual references, and it's resolved by following the regular procedure. She said that because we can point at policy while responding, nobody has been particularly persistent. She did remember a few unusual cases, however. "Heather has Two Mommies," would get repeated complaints. There was one book, "Getting Jesus in the Mood," that members of a local church would check out and then never return, having unsuccessfully tried to have it removed. Helen mentioned a slightly more humorous example of one lady who wanted a warning label on a book because it talked about the non-existence of Santa Claus, and she thought parents should know ahead of time in case their kids wanted to read it.
The Risk-Taker's Network is a way that staff can share a risk they took through a short video and written application that show the risk taken, the anticipated and unanticipated outcome, and the reason for taking the risk. Once a year, a vote is taken, and the winner receives a cash prize on Staff Day.
Administrative Assistant's Movie Poster
The Administrative Assistant, Stephanie Szymanski, has a movie poster for "To Kill A Mockingbird" in her office, autographed by Mary Badham, the woman who played Scout, with a fairly interesting history behind it.
She has the poster because a few years ago, for our "On The Same Page" program, they decided to do the book "To Kill a Mockingbird." The group decided that it would be a good promotion if they showed the accompanying movie in the newly renovated Westminster Art Center. Chris Peters thought they should get someone who had actually been in the movies to make an appearance, and managed to convince Mary Badham to show up. She talked to two of the audiences about the movie, and interesting sidenotes like the fact that she and Gregory Peck actually kept in touch, and he used to call her Scout. While she was here, she signed some posters, and Stephanie got to keep one for her involvement in the project.
She has the poster because a few years ago, for our "On The Same Page" program, they decided to do the book "To Kill a Mockingbird." The group decided that it would be a good promotion if they showed the accompanying movie in the newly renovated Westminster Art Center. Chris Peters thought they should get someone who had actually been in the movies to make an appearance, and managed to convince Mary Badham to show up. She talked to two of the audiences about the movie, and interesting sidenotes like the fact that she and Gregory Peck actually kept in touch, and he used to call her Scout. While she was here, she signed some posters, and Stephanie got to keep one for her involvement in the project.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Materials Management
I chose to explore Books & Authors, since I haven't really spent any time with this service since we switched to Gale. I was immediately charmed by the fact that their seasonal suggestions is based off of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and clicked to get more information, but also noted that they had the date in the title incorrect, despite saying right in their description of the holiday that it is celebrated every Sept. 19.
Just doing a couple of basic searches, there was a couple of things that bothered me when I compared it to Novelist, which I was told was it's equivalent service in EBSco. One is that Novelist lets you see the popularity of the titles in it's lists, while Books & Authors only has the community rating, after you click on the book, and more often than not, at least while I was exploring, nobody had rated the book at all. I also noted that while Novelist had recommended reading lists submitted by specific people, with no more than a few dozen books on it a time, in each genre for each age listing, the closest Books & Authors had was it's expert's picks and librarian's picks. These listings were actually quite interesting and could be useful, but it is nowhere as easy to look for specific subjects, especially for younger kids, as it is Novelist. All in all, I think that this site will be less useful for finding book recommendations quickly than Novelist has been for me.
Just doing a couple of basic searches, there was a couple of things that bothered me when I compared it to Novelist, which I was told was it's equivalent service in EBSco. One is that Novelist lets you see the popularity of the titles in it's lists, while Books & Authors only has the community rating, after you click on the book, and more often than not, at least while I was exploring, nobody had rated the book at all. I also noted that while Novelist had recommended reading lists submitted by specific people, with no more than a few dozen books on it a time, in each genre for each age listing, the closest Books & Authors had was it's expert's picks and librarian's picks. These listings were actually quite interesting and could be useful, but it is nowhere as easy to look for specific subjects, especially for younger kids, as it is Novelist. All in all, I think that this site will be less useful for finding book recommendations quickly than Novelist has been for me.
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