Friday, December 22, 2006

Registration is now open!

Visit www.michigan.gov/ldds and follow the RLC link to register.

Remember, there is no registration fee for the 2007 conference. However, it is critical that you complete and return a registration form. Critical if you want to eat and have a chair to sit on, that is!

Merry Christmas, everyone! When I next post, we will be (gulp) in the conference year... four months and counting!

Deb

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Top Ten Reasons to go to Lake Neverwuz

Top 10 reasons to support libraries: When I saw this post on the blog I decided to compare the reasons to our beloved Lake Neverwuz District, County, Township, Village Library. Here goes:
Libraries:
Serve everyone: Our new international library card is very popular. For 100 lyre, 10,000 francs, or160 yen you can purchase a library card from Lake Neverwuz. So far we only sold 3 cards but Canada is only 175 miles away and is certainly an untapped market.
Are places of opportunity. We've had fourteen couples meet here at the library and get married. Last year our story hour attendance took a major jump.
Are great places for kids. This is farm country so don't call our youngsters kids, for obvious reasons. Our library offers youngsters a vast array of services, YouTube, DVD's, CD's, Learn a Test, Tutor.com, Tattoo World, Pimp your Ride, and comic books, day care, snowmobiles in the winter and special lake excursions in the summer.
Bring you the world. Our Commodores and Apple II e's in the computer lab give our users access to info as far away as Wisconsin.
Help us lead better lives. Our community has grown and people have told us that they moved here because of the library and the great services we offer. Our quickie divorce and remarry program has brought many a midwesterner here instead of Reno and Las Vegas. Our board chair dresses as Garrison Keilor and performs as many marriages as Elvis does in Nevada.
Build better communities. Our build a house program uses the skills of our Friends group to build houses for the needy and near needy of our community. We think this is a model program and are thinking of going national, maybe through ALA.
Promote literacy. Here's where we excell. We an't never turnd away nobody. Our goal is to educate everone so dat they can read good.
Are essential to education. When the schools close for the summer we have all the teachers come and work at the summer reading program. Its part of their contract.
Attract businesses. We've helped Neverwuz Ink (tatto parlor) get started. We helped the DDA get sidewalks into the downtown area so we no longer have to walk on pallets to get to stores downtown. This has helped business, and the old pallets will be used for a craft during the summer reading program.
Are a great value. For every dollar spent to support the library we have calculated that it adds $17.32 back into the economy of the community. How we did this calculation is a mystery, but I'm sure its accurate.

Spread the word! Tell us your stories at the upcoming Rural Libraries Conference in May of 2007. Happy Holidays.

Marian.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Small is Powerful

Check out this toolkit from ALA - Winning Support for Your Rural Library. Topics include strategy, message, and tools.

Imagine what would happen if each of us said at least one of the things on this list to at least one person every day? Talk about word of mouth marketing!

10 reasons to support libraries

Libraries. . .

Serve everyone.
Are places of opportunity.
Are great places for kids.
Bring you the world.
Help us lead better lives.
Build better communities.
Promote literacy.
Are essential to education.
Attract businesses.
Are a great value.

Spread the word!

Monday, December 11, 2006

We Need more Librarians!!

I am hoping that the rural conference scheduled for next spring will have sessions on PR and also on the topic of the impending shortage of librarians. The staff at Lake Neverwuz District, Village, Township, County Public Library have developed a recruiting film which I believe every library should use to entice people to become librarians. Check out this site and see what can be done with an 8 mm camera and a little acting talent. www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrrZpbvI20

See you all at the Rural Librarians Conference, where the librarians are smart, the book talks center on the books of the 50's and noise is okay, as long as we don't use our "outside voices"

Happy Holidays.

2.0 new tools from ALA & one from Deb

The ALA Library announced December 5 the launch of two new web tools to aid ALA members, librarians, and library workers in accessing professional information online. The Librarian's E-Library uses tools from Google Co-Op to create a customized search engine. The ALA Professional Tips wiki provides a pathfinder to using the rich resources of ALA's website, compiles the library's responses to questions received from the field, and enables the library community to share new resources for advancing the practice of librarianship....

Any knitting librarians out there? Check out my experiment with Google Co-op at http://www.purldive.com.

Quick! Respond with your story by this Friday, 12/15

Share your public access stories

The MaintainIT project, a three-year effort run by TechSoup, a technology resource for nonprofit organizations, wants to hear stories about how libraries maintain public access computers and internet services for their communities. By collecting best practices on the topic, the Share Your Story about PACs campaign will distill the information into a series of free how-to guides tailored to the technical support needs of different types of public libraries. MaintainIT would like to hear from small, rural libraries by December 15....

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Great programs!!

Wow is all I can say about the list of speakers that Deb posted for next year's Rural Libraries Conference. I have been a fan of Maureen Burns for years. She helped me when I first met her at the Michigan Library Association conference several years ago. What a dynamic speaker and yet someone you can relate to and one you with who you can share fashion tips. I used to be shy and retiring, always wearing navy or black clothes. After hearing Maureen I am a changed person, I wear three inch heels like Deb Ziegler, outfits with bling and have sponsored weekly karoake at the Lake Neverwuz library. By the way, when you get to the conference check out Deb's shoes. She has found a supplier in China who has changed her whole shoe wardrobe. I would say that the last shoes I saw her wear could be considered "High Heeled Sneakers". What's happening to our Deb??

I can't wait for the conference, I hope you have it marked on your calendar. Remember that the Gates Foundation, you all remember Billy, is helping to fund the conference so all you have to budget for is your hotel and transportation. What a deal! See you in May.