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May 31, 2007

Final issue of Reflections is up ... and huge thanks to Denise Saia!

The last issue of Reflections (the newsletter of the Children's Services Section) is now online at

http://www.njla.org/sections/childrens/newsletter.pdf

This issue is a CSS conference wrap-up, with descriptions of most of our conference presentations, and a report on the April ASL storytime at the NJ State Library's Library for the Blind and Handicapped. Many of our presenters made their handouts and powerpoints available, for a limited time, at http://www.njla.org/conference/2007/presentations/
On behalf of CSS, I want to thank Denise Saia, Director of the Franklin Township Library, for her tireless work on Reflections for the past several years. Denise, you are the best!

At our April CSS membership meeting, the section voted to amend its by-laws to cease publishing Reflections. We will direct our future energies toward this blog. Stay tuned!
--
Kathy Muhm,
President, Children's Services Section
2007-2008

Posted by childrens at 6:42 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Children's Services

May 30, 2007

NJ Librarians, Facebook and 2.0

Are you wondering about 2.0 stuff? Do you use some but have questions? Do you want to use some?

Have you heard of/used/or wanted to use Facebook?

I recently joined Facebook and found that it is an excellent place to network and share with those who have similar interests.

To that end, I created a group on there called NEW JERSEY LIBRARIANS. We already have a nice group of people going and we would love to have more! Come on and join us. Facebook is now open to all to register and it's free.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me (kearns@patersonpl.org). Or, just join up and ask away in the group!

There are many interest groups and professional groups on there that you can join once you are a member of Facebook. There are also an incredible number of additional applications you can add to your Facebook account to make it more personal and more useful to you. For example, there is a calendar application; a video sharing app; a photo sharing app; a social timeline so you can see what you have done and when as far as organizations or groups you have been in; and so much more! I encourage you to jump on in - the water is fine and it's almost summer!

This is one great way to try something out, to play and to learn.

Hope to see you there!

Thanks, Amy Kearns

Posted by Amy Kearns at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Library 2.0 Technology

May 29, 2007

Program on Protecting Patron Privacy

The Intellectual Freedom committee will present “Protecting Patron Privacy: Responding to Requests for Private Information : the legal and ethical issues facing librarians today.”

The program will be presented at four locations in the state ( one in each region). The dates are:

June 4 Franklin Twp, Somerset County
June 5 Princeton Public Library
June 6 Camden County Library, Voorhees
June 7 East Brunswick Public Library

The programs will all be given by Grayson Barber, Esq. whose specialization is first amendment law. On June 4 and 7, she will be joined by David Hancock, Esq. of the Union County Prosecutor’s office.

This is an essential program for all staff to prepare them for dealing with challenges to patron confidentiality. The cost is $15.00 for NJLA members, $22.50 for non-members, $7.50 for students.

Refreshments will be served.

The registration flyer available at: http://www.njla.org/programs/PatronPrivacy.pdf

Posted by mowyn at 2:28 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Intellectual Freedom Programs

May 11, 2007

15 Fantastic Freebies in 50 Minutes from Janie L. Hermann and Bob Keith

Posted on behalf of my good friend and fellow-blogger, Janie L. Hermann -

The slides for the presentation given at NJLA this year by Janie and Bob Keith are available archived at SlideShare. (PS SlideShare is really cool - check it out! - AJK).

Janie has also graciously made them available for quick and easy viewing here on the Library Garden blog! Enjoy!


Posted by Amy Kearns at 4:18 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Conference 2007 Library 2.0 Technology

May 2, 2007

Super Searcher Robert Lackie

How many of us—when we learned that Robert Lackie would teach a session on finding personal information online—clamored to attend his Wednesday session, secretly hoping Robert would show us every website that would give us the lowdown and dirty secrets on, well, just about anyone?
When retelling our NJLA experience to colleagues, we justified our prying instincts, saying we attended Robert’s session all in the name of professional development. Robert appealed to the latent stalker in most everyone who attended the program…but certainly not me…really.

On a more serious note, Robert presented some unsettling things to think about: the fact that Zabasearch.com published social security numbers, available online and for free; the fact that so much personal information comes from the government’s public records, such as housing and tax records and that whether you request your name be removed from one people search site, there’s no stopping another site from posting that exact same information elsewhere.

A couple of brave souls volunteered their names for Robert to use as examples in internet searches. Robert plugged these volunteers’ names into sites, such as Zaba, Wink, Private Eye (Because You Need to Know!) and cross referenced various sites to develop a full profile of the person being searched.

Visit www.kn.sbc.com/wired/fil/pages/liststudentpe3.html for a full list of personal search sites online.

Posted by Valerie haeder

Posted by at 2:10 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Reference

May 1, 2007

Congratulations to NJLA YALSA Winners!

The YALSA elections results are in, and the following very deserving NJLA members have won highly coveted positions within YALSA:

Sarah Cornish Debraski: Vice President/President Elect
Liz Burns: Member, Michael L. Printz Committee
Sharon Rawlins: Member, Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee

Congratulations to all!

Posted by at 8:15 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Young Adult Services

Play It Forward: Helene Blowers at the 2007 NJLA Conference:

Thanks to Leslie Kahn, Newark Public Library, for sharing her thoughts on Helene Blowers' presentations at NJLA

In an age of Accountability and Consequences (both usually conceived in terms not quite favorable to trusting our colleagues), Helene Blowers, Director of Technology at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, in North Carolina worked with her colleagues to inject more joy of learning into the workplace, where we spend so much time. Ongoing scanning of our environments and learning how best to interact with their rich diversity is now intrinsic to library work, and we want to feel, not overwhelmed, but wowed by new opportunities.

In her first program at the NJLA 2007 conference, on Tuesday, April 24th, Ms. Blowers discussed “Core Competencies in the Era of Library 2.0.” At her library, “The 4 E’s” have been developed as a framework for staff development:

  • Exposing staff to new tools
  • Encouraging play
  • Empowering individuals
  • Expanding the knowledge toolbox
  • Eliminating fear

These E’s of Education become, not just e’s, but ease and fluid functioning of activities so that staff and public can share and create knowledge, community, and general welfare and happiness…with energy and enthusiasm –and fun.

The more we expose ourselves to innovations, the more we discover about ourselves, tapping previously unexplored talents and interests, even as we notice where we may feel like strangers in a strange land (thereby cultivating compassion for others in the same boat). Helene Blowers’ Tuesday afternoon program at the conference. “Discovering Library 2.0 Through Learning 2.0” was revelatory. Libraries have always been about sharing (traditionally communities sharing books), and Helene Blowers has just taken this cooperation to another dimension of collective intelligence, as staff encourage each other’s learning programs of 15 minutes a day of exploration.

As we engage with technologies and each other, Helene Blowers always emphasizes play. Just as libraries offer education and entertainment, now librarians and other staff are also having fun: and happy employees are good employees. Administrators will be pleased too at the very low cost of Learning 2.0.

To get a better sense of her insights into lifelong learning, library esprit de corps, and the intersection (and teamwork) of individual journeys and the future of libraries—please visit her wonderful blog, Library Bytes, at www.librarybytes.com and see the April 23 link to slides from her NJLA presentations:

More information is at:

Posted by at 3:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Category: Conference 2007

The State of the State Library

First of all, I think this was a brilliant program title and I think it should be given on a consistent basis in some format or forum. There seems to be a "The State of the ______" for everything - and The State of the State Library is just so perfect!

Norma Blake - who I'm proud to say is one of the few (if not the only) State Librarians with a blog! - presented on many aspects of the State Library and the New Jersey Library Network .

Nancy Dowd (who has a fantastic blog The "M" Word - Marketing Libraries!) was the moderator and kept the excitement level high with quizzes and prizes, and Kathleen Moeller-Peiffer, the new Associate State Librarian and Director of the New Jersey Library Development Bureau was on-hand to tell us all the information every New Jersey librarian needs to know!

And, in case you didn't know, the State Library was among five libraries honored for outstanding YouTube library-related video production at the Computers in Libraries Conference 2007 as part of the first InfoTubey Awards.
Check out the video here!

And keep your eyes on the Library Development Bureau - they have a YouTube / Comic Contest coming soon!

Posted by Amy Kearns at 12:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Category: Conference 2007 State Library

Helene Blowers: Adopt a Continuous Play Strategy!

Helene Blowers presented Core Competencies and Core Values in the Era of Library 2.0 and also Discovering Library 2.0 and has made the slides of these two NJLA Conference 2007 presentations available via a great sharing site called SlideShare.net.- You can access them through her site LibraryBytes which I highly recommend you keep your eyes on!

Read on for more on these two presentations ....

Having watched Helene Blowers' webinar Learning 2.0 : Make "play" your New Year's resolution on the SirsiDynixInstitute as a sort-of "assignment" for a committee I am on, I was very excited to realize that she would be presenting at NJLA!

That webinar introduced me to the Learning 2.0 program she created for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, which was a great success and has been duplicated (freely, as kindly made available for the taking by Ms. Blowers) in many places. In two seperate sessions at the conference, Ms. Blowers presented Core Competencies and Core Values in the Era of Library 2.0 and also Discovering Library 2.0.

It sounds to me like Helene Blowers has a fantastic job: Technology Director! And I am sure that working for or with her must be a lot of fun - afterall this is the woman who says,

"...librarians really do need to adopt a “continuous play strategy” in order to keep their skills and knowledge fresh."

CORE COMPETENCIES, CORE VALUES IN THE ERA OF LIBRARY 2.0

I think the important "take-aways" here are:

- A big change, or "technology wave," has already occurred - it's happened and now we need to provide staff with some development programs to give them the ability to cope
- This staff development must be a continuous process since new employees come in
- Start with the basics and build from there, i.e., using e-mail, the intranet, printing, saving, etc.
- Make the training system-wide so everyone knows this is a really important initiative with support from the "higher-ups;" it is a priority
- If you put technology in, you should "build-in" a component for getting staff comfortable with it
- Enable and empower employees by educating them in these ways!

Take a look at the slides to see the staff development system that was implemented (and very successful!) at PLCMC. Libraries have core competencies for many things, but we need one for technology too. Maybe you can adopt this model for your library.

DISCOVERING LIBRARY 2.0

Helene Blowers created a Learning 2.0 program for the staff at PLCMC with the goal of giving staff exposure to (not neccesarily mastery over) these new Web 2.0 tools.

The focus was EXPOSING staff to new tools; ENCOURAGING play; EMPOWERING individuals; EXPANDING their knowledge toolbox; and ELIMINATING fear.

She created a list of "23 Things" for the staff to do to give them exposure to tools such as blogging, photo-sharing, rss feeds, tagging, and maybe most importantly, how to become life-long learners so that they develop methods for keeping themselves "in the loop" as more new things come down the road at them.

The driving force behind this approach is to develop an effective way of motivating and guiding self-paced actitivies so you get the most bang for your training buck!

Take a look at the slides from this presentation and yes, you can "steal this program" and try it in your own library!

Posted by Amy Kearns at 11:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Category: Conference 2007 Library 2.0 Technology