Monthly Newsletter
May 2004
New State Librarian of Ohio Announced
National Library Legislative Day 2004 - Bill Morris
State Library Board Report
The Librarian's Toolkit - Steve Cassel
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News Monthly Newsletter May 2004 |
Contents: New State Librarian of Ohio Announced National Library Legislative Day 2004 - Bill Morris State Library Board Report The Librarian's Toolkit - Steve Cassel |
The State Library of Ohio is pleased to announce the appointment of Joanne Budler as the new State Librarian for Ohio effective July 1, 2004. The State Library of Ohio is a state agency that provides specialized library services to Ohio's state government, libraries and citizens. The State Librarian serves as the director of the State Library.
"Jo Budler's library experience and |
Ms. Budler has been Deputy State Librarian at the Library of Michigan for nearly 4 years and prior to that was the Director of Network Services at the Nebraska Library Commission for more than 6 years. In both capacities, she coordinated statewide services and planned and participated in training opportunities. She worked for more than 7 years in the Nebraska Legislative Reference Library. Her public library experience was at Lincoln City Libraries (Nebraska) where she served as Curator for a special collection.
"Jo Budler's library experience and proven leadership well prepare her to serve all the residents of Ohio," said Lucille Hastings of Big Prairie, president of the State Library Board. "She will be an advocate for high quality library services and futures planning in the pattern of Mike Lucas, Ohio's retiring State Librarian." Other members of the State Library Board are Ann Baines, Middletown; David Miller, Bowling Green; Dr. George Paulsen, Columbus; and Carl Stich, Cincinnati.
A nationwide search was conducted to fill the State Librarian's position. Four final candidates were invited to Columbus to be interviewed by three interview committees, composed of State Library staff, the Ohio library community and the State Library Board.
Interview committee members were:
Michael S. Lucas served as State Librarian of Ohio from April 1996 until his retirement June 30, 2004. An employee of the State Library since 1978, prior to his appointment as State Librarian Mr. Lucas had been the Deputy State Librarian for Library Services, responsible for planning and directing the operations of the Research Services, Automated Loan Services and Technical Services Departments.
National Library Legislative Day 2004Tuesday, May 4; Washington, DC |
Bill Morris Manager Government Relations |
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Twenty enthusiastic library advocates from Ohio joined more than 500 colleagues from 49 states around the country for the 30th annual National Library Legislative Day on Tuesday, May 4, in Washington DC. The American Library Association sponsored the event.
The group, representing public, academic and school libraries across the state, informed Ohio members of Congress about the current state of affairs in Ohio libraries. In addition to telling the Ohio story, the participants carried specific messages on several issues of importance to libraries at the national level.
The group ... informed Ohio |
The President's budget includes a request to fund the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at $220 million for FY 2005. Delegates requested funding for LSTA at $232 million to enhance shared public access to information, promote the use of technology, encourage the sharing of resources, and other collaborations and outreach not feasible across local and state boundaries. In addition, a message of thanks was given to congressional offices for the passage of the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003, which reauthorized the Library Services and Technology Act.
The message was to fund Improving Literacy Through School Libraries, a part of the ESEA, at least at the $100 million level so the state allocation formula will go into effect ensuring funding for all states. The Administration's proposal would fund the program at the same level it was funded at in FY 2004 at $19.5 million.
The basic message was to do no harm to the carefully balanced copyright laws in place and avoid placing costly barriers between facts, government information, etc., and their uses for research and educational purposes.
Finally, the message on universal service or E-Rate, was one of thanks for continuing to support the program which benefits schools and libraries through the provision of discounted telecommunications rates.
At the May Board meeting, the State Library Board awarded $976,999 in LSTA funds to Libraries Connect of Ohio for the Statewide Core Electronic Information Collection. The Libraries Connect Ohio (OhioLINK, OPLIN, INFOhio) grant provides a statewide core electronic information collection of shared databases. This common set of reference database resources is available to every user of every school, public or academic library in Ohio. This is the second year for the award.
The Board awarded $936,000 in LSTA funds to Cuyahoga County Public Library (CCPL) for the provision of 24-7 Virtual Reference Service to all Ohioans. 24-7 Virtual Reference was a high priority item in the LSTA Five-Year Plan. CCPL, Cleveland Public Library and the NOLA Regional Library System will provide the service beginning July 1. Through this service all Ohio citizens will have high quality, equal access to library service when they need it and where they need it.
The Board also awarded five LSTA Continuing Education grants with a total federal amount of $33,679. This was the first round of CE grants. For this round the State Library received 11 proposals with a total request of $66,920. The review team for this first round was comprised entirely of LSTA Advisory Council members, two of whom were on the task force to develop the CE RFP. Reviewers were asked to not only review the proposals but also to suggest ways of improving the RFP, application process and reviewer guidelines. The RFP for the second round of Continuing Education grants will be announced in early June.
Details of the funded projects and contact information can be found at LSTA Funded Grant Projects.
Receiving awards were:
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Doug Evans, Executive Director of the Ohio Library Council (OLC), estimated that approximately 275 people attended the OLC Legislative Day held in Columbus in March. Mr. Lucas and Bill Morris, Government Relations Manager, reported on National Legislative Day activities in Washington, DC. See the related article for details.
Paul Pormen, Executive Director, reported the current activities of the NOLA Regional Library System. Melissa Lattinzi, NOLA's Continuing Education Coordinator, and Brad Stephens, NOLA's Technology Coordinator also spoke.
The Board approved the meeting schedule for 2004-2005:
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The next State Library Board meeting will be June 24, 2004 at 1:00 in Columbus.
For the minutes of State Library Board meetings, go to http://winslo.state.oh.us/boardmin.html.
The Librarian's ToolkitA better way to serve the professional library community |
Steve Cassel Library Consultant |
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The library consultants at the State Library of Ohio are constantly looking for better ways to serve the professional library community in Ohio. This service may come in the form of a workshop at SLO or at another Ohio location. Consultants make visits to public, school, institutional and special libraries. Telephone calls and emails also keep Buckeye librarians in contact with SLO consultants.
But how can librarians have their pressing questions answered after 5 pm Friday or on a Saturday afternoon? Librarians should check-out the Librarian's Toolkit.
Librarians can access the Librarian's Toolkit by going to the front page of WINSLO (http://winslo.state.oh.us) and clicking on, "State Library Departments," and then Librarian's Toolkit from the drop-down menu.
The Librarian's Toolkit ... here |
At the top of the Librarian's Toolkit page is the contact information for the consultants of Library Programs and Development (LPD). Next comes the links to the Consultant Directory, LSTA Grant information, Library Directories, and Library Statistics WINSLO web pages. As the user scrolls down the page, the Librarian's Toolkit table comes into view. Found here is an array of topics that librarians and library boards will find useful in the daily operation and administration of their libraries. For each listing, there are listed print and electronic resources on a variety of library development topics.
Collection Development, Marketing, Sample Library Policies, and Standards for Public Libraries are a few of the subject headings found in the Librarian's Toolkit. There are a total of twenty-six subject headings available for questions on library management that may suddenly come up. Periodically, the Librarian's Toolkit is updated with new resources and new topic headings by the LPD consultants. In the last few months, seven new topics have been added to the Librarian's Toolkit.
With tighter operating budgets, the need to pool resources in new partnerships is more necessary and practical. That is why the topic of Joint Use Libraries has been created.
A joint use library is a public library that is connected to a public school building or is located near a school, on the same parcel of land. The library serves the community at large, as well as serves as the library to the school. The public library can be administered and staffed separately from the school, or it may have shared responsibilities of administration and staffing with the local school district. Academic libraries can also partner with a public library by housing the collection of the public library. The joint use library section of the Librarian's Toolkit provides a broad spectrum of resources for any public library director considering a cooperative partnership with a local school.
With tighter operating budgets, |
The great increase in size of the Latino community across Ohio is causing library directors to begin considering how to best serve this new addition to Ohio communities. Providing good service means more than just buying Stephen King novels translated into Spanish. In the Latino Library Services section of the Librarian's Toolkit, collection and staff development, community demographics, funding sources, marketing, services and programs are presented. This will allow public library directors and their library boards to plan service for the Latino community in Ohio.
The Outreach section of the Librarian's Toolkit has print and electronic listings to design and operate an outreach program for a public library. Outreach resources cover programs for children, seniors, correctional facilities, and bookmobiles. Links to funding sources and lists of national and local outreach organizations are also listed.
The Technical Services section, found in the Librarian's Toolkit provides users with electronic links to technical services cataloging aids, from the Library of Congress and OCLC. Links to online technical service cataloging tutorials are also posted here.
The Librarian's Toolkit will be a continuing work in progress, maintained by LPD consultants.
Check out the offerings in the "Training and Continuing Education For Library Staff" section, found in the Training section of the Librarian's Toolkit. Users will find the "Ten-Minute Tutors," which provide training in the use of OPLIN research databases, in ten easy lessons, for each OPLIN database. Librarians, who could not attend a workshop of interest, can review archived materials from LPD consultant conducted workshops. Users can take advantage of instruction via streaming video, in the "e-Learning Center." At the present time, the e-Learning Center offers training in the Sirs-Discoverer and EBSCOhost databases. Later, more steaming video training and programs will be made available.
So, keep an eye on the LPD Librarian's Toolkit and see what new resources become available for the librarians of Ohio.
For more information, contact Steven L. Cassel, Library Consultant, (614) 644-9958 or scassel@sloma.state.oh.us.
