News Monthly Newsletter October 2004	Contents: At the State Library    New Planning for Results - Rebecca Felkner    Genealogy Presentations - Paul Immel    State Library Board Report    Upcoming Events Around & About Ohio    CPL Teams with Board of Elections    Worthington Libraries' Ambassador Program    National Book Festival    Find A Good Book    Health Information Partnerships

Shape-Shifting or How to Shift Paradigms

Jo Budler State Librarian

I love science fiction and, second to time travel, shape-shifters are my favorite subject. Imagine an alien with the power to take the shape of anything, animate or inanimate: your best friend, a pen on your desk or that ever-coveted, "if only I could be" fly on the wall. Whatever the situation requires, a shape-shifter can and will do it.

Sound familiar? Librarians are embracers of change when it comes to meeting the ever-changing needs and requests of their customers. But there is one small difference: we are usually hanging onto our old shape as we morph into the new. Maintaining multiple shapes takes a lot more energy than one-to-one shape-shifting!

Changing paradigms is a lot like shape-shifting, hence the expression "get one's mind around" a new idea or concept. We are changing the shape of our thinking which is always a challenge and often an opportunity.

For years now librarians have been in the business of purchasing electronic resources. We have made the shift from doing this individually to doing this consortially. This is good stewardship of tax dollars. I have learned that in Ohio this is usually done by type of library within the "network" (e.g. OhioLINK, OPLIN). Through Libraries Connect Ohio we have begun purchasing across types of libraries.

What if we enlarged or built on this shape?

What if we were to combine our buying power on all databases, as a beginning point of negotiation? Might we not be able to afford more for the 11.5 million customers of all libraries? Most customers do not think in terms of type of library when they are looking for information. They want easy-to-use, one-stop shopping. What if we provided this for them in a place where all libraries were represented and one loud message could be communicated: "Brought to you by your community of Ohio libraries"?

If this paradigm shift is to occur, we will all be required to shape-shift accordingly. Are we up to the challenge?

Please send comments to reshare@sloma.state.oh.us

New Planning for Results: A Streamlined Approach Train-the-Trainer training starts the process

Rebecca Felkner Library Consultant

I'm fresh off the training seminar The New Planning for Results: A Streamlined Approach. The seminar was an information-packed, three and a half-day, intensive training session. Its purpose was to teach the twenty attendees how to conduct training on The New Planning for Results strategic planning process. All the attendees agree to conduct three training sessions before the end of 2005.

To attend the seminar it was necessary to apply and be accepted. My coworker, Jan Haines and I wrote applications that stated our training experience and our reasons for wanting to attend this particular seminar. One of our goals in attending was to learn the New Planning for Results process so we can train librarians throughout Ohio to use the process to create long-range plans for their libraries. Our other goal was to leave the seminar with enough knowledge to actually assist libraries in creating their long-range plans, based on this process.

Jan Haines has been working with libraries for some time to help them create their long-range plans. She went to the workshop to sharpen her planning skills. I went to the workshop to gain planning skills. In the Library Programs & Development (LPD) department we've watched the demand for long-range planning assistance grow. We want to have enough trained consultants in our department to meet the demand and we want to have the skills to help the libraries that are in need. Jan Haines and I will share the knowledge we gained at the New Planning for Results seminar with the other LPD consultants so that even more people in the department can assist Ohio libraries with their planning efforts.

The seminar was broken into two sessions; the first day was a one-day workshop on Planning for Results. The registration for this workshop was open to anyone, in addition to the twenty of us who were there for the 3-day Train-the-Trainer experience. By attending this day session I could watch Sandra Nelson, the trainer and main author of the New Planning for Results series, in action as she conducted a workshop like the workshops that Jan Haines and I will teach here in Ohio. This was a great way to begin the entire 3-day seminar. We got to experience a daylong workshop from an attendee's viewpoint.

During the next two days we received instruction on putting together the workshop, as if we were the instructors, which we soon will be! The second session of the seminar included lectures and group work and we learned to put together workshops on Planning for Results.

In our work groups we planned three different workshops: a whole day, a half-day, and a sixty-to-ninety minute workshop. The interesting part of the group work was discovering how difficult it was to cram all the Planning for Results information into a whole-day workshop and then to see what information we cut from the half-day and hour workshops we created. After we created the different length sessions we gave presentations on our topic. By giving the presentations we were able to view the different presentation style of everyone in attendance.

All of the lectures, the group work and presentations left us with the knowledge to create and present a training session to help libraries and their Boards learn about the New Planning for Results process and to actually assist with the process. We hope that this will allow the LPD department to assist any Ohio library with their long-range planning needs by using the New Planning for Results process.

LPD will be adding information about this process to our State Library web site. In the meantime, if you have questions about how to initiate a New Planning for Results process, contact us at lpd@sloma.state.oh.us.

Genealogy Presentations One presentation can lead to another and then to another ...

Paul Immel Genealogy Librarian

All things are truly interrelated.

In June 2002 I was asked to speak before the Fairfield County Chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society in Lancaster. At that meeting, Amy Crow, a nationally known Certified Genealogist (CG), was in the audience and asked me to speak at the Ohio Genealogical Society's (OGS) Bicentennial Conference in 2003, which she was coordinating. I agreed and gave two presentations, one on genealogy at the State Library and another on our Huguenot collection.

One of the attendees was from the Cuyahoga Valley Chapter, OGS and he told John Stoika, their president, about us. Mr. Stoika called me in January 2004, asking if we could handle a visit from a busload of genealogists from northwest Ohio. I said, "Of course," since we now have a facility which can handle 30 to 40 persons easily, plus a presentation in the boardroom.

In August 2004, 34 budding researchers arrived, received two packets of information, listened to a presentation, were given a tour of the facility, and then spent the next 3 hours researching. They were so enthralled that they promised another visit and are currently scheduled for Monday, November 8th.

It is funny how one presentation can lead to another and then to another ...

October State Library Board Report October 28, 2004

(left to right) Dr. George Paulson David Miller Lucille Hastings Ann Baines Carl J. Stich

At the October Board meeting, the State Library Board awarded six Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Continuing Education grants with a total federal amount of $42,446. This was the second round of CE grants. For this round the State Library received 10 proposals with a total request of $62,014. Prior to this round of CE grants minor modifications were made to both the RFP and to the reviewer guidelines. Additional information has also been placed on the website to assist applicants.

Details of the funded projects and contact information can be found at LSTA Funded Grant Projects.

Receiving awards were:

David Miller, Board member, commented that these are all good projects, but he is concerned that we are funding projects that libraries and regional library systems should be doing anyway. A better use for LSTA funds would be for technology or projects that one library or one system couldn't do itself. He also suggested working with the LSTA Advisory Council to designate a cap on consultant fees.

Dr. George Paulson, Board member asked if the grants will be used to lessen the cost of attending for the participants. Missy Lodge, LSTA Program Coordinator, said the grants will either lessen the participants' cost to attend or, because of the grant, attendance would be free.

Roger Verny, Deputy State Librarian, told the Board that at the next LSTA Advisory Council meeting, priorities would be set for the grant programs. He invited the Board members to the meeting to be part of the discussion.

Jo Budler, State Librarian, told the Board she met with William K. Laidlaw Jr, Executive Director of the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) and toured their facility. Mr. Laidlaw will write a letter to the Legislature, indicating the State Library's and the Ohio Historical Society's intent to work cooperatively.

During her meeting with Ohio Department of Education Superintendent Zelman, Ms. Budler reported that Dr. Zelman was pleased to read the report of LSTA funds for schools. Dr. Zelman is interested in having 100% of school library catalogs automated. Dr. Zelman said the Board of Education would like to see at least 2 recommended nominees for the position on the State Library Board. Dr. Zelman is also interested in the Know It Now, 24/7 reference service with its Tutor.com, homework help component. Upon hearing that the service is free, Dr. Zelman commented that she wants to promote the service.

Lucille Hastings, Library Board President, asked if they discussed the State Library attending a Board of Education meeting. Ms. Budler said there was not time at this meeting, but she and Dr. Zelman will try to meet regularly in the future.

After attending the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) meeting, Ms. Budler reported that the State Library has indicated an interest in joining WebJunction's Community Partners program. She noted that WebJunction gives awards to exemplary libraries. We need to nominate Ohio libraries for this award to gain national recognition for Ohio libraries' excellent library service.

Two states have passed legislation dealing with state documents which are born digitally. These states will share their legislation and COSLA will produce model legislation for other states to use.

The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), a part of the Library of Congress, works to ensure the preservation of historically significant digital content through a network of partnerships. The program has two phases. In the first, NDIIPP is looking for 5 states that are willing to partner with their state Chief Information Officers and State Archives to participate in testbed work with the Center for Technology and Government in Albany. Ms. Budler indicated that Ohio might be willing and she will contact Mr. Laidlaw, OHS and the Ohio CIO regarding this. Phase 2 will be a competitive grant process.

The National Commission on Library and Information Science (NCLIS) has instituted an award for a library in each state which gives exemplary service in consumer health. Next year, Ohio will participate by nominating a library. There is a possibility that NCLIS will institute a similar award for an exemplary school library.

The National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) published a report entitled Reading At Risk. State librarians pointed out that the research results are misleading because the NEA asked about reading only literature and didn't include the reading of nonfiction as a variable. The Ohio Council of the Arts is convening a task force to discuss the study. Ms. Budler and Ruth Metcalf, Library Consultant, will attend representing the State Library.

Ms. Budler also introduced Sara Ondrejko, the new Intermittent Library Cataloger at the Southeast Ohio Library Center (SEO).

Lucille Hastings, Board President, announced that the State Library received the Ohio Educational Library Media Association (OELMA) Presidential Award at the OELMA Conference. The award recognizes the State Library's notable service to Ohio school libraries. The American Association of School Libraries (AASL) also awarded the State Library a certificate of recommendation.

The Board tabled the proposed SEO Collection Development Policy and the proposed Depository Library Instructions, asked that changes be made. The revised policies will be brought to the next Board meeting for approval.

The Board approved the Talking Books Consumer Advisory Council Appointments for three year terms of:

• Cheryl Blevens, Branch Manager, The Plains Branch, Nelsonville Public Library
• Joshua Frum, Consumer Representative

The Board passed a resolution congratulating State Library employee Tom King upon his retirement and thanking him for 21 years of service to the State Library.

The next meeting of the State Library Board will be 1:00 p.m., December 9, in Columbus.

For the minutes of State Library Board meetings, go to http://winslo.state.oh.us/boardmin.html.

When Cleveland's Mayor, Jane Campbell, was asked by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to assist in the board's efforts to direct voters to the correct polling place, she immediately thought of the Cleveland Public Library as a likely partner. "A library is located in each neighborhood and the public feels comfortable visiting its local library for information."

Mayor Campbell asked Andrew Venable, Executive Director of Cleveland Public Library, to play a major role in informing the public of polling locations by providing a prominent link on CPL's website to the Board of Elections' on-line "polling location finder" and by asking staff to take a proactive role in directing customers to this site. Of the 140,000 newly registered voters in Cuyahoga County, 116,000 are Cleveland residents.

The polling location finder is a database that lists all the Cuyahoga County voting locations by address. A registered voter needs only to type in his/her address to find the correct polling place. The privacy of all registered voters is maintained as only street addresses comprise the database.

A press conference was held in the Brett Reading Room of CPL on Tuesday, October 26 with Mayor Campbell, Director Venable and a representative of the Board of Elections to announce this service. All local television stations were on hand and the information was aired on local newscasts on October 26 and October 27. Neighborhood branch staff report brisk traffic at the libraries for voting site information.

Twelve of the 28 CPL neighborhood branches are polling sites. Due to anticipated high voter turn out, especially in urban areas like Cleveland where there is unprecedented numbers of new voters, the library will have on hand additional security and library staff.

Worthington Libraries began providing its patrons with access to KnowItNow24x7 in 2002, making it the first library in central Ohio to provide the service.

"We knew people would love having live reference help accessible to them 24 hours a day," says library director Meribah Mansfield, "the issue was making sure they knew it was available."

Enter the Ambassador Program.

Developed and organized by the library's community relations department, the Ambassador Program is an outreach tool used to spread the word about the availability of KnowItNow24x7, HomeworkNow and all of the library's electronic resources accessible to patrons any time of the day or night.

Library ambassadors are trained librarians who visit schools and community sites to present live demonstrations of KnowItNow24x7 and HomeworkNow. If the site has equipment available, the Library uses it and, if the group has no equipment, the Library will bring its own. To avoid any technology glitches at the time of the program, the Library sends out someone from its technology department to test the locale's equipment and Internet speed prior to each scheduled program.

Another highlight of the program is that each can be tailored to the needs of a particular group.

For example, the first Ambassador Program was conducted for a group of 50 fourth graders at Sutter Park Elementary School who were studying the solar system. Prior to the school visit, the library staff compiled an online list of electronic resources that would be helpful to students as they did their research.

Sarah Cofer, a young adult librarian at Northwest Library says, "Although it's time-intensive, preparing a list of resources in advance helps students understand immediately how the Library can help them right now."

But the real star of the Ambassador Program show is always the live demonstration of KnowItNow24x7. Students, and other groups, love the fact that they can "chat" with a real librarian, ask a question and receive an answer almost instantly.

Old Worthington Library children's librarian Kate Hastings, who has presented many Ambassador Programs, said, "The phrase heard most often during these programs is, 'this is so cool!' The kids absolutely love it."

And so do adults. Ambassador Programs have also been presented to local rotary clubs, parent/teacher organizations and business leaders interested in learning more about everything from genealogy to the economy.

How do people learn about the availability of Ambassador Programs? The Library sent fliers to all of the schools in its district and continues to promote the program's availability directly to the schools and community groups through its newsletter, press releases and at community meetings.

Ambassador Programs have been very successful in increasing both awareness and use of KnowItNow24x7 and the library's web site, www.worthingtonlibraries.org/, in general. In its first year of offering the service, Worthington Libraries patrons generated 20% of questions to the KnowItNow24x7 service in September-December 2002.

Since 2002, the Ambassador Program has reached thousands of students, teachers, parents and business people throughout the Worthington community and serves as the primary outreach method for the promotion of all library resources.

For more information about the Worthington Libraries Ambassador Program, please call Lisa Fuller at 614-645-2620 ext. 247.

On Saturday, October 9th, over 85,000 people flocked to the National Mall for the fourth annual National Book Festival, which was in most respects the best one yet. Started in 2001, the Festival is sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by First Lady Laura Bush, and is intended to offer book lovers an opportunity to celebrate reading.

The Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library sent a delegation of three: Joan Clark, Evelyn Ward, and Michael Distin, who were assisted by two members of the Junior League of Washington, both Ohio natives, who each worked a half day behind the table. The event for the three of us began on the Friday night before the Festival with a reception at the Library of Congress, where we were addressed by the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, as well as the event sponsors and several of the authors who would be appearing at the Festival.

The Pavilion of the States, one of eight pavilions at the National Book Festival

Inside the Pavilion of the States

Saturday was a beautiful day, sunny, warm and a little windy at times. The Festival was to run from 10 a.m. until 5p.m., although when we arrived on the mall to set up shortly after 9 o'clock there were already a number of people wandering through the area. It seemed as though the Festival was in full swing well before 10.

The 85,000 people who jammed the National Mall were treated to over 70 award-winning authors, illustrators, and poets who appeared at the festival grounds throughout the day to sign books. There were several authors with an Ohio connection in attendance, including R. L. Stine and Lois McMaster Bujold, both native Ohioans, and also Marc Brown, the author and illustrator of the popular Arthur Adventure series of children's books, who had studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Many of the authors also appeared in one of eight pavilions to discuss their work.

A big hit as always was the Pavilion of the States, where all fifty state Centers for the Book distributed information and promotional materials. Especially popular with children was a map of all fifty states which they could take to the state booths to have a sticker or stamp from each state added. With three rubber stamps, four people, and an ample supply of ink in the Ohio Center for the Book booth, it was all we could do at times to keep up with all the maps being thrust in our direction. We stamped the maps of well over 3,000 children, all of whom were quite enthusiastic about the day's events. Certainly all of the traffic by our booth served to refute rumors of the demise of reading, and made the time pass quickly.

The Ohio delegation (left to right): Michael Distin, Evelyn Ward, and Joan Clark

The Ohio Center for the Book was well stocked with brochures, pencils, plastic bookmarks, and stickers, of which we distributed thousands. C-SPAN handed out 25,000 National Book Festival tote bags before noon, which by all appearances were bursting at the seams by the end of the day.

Another high point was the culmination of the Letters about Literature contest. This is a contest for students grades 4-12 in which they write to an author explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves. The grand prize of the contest is a trip for 6 winning students, out of 40,000 entrants, to the National Book Festival to read their letters. The students all did a great job with their letters and read them to a rapt audience. Applications and information for this program can be found online at http://www.ohiocenterforthebook.org under the heading Featured Program.

The crowds remained strong until the Festival's close at 5 o'clock, at which time we packed our considerably lightened bags and headed back to the hotel for what we felt was a well deserved dinner.

I would encourage anyone who is planning a trip to Washington, D.C., next year to make an effort to have it coincide with the National Book Festival. I don't think anyone with a soft spot for the written word could possibly be disappointed.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library Reader's Advisory Team Services has created a reader's advisory web site www.findagoodbook.net where librarians and customers may go to get recommendations for good books to read.

The site is interactive and went live October 13, 2004. Users may make comments on the bulletin board, review books and recommend their favorite authors and titles. They may talk to reader's advisors on the message board asking any and all questions about books. They may cast votes in polls dealing with books, find out interesting facts about authors and much more.

The site includes lists of bestsellers and recommended books in many different fiction genres. The site also includes Book Club listings, such as Oprah's book club selections and links to other clubs. We list Book Discussion choices, e books for MPS players and Rocket books. Our Recommended Reading Page lists many books in any number of categories. We have a place where people may sign up for our library's Reserve Club, insuring that they receive notification when their favorite author's new novel arrives. There is a place for reference tools that can be used to find more books to read. Then there are the lists of what the R.A.T.S. (Reader's Advisory Team Services) are reading, as well as the "What to Read Next" lists from our annual summer pamphlet. We have also broken out our extensive African American list into different fiction genres.

The message board is a way to make known the user's views on what they are reading and/or fiction in general and everything in between. This is the place where a person can ask a question or get a recommendation for something to read and the R.A.T.S. will answer.

The web site includes an informational blog and we invite users to comment on the subject under discussion. The blog will be used as a means to let people know more about what Reader's Advisers do, what genres are popular and why, as well as more focused entries on specific types of fiction and what is happening in the world of adult fiction. We will be striving for informative entries that we hope will be of interest to our users.

Findagoodbook.net is a work in progress. The Reader's Advisory Team will continue to fine tune it, change it and add things of interest to keep it up to date.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) has developed a new web site to encourage health information partnerships among public libraries, members of the NN/LM, and local health or community-based organizations.

"Public Libraries and Community Partners: Working Together to Provide Health Information," located at http://nnlm.gov/libinfo/community/, offers extensive information for organizations that are interested in preparing health outreach projects in their local communities, including how to apply for funding from the NN/LM or other sources. Resources for providing health information include consumer web sites, health resources developed for librarians, collection development information, and training opportunities.

The site also addresses how public libraries can become an integral part of a community health information program. A series of six online "guides" directs a library in this process, beginning with a community health assessment. Suggestions include using demographic data, surveys, key informant interviews, focus groups, community meetings, windshield surveys, walk about assessments, and a suggestion box. Defining stakeholders and partners is the next step, followed by identifying measurable goals, outputs, and outcomes. The next stage addresses the "logic model," a planning tool to clarify and graphically display the project's goal and impact. Modules on evaluation planning and fundraising opportunities complete the step-by-step approach to initiating a community-wide effort.