Friday, May 16, 2003

Friday Notes 2.  An on-line resource for NEILSA Librarians Other LSA blogs: SWILSA House blog at: http://www.swilsa.blogspot.com DEADLINES & DATES: I'll try to list all the upcoming dates of importance here, you will have to mine for the details.  Upcoming Grant Application Deadlines LSTA Grants The State Library is offering FY04 LSTA Competitive Grants to Iowa  libraries.  The deadline for grant applications is August 1, 2003. There will be two ICN  information sessions on June 17 and June 18 for those interested in the  application. The grant handbook, application and guidelines are located at  http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/for-ia-libraries/LSTA/FY04/index.htm. The two ICN information sessions will be held for those interested in applying for an LSTA competitive grant. Two time periods have been scheduled for your convenience. Choose to attend June 17, from 9:00 - 11:00 am or June 18, 2:00 to 4:00 pm. These sessions will discuss the FY04 LSTA priorities, review the application process, discuss the evaluation requirements and provide answers to questions of potential applicants. The sessions will originate at the State Library in Des Moines. Currently there are few sites listed on the reservation, as sites will be determined by those interested and their geographical area. If you have an interest in attending one of the sessions, contact Jackie Kokke at the State Library and specify which site you would like to attend. In the interest of cost saving, an effort will be made to add sites with lower or no room use fees. Jackie will work with you to determine the best site. Refer to reservation #386674; Jackie Kokke, ICN scheduler 515-281-4316. Please feel free to forward this message to those you feel may be interested. Arts Council Grants The State Library of Iowa will host an Iowa Arts Council grant writing workshop on June 30. This will be a three-hour ICN session from 9:00 to 12:00. These workshops are conducted throughout Iowa for artists, educators, communities and organizations who are seeking funding support for arts-related activities that benefit Iowans. This particular session will be directed at public libraries. * Hear directly from grant program managers for the Iowa Arts Council and the Department of Cultural Affairs on what review panels expect to see in grant proposals. * Learn about developing powerful grant proposals. Hear about the new E-Grant application system, new granting programs and changes to program guidelines. ** All IMLS grant and award program deadlines can be viewed at: http://www.imls.gov/grants/dedln/index.htm Applicants for Federal Grants Need DUNS In order to improve the statistical reporting of federal grants and cooperative agreements, the Office of Management and Budget has directed all federal agencies to require all applicants to federal grants to provide a Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number when applying for federal grants or cooperative agreements on or after October 1, 2003. For more information see: http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/current/050803.htm IMLS tutorial IMLS has launched an on-line tutorial to help libraries and museums develop project plans for National Leadership Grant applications. We hope that this tool will help make it easier to develop competitive applications for an IMLS grants. The tutorial is designed to be user friendly and informative. Users will find real world examples, tools, schedules, exercises, and even reality checks to help assess readiness to move from one section to the next. It begins with a step-by-step process for getting projects underway, including analyzing organizational needs, identifying target audience, and formulating goals. The second phase helps to develop the components of a project plan, including activities, evaluation approach, schedule, and resources. The tutorial also contains tips for writing applications and implementing successful projects. Throughout the tutorial, the need to identify and communicate with stakeholders is underscored. While this planning tool is designed for developing IMLS grant applications, it can be used by anyone who would like to learn more about project planning and development. Senior program officers at IMLS with years of experience coaching applicants worked together with museum professionals and librarians to develop this powerful learning resource. We hope that it will be useful in many different settings, including professional education and development, staff training, and a wide array of project planning activities. Please visit the tutorial at http://e-services.imls.gov/project_planning We encourage you to try it out and to give us feedback at nlgtutorial@imls.gov     County Meetings Scheduled: If your county meeting is not on the schedule please contact NEILSA •    Allamakee County Meeting •    Black Hawk County Meeting - When called - seldom •    Bremer County Meeting - •    Buchanan County Meeting - •    Butler County Meeting  - •    Chickasaw County Meeting •    Clayton County Meeting -Oct. 14, 2003 7:30 (?)  in Strawberry Poit •    Delaware County Meeting - •    Dubuque County •    Fayette County Meeting - Oct. 23, 2003 @ 1:00 Haweye PL •    Grundy County Meeting - All meetings start at 9:00 am - 2003 schedule         6/28 @ Grundy Center, 10/27 @ Reinbeck •    Howard County Meeting   - •    Winneshiek County Meeting - November 6, 2003 @ 7:00 Decorah CE: July 7 Oelwein  & 8 Waverly  "Spring" Confluence 7th Topic - Grants 8th Topic - Telling the Library Story         Using volunteers in the library  More - program in development Special Workshops: One & two hour workshops at Fall & Spring county meetings, item specific workshops. June 27th for "Library 101" NEILSA: Hudson Public Library (node 735) AND West Union Public Library (node 764) Tell us if you wish a "special" site.     OTHER CE: You must register with the listed provider.  "Learning Activity Written Summery" may be found at: http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/for-ia-libraries/continuing-ed/online-learningactivitywrittensummary.htm   Legal Issues for Libraries: A National Update is the State Library's spring program for trustees offered over the Iowa Communications Network (ICN). It will take place on Tuesday, June 3, 2003, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. (We're trying an earlier time so people can attend the program on their way home from work.) All of the ICN rooms being used allow refreshments, so feel free to pick up a sandwich or snack and join us for an update on current legal issues facing libraries. Topics inlclude the library as a public forum, unprotected speech, minimizing liability and privacy and confidentiality. For details and to register, go to http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/for-ia-libraries/continuing-ed/cecat.htm#June Complete details about recertfication are available at http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/for-ia-libraries/continuing-ed/recertification.html             Self-Directed Learning Opportunities: http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/Certification/alternate.htm ANNOUNCEMENTS: Coming Soon to the desk of a city or county administrator or politician who has their thumb on your funding: "Changing public library funding" in the May 2003 issue of American City & County magazine page 6. You can read a longer article on the same subject at: http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jan00/coffman.htm The people from the Iowa Games (Iowa's version of the Olympics) are wanting to know what libraries would like a copy/copies of this year's Iowa Games Booklet or Entry Information. Any library wanting this information or with questions please contact the Iowa Games at 1-888-777-8881 or e-mail Lori@iowagames.org. The FY2004 FirstSearch contracts have been mailed. Libraries should have receiving them early last week. OCLC did not raise prices this year, so it will remain at $.85/per search for the per search databases. Public libraries will once again get 100 free searches per month. SAVING MONEY Public libraries and academic libraries can take advantage of the IEC Spring Paper Co-op. JP Gasway, Co., Cedar Rapids has been awarded the statewide prime vendor status for the spring/summer paper co-op. Because shipping drops add to vendor costs, a minimum order limit has been set at 40 cases. This does offer smaller public libraries opportunities to work with their local school or AEA to combine orders. A possible scenario would be for the school to order additional cases for libraries and bill the library. Another possibility is for libraries in the county to join with one order and one drop. Academics can order for the entire campus, including the library with this offer. Details of this offer, order form and contacts are located at: http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/for-ia-libraries/Discounts/IEC_SpringPaperOrder03.pdf EBSCOhost Just a reminder - fax in your renewal forms The renewal forms for EBSCOhost are coming in fast and furious. You are keeping the State Library fax machine hot. There is still plenty of time, but we are concentrating on the libraries that want to be invoiced before July 1. If this is your wish, please get in your form soon to expedite the process. Invoicing should be completed in May. NEW SIGN UPS: If you did not sign up for EBSCOhost last year, you are encouraged to do so now for FY04. Send in your participation form now and receive access to an additional month or two before the July 1 FY04 start date. For a small fee of $25 and $ .02 per population served, you provide access to over 4,000 full-text journal titles from the library, work or home. The positive feed back from libraries on this product has been enormous. One library stated with all the funding problems in the state and now locally, the EBSCO contract is really important. Join over 400 Iowa public libraries and sign up now. Don't miss out on this excellent opportunity to serve your customers. The form for both renewals and new sign-ups is located: http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/for-ia-libraries/databases/ebsco/index.html The Denver Public Library will be closed for moving into its new building May 10, 2003 and will reopen June 2, 2003,  we will not be doing any interlibrary loan during this time. Thanks!     In the EYE-OPENER from NWILSA: Good Morning! This time in EYE-OPENER: 2) Trustee Program Via ICN: The State Library is sponsoring a spring program especially for public library trustees. Entitled LEGAL ISSUES FOR LIBRARIES: A NATIONAL UPDATE takes place Tuesday June 3rd over the ICN; the time is from 6:00--8:00PM. Topics include the library as a public forum, unprotected speech, privacy and confidentiality issues, and minimizing liability. The State Library explains that the earlier start time should better enable people to attend the program on their way home from work. Also note that all of the ICN rooms scheduled for this program allow refreshments, so feel free to bring in sandwiches or snacks. Northwest ICN locations are the public libraries in Hawarden, Orange City, Sac City, Sioux City, and Spencer. For full details--and to register online--please go to: http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/for-ia-libraries/continuing-ed/cecat.htm#June 3) FIRSTSEARCH Contracts Renew in May: A reminder that your FIRSTSEARCH contracts renew in May. Central Iowa Library Services in Clive manages the FIRSTSEARCH program, renewals, etc. for Iowa's libraries. Watch for the FY2004 FIRSTSEARCH contracts to come by U.S. mail, which should arrive late this week. If you do not receive yours by Friday this week, please contact Beth Marie Quanbeck at Central LSA office (Clive: 515-223-7709 or email her at bquanbeck@cilsa.lib.ia.us) Also, if you would like to sign up as a first-time user of FIRSTSEACH, Beth Marie can get that process started for you. You're welcome to direct FIRSTSEARCH training and searching questions to Chris here at NWILS --  best make that Eunice at NEILSA. 4) EBSCO Contracts Renew in May: One more reminder that EBSCO contracts renew this month too. The EBSCO contracts are available on the State Library's website: http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/for-ia-libraries/databases/ebsco/index.html And since last week, the forms have been streamlined for your convenience: now 1 master form asks whether your library is renewing EBSCO or if you'll be a first-time user. Please view and print the form online and return it to the State Library. If you have trouble viewing / opening the form, just let us know--we have a master form here that we're happy to send:-) Call soon with questions, because EBSCO is an opportunity you don't want to miss:-) EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY TIP For the time being, the effective advocacy tips will be coming straight from the mouths (or typing fingers) of Congressional staff people, as a follow-up to our recent survey of staff (http://www.advocacyguru.com/staffsurvey.htm ). Here's a really basic one: "Relate it to the district. Local, local, local." Or, "Be specific and succinct. Make it relevant to the District. Why is this important to the Congressman?" Or, "Make it personal, and state the relevance to our constituency." Get the point? I know you've heard me say this time and time again, but, well, I'll say it again. In a representative democracy, constituency matters. Advocates are relevant to their elected officials because they live, work, or serve people in the district (everyone repeat after me "Live, Work, Serve.") If you cannot demonstrate that district or state relevance, there is really no reason why the elected official should care what you have to say – no matter HOW brilliant it is. Sorry, but that's the truth. It's all about the constituents, so use that power to your advantage! New LINKS of interest: Libraries and Museums Give Kids a Head Start--A child's first teacher is often his mother or father. In the early years, his learning experiences branch out from the home to the park, preschool, and the wider community, from parent to childcare provider, teacher, or neighbor.  IMLS provides a look at just a few of the many ways museums and libraries play a key role in the early learning life of a child. Read all about it at http://www.imls.gov/closer/hlt_c0503.htm http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may03/friedlander/05friedlander.html Keepers of the Crumbling Culture: What Digital Preservation Can Learn from Library History [D-Lib Magazine] http://www.ucffuture.com/news/433203.html?mkey=205341 IS Internet replacing libraries as top source for research [The Central Florida Future] Go to http://www.Iowaleague.org to see a pretty good run down on legislation as it may affect your community. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/technology/12TURN.html The Evelyn Wood of Digitized Book Scanners [The New York Times] http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_5/keller/index.html What is a library anymore, anyway? [First Monday] Abstract What is a library anymore, anyway? by Michael A. Keller, Victoria A. Reich, and Andrew C. Herkovic Libraries in the future will undertake local control, especially for long-term preservation and accessibility of digital as well as analog collections. Failure to embrace that role would cause libraries and librarians rapidly to lose relevance and value as Internet and other digital resources develop. Local control of collections is critical both to assure permanence and to provide a key degree of selectivity, which — contrary to the irrational exuberance of making everything available to everybody — is vital to providing service to communities of readers. Librarians need new tools, such as the LOCKSS system, to enable both persistence and selection of electronic information. We have started a new feature on the SWILSA web site -- a page especially for Youth Services. We are off to a good start with Patricia Engemann's tips on creating activity boxes and a listing of the books recommended by those attending the recent Children's Book Discussion workshop. Take a look and feel free to send us your ideas and suggestions! The new page is located at http://www.swilsa.lib.ia.us/youth/index.html. YOU WROTE: snippets from your e-mails: I need a summer reading program idea for teen age boys. Ken replies - This one may draw in some older men, you hope, to supervise.  Might even be a good way to get male board members involved et. al. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pagrosse/h2oRocketIndex.htm Partnership idea - involve the firefighters. More partners: Hardware store, lumber yard, grocery store, think about it. CHANGES: Updates – Addresses & such - AEA 7 - Regular delivery ends June 2 & 3. Summer delivery begins June 10 & 11 lasting through August 5 & 6. AEA 1 - No items will be accepted for delivery to AEA 1 after May 27. AEA 1 does not have delivery during the summer when school is not in session Items will be accepted for delivery to AEA 1 beginning August 11 & 12     END PLATE: Long Announcements, Supporting Documents, & other "stuff" TODAY'S INTERNET INSIGHT: All those shiny new PCs bought to get ready for Y2K are now, obsolete themselves. In today's Leading Off, analyst Peter Kastner writes that the pre-Y2K PCs represent a security and reliability risk for enterprises still running them. Microsoft is phasing out support for Windows 98 and Windows NT. Moreover, there are breeds of viruses designed especially to prey on older systems. IT managers need to start convincing business managers to replace those dusty systems, despite the objections of financial managers looking to save money by continuing to use PCs that are, after all, still running fine. IT managers need to start sending the message: Yeah, they're running fine -- for now. Fortunately, new technologies from Microsoft and Intel make now a great time to buy. The headline on the Kastner column might well have been, "Things That Make You Say, 'Oh, Wow!'" As I read the column for the first time, I said to myself, "It's been that long since Y2K? Oh, wow.... " Remember Y2K? Our computers were all going to wear out. That wasn't going to turn out to be such a big deal, relatively speaking, because, also, electrical plants were going to go offline, civilization was going to collapse, hordes of cannibal armies were going to roam the countryside seeking human flesh to feast on, and fissures were going to open up in the Earth emitting noxious, foul-smelling fumes and demons. The dead rising from the grave! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes! Riots in the streets! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria! Perhaps you bought into all the apocalyptic doom and gloom, and are still hunkered down in your Y2K survivalist shelter, eating cold beans from a can. In which case, here's some news: Civilization didn't collapse. You can come out now. Or, on second thought, comparing the state of the world in 2003 vs. 1999: Got any room in your shelter? Can I join you? I can bring my own beans. -- Mitch Wagner (mwagner@internetweek.com) ******************************************************** ----------------------LEADING OFF----------------------- ******************************************************** Why You Need To Replace Those Windows 98 And NT systems The Windows 98 and Windows NT PCs still in use are security liabilities, and Microsoft is phasing out support of the operating systems. -- Peter S. Kastner, Aberdeen Group http://update.internetweek.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eLuS0BdhOP0V30ByLZ0AM From: InternetWeek NewsBreak <InternetWeek@update.internetweek.com>; Canada.com is reporting that some 20,000 Canadians listed "Jedi" as their religion in the last national census (2001). The fine print stuff blogs - Friday Notes 2 AT -  http://radio.weblogs.com/0108327/ NOTICE – DISCLAIMER - pick one, any one will do. MY disclaimer: Basically my opinions are my own, shared by no one else (sometimes), and are not the opinions of my agency, my board, my co-workers, my parents, siblings, relatives, my dogs or most any other know life form.  Except, of course, those very bright concerned, sensitive, perceptive &, in general, well educated, widely read and cultured individuals who wish to share this peculiar road to ruin, as well as a couple of down & out drugged out beatniks from the good old days. OK?  The "Prime Directive" applies. Edited by: Ken Davenport - NEILSA Consultant davenport@neilsa.org COPYLEFT NOTICE 2002: THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt © COPYRIGHT Please note: material found on the web should be assumed to be under copyright and is presented here for purposes of education and research only. NOTE: If credited [via ???] or [from so & so] it is their material and not covered by my "Copyleft" notice.  Ken SOURCE: {Consultant} D:CorelwpdocsFridayNotes0516.wpd  August 2, 2002 BOILER PLATE FOOTNOTES: 1. WARNING: I will be able to give you about a 5 working day warning on deadlines (by e-mail, less otherwise) I have 10 days to reply, if I miss the deadline, well I won't miss, if you miss  ... I'll send it in late but . 11:45:37 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Ken Davenport. Last update: 6/6/03; 1:54:59 PM.