News from November, 2007

Aurora Jacobsen, Information Services Librarian

In my years as a Children's Librarian, we did a lot of things with Nursery Rhymes, and were always looking for crafts or activities that would expand upon the original nursery rhyme. As a result, I was really interested in seeing the following e-mail sent through the Children And Young Person listserv of MLA:

The State Library of Louisiana has produced a series of 24 one-page Printable Nursery Rhyme Mini Books for children to color and keep.

Each mini book requires one sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper and just 2 folds.  Please encourage staff to print them out and give them to children, parents, and teachers after programs, tours, presentations, as part of preschool outreach book delivery services, etc.

All 24 mini books can be found as a PDF on the State Library's web site here: http://www.state.lib.la.us/empowerlibrary/ALL%2024%20NRNS%20Mini%20Books.pdf

Mini books by individual title are here: http://www.state.lib.la.us/la_dyn_templ.cfm?doc_id=826

Please see the State Library of Louisiana's other nursery rhyme resources at:  http://www.state.lib.la.us/la_dyn_templ.cfm?doc_id=765 There's an index to nursery rhyme related activities in resource books, a nursery rhyme product directory and web sites with nursery rhyme activities.

Our early childhood home page is at:  http://www.state.lib.la.us/la_dyn_templ.cfm?doc_id=152

Enjoy!!

Rose  Anne  St.  Romain
EARLY CHILDHOOD SERVICES CONSULTANT
STATE LIBRARY OF LOUISIANA
701 North 4th St.
Baton Rouge, LA  70802 - 5232
Phone:  (225) 219-9502
Fax:  (225) 342-3547 

Barbara Misselt, Assistant Director

The demand for technology services and access is steadily increasing, and libraries and schools are struggling to keep up with providing those services and access. Librarians are challenged to find not only the money to pay for it (no small task) but also the insite to know what library customers will be looking for even in the not too distant future.

Social Technologies, a Washington D.C. based research and consulting firm suggests 12 underlying principles or "technology values" that will shape technology-related products and services in the next 10 to 15 years, according to the conclusion of a new study.

Those 12 suggested "technology values" are: user creativity; appropriateness, intelligence; personalization; convenience; protection; simplicity; connectedness; health; assistance; efficiency; and sustainability. This study was not done by a library-related organization, but it sure sounds a lot like Library 2.0 which emphasizes connectivity, customization, and empowerment of customers and students.

David Armano, on Marketing Profs: Daily Fix, developed a .pdf graphic of the 12 Consumer Values to Drive Technology-related Product and Service Innovations that he suggests to pin up on the wall and use as a measure of new initiatives. Good idea - for libraries and schools undertaking technology planning.

Ann B. Hutton, Executive Director

Since SELCO's migration from our legacy automation system, DRA Classic, to Dynix Horizon in September 2003, SELCO staff have been active participants in CODI.  Customers of Dynix, Inc. 
Each year CODI hosts a conference. The location varies each year to enable maximum participation by various regional user groups.  The 2007 conference just concluded in Philadelphia with attendance by Jonya Pacey, SELCO Help Desk Manager, and Mick Reese, Systems Manager.

CODI conference programming is designed and presented by CODI members for CODI members.  In 2004, 2005 and 2006 SELCO staff were among the list of speakers.  Each year the conference itinerary includes excellent sessions presented by CODI members and SirsiDynix staff, as well as vendor exhibits, and participation by representatives from the International users' group.

Jonya Pacey, Help Desk Manager

Gary M. Rautenstrauch, chief executive officer for SirsiDynix, welcomed the 600+ attendees of the conference with both regrets for the disappointments of the past year and encouragement for the future. He said that SirsiDynix was 'reinventing itself throughout' with new employees and improved communications. SirsiDynix staff are focusing on the long term solutions their customers need and deserve, namely the Symphony product suite.

Ann B. Hutton, Executive Director

The focus of this month's community dialogue will be Rochester Public Schools.  District 535's new superintendent, Dr. Romain Dallemand, will provide an overview of recent research statistics and the implications for area students. 

Jonya Pacey, Help Desk Manager

 Some of the best time I spent at our conference was walking Mick Reese, Systems Manager, about the vendor room, introducing him to the companies we work with represented there. For example, we spent some time at theBaker & Taylor booth discussing book and media ordering services, item and bib record downloading, and the VIP feature of the acquisitions module.

Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran, Community Information Librarian

The first Ken Follett book I read was the cathedral-building story, Pillars of the Earth.  My brother-in-law, as it turns out, also read Ken Follett, and so we traded books.  Imagine our surprise when I started reading a more typical Follett book (spies, submarines, etc.) and Greg started reading about medieval cathedrals. 

Pillars of the Earth is back.  Oprah has just chosen the book as her book club pick, which will no doubt increase interest in the 1989 novel.  (It's a good read, by the way.)  LIS News provides the details and a few terrific links:

America's pop fiction facilitator has perpetrated a weighty tome upon her public. Oprah's newest book club pick is the The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett's 1989 bestseller about the construction of a Gothic cathedral in 12th-century England. The 973-page epic features "a struggle between good and evil [...] turning church against state and brother against brother," as well as "forbidden love affairs, political power plays, looting, plunder and burning villages," according to the Oprah's Book Club site.

Oprah's Book Club: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett provides lots of supplementary material for readers, including family trees, chapter-by-chapter reading questions and quizzes, biographical information on author Ken Follett, an online discussion, and a printable bookmark. There's also an excerpt so your patrons can get started while they wait their turn for a library copy.

NB: The long-awaited sequel to Pillars, World Without End, was published just last month. Get more information on both books from Ken Follett's website.

Ann B. Hutton, Executive Director

From Robbie LaFleur, Director, of the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library
 

The latest list of Notable State Documents was distributed at the Minnesota Library Association conference in October and is also online.  This year's list includes digital and print documents on the bridge collapse, veterans and the military, public safety and the courts, and natural resources and recreation.  All of the items represent great work on the part of state agencies to provide important information to citizens. 

Robbie LaFleur, Director
Legislative Reference Library
645 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN  55155
Phone: 651-296-8310     FAX: 651-296-9731
Library website

Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran, Community Information Librarian

The nominations are in and Minnesota is one step closer to naming five honorary state capital communities for its sesquicentennial year. The Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission had a deluge of responses when they asked which Minnesota communities ought to be an honorary capital for a day. Now citizens across Minnesota are being encouraged to vote online at www.mn150years.org with polls closing November 26th and the designation of "honorary state capital" up for grabs until then.

Nominees cover all parts of Minnesota, from large suburban communities to the smallest of smallest town in Minnesota (Tenney, population 6). A total of 68 communities are in the running (http://www.mn150years.org/capital4aday2.html). The Sesquicentennial Commission plans to recognize each nominee during the sesquicentennial year, but in the end, only five will earn the designation "honorary capital for a day."

The five honorary capitals will be selected through a vote on the Sesquicentennial Commission's website (http://www.mn150years.org). Anyone can vote for one potential capital for each of the five regions designated by natural areas or biomes in Minnesota. Each biome will have its own honorary capital chosen through its own online poll, hence the five honorary capitals for a day.

The 150--word nomination essays are posted at the polling site for voters to read and use to decide which communities to support in their bid for "capital for a day." The election concludes November 26th. After the votes are tallied, the Sesquicentennial Commission will announce the five winners, one in each region.

The Capital for a Day program was launched October 19th in part to raise awareness of the unique landscapes found across Minnesota. The convergence of four distinct biomes the unglaciated driftless in the southeast corner of the state, and the nationally-significant lake and river watersheds here make Minnesota's environmental landscape exceptional in the entire North American Continent. 

The Sesquicentennial office received over 100 nominations for the 68 communities nominated. In the Coniferous Forest of northeastern Minnesota, 12 communities were nominated; 23 in the Deciduous Forest running diagonally SE to NW across the state, 22 for the Prairie Grassland on the western border, three for the Tallgrass Aspen Parklands area of Northwestern Minnesota, and eight for the Driftless area of Southeastern Minnesota.

During the Statehood Week - May 11th -May 18th 2008-the five communities will have a designated day as honorary capital.  Each community can personalize their commemoration of the state's 150th birthday with local flavor.
    
At each honorary Capital for a Day, the Sesquicentennial Commission plans to help organize a recognition ceremony, including the presentation of an honorary capital designation sign, a visit by state dignitaries and a community civic engagement roundtable on the results of the Sesquicentennial Plan For Our Future meetings happening now across Minnesota and the subsequent Plan for Our Future report to be completed by May.
Throughout 2008 there will be activities across the state highlighting the assets of the natural areas and biomes that the honorary capital for a day nominees and winners represent.

For more information on the Sesquicentennial Capital for a Dayprogram or to vote visit the Minnesota Sesquicentennial website at www.mn150years.org. For more information on Minnesota biomes and geological areas visit the Department of Natural Resources website at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ecs/index.html.

Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran, Community Information Librarian

The region's public libraries recently received a set of four DVDs from the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, entitled "The Right Focus."  According to the department, "the programs, produced in cooperation with Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) cover four topics especially important to all Minnesotans:

Predatory Lending: This program focuses on abusive lending practices, new laws that make some predatory practices illegal, and explains how the Minnesota Human Rights Act and the federal Fair Housing Act protect against housing discrimination.

Mental Disability: Those who experience emotional or mental illnesses often stand in the shadows, afraid to ask for help.  This program focuses on what employees, employers, and society must do to ensure that our workplaces accommodate people with mental disabilities.

Crime, Race, & Justice: African Americans make up about four percent of Minnesota's population, but 32 percent of our prison population.  Why? This program focuses on racial disparities in our criminal justice system.

Equal Opportunity in the Restaurant Industry: This program looks behind the kitchen door at Minnesota's restaurant industry to explore why people of color are more likely to be working in some jobs than in others, and what needs to be done to ensure equal opportunity for everyone."

These DVDs can be found at SELCO's public libraries.

Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran, Community Information Librarian

The public libraries in the region have had a wealth of riches given to them this week....or a least, a few great additions for their collections.

The latest edition of the Rural Minnesota Journal came out and was given to the public libraries by the Minnesota Center for Rural Policy and Development.  The journal comes out twice a year and contains articles on issues from a rural perspective.  Editor Marnie Werner talks about this issue:

The articles in this issue cover four different areas: local government and whether it needs a new direction, rethinking how our schools are teaching our children, keeping rural hospitals financially viable, and which direction to head in the ongoing development of a broadband infrastructure.

Also donated to the public libraries was a complementary copy of "The Next Gourmet Burger Kids Contest" Cookbook.  The cookbook is from the people at Red Robin, and is a result of their contest "The Next Gourmet Burger Kids Contest."  The cookbook features more than 50 kid-invented recipes.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Red Robin teamed up to create this cookbook to help promote child safety awareness.  In addition to the creative kid-invented recipes, the cookbook also includes NCMEC tips on how to build children's confidence and teach them safer ways to respond to potentially dangerous situations.  Additionally, the cookbook features conversation starters for families to discuss safety issues together.

Red Robin is providing each public library in Minnesota and Wisconsin with a copy of the cookbook.

Thanks to both the Minnesota Center for Rural Policy and Development and Red Robin for their donations!