Friends of Libraries Australia national public library awards for 2008

I am delighted to let you know that Blue Mountains have received a Highly Commended in these awards.

See below:


Friends of Libraries Australia national public library awards for 2008

Friends of Libraries Australia (FOLA) received a record number of entries in 2008 for its two annual awards. The awards recognise and encourage innovation and excellence in public library programs and services for children and young people (the Peter McInnes Award) and for older adults ( the Eric Flynn Award). Each award winner receives $1000 and a framed certificate.

The winner of the FOLA 2008 Peter McInnes Award for Library Services for Children and Young People is the Hurstville City Library, NSW, for its Dragon Tales Mandarin Storytime pilot lapsit program in Mandarin for 0-3 year olds. The judging panel for the award observed that
This pilot project, a part winner in the 2008 NSW Cultural Awards, was a lapsit storytime program in Mandarin for parents, grandparents and carers using story, rhyme and song to prepare children for preschool and to encourage meaningful interaction. Information on child development, preliteracy and numeracy and simple craft skills were also presented in Mandarin to develop an understanding of Australian culture and educational practices. It was innovative in that the Library joined with the St George Migrant Resource Centre and used a community resource to meet unusual circumstances and create a sense of community. It was well planned and specific in targeting an isolated group of preschool children, their parents and grandparents with measurable and positive results. After a review, the Hurstville City Library has complemented the pilot program to reach more children, and identified a need to provide a preschool session and school holiday program for school aged children. The Hurstville initiative could be replicable by other public libraries, using a similar methodology.

Receiving high commendations, in a particularly strong field of entries, were
• Friends of Wingecarribee Library Inc, NSW, for its support of the Wingecarribee Library’s Bilby Book Club for 0-5 year olds, a well thought out program using innovative incentives to encourage lifelong reading habits in very young children.
• Blue Mountains City Libraries, NSW, for its Books 4 Babies scheme. This goes a step beyond other ‘books for babies’ programs, and involves a community partnership between the Friends of Blue Mountain Libraries, the library service, the local hospital and the Megalong Book Company.
• Fairfield Library Service, NSW, for its exemplary broad and strategic approach to programs supporting children and young people, especially those promoting literacy and numeracy for the City of Fairfield’s culturally and linguistically diverse families.
• Macquarie Regional Library, Dubbo NSW, for using a strategic targeted approach to identifying major market segments, and responding to the needs of preschool to Year 12, and Indigenous groups in partnership with a range of community agencies.
• Ipswich Library and Information Service, Qld, for its best practice strategic approach to collaboration with its Friends of the Library group and a wide range of local networks and agencies in promoting literacy and reading development in children and young people.

For more information please see the FOLA website:

FOLA Website here for full press release

2009 Caval Visiting Scholar

US LEARNING 2.0 RESEARCHER DR MICHAEL STEPHENS APPOINTED 2009 CAVAL VISITING SCHOLAR

Melbourne, 30 March 2009 - Internationally recognised US Web 2.0 commentator, writer and library academic, Dr Michael Stephens, has been appointed the 2009 CAVAL Visiting Scholar.

In a world first for CAVAL and its project partners CityLibraries Townsville and Dominican University Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Dr Stephens' research project will seek to measure the value and effect of Learning 2.0 programs in Australian libraries.

"The intent of this study is to understand the impact on library staff and institutional culture and makeup after a Learning 2.0 program", Dr Stephens says.

"The critical questions for libraries looking forward are to what extent has Learning 2.0 impacted institutional culture and staff confidence, and to what degree has it improved the ability of library staff to use emerging technologies?"

Dr Stephens notes that "More than 500 libraries in 15 countries have implemented Learning 2.0 programs in 2 years but we know very little about their effectiveness."

"Nearly 10% of these Learning 2.0 programs are Australian, ranging from large State and University libraries through to public and special libraries and a small school library in New South Wales."

First developed by the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County under a Creative Commons license in 2006, Learning 2.0 is an online learning program that encourages library staff to explore and learn about emerging Web 2.0 technologies. Web 2.0, also called the Read/Write Web or Social Computing, enables users of all ages and walks of life to create, change and publish their own Web content. Blogs and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are common examples.

Working with a co-researcher from CityLibraries Townsville, Dr Stephens'
research aims to develop a world first model for what he terms "an exemplary Learning 2.0 program for Australian libraries."

For Dr Stephens' acclaimed Tame the Web blog,
click here

For more information about the original Learning 2.0 program, click here
ABOUT THE PROJECT PARTNERS:

CAVAL is an Australian not-for-profit company established in 1978 to support leading libraries in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. CAVAL is owned jointly by 11 Australian universities and provides a range of specialised services to the library sector including storage and digital preservation, training and consulting.

For more information on CAVAL:
click here

Library Horror Story...

Library horror story
BY Erin Durkin
DAILY NEWS WRITER (USA)

Wednesday, March 18th 2009, 8:30 AM

Huge budget cuts could force the
Brooklyn Public Library to drastically cut hours at branches across the borough to the lowest level in decades.

A proposed $14 million, 17% budget cut would mean the library could only afford to keep six-day service at 15 of its 60 branches, said BPL Executive Director Dionne Mack-Harvin.

Most neighborhood branches would only be open for five hours a day, five days a week, with weekend service eliminated altogether.

Average hours would plummet to 31 a week - nearly as low as the city's 1970s fiscal crisis, when libraries were only open three or four days a week. In 2008, libraries were open an average of 46.7 hours a week, with all at six-day-a-week service and some at seven days.

Under the doomsday scenario, 220 jobs would be cut through layoffs and attrition.

"What is sad right now is that we have seen such a surge in usage," Mack-Harvin said, noting last month's circulation was up 13%. "Even more people are making use of their libraries."

She said the cuts would shut out the seniors and parents with young children who flock to the library in the morning - and anyone with a full-time job. "For working families, it's going to be a big challenge for them to find a time to use their libraries," she said. "This is our worst-case scenario."

Libraries in the other boroughs are in a similar bind. The New York Public Library, which serves Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx, could lose $23.2million and 465 jobs. Queens faces a $13.9 million cut.

BPL has already eliminated Sunday service at all its branches. It also instituted a hiring freeze and cut spending on books, technology and programming, slashing spending by $5.2million.

But it won't be enough.

"More than 70% of our budget is people," Mack-Harvin said, noting that fewer workers mean shorter hours.

Library officials haven't yet decided which branches would cut hours, but would try to keep a "hub branch" with six-day service in each part of the borough, Mack-Harvin said.

In past years, the mayor has proposed big library cuts, but the City Council has restored the funding in budget negotiations. The current fiscal crunch will make finding the cash harder this year.

"It's less likely because we have fewer resources available," said Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge), chairman of the Council's subcommittee on libraries.

But he said money the city is getting from the federal economic stimulus package could free up for funds for the libraries.

Without the money, said Gentile,
"If you work during the day ... you'll never see a library open, and that's a shame."

Something to make you think

So simple but very effective.

Lost Generation

I wasn't able to embed this video.

Do you want to be a Superhero?

This is a fun site where you can make yourself a superhero. Here's one I whipped up earlier:



Go here to create your own:
Hero Factory
The Bonnie Tyler song really inspires you to be creative and I think we all learn a little about each other with these alter egos......

Thanks Heidi for finding this site and including it on your blog....

Lost in translation?

(Our new official BMCC Library poster)

Last week a colleague sent me this joke in an email:

A bloke walks into a Glasgow library and says to the prim librarian,
'Excuse me Miss, dey ye hiv ony books on suicide?'
To which she stops doing her tasks,
looks at him over the top of her glasses and says,
'F**k off, ye'll no bring it back!'

I'd seen it several times before so read it, smirked (again) and deleted it.

Said colleague has just been in to my office to ask me what the joke was about. They said they'd been trying to work it out for days.

Was it the Scots she was having trouble with and I was the only one able to translate? No. It was the rudeness of the librarian's answer! That was inexplicable - not like a Blue Mountains City Library staff member at all!!!!!

43 Things

43 Things is a great website for those who like to have goals and keep long to-do lists (lists can be very, very addictive - watch out).

You set up your profile and then choose up to 43 things you would like to achieve in your life. The nifty thing about this site is that people who have achieved a goal you are heading toward can answer your questions and give advice, and you in turn can become a mentor to others in areas you have achieved. There is also the option of giving up on a goal or adding others as you choose.

And here you can take the 43 things test, to assess what sort of personality you have (based on past achievements).

I was a Self-Knowing Traveling Builder
0.65% of the 107185 people who have taken this quiz are like me.

Thanks Naomi for highlighting this - I really enjoyed the quiz!

Take the quiz here

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a

Self-Knowing Traveling Builder