PLA Electronic Newsletter
Volume 5 No. 18 http://www.pla.org/members/enews/vol5no18.html
In this issue:
Job Shadow Day
PLA Committee Meetings at ALA Midwinter
Consumer Health Guide Available from PLA
PLA Thanks Our Partners
Register For PLA'S Spring Symposium
Home Ownership Begins @ Your Library
LD OnLine Can Help Serve Children with LD
JOB SHADOW DAY
Join forces with ALA divisions and associations across American in support of Job Shadow Day! Volunteer to serve as a library coordinator or mentor.On January 31, 2003, PLA, AASL, and ACRL will join forces with other associations in support of National Job Shadow Day. Now in its sixth year, National Job Shadow Day kicks off with a year-long initiative that give students the chance to "shadow" a workplace mentor during a day on the job. Young people nationwide will get an up-close look at how skills learned in school are put to use in the workplace. As part of ALA recruitment efforts, librarians will receive information and support from the three divisions.
The divisions will develop materials and promotions that will be available on their web pages and at library conferences, beginning with the 2003 Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. The divisions also will feature job shadow day success stories on their web sites and in division publications. It is anticipated that more than one million students and 100,000 businesses will participate in the National Job Shadow Day 2003.
"Inviting young people 'behind the scenes' is the best way to open their eyes to all of the wonderful aspects of being a librarian - the hunt for information, helping students find the perfect source, working with important historical documents, or partnering with the local skate park on a program for teens," said PLA President, Jo Ann Pinder. "I am excited to be working with my colleagues in schools and on college and university campuses to promote this dynamic career."
By participating in the job shadow day program, public librarians will:
- Introduce junior and high school students to the profession of librarianship
- Help young people make the connection between academics and careers
- Encourage partnerships between libraries and young people
- Build an ongoing relationship with their communities
- Help to prepare the future work force
- Highlight career possibilities in the library profession
- Provide an opportunity to deepen understanding and appreciation for the work librarians do.
How to Become Involved
Becoming involved in Job Shadow Day will only take a few hours of your
time. If you are a library director, encourage your staff to become mentors,
provide support to the effort, and publicize the initiative at your institution
and beyond. If you are a library coordinator (the individual who oversees
the logistics of your institution's shadow day), work with schools to
identify interested young people, provide your library's staff with descriptions
of participating students, develop an agenda for the day, and prepare
a brief report and submit it to PLA upon completion of your shadow day.
If you are a library mentor, review materials and make plans in preparation
for the day, set aside part of your day to interact with your shadow,
demonstrate and explain effective work methods, and help your shadow understand
the skills and academics needed for the profession of librarianship.
Interested? Let us hear from you! E-mail bmacikas@ala.org
and let us know your institution is going to be involved. We encourage
all librarians to start planning now for the 2003 Job Shadow Day! A Job
Shadow Planning Kit will be available at www.pla.org soon. Questions about
Job Shadow Day? E-mail bmacikas@ala.org
PLA COMMITTEEE MEETINGS AT ALA MIDWINTER
Visit http://www.pla.org/conference/mid03meet.html for a complete list of PLA committee meetings to be held during the upcoming ALA Midwinter Meeting. The list includes dates, times, and locations. The ALA Midwinter Meeting will be held in Philadelphia, January 24-27, 2003 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARIAN'S GUIDE TO PROVIDING CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATION
Authored by Andrea Kenyon, director of the Katherine A. Shaw Division of Public Services at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and Barbara Palmer Casini, director of the Memorial Library of Radnor Township in Wayne, Pensylvania, this comprehensive guide contains helpful information for librarians seeking to provide the best consumer health information for their patrons. Includes chapters on:
- Performing a Community Needs Assessment
- The Health Information Consumer
- Health Reference Services
- Ethical Responsibilities and Legal Implications of Providing Health Information
- Building a Consumer Health Collection
- The Internet
- Partnerships to Provide Consumer Health Information
- Planning and Funding Consumer Health Information Services
- Promotion and Programming for Consumer Health Information Services
ISBN 0-8389-8200-X , LIST $32. To order, call 1-866-746-7252. Visit http://www.pla.org/publications/publist.html for a complete list of PLA publications.
PLA THANKS OUR PARTNERS
PLA thanks our PLA Partners for fiscal year 2002-2003 for their continuing, generous support. Since its establishment in 1988, the PLA Partners Program has enabled PLA to reach out to its members to provide programming and services that improve public library service. Partners help underwrite many PLA activities directly or indirectly. Please be sure to thank these partners at the ALA Midwinter Meeting or wherever you may meet them!
PLA Partners FY 2002-03
Gold Partners ($5,000 +)
3M
Baker & Taylor
EBSCO
Gaylord
Silver ($1,000 to $4,999)
Demco, Inc.
Highsmith Inc. and Highsmith Press
Random House
Bronze (up to $999)
Library Journal
REGISTER FOR PLA'S SPRING SYMPOSIUM
Registration is now open for PLA's 2003 Spring Symposium workshop series, to be held March 6-8, 2003, at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago. Registration information can be downloaded at http://www.pla.org/conference/spring03/index.html. In addition, all PLA members will receive the registration brochure via regular mail.Symposium attendees will have the choice of attending one of five programs that cover all aspects of librarianship: "Building the Perfect Library;" "Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness;" "Power Up With Print: Connecting Teens and Reading in a Digital Age;" "Emergent Literacy Part II: Research and Preschool Services;" and "Staffing for Results." New speakers have been added for the "Power Up With Print" workshop. They are YA author James W. Bennett, Amy Alessio (librarian/author), and Jennifer Bromann (librarian/author). Agendas for each of the five workshops are posted on PLA's Spring Symposium website.
In addition, noted children's author Mem Fox will keynote the Opening General Session the Spring Symposium. Fox, whose books include "Possum Magic," "Time for Bed" and "Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge," frequently links the joyful experience of families reading together to children's future success. Other special events to be offered at the 2003 Spring Symposium include tours of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio and the Newberry Library, an author luncheon, and more.
HOME OWNERSHIP BEGINS @ YOUR LIBRARY
The Path to Home Ownership Begins @ your library(tm) is a multi-year public education and awareness campaign responding to the well-documented desire of the overwhelming majority of Americans to own a home. The program is a collaborative effort between the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a leading provider of home financing. The initiative provides libraries nationwide with a list of targeted reference materials and Web sites that will help homebuyers make well-informed financial decisions.
LD ONLINE CAN HELP SERVE CHILDREN WITH LD
To help children with learning disabilities (LD) and their parents and
teachers, WETA, the PBS station for the Washington DC area, produces LD
OnLine, a web site dedicated to helping children with LD and Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD). The site contains up-to-date articles on LD and ADHD,
creative forums for kids, and book reviews and recommendations. LD OnLine's
goal is to provide the most current relevant information on LD and ADHD.
For a specially designed library tour, visit LD OnLine at http://www.LDOnLine.org/library.html.
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