PLA Electronic Newsletter, Vol. 5 no. 6

In this issue:

Library Usage up in Wake of Recession
Virtual Job Fair at University of Illinois
Frank DeFord to Keynote PLA President's Program at ALA Annual Conference
Reinberger Foundation Gift to Kent State GSLIS
Preconference Institute - 2002 ALA Annual Conference
AALL Seeking Survey Participants
Rediscover America @ Your Library Videotapes Promote Role of Libraries in our Democracy
CIPA Media Coverage
ALA Annual Report Available Online

LIBRARY USAGE UP IN WAKE OF RECESSION

Two new national studies released recently show that Americans are using their libraries more than ever, and 91 percent of adults believe public libraries will play an important role in the future, despite all of the information available on the Internet. For more information visit http://www.ala.org/news/v8n5/studies.html

VIRTUAL JOB FAIR 2002

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) is sponsoring a Virtual Job Fair (VJF) from April through September 2002. The job fair is free of charge for employers of librarians and information/technology specialists and to all students and alumni of the UIUC/GSLIS. Employers are invited to register at the Virtual Job Fair website www.collegecentral.com/uilisjobfair through September 30, 2002. Upon authorization, employers may post online job vacancies, revise postings, retrieve and manage resumes submitted by job-seekers, search online resumes, and promote their organizations as desirable places of employment. For more information contact the Virtual Job Fair Administrator, Assistant Dean Isabel Dale Silver, isilver@uiuc.edu or 217-337-5933.

FRANK DEFORD TO KEYNOTE PLA PRESIDENT'S PROGRAM AT ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

PLA President Toni Garvey is pleased to invite you to the PLA President's Program featuring Frank DeFord. Among the most versatile of writers, DeFord's work has appeared in virtually every medium. He writes for "Sports Illustrated," he may be head on National Public Radio; and he is a regular correspondent on HBO's "RealSports." DeFord is also the author of thirteen books. The latest of his seven novels, "The Other Adonis," is a psychological thriller. Elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters, DeFord also has won both an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody award for broadcasting. For a complete list of PLA programs and PLA committee meetings at the ALA conference visit http://www.pla.org/conference/pla@ala02.html

REINBERGER FOUNDATION GIFT TO KENT STATE UNIVERSITY SLIS

Kent State University's School of Library and Information Science received a gift of $240,000 from the Reinberger Foundation of Cleveland for the construction of a unique national center dedicated to training librarians who specialize in services for children, young adults and school librarianship. The gift was announced in anticipation of National Library Week (April 14-20).

"The Children's Resource Center will offer an environment similar to achildren's or elementary school library complete with books, multimedia, puppets and a storytelling area," said Associate Professor Dr. Carolyn S.Brodie, who has built the School of Library and Information Science's collection of materials for youth, and is a co-recipient of the Reinberger gift. Brodie recently served as chair of the 2000 John Newbery Award Committee.

The Children's Resource Center will be unique among the nation's library schools and will serve as a model classroom for library science programs for children's librarians. The Center is designed to be much more than a university classroom and will include a children's resource area that will house more than 5,000 children's books, materials, and resources to create a focal point for instruction in children's, young adult, and school librarianship. The 1,700-square-foot resource center will also include a wireless computer network installed with specialized software and other resources used in children's and school libraries. For more information contact Megan Harding, (330) 672-0419.

PRE-CONFERENCE INSTITUTE - 2002 ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Transforming your Library into a Public Forum: Convening and Moderating a Public Issues Forum
Thursday, June 13 - Friday, June 14, 2002
Internet Content, Education, Immigration, Health Care, International Relations, National Security...These are just a few of the issues on which members of any community may hold different opinions - based on different values. Civil discourse is vital to the health of a democratic society. Libraries - and librarians - are ideally positioned to play a vital role in nourishing civil discourse - within communities, on campuses, in schools and in a broad array of organizations.

A New Way to Talk and Listen in Your Community
ALA will conduct an intensive, two-day workshop to train librarians how to moderate forums that help their diverse communities approach many complex issues. The workshop will introduce the tools, methods and theory of deliberative forums developed by the National Issues Forums Institute and used in communities across the country. Participants will experience a deliberative forum, discuss how issues are framed for deliberative discourse, and learn how to convene and moderate deliberative forums in their communities. In addition, participants will think together about the role of libraries in promoting and sustaining civil discourse in a contentious world.

Workshop Leader
Taylor Willingham is a consultant offering training and consulting services for non-profit organizations. Taylor is a research associate for the Kettering Foundation and a board member for the National Issues Forums Institute. She has moderated over 200 forums and taught at over 30 Public Policy Institutes. She is former director of the Reading Program, the adult literacy service of the Santa Clara County Library, and stays close to her love for library literacy services as a member of ALA's newly-formed Committee on Literacy.

Cost is $225 (including lunch, 6/14), refreshment breaks and materials*
Background materials for discussion will be mailed to registered participants in advance. Participants are encouraged to review this background material prior to attending the institute. Registration deadline is May 31, 2002.
Registration limited to 40. To register or to get more information contact Danielle Alderson at dponton@ala.org.

AALL SEEKING SURVEY PARTICIPANTS

The panelists for a program that will be held the upcoming AALL (American Association of Law Librarians) Conference is seeking survey participants.

The topic of the presentation is the need for a model county law library code in jurisdictions around the U.S. One of the scenarios uncovered in some states is where an academic or public library has either entered into some kind of legal agreement (memo of understanding) with the court or county to provide law library service to the public, or have picked up this additional responsibility through an informal arrangement with the local governing entity. Panel members would like to be able to identify as many of these alternative arrangements for providing access to legal information as possible.

Hoping to find library administrators or reference staff who would be willing to submit to a very brief & simple email generated survey. The gist of the survey concerns gathering both anecdotal and documented information about public libraries around the country that now perform a full or partial service/collection function previously handled by a county/courthouse law library in the county.

If any public library is interested in participating in the survey, please email Mike Miller, director of the Maryland State Law Library at mike.miller@courts.state.md.us. Phone number is (410) 260-1430.

REDISCOVER AMERICA @ YOUR LIBRARY VIDEOTAPES PROMOTE ROLE OF LIBRARIES IN OUR DEMOCRACY

Two promotional videotapes and a television PSA are available to help libraries publicize the new Rediscover America @ your library initiative. This yearlong national media relations and advocacy effort is designed to convince the public and policymakers that libraries and librarians are critical to our democracy and are needed now, more than ever.

Available immediately is a three-minute videotape designed for internal audiences, including library staff, school and academic administrators, trustees and Friends, among others. The tape serves to tell the story of the campaign, as well as the vital role libraries play in our communities in a post-911 environment. A preliminary version of the tape was shown at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in New Orleans.

A three-minute version of the tape designed for the public and a 30-second television PSA will be available by the ALA Annual Conference in Atlanta. Other tools to help libraries of all types get on board with the initiative currently can be found on the @ your library Web site at www.ala.org/@yourlibrary/rediscoveramerica. These include talking points and sound bites, programming ideas, sample press materials and more.

The internal videotape is now available on VHS for $15 to cover reproduction and shipping. The public version also will cost $15 on VHS. The television PSA will range from $15 to $30 depending on tape format (VHS, 3/4", or 1"). Both videos and the PSA will be available on one VHS tape for $30. To order, call the ALA Public Information Office at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5041 or send an e-mail to atyourlibrary@ala.org. Please include your name, mailing address, billing address (if different from mailing address) and phone number. You may also download an @ your library order form (in either Adobe Acrobat or PDF) from the campaign Web site at www.ala.org/@yourlibrary/store.cfm. An invoice will be included in the shipment. Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery.

For more information on the @ your library campaign and to subscribe to a discussion list for the latest updates and idea-sharing, visit the Web site at www.ala.org/@yourlibrary. Libraries are encouraged to send multiple samples of their involvement in the campaign to: Megan Humphrey, Campaign Coordinator, ALA PIO, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Samples also may be sent electronically to: atyourlibrary@ala.org.

CIPA MEDIA COVERAGE

For those closely following media coverage of the ALA's legal challenge to the Children's Internet Protection Act, here are three recent editorial/opinion pieces:

Visit http://www.ala.org/cipa/headlines.html or http://www.ala.org/pio/presskits/cipa/index.html for ongoing coverage of CIPA.

ALA ANNUAL REPORT AVAILABLE ONLINE

ALA is pleased to report that the 2000-2001 ALA Annual Report is now available online at www.ala.org/annualreport/. The document features events from the ALA Fiscal Year 2001, which began September 1, 2000, and ended August 31, 2001. Highlights include the kick-off event of @ your library(tm), The Campaign for America's Libraries, as well as the presidential year of ALA Immediate Past President Nancy Kranich. The interactive Web site provides links to a range of other sites.

Hard copies printed from the online Annual Report are available through the Public Information Office at pio@ala.org, or 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611; 312-280-5041/5044.