PLA Announces Spectrum Scholar Travel Grant Recipients

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 2000
FROM: BRENDAN DOWLING
PLA COMM. ASST.
312-280-5021

The Public Library Association (PLA) is pleased to announce the winners of the Spectrum Scholar PLA National Conference Travel Grant. The purpose of the grant is to introduce Spectrum Scholars to public librarianship and offer them networking opportunities through attendance at the PLA National Conference, March 28–April 1, 2000 in Charlotte, NC.

Five scholars from the 1998 class and five from the 1999 class were awarded the grant. The grant consists of a check for $1500 and complimentary registration to PLA 2000, with recipients responsible for their own travel and housing arrangements.

Grant recipients were selected on the basis of essays that focused on their interest in public librarianship and how they planned to benefit from attending the conference. The grant recipients are Alicia A. Antone (East Providence, RI), Monecia Barry (Carrboro, NC), Barbara Ferrer Kenney (North Kingston, RI), Keshia Garnett (Chicago, IL), Tracie Hall (New Haven, CT), Mantra Henderson (Indianiola, MS), Carla Morales-Clayton (Miami, FL), Christine Porschet (Geneva, NY), Astoria Ridley (Hamden, CT), and Linda Ryan (Niles, IL).

For more information, contact PLA at 800-545-2433, ext. 5PLA. PLA is a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

PLA Announces Public Libraries Article Contest Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 2000
FROM: BRENDAN DOWLING
PLA COMM. ASST.
312-280-5021

The Public Libraries Advisory Subcommittee of the Public Library Association (PLA) is pleased to announce the winners of the two awards given to writers of Public Libraries articles. The awards, made possible by a PLA challenge grant, are given to public library employees who have authored aPL feature length article in the preceding year. The committee considered all authors who published in 1999 and matched this criteria.

Winner of the first prize of $500 was Claire McLaughlin (Canton Public Library, Canton, Mich.), author of “SHINE: Simply Helping is Note Enough.” Ms. McLaughlin’s article appeared in the September/October issue of Public Libraries, and detailed a customer service campaign in Canton Public Library that stressed effective patron/staff interaction as the key to superior customer service.

Winner of the second prize of $300 was Monica King (Ouachita Parish Public Library, Monroe, LA), author of “Protecting Public Access Computers in Libraries.” Ms. King’s article appeared in the May/June issue of Public Libraries. It examined how new electronic resources in Ouachita Parish Public Library effected equipment malfunction, patron behavior, and library security and how library staff adapted to these changes.

For more information, contact PLA at 800-545-2433, ext. 5PLA. PLA is a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

PLA Announces Managing for Results Training Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 2000
FROM: BRENDAN DOWLING
PLA COMM. ASST.
312-280-5021

In January, 2000, the Public Library Association (PLA) released Managing for Results: Effective Resource Allocation for Public Libraries, the third in a series of PLA books dedicated to helping public librarians map out the futures of their libraries. Managing for Results provides library staff and managers with tools they need to gather information about current resource allocation and to make decisions about using resources to accomplish their desired results.

PLA and Sandra Nelson—a consultant, speaker, and trainer in public library planning and management issues and one of the publication’s authors—are designing a training program to assist librarians in learning about and using the manual. In the summer of 2000, twenty individuals will be educated in the delivery of this training program and become available as trainers to libraries and library systems nationwide.

If you have significant experience in the design and implementation of training programs for public library professionals, professional training responsibilities, and/or noteworthy speaking or program planning experience, you should consider submitting an application. Successful applicants will attend the training event June 19–22, 2000 in Nashville, Tenn. PLA will provide lodging, daytime meals and conference materials; chosen applicants will be responsible for travel to and from Nashville, dinners, and any incidental expenses.

Applications will be evaluated based on the applicant’s experience delivering training programs for public library staff, description of his or her personal training style, experience designing training programs for public library staff, and sample training programs. The process is competitive, and only 20 trainers will be chosen.

The deadline for trainer applications is April 21, 2000. Formal application forms and instructions can be accessed from the PLA Web site at www.pla.org or can be requested from the PLA office at 800/545-2433, ext. 5PLA. Applicants will be notified of their applications’ status by May 10, 2000.

Additional questions should be directed to Scott G. Allen, Education Director, PLA at 800/545-2433, ext. 5027, or e-mailed to sallen@ala.org.

PLA is a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

PLA Announces 2000 Service Award Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 2000
FROM: CATHERINE WALKER
PLA PROGRAM COORDINATOR.
312-280-5026

Winners of ten distinguished service awards have been announced by the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

PLA’s Advancement of Literacy Award. The Starbucks Foundation of Seattle, Washington, is this year’s winner. Sponsored by Library Journal, the award is given to a publisher, bookseller, software dealer, foundation or similar group that has made a significant contribution toward the advancement of adult literacy.

Allie Beth Martin Award. Barbara Genco, Director of Collection Development for the Brooklyn Public Library in New York, was named to receive the $3,000 award donated by sponsor Baker & Taylor. This award recognizes a public librarian for demonstrating a range and depth of knowledge about books and other library materials and the distinguished ability to share that knowledge.

The Baker & Taylor Entertainment Audio Music/Video Product Award Grant went to the Harrington Public Library of Harrington, Delaware. This grant offers the selected library $2,500 in audio music and video products for its circulating collections.

PLA’s Charlie Robinson Award has been won by William Ptacek, Director of the King County Library System in Seattle, Washington. This award recognizes a public library director for implementation of innovative change.

The Demco Creative Merchandising Grant was awarded to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library in Vancouver, Washington. The grant, sponsored by Demco, Inc., provides $1,000 cash and $2,000 worth of supplies to a public library proposing a project for the creative display and merchandising of materials either in the library or in the community.

PLA Excellence in Small and/or Rural Public Library Service Award. The recipient of this award is the Clearwater County Free Library in Weippe, Idaho. EBSCO Subscription Services donated $1,000 to honor a public library serving a population of 10,000 or fewer that demonstrates excellence in service to its community as exemplified by an overall service program or a special program of significant accomplishment.

The Clearwater County Free Library in Weippe, Idaho, also received The Highsmith Library Innovation Award, which recognizes a public library’s innovative achievement in planning and implementing a creative program or service using technology. For the award year 2000, the emphasis was on creative training programs in new technologies for adults and/or youth. A plaque and a $2,000 honorarium are provided by Highsmith, Inc., the award’s sponsor.

The Foreign Language Center of the Cumberland County Public Library and Information Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina, received the Leonard Wertheimer Award. The award, a plaque and a $1,000 honorarium donated by NTC/Contemporary Publishing, recognizes an individual, library, group, or organization for outstanding work that enhances and promotes multilingual and/or multicultural public library service.

Three public librarians were selected to receive the New Leaders Travel Grant. Grant recipients are Laura Hankins of the 78th Street Community Library (Tampa, Florida), Becky Plimpton of the Williston Memorial Library (Williamsburg, Massachusetts) and Dawn Whittman of the Lewiston City Library (Lewiston, Idaho). The $4,107.00 travel grant, shared between the recipients, is donated by GEAC Inc., to support the professional development and improve the expertise of public librarians new to the field by making possible their attendance at major professional development activities.

The McDonald County Library in Pineville, Missouri, has been named the recipient of the NTC/Contemporary Publishing Career Materials Resource Grant. The grant, sponsored by the NTC/Contemporary Publishing, provides $500 cash and $2,000 worth of materials (ordered from NTC/Contemporary Publishing) to a public library proposing a project for the development of a career resources collection and program for a target audience either in the library or in the community.

These award and grant recipients will be recognized during the PLA President’s Reception on July 10, 2000, from 6–8 p.m. at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 237 E. Ontario, during ALA’s 2000 Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Harriet Henderson, PLA President, will preside.

For more information, call the PLA office, 800-545-2433, ext. 5PLA.