Newsletter November 2005

Contents

CHAIR'S MESSAGE

VOLUNTEER! DRILL TEAMS & BAG BOOTH

AWARDS & GRANTS

NMRT ORIENTATION

Message from the Chair

Welcometo our fall issue of the NMRT Newsletter. Our goal is to keep you in the loop with information about NMRT and its plans and activities. We will be electing officers prior to the Annual Conference, and Jeanette Hatcher, our Vice-Chair/Chair Elect is heading the Nominating Committee. She is accepting nominations for our two elected offices: Vice-Chair/Chair Elect, and Secretary/Treasurer. She will also be looking for members to chair and serve on NMRT Committees.

If you are interested in serving as an officer or committee chair/member, please contact Jeanette. You can find more information on the responsibilities for officer positions and for committees here on our website.You can also contact Jeanette at jhatcher@tamiu.edu, or me at sally.bickley@tamucc.edu. We’ll be glad to tell you what you can expect when you volunteer. Another note about elections! If you have not renewed your TLA membership in time for our elections, you will not be able to vote. We will be sending out election ballots in February, but if you have not renewed, you will not receive the Spring newsletter or the ballot. Just a gentle reminder to renew your membership in TLA and NMRT before the end of January to be eligible to vote in our election.

See you at the conference in Houston.
Sally Bickley, NMRT Chair

Volunteer Opportunities

For the first time ever, the Texas Library Association will hold a competition to crown the Texas State Champion Book Cart Precision Drill Team. Book cart drill teams are being used to promote libraries in parades and community events. So that you can get an idea of what we are planning, view some images of ALA's world championship drill team competition.

The Local Arrangements Entertainment Committee needs help planning this competition. Help might include planning, publicity, creating application forms, getting the participants on and off stage, etc. If you are interested in being on the Drill Team Competition committee, please contact Karen Vargas, at kvargas@library.tmc.edu or phone her at 713-799-7198.

NMRT sponsored the program "Beyond Boolean: Advanced Internet Searching Techniques". Dr. Hal Erickson taught on overflow crowd how to use new advances in search engines to perform very precise searches. He also showed how to exploit html tags to approximate subject searches and look for specific types of information, like images or government documents. Thank you Dr. Erickson, for such an interesting program.

The Bag Booth made $1,165.25 from the booth at the 2005 Annual Conference. The Bag Booth Co-Chair from last year, Shirley Martyn, reported at the NMRT business meeting at Annual Assembly, that they had scheduled a maximum of 6 people per shift, and a minimum of 3 people per shift. They would have liked to have a few more volunteers. She said they began organizing the bags by the last digit on the ticket, and that make it much easier to retrieve the items.

If you’re planning to attend Annual Conference, please plan to volunteer a couple of hours at the Bag Booth. It’s fun, you make friends, and you help with NMRT’s main fund-raiser.

$$$$ Awards!  Grants! $$$$

TLA/NMRT and Quality Books work together to award the Professional Development Grant to a new librarian in the first five years of his or her professional career. This grant provides assistance to attend the annual TLA Conference (April 25-28 in Houston), by covering conference registration, travel expenses, lodging and $50 per diem, up to $1000 total expenses. The application is online. There are links to grant guidelines and a listing of previous winners. Debye Nicholl is the TLA/NMRT/Quality Books Inc. Professional Development Grant Committee Chair. Email her at dnichol@sanantonio.gov or call 210-545-6679, if you have questions or need more information.

The NMRT Outstanding New Librarian Award is accepting nominations until February 17, 2006. This award honors a librarian who is new to the profession. The nominee must be a member of NMRT/TLA and must be employed full time as a professional librarian. Self-nominations are accepted. Contact Jo Monahan, the Outstanding New Librarian Award Committee Chair, at JMonahan@library.unt.edu.

Have you always wanted to attend an ALA Conference, but are not sure where to get the funds? 3M Library Systems continues its partnership with ALA’s New Members Round Table in sponsoring the annual Professional Development Grant program. The grant provides funding to cover the cost of registration fees, airfare, lodging and some incidental expenses for recipients to attend the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA, in June 2006. You must be a current member of ALA and NMRT to apply. To apply for the grant, go to the NMRT website at: http://www.ala.org/ala/nmrt/applyforfunds/3mawardinformation.htm, or contact: Sarah Robbins, Chair, 3M/NMRT Professional Development Grant Committee, University of Oklahoma Libraries, 401 W. Brooks, Norman, OK 73072, email: srobbins@ou.edu.

Orientation Program at Annual Conference

We are planning a super program for TLA’s Annual Conference to be held in Houston  on Wednesday, April 26 at 10:15 a.m., right after the first General Session.

NMRT’s program is called TLA Orientation Program, and we have a raft of speakers who will be able to tell you how some of the TLA Committees, Districts, and Round Tables work to make TLA a great place to network, develop professionally, and have fun with other librarians! Some of the speakers we have lined up for the Conference are Dana Rooks, TLA’s Past President; Carol Brey-Casiano, ALA’s Past President; Herman Totten, Chair of TLA’s Diversity Committee; Diane Gwamanda, from the InterGalactic DooWop Round Table; Carolyn Kienzle, representing School Librarians; and Dolores Greenwald, representing TLA’s regional Districts.

We will also be awarding the Outstanding New Librarian Award and the TLA/NMRT/Quality Books, Inc. Professional Development Grant Award winners.

NMRT will also have a business meeting right after the program, and we will begin planning next year’s program. Please plan to attend to learn, share your ideas and get involved!