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Newsletter of the Texas Library Association |
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The Texas Library Association and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission are working on a statewide, grassroots visioning process that is of strategic importance to the library community. The desired outcomes of the effort is a plan that will: energize Texas libraries; help us further integrate our work and interests with other educational structures; articulate the exciting and vital role of libraries in deploying information, resources, and instruction over the coming 10 years; build consensus on important directions for the collective library community; and provide a plan to guide statewide policy, as well as development at the local and institutional level. A statewide taskforce has been appointed to start the process by creating draft recommendations that will then be vetted statewide. The Visioning Task Force will meet at a kick-off summit on December 3 and 4 in Austin. Keynote addresses by library futurists George Needham, Joan Frye Williams, and Kathleen de la Peńa McCook will be available through podcasting on the TLA website starting Dec. 4. We invite anyone interested in the future of Texas libraries to participate in this process. The questions and issues to be considered by the taskforce will be available on TLA’s website prior to the summit. We encourage you to look at the questions and respond. You can submit any feedback by clicking on We want to hear from you. Write-ups on the summit activities and presentations will be published in the Texas Library Journal. To learn more about this exciting initiative and how you can participate in responding and shaping final recommendations, go to: http://www.txla.org/temp/Transform.html. Keep up with the latest library news! The Texas Library Association is now offering TLA members online access to news clips concerning Texas libraries. The article excerpts are clipped from Texas newspapers. Selection criteria include timeliness and broad interest to the library community. All articles referenced are available online. Access to the full piece may require users to log into specific newspaper sites. For copyright reasons, this service provides a brief synopsis only of the articles. To access TLA’s newclip service, go to www.txla.org and click on Texas Library News Clips. It’s That Wonderful Time of the Year! TLA membership renewal time is here. You have already received your email renewal notification. And, technology-driven library person that you are, you’ve probably already renewed online. Pat yourself on the back for being efficient, prompt, and a good library citizen. For the rest of you who are savoring the prospect of renewing, you will be getting a hardcopy form (snail mail) that will contain a pre-printed membership form and information on member benefits. If you want to be environmentally conscientious and not have to deal with more paper, you can still renew online. Go to the Members Only section of the TLA website. Best of all, if you renew online, you don’t have to fill in current information already on file. Just take a look at TLA’s member benefits for some added motivation. So, kick off this special time of year by renewing your TLA membership. We need you! We want you! We love you! What other organization can say that and mean it? |
TLA 2007 Sponsors Diamond
Platinum
Baker & Taylor Bound to Stay Bound Brodart Company Ingram Library Services Librarian's Yellow Pages netTrekker d.i. Thomson Gale Tocker Foundation Veicon Technologies
Silver level
Bronze Level |
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TLA LE@D Course of the Month To register, please go to web2.unt.edu/cmp_lead/index.cfm. TLA members get 10% off early bird rates! NOVEMBER: Improving Coworker RelationshipsSometimes the difficult people seem to be on your side of the service desk. Learn to resolve coworker issues with nationally-renowned trainer Pat Wagner. Estimated completion time: 90 minutes.
DECEMBER: Retailing Methods & Techniques ‘tis the season…! Get in on the holiday rush with this course on arranging your library to increase service and circulation with librarian Kerry McGeath. Estimated completion time: 90 minutes.
Also, don’t forget to check out the great courses available through Neal-Schuman. Texas librarians get a special discount! Go to: http://www.neal-schumanpen.com/partnership/bins/index_ei.asp?cid=83 to check out the multiple offerings available daily. Courses include:
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General Session I: Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson In addition to their notoriety as writers, humor columnist Dave Barry and crime thriller novelist Ridley Pearson also share a passion for music. In fact, they're founding members of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band composed of literary notables singled out by critics as having "one of the world's highest ratios of noise to talent." The opening session of TLA 2008 promises to be both entertaining and provocative with this multi-talented duo on stage. After all, they're rock stars! Library Friends, Trustees, and Advocates Round
Table One of the nation's first daughters has a first
book:
Ana's Story, A Journey of Hope. Hear the story of how she learned
and then wrote Ana's Story. Rosemary Wells, beloved author of
children's books and champion for literacy, will also address the
session;
General Session II: Joe Janes, Stephen Abram, Karen Schneider, and Roy Tennant What’s Hot and What’s Hype: A panel of today’s leading futurists and library leaders will discuss and debate the latest and most contentious issues in Library Land. As the Texas library community continues its ongoing work of Transforming Texas Libraries through a statewide visioning process, this General Session will be like no other: entertaining, enlightening, energizing, and (most importantly) all about the future of libraries and what we, as a professional community, need to do to control our destiny. Closing Luncheon: Kathy L. Patrick Kathy L. Patrick, author of The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide to Life -- the official book of the Pulpwood Queens, where tiaras are mandatory and reading good books are the rule! -- celebrates the transformative power of reading and energizes book clubs and book lovers everywhere. |
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Check out the Tall Texans Leadership Development Institute. Applications due December 3 for June 2008 seminar. Leaders from all types of libraries are welcome!
The Capitol grounds were again abuzz with literary enthusiasts for the annual Texas Book Festival, which was held Nov. 3 and 4. First Lady Laura Bush continues to serve as the Festival’s honorary chairwoman. This year, thousands of readers and library supporters filled the Capitol chambers and strolled along booths featuring books and other literary wares. The Texas Book Festival is now in its 12th year and benefits Texas public libraries. To apply for a Texas Book Festival grant, go to: www.texasbookfestival.org/Library_Grants.php and click on “How to Apply” at the bottom of the left hand side of the screen. TBA Master List Unveiled The Texas Bluebonnet Award (TBA) Program promotes reading by children in grades 3-6. Introducing quality books from a variety of genres and authors is the charge of the TBA Selection Committee. The following 20 titles form the 2008-2009 TBA Master List. Toys Go Out: Being the Adventures of a Knowledgeable Stingray, A Toughy Little Buffalo, and Someone Called Plastic by Emily Jenkins and Atherton: the House of Power by Patrick Carman represent fantasies that will appeal to both the young end of the TBA grade designation as well as the high end. The fantasy world of the Little Girl’s toys is told in simple episodic stories in the first; the sixth grade reader will enjoy an exciting futuristic science fiction, fantasy adventure in Atherton. This year’s Selection Committee was blessed with a plethora of good nonfiction from which to choose. Readers will never see a bedroom in the same way again after reading Patricia Lauber’s comical What You Never Knew About Beds, Bedrooms, and Pajamas. The thousands of people behind the scenes of the Apollo 11 mission are highlighted in the more difficult, but intriguing book by Catherine Thimmesh, Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. In Emily Arnold McCully’s picture book biography, Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor, readers are introduced to a woman that was known as Lady Edison. Joyce Sidman correctly identifies the emotions of sixth graders in her book of poetry, This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. Serving as an informational title and a book of delightful verse, Douglas Florian makes the universe and its parts come to life in a way only he can in Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings. Folktales are a genre that are loved by children (and adults) of all ages, and the two titles on this year’s Master List are no different. Illustrator Andrea U’Ren brings Cynthia DeFelice’s One Potato, Two Potato straight to the funny bone. In Crossing Bok Chitto, storyteller Tim Tingle, along with illustrator Jeanne Rorex Bridges, produces this unforgettable story from both the Choctaw and African-American traditions. Author Alison Hart shows the world of Kentucky thoroughbred horse racing through the eyes of the young slave Gabriel in the historical fiction novel Gabriel’s Horses. Though Way Down Deep by Ruth White and One-Handed Catch by Mary Jane Auch take place in the mid-1940s, they could be set in any time period. In these books, the reader will get to know Ruby and the characters from the town of Way Down Deep and Norm who must learn to fulfill his dream after losing a hand in an accident. The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick also has its setting in history (1931), but its genre is impossible to tie down as it is historical fiction, mystery, picture book, graphic novel, and even silent movie all in one. The genre of realistic fiction on the Master List ranges from easy readers to a strong sixth grade choice and from hysterically funny to deeply serious. For the early reader, Charise Mericle Harper’s Just Grace and Nancy Ruth Patterson’s The Winner’s Walk will entice them to want more chapter books. Older readers will get to know Meg as first time author Karen Day brings intensity and emotion to this young woman dealing with her father’s alcoholism in Tall Tales. The last four novels that round out the list bring humor and understanding: Lisa Graff’s first novel, The Thing About Georgie; the funniest lesson in economics ever learned in Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen; a memorable road trip in The Middle of Somewhere by J.B. Cheaney; and an answer to helping with a family’s homelessness in Barbara O’Connor’s How to Steal a Dog. This collection of Master List books offers a variety of choices for the students who are the focus of the Texas Bluebonnet Award program. Remember to tell them, “Read 5 and Then Decide!” Youth Participation for Texas Bluebonnet Award Each year the Texas Bluebonnet Award committee brings 10 students to the Texas Library Association Annual conference to present the Texas Bluebonnet Award to the winning author. Students in Ms. Mary DeRosa’s 3rd grade at Science Hall Elementary in Hays Consolidated ISD assisted Karen Kessel, TBA program committee member, choose the 10 participating libraries from the 337 entries submitted by a random drawing. Libraries which were chosen by district follows:
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Nominate deserving individuals for TLA awards: http://www.txla.org/html/awards.html. The deadlines are fast approaching!
Library Public
Relations Branding Iron Awards TLA Scholarships and Grants It is time now to apply for TLA scholarships and grants. Supporting professional development, continuing education and Masters level education, up to $10,000 is awarded each year by TLA. The application deadline is January 31, 2008 for all awards with the exception of the Escue Conference Stipend for paraprofessional staff which has an application deadline of December 15, 2007. Even if you do not qualify for one of these grants or scholarships, please take a moment to pass this along to a colleague, co-worker or student who may qualify. Below is a brief description for each award; for complete information and application forms, visit the TLA Grants, Scholarships, and Stipends webpage.
The following scholarships are open to current and enrolling Master level students. Application deadline for all scholarships is January 31, 2008. An application form and complete qualification criteria is located at the TLA Grants, Scholarships, and Stipends webpage.
TLA Unit-sponsored Stipends TLA/NMRT Professional
Development Grant The application form and grant guidelines are available on the NMRT website . The application and all attachments may be submitted by mail or email to Kelly Brouillard, TLA/NMRT/Quality Books Grant Committee Chair, TWU Blagg-Huey Library, PO Box 425528 Denton, Texas 76204 or at kbrouillard@mail.twu.edu. Applications may also be completed online at the NMRT website. Genealogy Round Table Stipend Committee |
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The American Library Association (ALA) is encouraging public libraries to participate in the 2007-2008 Public Library Funding and Technology Access online survey. The survey provides an important opportunity for libraries to share information on computer and Internet resources and infrastructure, as well as funding, technology training, and other uses of public libraries, such as providing public access technology centers in their communities. The current year's online survey, available at http://survey.pnmi.com, will be available through Nov. 25, 2007. The study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and ALA, continues work begun by John Carlo Bertot and Charles R. McClure in 1994. More information is available online at http://www.ala.org/plinternetfunding. |
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TSLAC Britannica Added to K-12 Package! The Texas State Library and Archives Commission will add Encyclopaedia Britannica as the online encyclopedia to the K-12 database package available for the public school library community. The K-12 database program is funded through a small designation in the TEA’s Technology Allotment. Members of a Transition Task Force Subcommittee selected Encyclopaedia Britannica based on assessments of content and the user interface, as well as from feedback provided by school librarians across the state during the trial period. The Britannica Online School Edition includes search screens customizable for each grade level, or all the content from each section can be searched at once to see results for students at every level. Encyclopaedia Britannica contains content for high school students and up, while Compton’s Encyclopedia is for middle school students and up, and Britannica Elementary is for elementary students and up. Public school libraries can explore and use the Encyclopedia Britannica at http://www.texshare.edu/programs/k12dbtrials/ (send e-mail to databases@tsl.state.tx.us for login and password information) until December 1, 2007. If you participated in the K-12 Database Trials last month, please note that the login and password are the same. After December 1, the encyclopedia will be part of the K-12 database package. After this date, public school libraries that have activated their databases account will be able to access the online encyclopedia. Statewide Disaster Preparedness Training State agencies and local governments throughout Texas will be better prepared for emergencies thanks to $2.6 million recently awarded to the national Council of State Archivists (CoSA) by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The funding for the national initiative will enable the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to provide critical training and services to state and local government agencies throughout Texas. When state and local governments are faced with natural or manmade disasters, certain records help them respond to and recover from the emergency. The Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records (IPER) project will develop workshops nationwide designed to teach state and local government officials and employees how to identify and protect their most essential records and recover those damaged by disasters. The IPER project training will be available to Texas state agencies and local governments by 2010. |
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