Monday Morning Eye Opener 03/23/09

Good Morning! Today in EYE-OPENER:

1) C. E. Jamboree May 5-6
2) Two April C.E. Opportunities
3) Sioux Rapids Receives Grant
4) Meetings / Events This Week

1) C. E. Jamboree May 5-6: Protect your calendar for Northwest LSA’s “C.E. Jamboree 2009,” May 5-6 at Prairie Lakes AEA in Storm Lake. On May 5th, “Get Your Game On” in a fun-filled workshop about bringing gaming programs to your library. Kim Kietzman from Southeastern Library Services will facilitate the day’s discussion, including a Wii game demonstration. There’ll be studious time for participants to draft a gaming policy, but there’ll be time for a little bowling and golf, too—we’re even planning a tournament  And that’s just Day 1…
Day 2 brings back the multiple breakout sessions. Amanda Winseck, Iowa’s EBSCO representative, presents the general session to explain EBSCO’s new features. Breakout sessions follow with these topics:
• The Buddy System: Collaborating on the Web (Tena Hanson & Sarah Willeford)
• Merchandising Your Collection (Kim Kietzman)
• EBSCO Continued (Amanda Winseck)
• NWILS Website—New & Improved (Janie Beaulieu & Jean Chesterman)
• A Few Dollars More—Grant Writing Success (Nathan Clark)
• Roundtable Discussion
Each day runs from 9:30AM—3:30PM for 5 c.e. credits each day, with breakfast and lunch catered ($15.00 fee each day) Registration required through the c.e. catalog—avoid the rush and register for “Jamboree 2009!” today!

2) Two April C.E. Opportunities: Before Jamboree, April sees two more workshops. On April 17, Le Mars Public Library hosts Plymouth County Staff Development Day. Planners chose “Keeping Current in Libraryland;” registration at 9:00AM, workshop 9:30AM—12:30PM for 3 c.e. credits. “Keeping Current” inspires library staff to use tools like journal alerts, online newsletter subscriptions, list serves, instant messaging and more devices to stay current and connected. A vocabulary quiz and hands-on computer time included. For 3 c.e. credits, please register online in the c.e. catalog.
And on April 24, the Iowa Small Libraries Association holds its spring meeting—this year at 6 locations across the state. At this writing, locations are the public libraries in Ankeny, Solon, Creston, Waverly, and Oskaloosa. Note: the 6th location will be in Northwest Iowa, but unexpected scheduling problems have us searching for a new site—we’ll let you know where it lands 
Beginning at 10:00AM, all 6 sites connect via the ICN for a morning business meeting. Join that discussion to help ISLA members further their mission to “empower Iowa’s small libraries.” Lunch on-your-own, after which the ICN format continues with a one-hour presentation entitled “Small Libraries: How to be the Answer in Tough Times.” A roundtable discussion follows.
Registration for ISLA members is free; otherwise the cost is $5.00 for ILA members, $10.00 for non-members. (Make checks payable to IOWA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION) Registration is open in the c.e. catalog. Please direct any further questions to Nathan Clark at Emmetsburg Public Library eclark@emmetsburg.lib.ia.us or phone 712-852-4009.

3) Sioux Rapids Receives Grant: Martha Landsness from Sioux Rapids Public Library reports that Sioux Rapids Public Library received a $1,000.00 grant from the Lois Lenski Foundation. The grant enables the library to purchase new children’s books—and just in time for the Summer Reading Program, too!
From the Foundation’s website “…Lois Lenski, the 1946 Newbery medalist for Strawberry Girl, had a life-long concern that good books be available to all children. In pursuit of this goal, she established a foundation to provide grants to public libraries, school libraries, and non-profit agencies serving disadvantaged populations…”
Find out more on the website…and thanks to Martha for sharing this good news from Sioux Rapids—congratulations!

4) Meetings / Events This Week: It’s an action-packed week, beginning today with a “Career Reading Roundtable” online book discussion. As you read this, we’re in Central LSA’s Wimba room discussing Good in a Room.

Tuesday Mar24: NWILS Board holds its March meeting online in NWILS Wimba Room. Physical locations at NWILS office in Sioux City and at Spencer Public Library. The meeting begins at 2:00PM and is open to the public; the agenda is posted on our website.

Wednesday Mar25: ILA Legislative Day in Des Moines. Briefing begins at 2:00PM in the Vocational Rehab Building; a reception with legislators follows at 4:00PM in the State Law Library at the Capitol Building. Find all details of time and place on ILA’s website. One last plea: we need all the library boosters we can get. And we’ll be most grateful if you’ll stand with us to convey how essential libraries are in tough times. Thanks!

Thursday Mar26: Public Library Management 1 begins on Thursday this week, with the first day of class meeting at Urbandale Public Library 9:30AM—3:30PM. Several new Northwest directors are in the mix this spring. It’s an 8-week extravaganza and I’m on deck to teach it in this spring rotation.
Come Friday, well…I’m sleeping in!

Previous editions of Monday Morning Eye-Opener are archived on NWILS website