Monday Morning Eye Opener 10/12/09

Good morning and Happy Columbus Day! Today in EYE-OPENER....

1.National Friends of Libraries Week
2.Annual Survey Due October 30
3.Reporting Back from ARSL Conference
4.Meetings / Events This Week


1) National Friends of Libraries Week

Another great "recognition" week for libraries to latch onto is National Friends of Libraries Week. October 18-24 marks the 4th annual such celebration for library friends groups. Sponsored by Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA) this week sets up a great time to raise awareness about the many ways that Friends Groups sweeten library service. And of course a great time to say thanks to loyal friends - and recruit new ones.

There’s lots more on the FOLUSA website, including celebration stories from last year, advocacy resources, and links to Friends projects across the country. Check it out and do something friendly for your Friends Group!


2) Annual Survey Due October 30

Halloween isn’t the only scary thing facing you this month—the frightening Public Library Annual Survey is due by October 30! The State Library reports that 239 libraries had submitted their surveys by the early-bird deadline of September 30, a sizable increase over this time last year. To see if your library is on the COMPLETE list, check this page on the State Library’s website: http://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/statistics/public-libraries

By the way, congratulations to Rachel Klein with the Keota Public Library. Rachel won first prize in a drawing among all the early-bird filers; the prize, provided by the State Library, is the installation of a people counter for the library’s front entry.

Back to the Annual Survey, you’ll find the link and instructions on the webpage above. Filing is online using software called WEB COLLECT. This year, the survey is much shorter and more streamlined, plus the software is new and improved. Hey, maybe this prospect isn’t so spooky after all—just don’t wait until the witching hour to get it done!


3) Reporting Back From ARSL Conference

Several Northwest Iowa librarians were fortunate to attend the national ARSL Conference (Association for Rural and Small Libraries) last month in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. As if the Great Smoky National Park wasn’t great enough, I heard about some pretty great sessions, too!

Today, Paula Brown from Spencer Public Library shares one of her favorite sessions from ARSL: “…Wonder Woman Syndrome: Coping with Burnout was presented by Kathy Campbell and Marie Jones, two very funny ladies who know what burnout's all about. There was a very helpful handout for this session that was basically a checklist so that you could determine how close you are to being burnt out. Are you constantly tired? Do you hate to get out of bed and go to work? Do you feel you have nothing more to give? These are just three in a long list of burnout symptoms.

Women tend to suffer from burnout because we try to be all things to all people. It becomes very easy to lose ourselves as we try to make things better for everybody else. When we can't get it all done, the first thing that falls off of our to-do list is taking care of ourselves.

This was a good session, even if the information presented was not necessarily new. Sometimes we just need to be reminded to slow down, shut the office door, take a deep breath, take a walk—whatever we need to do to find joy and purpose in our daily lives. It was also nice to see the room packed full of women for the session. Not because I was happy that they were also having problems, but simply because it's also nice to know that we’re not alone. Oh yeah, receiving Wonder Woman Bracelets of Power helped our moods, too!...”

Read more from conference-goers in the September issue of the Iowa Small Libraries newsletter online. More stories will follow along in EYE-OPENER, too. Thanks to Paula for sharing her experience!

4) Meetings / Events This Week

Cherokee County Library Association meets tonight at Cleghorn at 6:30PM. The evening’s topic is about using the Wii game for library programming. There’ll be a Wii demo, too, so you might want to bring your bowling shoes :-)

Tomorrow October 13, the State Library and Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) co-sponsor an ICN program to help library staff better understand the services available to job seekers from the IWD. In addition to Workforce Development staff, a panel of library directors will share their stories about helping unemployed people use library resources. The time is 10:00—11:30AM in the ICN rooms at Hawarden, Orange City, Spencer, Sac City, and Sioux City public libraries. Find other ICN locations and online registration in the c.e. catalog.

And Wednesday October 14 is the next Career Reading Roundtable, online in Northwest’s Wimba Live Classroom. The book up for discussion this time is The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference. The time is 9:00AM—11:00AM.