Monday Morning Eye-Opener 3/29/2010

Good Morning And Happy Easter! In today’s EYE-OPENER ……

1) Next Library101 April 13
2) Iowa Small Library Association Spring Meeting
3) April is National Poetry Month
4) Virtual Roundtables Worked Great
5) Meetings / Events This Week


1) Next Library101 April 13

Newly hired library directors are invited to attend the next Library101 on April 13. It’s an orientation for new directors, staff, or trustees—all are welcome. This program introduces services from the LSAs and the State Library, highlights various standards for public libraries, and explains statewide programs from Open Access to EBSCO. It’s a nice way to get acquainted and feel more connected—the more the merrier!

Library 101 has moved online into Northwest LSA Adobe Classroom. The time is 9:00AM—12:00PM; you’ll find registration in the c.e. catalog.

2) Iowa Small Library Association Spring Meeting

Make plans to attend the 2010 spring meeting of the Iowa Small Libraries Association on Friday April 23. The meeting will be held in 7 locations around the state, all sites with ICN rooms. Northwest sites are Sac City and Hawarden Public Libraries; other sites are the public libraries in Eldora, Creston, Solon, Fayette, along with the State Library.

The morning agenda (10:00AM-12:00PM) is the business meeting; the afternoon agenda (1:00—3:00PM) is a workshop on customer service presented by Kim Kietzman with Altoona Public Library. Lunch from 12:00—1:00 is on your own.

The registration fee varies, depending on your membership status with ILA/ISLA—if you’re a member of both, it’s free! For fees, registration, and full details, refer to last week’s email announcements on IOWALIB. Note: for this program, registration IS NOT done through the c.e. catalog, although you can access the registration flyer that way. We have it here too, so you’re welcome to call if questions.

3) April is National Poetry Month

Last week, you read about Akron Library’s second annual Rhyme Time on the Prairie, a weekend poetry event in Akron connected with National Poetry Month. Libraries can promote all manner of poetry-related programming and book displays in April.

From the official website Poets.Org “…Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools, and poets around the country come together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events…”

From the website, you’ll find low-cost ideas for poetry appreciation, posters and logos, and booklists for collection development. There’s also a page called “30 Ways to Celebrate NPM” with a month’s worth of ideas for inside or outside the library—including writing poems in sidewalk chalk! And you know the commercial with the tag line “there’s an app for that?” Well, Poets.Org website has a poetry app for your i-phone, with daily poems presented as both fixed and animated text. To read more, visit Poets.Org

4) Virtual Roundtables Worked Great

Last Wednesday, Northwest LSA tried a new venture—hosting Virtual Roundtables in NWILS Adobe Online Classroom. There were 3 discussions going on simultaneously, using Adobe’s breakout room feature. Dress rehearsals paid off, because by working the bugs out ahead of time, this approach worked well and the audience evaluations were very positive.

If last week didn’t work into your schedule, Virtual Roundtables repeat on April 21—you’ll find registration in the c.e. catalog. And if you did attend last week, come back again on April 21 and join a different discussion group!

The time is 9:30AM—11:30AM. Special thanks to three people on NWILS Special Teams who lead the conversations: Nathan Clark leading the directors roundtable, Kelly Fischbach leading the automation discussion, and Becky Bilby leading the children’s roundtable!

5) Meetings / Events This Week

Northwest LSA Board meets tomorrow, Tuesday March 30, this time at Cherokee Public Library. The meetings starts at 1:00PM; area libraries are welcome to attend. The agenda is posted on NWILS website.

Next Monday April 5 is a staff furlough day, meaning NWILS office will be closed that day. That also means no EYE-OPENER on April 5...EYE-OPENER will be back on April 12. For this week, wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!