Monday Morning Eye-Opener 3/8/2010

Good morning and Happy Teen Tech Week! Check out the 2010 Teen Tech Week website, where the theme is "Learn, Create, Share @ Your Library." Loads of ideas for involving teens in techie library programming - learn how your library can take part!


1) Northwest LSA Offers Virtual Roundtables

2) Garnavillo Library Wins TechSoup Help

3) Sibley Library Throws Dr. Seuss Party

4) Meetings / Events This Week

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1) Northwest LSA Offers Virtual Roundtables

Northwest LSA is sponsoring online roundtables this month and next. 3 interest groups can gather same day, same time, same place. In Northwest's Adobe Pro Classroom: directors, children's librarians, and automation users. Depending on your interest, we'll flip you into various breakout rooms.

Northwest Special Teams members will facilitate the discussions. Nathan Clark will lead the director's roundtable with news from the Iowa Small Library Association and solicit PR ideas for National Library Week. Becky Bilby will lead the children's services roundtable, sharing plans for Summer Reading Programs. And Kelly Fischbach will lead the automation roundtable with a Q&A about automation products and software features.

Registration is open in the c.e. catalog. Please register in advance so we'll know how many to plan for. Catch the roundtables on March 24, with a repeat session on April 21: 9:30 - 11:30am each time. Join us for virtual roundtables - another new adventure from Northwest LSA!

2) Garnavillo Library Wins TechSoup Help

Each month, TechSoup selects a public library or nonprofit group to win an hour with one of their tech consultants. The topic is left up to the winner and the hour is spent on the phone answering questions. And how about this: the March winner was Garnavillo Public Library in northeast Iowa!

Library director Mary Fran Nikolai applied and was so pleased to win. In a population of 754, Garnavillo Library has 5 public computers and 2 staff computers. From TechSoup's news release "...being able to afford tech support is one of their top technology challenges, so this was a great opportunity to get some answers. Mary Fran asked very specific questions about the library's network, bandwidth issues, scheduling updates, and a scanner that wasn't working properly. Out intrepid tech analyst answered all of her questions, offering solutions and new ideas to try..."

If you have tech challenges - and who doesn't, right? - you too can enter for a chance to win an hour of TechTime with TechSoup. Visit their website for the application form. And congrats to Mary Fran at Garnavillo!

3) Sibley Library Throws Dr. Seuss Party

March sets up some fun kid programming by celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday. Theodore Geisel's birthday is March 2, but schools and libraries can use ready-made Seussical programs all month long. Visit these websites for ideas:

*Seussville @ http://www.seussville.com/ This is Random House Publishing site for kids

*National Education Association @http://www.nea.org sponsor of Read Across America

*Target @http://www.target.comfor Seuss books, DVDs, games, props, etc

*Kohls @http://www.kohls.com for the same

And check out all the "fun that was funny" at Sibley Public Library last week. Thanks for sending your photo story Sibley! http://www.sibley.lib.ia.us


4) Meetings / Events This Week

Tuesday, March 9, catch the last installment of The Board's Role in Human Resources. The 5-part online series concludes tomorrow night with the board's role in employee and workplace relations.

How do boards fit into this equation? Because their decisions regarding the building, safety issues, and staff appreciation affect employees at all levels. With the premise that board decisions lead to healthy workplace morale, this program shares some morale boosting tips, along with some fun websites. This is the last installment so join the conversation!

Registration is open in the c.e. catalog. We urge you to register there, because doing so ensures that you receive follow-up emails confirming date, time, and the classroom link. And oh yeah - it's nice to know how many to expect - so there is a method to the madness. Setting up an account in the c.e. catalog is easy - ask your director or your LSA office if questions.