NWILS 2010 TOP 10 LIST

It’s been a tradition at Northwest LSA for several years now to share our picks for the Top10 Stories From Around the Region. Drum roll…


Our Top 10 List for 2010:

10...Northwest Elves Have Been Busy All Year: The year past shows some proud statistics


• 3,037 interlibrary loan requests processed

• 2,000+ contacts with member libraries

• 39 workshops, both solely and jointly sponsored, including online classes

• 1,035 people in attendance at workshops and training

• 60 libraries visited on-site

We’re so ready for our long winter’s nap!

9…Jamboree’s New Format: You asked for it, you got it. C.E. Jamboree, Northwest LSA’s popular spring workshop, switched to a fresh format, thanks to your suggestions. General sessions bookended the day; in between, fewer breakout sessions allowed everyone in attendance to attend every session. Everyone loved the new format, so we’ll do it again come Jamboree 2011.

8...Dewey Comes Back: Vicki Myron and publishers released two more Dewey books in 2010. A second adult title called Dewey’s Nine Lives and a second children’s title called Dewey’s Christmas at the Library. Proving that Dewey’s magic continues to inspire and endure. Congratulations to Vicki on another great year.

7...The Boardroom Debuts: To accompany the Trustee Troubles DVD, Northwest LSA began a monthly newsletter called The Boardroom. The newsletter followed each segment on the DVD, intended to serve as a reminder for boards to watch the next segment. Remember, you can find all copies of the newsletter on our website, along with discussion questions. We’ve received so many good comments about The Boardroom, so thank you for that and for your continued interest in watching good ‘ole Dan starring in Trustee Troubles!

6...Career Reading Roundtable Scores: Ahh…the power of blogging! A few weeks ago, Jean posted a news piece on our blog about January’s Career Reading Roundtable, our online book discussion group. The next book up for discussion on January 26 is Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun. Well, a Christmas miracle occurred when the author emailed Jean asking if he could attend the program.

To which Jean answered “Attend, sure—but how about leading it?!” To which Scott Berkun answered “Lead it? Sure!” CRR scores the author—very cool !!

5...ARSL Conference in Denver: Thanks to approval from NWILS Board, I attended the annual ARSL (Association for Rural and Small Libraries) Conference in Denver in October. In this “top 10” vein, I presented a breakout session entitled “A Top 10 List for Trustee Training.” Fun and lighthearted program, in case this sounds good to Northwest Iowa—Colorado said they liked it :-)

4...Welcome New Directors: Join us in welcoming these new directors hired in 2010. Sarah Weiss @ Pomeroy and Amy Zevenbergen @ Doon. We’re looking forward to working with you!

3...eBooks Come to WILBOR: Just in time for the holidays, the WILBOR Consortium introduced eBooks into the collection on December 1. And a surprising number of eBooks, too: we launched with 690 titles and already the eBook collection has grown to over 900. A very exciting year for WILBOR!

2...13Things: And an equally exciting—and may I say ambitious—year for online education in Northwest LSA. We sponsored 13Things, a 13-part online series stretching from August through November. 13Things urged attendees to make a true change in the way we work by making deliberate use of web-based tools. Great guest stars, great attendance, and all-around big fun. Once we get some sleep, we’ll decide if we have the moxie to repeat this in the spring...

1...Reorganization Committee: Not a happy highlight by anyone’s account, but certainly the most talked-about library news story this past year swirled around the work of the Reorganization Committee. This committee was formed in the spring to help configure a new model for providing library support services, those services you’ve come to know from the LSAs and the State Library. All this following a drastic winter of budget cuts: in 2010, the LSAs saw the deepest single-year budget reduction in the agency’s 37-year history. The Reorganization Committee’s work culminated in a report submitted to the legislature on November 1. Now we wait…stay tuned...