All Things Halloween

     It’s a creepy week for sure—Happy Halloween! Trick-or-Treat around the world on the web with a stop at Halloween.Com. This is a neat site, complete with links to costumes, decorations, movies, and crafts. Even links here to haunted houses and attractions.


Other spooky sites:

• From Universal Studios: Halloween Horror Night @ http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com// (labeled too intense for children)
• From Readers Digest, Top10 Kid Friendly Halloween Movies @ http://www.rd.com/
• Halloween Is Here @ http://www.halloweenishere.com/
• Halloween Ghost Stories @ http://www.halloweenghoststories.com/
• Short Halloween Stories @ http://www.shorthalloweenstories.com/ (suitable for kids)

     For a bewitching book & movie display, you might have these to contribute from your collection:

Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Frankenstein
Dr. Jeckyll and Mr.Hyde
Dracula
Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
Twilight Series
Do Dead People Watch You Shower?
Do Dead People Walk Their Dogs?
Amityville Horror

The Shining
Psycho
The Exorcist
Ghost
Young Frankenstein
Silence of the Lambs

     And this repeat of a neat fundraising idea from Mitchellville Public Library. This year marks their 5th annual Fall-O-Ween Party. For a $5.00 admission, people enjoy a campfire with hot dog roast and marshmallow toast, beverages, hay rides, straw jump, face painting, and a corn maze. All activities are sponsored by Friends of Mitchellville Public Library. Sounds like great fun—and a great program to replicate @ your library this or any Halloween season!

2011 All Iowa Reads Title Announced

     Attendees at the ILA Conference learned about the next All Iowa Reads title. The 2011 selection is Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos. This review comes from Publishers Weekly:


“…this enthralling second novel takes the reader by storm as Hope Jones, Nebraska mother of three, is whisked away by a 1978 tornado, her body never found. The novel opens 25 years later, when Hope's children—grown but not grown up—gather for their father's funeral after he's killed by a lightning strike.

Llewelyn's death is one of many quandaries haunting his children: daughter Larken, an overweight professor beset by fear of flying; son Gaelan, a television weatherman with too many women in his life; and the youngest, Bonnie, who stays in Emlyn Springs working odd jobs. Alvina Viney Closs, Hope's best friend, also has issues to resolve.



Themes of family bonds and conflicts, secrets and sorrows also marked Kallos's debut novel (Broken For You) and this time she weaves in an idiosyncratic view of the role of the dead in the lives of the living, sharp takes on business, academic and sexual politics, and a palpable empathy for small Midwestern towns. This novel will find a welcome audience in anyone who has experienced grief, struggled with family ties or, most importantly, appreciates blossoming talent..”

      Sing Them Home is the second novel from Kallos. At the Iowa Center for the Book website, you can read more about the author and very soon, you’ll find discussion questions for Sing Them Home to aid your local book groups.

     The book is currently available in paperback, CD, and downloadable audio versions; a large print edition is expected by January 1st. As in years past, NWILS office should receive multiple copies of Sing Them Home in various formats to lend to Northwest libraries—we’ll let you know when those arrive!

Funding Webinar For Rural Libraries

     The ALA Washington Office will host a webinar to assist rural libraries with pursuing funding opportunities from the U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA)

     The webinar happens this Friday Oct29 at 1:00PM central time. Reps from the USDA and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, along with the CEO from e-Copernicus, a Washington consulting firm with expertise in broadband connectivity, will all participate.

     Presenters will discuss 3 USDA programs that have funds available expressly for rural libraries to tap: (a) Distance Learning & Telemedicine (b) Community Facilities and (c) Community Connect. iLink Communications powers this online program. To learn more about this webinar—and to register—click here: https://ala.ilinc.com/perl/ilinc/lms/register.pl?activity_id=xyvbmfs&user_id

Summer Library Workshops Start Next Week

As winter approaches, it can be comforting to turn our thoughts to spring—and certainly summer—when a new Summer Library Program kicks into gear. Two themes will be in play for 2011: “One World, Many Stories” for the children’s program and “You Are Here” for the teen program.


Workshops this fall are coordinated by Merri Monks, newly hired Youth Services Consultant at the State Library. This year’s presenters are Missy Mayfield-Cook (Winthrop P.L.) and Cathy Shaw (Edgewood P.L.) Workshops get underway next week and continue around the state through November 5. Some locations might be closer than others, so here’s a look at the complete schedule:

• Week of October 25…
Tuesday Oct26 = Marshalltown
Wednesday Oct27 = Oelwein
Thursday Oct28 = Coralville
Friday Oct29 = Oskaloosa

• Week of November 1…
Tuesday Nov2 = Red Oak
Wednesday Nov3 = Johnston
Thursday Nov4 = Cherokee
Friday Nov5 = Clear Lake

Find all location details and times in the c.e. catalog—register there, too!

E-Books Coming to WILBOR

In late September, WILBOR libraries received a survey asking about your interest in adding e-books—and more importantly—asking about your library’s ability to contribute additional money to make it happen.

The votes are in. With over 100 libraries in the WILBOR Consortium, 85 answered yes to e-books. Now it’s a matter of securing additional money.

This is taking time because it’s complicated: we don’t want to jeopardize the strength of the audio book collection to bring in a new format. Plus, this move to e-books will cost participants more money. So...our next steps...

We’re writing an addendum to the current contracts for WILBOR libraries. Essentially, the contract addendum will outline an e-book pricing model for those libraries that can pay extra. All other libraries not contributing extra money via the formula should still expect to pay a very modest $1.00-per-circ fee for each e-book downloaded by their patrons. The coming contractual addendum will explain; look for that in late October.

Once WILBOR participants sign and return the contracts, e-books will magically begin to appear in the collection by December. Just in time for Christmas! Are e-book readers on anyone’s shopping list this holiday season? Look for more after ILA…call with questions.

Geek The Library Goes National!

About 1 year ago, a public awareness campaign called “Geek the Library” aimed to raise awareness of the public library’s value in the community—and to raise support for library funding. It started as a pilot project, targeting selected libraries in Iowa and Georgia. Sponsored by OCLC and fueled by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Geek the Library has gone national. Which means that any public library in the country can tap into professionally developed campaign resources to use locally.

In this context, the word “geek” is used as a verb and meant to convey something you love doing, something you’re really passionate about. The campaign website shows library users and high-profile celebrities in ads and posters declaring their favorite things. Actor Brian Dennehy, for example, geeks schooners. I geek the Packers (although not lately!)

Geek the Library campaign website is rich with images, social networking features, promo materials, video clips and more. There are also quizzes that reinforce the state of funding for libraries, demonstrating how tax dollars spent on library service proves such a smart investment. And it’s all available to use @ your library. Spend some time here and begin using these materials for your own PR purposes! It’s all here http://www.geekthelibrary.org/