LTLS - Quick Connections

LTLS Christmas Holiday Schedule

In observance of the Christmas Holiday LTLS Headquarters will be closed on Thursday December 24th and Friday December 25th. The office will be closed and no delivery routes will be run.

Happy Holidays from the Staff at Lincoln Trail!

Weekly Poll

Be sure to check out our new survey below, or on our home page.

You can also view results from previous weekly polls.

Summit Steering Committee Formed

A steering committee has been formed to carry out the charge coming out of the summit meeting held on November 9, 2009, on library cooperation in Illinois.  Co-chairs Dee Brennan, Oak Park Public Library, and Donna Dziedzic, Naperville Public Library, have developed a planning document that has been distributed to all summit participants.  Next steps include formation of task forces early next year to address specific areas of need.
 

Creating Great Buzz for our Libraries ILA Library Trustee Forum 2010 Workshop

Saturday, February 27, 2010
Marriott Hickory Ridge Conference Center, Lisle, Illinois
Join the ILA Trustee Forum for its annual workshop designed specifically for library trustees.

What do customers say about your library, your staff, your service?  This humorous, highly interactive workshop will get your people buzzing about how to engage customers so they want to come back again and again.  Presentainers Gail Johnson and Pam Parr from Face to Face Communications and Training guarantee that participants will leave with reality based "how to's" and a new enthusiasm that will last long after this workshop is over. 

What's New @ WJIL

Two new timely courses have been added to the WebJunction Illinois Course Catalog. Remember, these courses are available anytime, anywhere and are free to registered users of WJIL. Enroll by visiting the WJIL Course Catalog and clicking on LE@D as the Featured Course Provider.

Financial Management in Tough Times (LE@D)

You’ve just been told that your budget is being cut by 10% next year. Or perhaps you must submit a budget showing a 20% or even 30% reduction in the upcoming fiscal year.

What services do you cut?
Can the budget be cut without laying off staff?
What is the long-term result of budget cuts?
What about outsourcing?

Is it possible to improve library service to the community while cutting the budget?

Budget cuts can be beneficial to a library and a community. We must examine what our libraries do and how effectively/efficiently we do it. It’s time to responsibly make the right decisions and make the necessary changes to negatively affect the minimal number of people in our community. And, in the process, we may find that our informed decisions have actually IMPROVED library services!

Supervision without Micromanagement (LE@D)

Why is effective library supervision so hard, even for the smart, nice, and experienced library employee? Library supervision in itself is hard because:

Humans are not books to be processed
Being the boss does not mean you have earned the trust and respect of the staff
Supervision requires a different set of skills
People who do it well make it look easy

Whether you are a supervisor in waiting or an experienced library manager, this course will will illustrate the techniques, courtesies, and responsibilities necessary for you to improve your library’s productivity and workplace relations.

Library receives record 47 years late

You can’t blame the person who recently returned an old record to a central Illinois library for slipping quickly out the door. The record was a little late.

OK, a lot late.

Fondulac District Library Director Amy Falasz-Peterson says the album by 1950s pop singer Julius La Rosa was checked on Feb. 12, 1962. That made it 17,438 days — over 47 years — overdue when it showed up this month.

Broadband Technology Opportunities Public Computer Center Program

The Illinois State Library (ISL) and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) will develop and submit a statewide application under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Public Computer Center Program (BTOP) for Round 2. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) includes $7.2 billion to expand broadband access to communities across the United States, preserve and create jobs, spur investments in technology and infrastructure, and provide long-term economic benefits. The ARRA provides $200 million specifically for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Public Computer Center Program. The first application round closed on August 14th. The ISL and DCEO intended to develop a first round proposal; after careful consideration, however, we opted to submit a more comprehensive application targeting the second round of BTOP funding.

What's New @ WJIL

What do patrons think are the important factors in the success of your library? The Researching Communities to Prepare for the Future study interviewed over 140 residents in 15 communities across Illinois, to discover what communities want from their libraries in the future. In this What’s New @ WJIL you can learn from the results, read the Community reports and train your staff on the top 6 factors for a successful public library.

http://webjunctionworks.org/il/blog/index.php/2009/12/11/whats-new-wjil-researching-communities-to-prepare-for-the-future/

Weekly Poll

Be sure to check out our new survey below, or on our home page.

You can also view results from previous weekly polls.

2009 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award

The West Bend Community Memorial Library in West Bend, Wisconsin, is the recipient of the 2009 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award given by the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The faculty voted overwhelmingly to give this year’s award to the West Bend Library for its steadfast advocacy on behalf of intellectual freedom in the face of a library challenge that garnered national attention. The efforts of the library board, Library Director Michael Tyree, the library staff, and many supportive community members are to be commended.