LTLS - Quick Connections

Weekly Survey

Be sure to check out our weekly poll below, or on our home page.

You can also view results from previous weekly polls.

Scholarship Opportunity

NILRC (the Network of Illinois Learning Resources in Community Colleges) has received an IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarians grant to support the education of twenty students at the U of I Graduate School of Library and Information Science to become community college librarians.
The grant partners NILRC with eleven community colleges in Illinois and Missouri to build a diverse professional workforce that understands community-based library needs and service to a non-traditional, diverse, student population.  Students in will receive tuition awards.  The partner libraries will offer the students mentoring and a paid internship position for six months following graduation.  Candidates must meet admission requirements for UI GSLIS and will apply to NILRC.  More information is available from Sally Duchow, NILRC IMLS Grant Project Manager, sduchow@uiuc.edu or John W. Berry, NILRC Executive Director, jberry@nilrc.org.

National Library Construction Survey

The Illinois State Library requests public libraries to fill out an important survey dealing with library construction by August 31.  The State Library is cooperating with COSLA (Chief Officers of State Library Agencies) in distributing the 2007 COSLA Library Construction Survey of the States.  The COSLA Legislative Committee has decided that a national library construction survey was needed in order for State Library agencies to compile data on their states' library construction needs.  Once compiled, this data would be used by State Library agencies to advocate for federal public library construction funding.   Public libraries can complete the survey online by August 31.

Construction Grant Update

The Governor may act on the state of Illinois' FY08 budget in the next few days.  When he does, the Illinois State Library will know how much will be available to award for FY2008 Public Library Live & Learn Construction Grants. ISL will finalize program dates as soon as possible, post the grant documents on the web site and notify the regional library systems and on the ISL listserv.

IRS Makes Changes to Tax Forms Program

The IRS has announced changes in the Tax Forms Outlet Program (TFOP).  If your library participates in the annual program which makes IRS forms available to the public, please check out the IRS Letter to particpating libraries for details.

ILA Annual Conference

The 2007 ILA Annual Conference will be held from October 9-12 in Springfield. To date, 130 vendors and 579 individuals have registered for the conference.  Advance Registration remains open until Monday, 10 September.  Find links to the conference program and online registration form on the ILA Conference website.

ILA Seeks Federal Legislative Reform

The Illinois Library Association (ILA) is seeking federal legislative reform to assure the right to read free of governmental surveillance.  The ILA Executive Board voted yesterday (Thursday, 16 August 2007) to urge the United States Congress to pursue legislative reforms in order to provide adequate protection for each library user’s Constitutional right to be free from unwarranted and unjustified government surveillance.

Details on this important action are detailed in the 2007 ILA Update #13 published on August 17th.

IREAD Committee requests ideas for 2009

The iREAD Committee is pleased to announce that we are now accepting submissions for the 2009 iREAD Resource Guide: Read on the Wild Side. To submit suggestions for the 2009 iREAD Resource Guide, simply go to the ILA website (www.ILA.org), click on the iREAD Button (on the left side of the page – shaped like an eye + the word: READ). Scroll down the page that appears – until you find the heading: “Contribute to IREAD” and then under “Submit Ideas for 2009 Guide” you will see “online submission form”. Click on “online submission form”, fill out the form and hit the submit button at the end of the page. Deadline for submitting ideas is January 7, 2008

My Hometown Helper Grants Improve Communities

General Mills has announced its 2007 "My Hometown Helper" grant program, a nationwide initiative that helps local groups make a difference in their own communities. Award amounts will range from $500 to $15,000 each, and all requests for funding must be sponsored by a municipal or civic organization or a public school.

For more information visit the My Hometown Helper website. Deadline is September 30, 2007