LTLS - Quick Connections

ISL Announces Construction Program

The Illinois State Library FY 2008 Public Library Construction Grant program has been announced. The program information is available on the State Library web page. The required letter of intent may be faxed, postmarked, or delivered to the State Library by October 19, 2007. Full applications must be postmarked or delivered to the State Library by December 14, 2007. Please refer all inquiries to: H. Neil Kelley at 217-782-1891 or nkelley@ilsos.net or Mark Shaffer at 217-524-4901 or mshaffer@ilsos.net

Weekly Poll

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

You can also view results from previous weekly polls.

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week, the American Library Association's annual celebration of the freedom to read, is September 29 to October 6 this year.  The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) provides an extensive list of resources on how to celebrate Banned Books Week and an Action Guide filled with practical ideas for library activities and programs during the week. 

Libraries and Immersive Learning in 3D Virtual Environments

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign is pleased to offer a new non-credit, continuing education course this fall.

Libraries and Immersive Learning in 3D Virtual Environments

Course description: What skills and techniques from other disciplines do librarians need to learn/use/modify, in order to take the library forward to its future incarnations? One of the hot topics in the world of MUVE's, MMORPG's, and game-based education is Immersive Learning (IL). Immersive Learning uses the ability of environments to supply information, and to engage more of the learner's cognitive "package" than does a traditional read-lecture-and-discuss format. This course will begin by examining a few basic concepts of IL and looking at Second Life as an IL environment. The majority of the class will explore ways that librarians can support IL classes and how librarianship can incorporate IL into its practices: LIS education, providing information and education to patrons, etc.

Section One: October 31; November 7, 14, 28; December 5 and 12 from 8:00 - 10:00 am SL (10:00 am - 12:00 pm central)

Section Two: November 1, 8, 15, 29; December 6 and 13 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm SL (8:00 - 10:00 pm central)

Cost: $250

For additional information and to register: http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/Immersive_Learning.html

Screening of The Hollywood Librarian

The Library and Information Science Library is proud to screen the new documentary film The Hollywood Librarian at GSLIS Room 126 on Tuesday, October 2, and Friday, October 6, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

The Hollywood Librarian is being released nationwide during Banned Books Week as a fund-raiser for libraries. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the LIS Library. A sneak preview at the annual American Library Association conference in June garnered rave reviews from audience members.

For background on the film and early reviews, please visit the film's Web site, http://www.hollywoodlibrarian.com/.

New GSLIS Course: Serving Diverse Populations in the Library

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is pleased to offer a new online, non-credit continuing education course, Serving Diverse Populations in the Library.

Intended audience: Librarians and information professionals in all types of libraries. CPLA program candidates needing an ALA-APA approved elective course for certification.

Course description: The purpose of this course is to create an awareness of and sensitivity to diverse information needs of multiethnic/multicultural/multilingual populations served by libraries. It focuses on developing skills for planning, implementing and evaluating programs for addressing the information needs of diverse communities through information needs assessment and analysis; program planning, public service, outreach and collection development. It explores multicultural resources and services using a framework that focuses on: People (who work in libraries and their understanding of the concepts of diversity and multicultural librarianship); Collections (building collections to serve an increasingly diverse multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual society); and Services (to diverse groups and populations in libraries and organizational culture from a managerial perspective).

Dates: October 4 - November 15, 2007 (no session on November 8)
Times: Online synchronous sessions Thursdays from 2:00 - 3:45 p.m. Central
Cost: $300
Instructor: Lori S. Mestre, Ed.D.

Registration closes September 25.

For additional information and to register http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/CPLA/diverse.html

ILA Conference Swap & Share

Gather great ideas for publicity materials and share your own materials with your fellow librarians! Come to Swap & Share at ILA to collect sample brochures, event calendars, bibliographies, booklists, newsletters, and program/event materials from all sizes and types of libraries. Participants can view and take home the materials, which will be set on tables in the Table Talk area of the ILA Exhibits, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 10. For more information contact Alissa Williams at 309-828-6091 ext. 219 or alissaw@bloomingtonlibrary.org alissaw@bloomingtonlibrary.org. Sponsored by the ILA Marketing Committee.

If you'd like to submit materials for the Swap and Share, please send at least one copy of your item by October 4th. Multiple copies are even better, but we will scan each item and then we'll have them available through the conference website. Send item/s to:

Lisa Pappas
Plainfield Public Library District
15025 S. Illinois Street
Plainfield, IL 60544.
Please mark the envelope "SWAP & SHARE". Questions? Email Lisa at: lpappas@plainfield.lib.il.us

Symposium Presentations Available

Links to the ILS Symposium presenter files are now available.  To download the files, visit the ILS Symposium web site.  Presenter slides are linked from the Agenda page. 

HOLLYWOOD LIBRARIAN PREMERIES AT RPLS

DECATUR, IL -Rolling Prairie Library System would like to invite the public to join them for the local premier of the Hollywood Librarian at their headquarters at 345 W. Eldorado Street, Decatur, on Wednesday, October 3rd from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.. Formal wear is optional.
Tickets are available to the general public for $8; children & senior citizens for $5; and library staff may attend for free. Contact Angela at 429-2586 for ticket information.

The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians through Film will be the first full-length documentary film to focus on the work and lives of librarians. Using the entertaining and appealing context of American movies, the film will hold some surprises for people who may think they know what librarians do.
American film contains hundreds of examples of librarians and libraries on screen -- some positive, some negative, some laughable and some dead wrong. Films such as Sophie's Choice, Philadelphia and It's a Wonderful Life show librarians as negative stereotypes. The librarians in Lorenzo's Oil, Desk Set and The Shawshank Redemption, on the other hand, are competent and professional. Dozens of interviews of real librarians will be interwoven with movie clips of cinematic librarians and serve as transitions between the themes of censorship, intellectual freedom, children and librarians, pay equity and funding issues, and the value of reading.

Additional showings of the Hollywood Librarian, for librarians only, are on Friday, October 5th at 11:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Register for the Second Annual ILA Diversity Fair

The Second Annual Diversity Fair, sponsored by DEMCO and the Illinois Library Systems Directors Organization, will be held on Thursday, October 11, 2007 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. during the Illinois Library Association 2007 Annual Conference in Springfield. The Diversity Fair is a chance for conference participants to learn about programs and initiatives around the state that address diverse user populations. Participants in the Fair will be provided with space for a poster or table-top display and will have the chance to interact with conference goers to explain more about their projects.

To register for the event, please take a few moments to complete the brief submission form, which can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5VOXWvX1pjTPAS7l_2fFmuOg_3d_3d. If you have any questions, please contact Amanda McKay at amandamckay@lcls.org or 618-656-3216, ext. 143.