LTLS - Quick Connections

Public Library Rankings

Keith Curry Lance and Ray Lyons worked on this most interesting piece regarding public library rankings:

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6566452.html

PLINKIT Collaborative receives Award

Public Library Interface Kit (PLINKIT) Collaborative, is the 2008 co-recipient of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) Leadership and Professional Achievement Award presented by the ASCLA, a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

The ASCLA Leadership and Professional Achievement Award is a citation presented to one or more ASCLA members in recognition of leadership and achievement in the following areas of activity: consulting, multi-type library cooperation, networking, statewide service and programs and state library development.

ALA Program about Green Libraries

Library Shades of Green

This was a program about building green libraries, and how you can be greener in your library. Most people believe that building a green library drive up construction costs, but there are several smaller things that can be done, with little extra cost. Buying recycled building materials, and using local companies to reduce transportation are two things that can help, whether you are building a library or just doing renovations. There are also a lot of rapid renewable resources you can use like: bamboo, wool, cotton insulation, linoleum, and wheat board. If you are adding on to your library, using as much of the old library as possible is extremely green, and reusing furniture and shelving. Adding a green roof (plants on top of the library) is something that you can do with your existing building. A more costly green roof is putting solar panels on your roof that will help with energy in the building. If nothing else, you can promote and institute recycling and other environmental programs in your library.

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.

What's New @ WJIL

What will you find in this week’s “What’s New” posting? You’ll find amazing stories from the Illinois Library Community as well as important information that will begin to satisfy some of your curiosity about what this WJIL 2.0 is all about. Find it here…

http://webjunctionworks.org/il/blog/index.php/2008/07/01/new-wjil-0701/

LTLS Book Clubs - Upcoming selections

The lists of LTLS Book Clubs selections for the months of July through October of 2008 are now available.
LTLS Book Clubs

Free Notice Paper

Tolono Public Library has 3 boxes of 9 1/2 by 11 notice paper to give away. Please email jcler@lincolntrail.info if interested.

Challenging Our Assumptions

It's good to have a clear sense of our mission and goals, but at the same time, it is essential to be open to having those assumptions challenged.  Michael Schrage, from the MIT School for Digital Business, was keynote speaker for "Mixing It Up: The Mashed Up Library" at the ALA Conference on Friday, June 27th. 

One of his key points is that organizations that have the highest sense of who they are have more difficulty innovating.  Why is this?  Possibly it is institutional inertia, or a blind sense that the current assumptions are "right".  The danger is missing opportunities to listen to users and rethink the service model.

Schrage emphasized that with the explosion of social collaboration tools, the cost of individual and small group innovation has plummeted, but that at the institutional level, change is more difficult to kick-start.

An excellent starting point for thinking differently about cherished practices is a document called, "Ten Dangerous Ideas", posted on a wiki called "What if libraries..."  Check it out.  Since it's a wiki, you can add your opinion and join the conversation.

Verizon Awards $1,000,000 grant to ALA

At ALA, the Verizon Foundation announced a $1 million grant award to ALA to track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy skills and build a model for library gaming.  This will be a national effort to build 'The Librarians' Guide to Gaming', a comprehensive, online literacy and gaming toolbox.