LTLS - Quick Connections

Retirement Reception for Barbara Lintner

Barb Lintner has been Director of Children's Services since 1988.

Bills Are Being Introduced in the Illinois General Assembly

The ILA Public Policy Committee (PPC) will be meeting today at noon at various VTEL locations across the state.  ILA's Legislative Consultant Kip Kolkmeier will begin the process of explaining the various bills introduced that might have an impact on the Illinois library community.  Twenty bills have been identified, so far.  Please click here to see that list.   PPC will discuss these bills to determine their recommendations to the ILA Executive Board.  The next ILA Executive Board meeting is Friday, 12 February at the Prairie Area Library System in Shorewood.  On that day, the ILA Executive Board will hear PPC's recommendations and determine the association's positions.  Both the PPC and ILA Executive Board meetings are open and your attendance is encouraged.

Snapshot Day

Join the Illinois Library Association in showing just how important your library is!

On Wedensday, February 10, libraries across Illinois will be participating in Snapshot Day: A Day in the Life of Illinois Libraries. On this day, libraries of all types — public libraries as well as those at schools, colleges, and universities — will be gathering statistics that show just how in-demand libraries are. In addition, you’ll be able to fill out a very brief survey about your library visit, and even provide testimonials about how much you love your library. Libraries will also be encouraged to take pictures to create a photo record of just how popular the library is!

Thank You For Your Support!

We Asked, and You Responded! Thank You!

Over 20,000 emails from 10,000 library supporters, were sent to Governor Quinn and Comptroller Hynes requesting that the long-overdue funding for Illinois' Systems be released. The Comptroller has released the funding for the System for payments from the General Revenue Fund. This is a strong start, but we will still have further to go! This represents 35% of our total funding that LTLS receives from the State of Illinois. The remainder of system funding comes from the Live and Learn Fund (L&L), which is a different pot of money. There is not enough money in this fund to make even one payment to library systems. We are owed 6 payments from the L&L Fund. We will continue to monitor this fund and keep you apprised of activity as it affects Systems and how you might help us get this money released.

LTLS continues to be fiscally conservative in spending our funds for services. We will keep you updated on our financial situation. Keep an eye on the Save Illinois Libraries website for the latest information.

Thank you for all of your work. Together we made a difference!

Don't Forget Today is the Day!

Today is the day! The Illinois library community is being requested to send e-mail messages to Comptroller Hynes and Governor Quinn.  Please mark your calendar now to go to www.saveillinoislibraries.com next Wednesday, January 20.  An easy to use form will pop up on the front page.  Put in your information and send those e-mails.

Cuts reduce hours, staffing at thousands of libraries as patron demand escalates

Libraries have been on the front lines during the recession. U.S. public libraries have expanded available job resources, and more people are turning to libraries for technology access and help in applying for jobs and government assistance online, according to a new library survey. The survey also found, however, that half of states have reduced funding to public libraries and to state library agencies, and close to one-quarter of urban libraries have reduced open hours. Adequate staffing is the leading challenge to aiding job seekers.

More than three-quarters of all public libraries reported increased use of their public Internet computers over the past year, and 71 percent reported increased wireless use, according to the survey conducted by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Center for Library and Information Innovation at the University of Maryland in fall 2009.

New ALA report details economic trends in libraries and 2010 outlook

At every turn, news reports and research indicate fairly dramatic changes in U.S. library funding, services and staffing – most occurring in the last 18 months. According to a new report prepared by the American Library Association (ALA), libraries of all types are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn while managing sky-high use.

Compiled from a broad range of available sources, The Condition of Libraries: 1999-2009 presents U.S. economic trends (2009), and summarizes trends in public, school and academic libraries across several library measures, including expenditures, staffing and services. The report also highlights trends in services provided to libraries by library cooperatives and consortia.

Authors Kathleen Benner Duble, Karen Cecil Smith discuss importance of nation’s school libraries

Authors Kathleen Benner Duble (“The Sacrifice,” “Quest”) and Karen Cecil Smith (“An Old Salem Christmas, 1840") discuss their support for out nation’s schools in a video interview from this year’s American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) 14th National Conference. Dedicated solely to the needs of school library media specialists, the AASL National Conference is the largest gathering of school librarians in the nation. Visibility @ your library provides librarians and library supporters with news and information about important communications issues from ALA’s Public Information Office and the Campaign for America’s Libraries.

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.
 

School library shifting to digital collection stimulates media interest

Recently, the Cushing Academy, a private boarding school in Massachusetts, attracted attention with its decision to discard all 20,000 books in the school’s library in favor of an entirely digital collection.

The issue stimulated media interest, and the American Library Association’s (ALA) Public Information Office (PIO) responded by recently coordinating two interviews addressing the future of school libraries with USA Today and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” ALA president Camila Alire and American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) president Cassandra Barnett participated in these interviews.

Alire appeared on a Nov. 9 segment on NPR. The segment and corresponding Web article, “Digital School Library Leaves Book Stacks Behind,” can be found at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120097876#commentBlock

USA Today, the newspaper with the second highest circulation in the country, with nearly 2 million daily readers, also ran an article on this issue entitled “School chooses Kindle; are libraries for the history ‘books’?” In the Oct. 27 article, both  Alire and  Barnett say that the Cushing Academy’s move to get rid of all print books “is not necessarily a model for other school libraries.” The article can be found at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-26-kindle-school-library_N.htm.