73 public library sites will receive Summer Reading Mini-Grants. Each participating library site will receive $200 towards buying books for the library.
Public libraries in the U.S have been promoting summer library programs since 1898. Reading regularly during the summer helps students to prevent “summer set-back” where students can lose reading gains of the previous school year.
The State Library has been giving out the grants since 2004. Library sites receive $200 to spend on books and materials to support their summer library programming and provide a local match of 25% of the grant. The statewide summer reading theme for 2010 is “Make a Splash, READ!” The teen theme is “Make Waves @ your library.”
For a map of all library sites receiving a grant: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=109363614992294136015.000463611a1305f4ed830&ll=39.010648,-105.413818&spn=4.156806,7.03125&z=7
Registration is now open for CALC Summit 2010: Collaborate Like You Mean It!
May 20-21, 2010 – Sheraton Denver West, Lakewood, CO
Come to the CALC Summit and find out ways to “Collaborate Like You Mean It!” The 2010 Summit focuses on ways that academic librarians can forge lasting, effective partnerships both within and outside their institutions. Librarians from Colorado and the surrounding region will gather to share successes, failures, research, and innovative ideas related to academic library collaboration. The Summit includes special keynotes by Stephen Abram and regional experts on collaboration’s role in a time of economic crisis.
The Summit will be held Thursday & Friday, May 20-21, 2010. Cost for the Summit is $150 for two days, which includes breakfast and lunch both days. Single-day registration is not available.
More conference and registration information: http://calcweb.org/
Register here: http://tinyurl.com/calcsummit
Also, don’t forget to register for one of the hands-on preconferences happening May 19:
http://calcweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43&Itemid=135
Does your library have a bookmobile? Celebrate the first annual National Bookmobile Day on Wednesday, April 14, 2010! ALA has free resources your library can use to promote your bookmobile.
Look what a fine and distinguished panel appeared at the CLiC Spring Workshops in Grand Junction this week. A great day of learning, networking, innovation, inspiration and fun is coming your way on April 8 in Fort Collins and April 22-23rd in Pueblo. Check out all the details and don’t miss your chance to be part of Kurtis Kelly’s workshop. Remember, the President and the Senator will be waiting…
It’s hard to tell what the future holds. At present, things look bleak. Whole library systems are being shut down. Douglas County Public Library Director, Jamie LaRue, wrote an excellent post on this topic a while back. One could easily argue that Americans don’t value their public institutions. Continue reading ‘Why Libraries Are Under Pressure: A Theory’
Published by
JTMarmot on
February 28, 2010 in
Academic Libraries, IT, Innovation, Public Libraries, School Libraries and Western Slope.
Tags: discovery layer, Lucene, MARMOT, opac, open-source, VuFind.
My son Peter illuminated a Colorado road atlas one day on our way to a pet store. His inscriptions are as gleeful as some of the comments I hear lately around Marmot, where we’re implementing VuFind as a next-gen OPAC.
In this and future posts I’ll tell the story of how we selected VuFind from a list that included AquaBrowser, Encore, Drupal SOPAC, and WorldCat Local. I’ll write about testing and launching open source software originally developed at Villanova University. We might blaze a few interesting trails, taking software currently running in university libraries, and adapting it to our multi-type consortium on the Western Slope.
“We’re getting open source!”
Continue reading ‘“We’re getting gerbils!”’
The John Adams Unbound exhibit scheduled to appear on the CSU- Pueblo campus March 8- April 15. The University Library will host the exhibit, which will be in the foyer of Hoag Hall. A sneak peek of the Adams exhibit will be held from 6-7 p.m. in the Occhiato University Center Hearthwell Lounge followed by the dinner in the OUC Ballroom at 7 p.m. and the live performance at 8 p.m. The cost is $35 per person or $350 for a table of 10. To purchase tickets or a table, contact Julie Fronmueller at 719-549-2826 or julie.fronmueller@colostate-pueblo.edu. For more information on the event click here.
Pay close attention to your library’s homepage. In less than 15 seconds, does it tell you:
- Who you are?
- What your library is trying to accomplish?
- Does it have a tagline that explicitly summarizes what your library does?
The design and content on your homepage should address each question in a way that balances breadth and depth. Don’t overwhelm your reader with too much information. Install “read more” links that allow the reader to dive in deep should s/he decide to.
Keep your homepage content dynamic. Put a tickler on your calendar to change something significant on your homepage at least once per month. Consider using a modular or block design that allows certain features to be easily swapped out. So many of us are visual creatures, so build a library of reusable images that you can use to keep your homepage content fresh.
Simple, dynamic, and compelling content on your homepage will draw your donors in. Don’t forget to put a link to your giving page!
This posting is about Search Engine Optimization. It’s a techie term and usually of concern to marketing people and web developers, often in the for-profit sector. But I think it needs to concern all of us in libraries, even if we’re a small library without a lot of resources for marketing or for our website. And that’s because, in these difficult times for libraries and for our communities, it would be really beneficial if our relevant resources, programs and services were easy for people to find via Google.
Continue reading ‘Why Libraries Should Care about Search Engine Optimization’
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