As part of CLiC’s cooperative purchasing efforts, we’ve created accounts for all our member libraries with MiCTA (Michigan Collegiate Telecommunications Association). This is a for-profit organization that negotiates contracts with telecom, computer, office equipment, and e-learning vendors on behalf of non-profit academic, school, library, and governmental entities. Some of the discounted products include computers, Internet connections, telephone service, printers, and software.
Member libraries on the courier should have received their MiCTA packets from CLiC by now–please remember to save your member number, which appears on the back of the envelope. You’ll need this member number when placing discounted orders with vendors. Member libraries not on the courier should receive their packets in the mail next week; their member numbers will appear on the welcome letter. And if you do lose your member number, feel free to call CLiC at 303-422-1150.
You will have to log in to the MiCTA site and contact each vendor to find out what discounts your library will get through MiCTA. Please let us know your experiences with cost comparison and MiCTA purchasing to help us evaluate this service. We hope it will be a valuable one!
For more information, visit the CLiC MiCTA page:
http://www.clicweb.org/cooperative_purchasing/micta.php
Beth Filar Williams, CLiC SW Region Consultant, will be leaving CLiC and our lovely state at the end of June. Beth was one of the first three regional consultants hired in February 2005. Her influence has shaped this organization, and made a huge impact on her region. Beth is an accomplished librarian, a good friend, and a special person. She will be deeply missed. Beth’s email is bwilliams@clicweb.org if you wish to send her a personal goodbye.
Valerie Horton
CLiC Executive Director
Don’t forget that your contracts for courier service running from 10/1/07 – 9/30/08 are due into the CLiC office June 15th. If you have not received a contract please e-mail courier@clicweb.org and we will e-mail one to you right away.
For those of you that are community stops (you get items sent to a hosting library) and have never filled out a contract before, it is important that you fill it out this year. With the new courier database we need to get additional information from you as well as make sure that we have correct community stops and hosting library information.
FYI – many libraries change their hours in the summer, if your library has done that please e-mail courier@clicweb.org with your library hours so we can make sure that courier service does not get interrupted.
–Erin Berndsen, Courier Manager
Congratulations to several Coloradoans who received some grant money this month. Patty Chapman, Judy Van Acker and Sue Keefer received the Colorado State Library’s scholarship to attend ALA. This must have been Sue’s lucky month, because she also received an additional $5000 from Anschutz Family Foundation to boost her general operating costs to support ongoing programs that reach out to the Spanish community. Lastly, Gretchen Villers from Custer County School District received $5000 from ALA’s ALSC Division from their Bookapalooza Grant. This grant gives only 3 libraries across the country $5000 in free books.
Gretchen stated in her application,
“I want my students to experience not just the horses, cattle and rodeo of our ranching community, but to also know about Africa and New York City and people who are different from them. I believe it is through books that our children can experience this.”
Congratulations, Gretchen!
The point in all this is to encourage you to take some time to look at some of these opportunities and see if they fit with your goals. CLiC consultants are happy to offer advice and direct you to resources that can help make sure you have the best chance of receiving additional funding. If I missed anyone, please comment on my post!
Shelley
One of CLiC’s main goals is to help libraries save money so that more materials and services may be offered to patrons, students, and faculty. One way CLiC does this is through the Vendor Awards & Discounts program. In the fall of each year, we send RFP’s to several vendors and ask them to give their best discounts for our membership, above standard discounts to libraries. Your library can take advantange of discounts on books, audio-visual materials, supplies, and much more. If you’re currently taking advantange of these discounts, great! If you’re not sure, please check out our vendor awards and discounts list on our website. We’re interested in hearing which of the discounts you use most often and if there are other vendors we should send the RFP to this coming fall. Please post your comments on our blog so that we may track your preferences. As always, when you place your order be sure to specify the discount code that’s found on the first page of the 2007 Vendor Awards & Discount List. This is the only way you can be sure you’re getting CLiC’s discount.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to attend one of our classes on Supervisory Training, now is the time to start. The full plan is listed on our website www.clicweb.org. Go to Continuing Education/Supervisory Training.
The next class being offered is “Budgeting Basics for Non-Profits.” This class is on May 16th in Pueblo. Here is the link to registration:
http://host.evanced.info/clicweb/evanced/eventsignup.asp?ID=21
If you have any questions, please contact Shelley Walchak swalchak@clicweb.org or 719-650-1090.
Ever heard of Sanborn Maps? Sanborn fire insurance maps are large scale historical city maps, detailed at the block and building level, that show residential, commercial, and industrial uses of sites, building footprints, potential environmental hazards, and construction details of structures. Sanborn fire insurance maps were originally designed to assist fire insurance agents in determining the potential damage from fires, assessing risk, and setting premiums. Today, Sanborn maps are used for a variety of purposes, including environmental site assessment, architecture, urban history, and genealogy.
Building Colorado Story by Story: The Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Collection is a digital collection of Sanborn fire insurance maps of cities across Colorado. The collection contains 346 maps of 79 principal cities in 52 counties covering the years 1883-1922. The University of Colorado at Boulder is the in the process of digitizing these maps and the beta version is now available online.
CLiC andthe Map Library staff at CUB are running workshops about these Sanborn maps and map librarianship in general. Many people have attended the short overview sessions at our CLiC Spring Workshops. Also check out the last Accidental Map Librarian Workshop in Gunnison May 11.
We have also created a wiki for our Accidental Map Librarian Workshops you can check out at : http://maplibraries.pbwiki.com/
CLiC works to provide database cooperative purchase opportunities for several popular databases. By having libraries join at the same time, we’re in a better position to negotiate deeper discounts with vendors. We are working on a new cooperative purchase for public and academic libraries for the Consumer Health Complete database from Ebsco. This full text database is loaded with health information geared for the non-medically educated consumer. You can find pamphlets and articles on specific health issues such as diabetes or learn more about the benefits and side effects of a particular medication. Alternative therapies are also included.
In addition, CLiC is in the renewal/new subscription period for five academic databases – CINAHL, CMMC, MLA, PsycINFO, and SocINDEX. Academic institutions interested in joining or renewing should complete the sign up form on our website, http://www.clicweb.org/cooperative_purchasing/dbform_academic.php.
Trials for every database are available on the CLiC website, http://www.clicweb.org/cooperative_purchasing/db_trials.php. Contact Lisa Priebe, lpriebe@clicweb.org, with questions.
I’m Robin, the new administrative assistant at CLiC and a University of Denver MLIS student. I’m still learning the ropes at CLiC, and there’s a lot to learn!
For my first post, I thought I’d share some exciting news about DU’s MLIS program. The program has just undergone an extensive curriculum revision, which was approved last month. It isn’t just the classes that have changed—the degree concentrations have also been overhauled.
There used to be four concentrations:
- Library and Information Resources and Technologies (LIRT)
- Archives and Records Management (ARM)
- School Library Media (SLM)
- Knowledge Management (KM)
There are now five concentrations:
- Information Science & Technology (IST)
- Knowledge Management (KM)
- Reference and User Services (RUS)
- Resource Description and Access (RDA)
- Archives and Records Management (ARM)
The new concentrations haven’t been posted to the DU LIS site as of this post, but the new course rotation is up for 2007-2009. In the new plan, classes that were formerly lumped into LIRT have been split among RUS, RDA, and IST. New classes have been added to all the concentrations, and the IST track is almost entirely new classes. It’s good to see cataloging get the recognition it deserves with its own track (RDA). KM and ARM were the least affected, but new courses were added to each of those concentrations to update and focus the subject matter.
The absence of an SLM concentration seemed strange to me at first, but I realized that most of the SLM classes had been absorbed into RUS. For those people looking to get Teacher Librarian certification, DU is starting a School Library Cohort program in Summer 2008, which looks like it will be a great experience for people with teacher certification looking to become teacher librarians.
Overall, I’m impressed with the new course plan. It brings a lot of courses up-to-date and provides more instruction on new technologies that are essential for anyone entering the library field. I’m eagerly awaiting more detailed course descriptions so I can see exactly what the new classes have to offer.
Hi everyone,
Don’t forget to apply for a workshop subsidy or the Alex Project scholarships. Deadline for Greeley and Grand Junction workshops is fast approaching (March 2nd).
$100 is available to offset your expenses to the workshops and can be applied to registration fees, travel costs or even substitute pay if you are a school librarian: Financial Assistance Form
Free Books! Free Registration! Check out the Alex Project session presented by Karol Sacca and you could find an easy way to hook up adults with teen readers:
Alex Project Form
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