Friday, July 23, 2010

Posted on behalf of Geneva Public Library

The Geneva Public Library has been awarded a New York State Education Department Public Computer Center grant of $244,517. The grant will fund a two-year program to improve and expand the computer resources the library makes available to the public and to provide computer-skills instruction to area residents. The program will create 3 jobs at the library for two years.


The library plans to add and replace computers, improve its public access services, develop video conferencing, enable its website to be read in Spanish translation as well as English, and provide computer classes for adults. Computer classes and the installation of new equipment are expected to begin this fall.


The jobs created by the grant include a full-time Library Assistant. The position will be responsible for helping to manage the program and provide direct service to the public. The application deadline for this position is July 31, 2010. A part-time Application Training Specialist will be responsible for computer-skills instruction. A part-time Senior Computer Service Assistant will be responsible for technical support of the library's computers. All positions are civil service and require applications to be sent to the Ontario County Human Resources in Canandaigua.


The library is one of 30 libraries in the state to receive a Public Computer Center grant. The grant is part of the New York State’s Broadbandexpress@yourlibrary project to help low-income, unemployed, underemployed, and other vulnerable populations in upstate New York. Broadbandexpress@yourlibrary will provide more than 860 computers in 30 libraries and five mobile training centers across 41 economically distressed upstate New York counties with populations totaling 6,655,824 (2008 census).


The Broadbandexpress@yourlibrary project is being funded by a $9.5 million matching grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration to expand computer access in public libraries across New York State. The funding is being provided through the Federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.


New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner said, "Libraries are vital to our communities and our economy. The increased broadband capacity, training and online resources funded through this grant will provide more New Yorkers with access to essential online information for work, healthcare, education, and citizenship as well as E-government resources."


"What librarians and libraries do everyday is vitally important work," said State Librarian and Assistant Commissioner for Libraries Bernard Margolis. "Yet, even though New Yorkers turn to their public libraries more in difficult economic times, libraries themselves have suffered cuts and reductions to their valuable services. This grant will enable our libraries to continue to do critically important work and to expand the opportunities, education, and services that high speed Internet provides to the unserved and underserved in our communities."


Contact the library at 315-789-5303 for additional information.



--
Mike Nyerges
Director
Geneva Public Library
GENEVAPUBLICLIBRARY.NET
244 Main Street
Geneva, NY 14456
Phone: 315-789-5303
Fax: 315-789-9835

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Biking the Underground Railroad

Khafre Abif, former Librarian and Executive Director of the Lansgton Hughes Library in Clinton, TN, will bike the Underground Railroad.
Starting June 27th, Khafre Abif will ride his bicycle 2,2028 from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, using the routes of the Underground Railroad. He is doing this to help raise awareness of the impact HIV/AIDS has in black communities.
For more information on this former Librarian - check out:
www.cycleforfreedom.com

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Cuts and Layoffs

Each week I read the weekly newsletter from Library Journal and School Library Journal called, Hotline. The overall theme almost every week is - Library cuts!
Here are some headlines from Hotline.
  • Newark, NJ, 18% cut leads to closures, layoffs
  • PA support for libraries drops by another 8.4% (side note, this is an addition to the 27.9% cut they saw earlier in the year)
  • Troy Public Library , MI, set to close July 2011, if no millage.
  • Las Vegas/Clark County system cuts hours and staff.
  • Lexington Public Library, KY, cuts positions and materials.

These are just SOME of the many many many cuts and closures that I read about each and every week. I'm sharing this with you as a reminder - This is the time to be the best advocate you can for your own Public Library!

Stand strong and Support your Public Library in these very hard economic times.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Booktorrent!

Check this article out! It was posted by a Library Assistant in Phelps on Facebook. Thanks Deb!

http://www.theawl.com/2010/07/the-invention-of-the-bookmobile-rural-filesharing-networks

Libraries around the lake

Please join a collaboration of "libraries around the lake" -- Bristol, Gorham, Naples and Wood -- on Sunday, August 1st at 1:30 PM when we welcome award-winning fiction writer Ilie Ruby, discussing her debut novel, "The Language of Trees" in the Community Room at Wood Library. Copies will be available for purchase and signing. Ruby is currently on a national book tour and will also be at Barnes and Noble in Rochester on July 31st. Ilie Ruby grew up in Rochester, NY and spent her childhood summers on Canandaigua Lake, the setting for "The Language of Trees". The book will be released on July 20 by Avon HarperCollins Publishers. It is available for pre-order as trade paperback, also as ebook in Kindle and ePub formats.

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfq9Cc2Ph3g

For more information http://www.ilieruby.com/index.html

Save the date!

Save the Date!

RRLC is partnering with our colleagues in Syracuse, Buffalo, and Ithaca
and with Nylnik to bring you the 4th annual Library Assistants Day. Save
the date! It's Tuesday, November 9.

Monday, July 19, 2010

What are you doing September 11th, 2010???

What are you doing on September 11th?
Don't have any plans yet??
Here's a GREAT idea!

Why not walk or run at the 15th Annual Glen Iris 5k being held at the beautiful Letchworth State Park?

This is a fundraiser for the Cordelia A. Greene Library located in Castile, NY.It's not expensive to enter and you come home with better health, fun memories and a t-shirt!

http://www.castile.pls-net.org/5k.html

Monday, July 12, 2010

ALA in Washington, DC

The American Library Association Annual conference was held in Washington, DC the last week of June. 19,513 people attended this conference. There were 6,688 exhibitors as well. This was up from the attendance in Chicago the year prior. Numbers in Chicago were 22,762 attendees and 6,179 exhibitors. (Just a reminder - Library Assistants have a Round Table at ALA and are very active).
On the closing day of the conference, Library advocates gathered on Capitol Hill for the first ever National Library Advocacy Day! Over 1800 people attended this event! After the rally, attendees visited their local representatives.
What a GREAT attendance for this important advocacy event!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

The Pioneer Library System will be closed on Monday, July 5th.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Girls Night the Musical (Discount tickets)

Girls Night the Musical

ONSTAGE AT GEVA THEATRE

JULY 6 – AUGUST 1

RRLC discount available July 6 – 11 only!


Share the fun & laughter at this hilarious, feel-good comedy as five girlfriends - to whom we can all relate - go from heartbreak to happiness during a wild night of karaoke. You don't need an excuse for a good time...so grab your sisters, friends and co-workers to experience a night of pure fun. Girls Night will have you dancing in the aisles with hits like “Lady Marmalade,” “It's Raining Men,” “Man, I Feel Like a Woman,” “I Will Survive,” “We are Family” and many more!

Specially discounted tickets are just $43.00 for floor level seats or $38 for balcony. If you enjoyed Menopause the Musical then you’ll love Girls Night! These tickets are ONLY available for purchase Mon-Fri through Colleen Brown, and NOT through the Box Office. For more information or to order tickets contact Colleen Brown at 585-232-1366 ext. 3057 or e-mail to: cbrown@gevatheatre.org. Sorry discount not valid on prior purchases.

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Rochester Regional Library Council
390 Packett's Landing
Fairport, N.Y. 14450
(585)223-7570 - phone
(585)223-7712 - fax
rrlc@rrlc.org

Innovation through collaboration