Library district director position available

Applications are now open for the position of Chemung County Library
District director. CCLD is the central library for Southern Tier. There
will be great opportunities in leading this recently-established special
district library with a solid history of public support. The position is
a Library Director IV competitive class Civil Service position and
successful candidates are required to score within the top 3 on a
training and experience Civil Service exam.

District Web site: http://www.steele.lib.ny.us/

Director’s Position announcement:
http://www.steele.lib.ny.us/Director_Announcement.htm

Library Journal Parapofessional of the year nominations

Paraprofessional of the Year Nomination Guidelines

Deadline: January 19, 2010

-- Library Journal, 3/13/2008

Library Journal will honor one support staffer with its 11th annual Paraprofessional of the Year award in its March 1, 2010, issue. Sponsored by Brodart Library Supplies & Furnishings, which underwrites the $1500 cash prize and a reception to honor the winner at the American Library Association conference in June, the award recognizes the essential role of paraprofessionals, now the largest constituency of library workers, in providing excellent library service. It places special emphasis on the efforts of the winner to further the role of paraprofessionals in the library profession. The winner will be profiled in the March 1 issue of LJ.

Nominating criteria

The criteria for LJ's Paraprofessional of the Year are excellence in performing their job, including contribution(s) enabling the library to best serve its constituents and/or its community (whether town, college/university, school, or corporation), the encouragement of reading and the use of the library's resources, a commitment to free access to information for all, and the candidate's work to build networks, organizations, and/or groups to back excellence in library work and new career paths for support staff, and improved communication and the breaking down of barriers between support staff and the MLS librarians with whom they work. Nominating letters should name the candidate and describe in 500 words or less why the nominee deserves the award. Supporting letters and accompanying material will be considered, but the nominating letter itself will be of prime importance.

Nominations may be emailed to miller@reedbusiness.com.

Nominations sent through regular mail should be addressed to:

Paraprofessional of the Year Award
c/o Library Journal
360 Park Avenue South.
New York, NY 10010.

Please note: the postmark deadline for all nominations is January 19, 2010

Training committee needs your help!

The Continuing Education and Training Committee needs your help! Please complete the 2010 CE & Training Needs Survey (link below) to helps us prioritize and plan upcoming CE & Training opportunities.

I am sending this message in plain text, so to best access this survey, open a web browser and copy and paste the URL into the browser's address bar.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=RY4WPbpp_2ffZ6o9k3vLrXXw_3d_3d

If you experience any problems, please let me know. Thank you for your time and effort!

Lindsay

Lindsay Stratton
ILS Training Coordinator
Pioneer Library System
2557 State Rte 21
Canandaigua, NY 14424

www.pls-net.org

Contact the Governor ASAP!

Dear Library Advocate, as you may know, the Governor has proposed mid-year budget cuts to close a $3 billion budget deficit. The proposal includes a 10% across the board cut to all state aid programs like Library Aid, which will result in a $3.3 million reduction in funding for library services. School Aid will be cut by 4.5%.

The proposed $3.3 million reduction in Library Aid is on top of the $8 million cut imposed back in April and the $3 million cut sustained last year. If the proposed cuts are approved, it will reduce Library Aid to $88 million or 1998 level of funding. With library usage continuing to increase and people of all ages depending on libraries to improve their literacy, computer and internet skills and the unemployed using libraries to search for new careers and employment, now is not the time for further cuts for library services.

I strongly urge you to contact your state legislators to ask them to reject the Governor’s proposed cuts. Libraries have already done their fair share towards reducing the state’s budget shortfalls, other alternatives need to be used before asking the library community to take further cuts. These proposed cuts impact all types of libraries and library systems, public, college, schools, etc.

Go to www.nyla.org and click on Library Advocate icon to send fax/email to your state legislators. Please pass this message on to other library advocates.

Michael J. Borges

Fun next Friday

I'm starting to get some fun goodies to give away next Friday.
I can't wait to see everyone at the Fall Support Staff Workshop!!

Fall workshop agenda

I have sent the Fall Support Staff workshop agenda out a few times in delivery but I thought I should also post it here.

9 - 9:15am - Arrive and place order for lunch if need be
9:15 - 9:30 - Announcements and introductions
9:30 - 10:30 - Book Repair (learn cost effective strategies to maintain the health of your collection, with quick, easy to learn, yet conservation-minded techniques.)
10:30 - 10:45 - Break
10:45 - 11:45 - Advocacy (develop your advocacy skills and learn how to promote your library on a local and state level)
Noon - 1pm - Lunch
Part Two
1- 2pm - Empire State College (A discussion about opportunities for undergraduate and graduate study at SUNY Empire State College.)

Add a comment or suggestion

Hello Everyone!
Gearing up for the Fall Support Staff Workshop, I thought I would try something new.

Answer the poll to the right of the postings.
or
Add a comment or suggestion to this post
and I'll put your name in a drawing to win something fun!
(make sure you put your first name and library name someplace on the post so I know who to put in for the drawing)
I'm trying to see how many people read this blog.

Thanks for your support!
Heidi

Help wanted

Posted on behalf of Penn Yan Public Library.

The Penn Yan Public Library, Penn Yan, NY, a school district public library in the Finger Lakes is seeking a Librarian to provide reference service and adult programming. The library offers a competitive salary and benefits package.

A Master’s Degree in Library Science and a NYS Librarian’s Professional certificate are required.

Applications are available online at the Yates County Personnel Office, www.yatescounty.org. and must be submitted to the Yates County Personnel Department and include a $15 exam filing fee.

Questions about the position may be submitted to Lynn Overgaard at (315) 536-6114 or lhovergaard@pypl.org.

Applications are due by December 1, 2009.

National Save for Retirement Week

This week is National Save for Retirement Week.

In 2009, the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate unanimously approved resolutions designating October 18-24 as National Save for Retirement Week.
The resolutions seek to increase financial literacy and raise public awareness of the retirement-savings vehicles available to all workers.
Research shows that more than half of all workers in the United States, 53 percent, have less than $25,000 in total savings and investments, excluding their home and defined benefit plans (pensions).
With longer life expectancies and rising costs, especially for health care, it is critical that Americans understand the importance of saving for their future - now.

Help wanted

Classifieds from Victor Herald
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Library manager:
Allen's Hill Library is seeking a library manager for 12 hours a week.
Skills required include grant writing, organization, technical and basic library skills, and advocacy, along with the ability to relate to the public. Salary is limited.
For more information call 585-229-5636.

Heading to NYLA

I'm heading to the 2009 NYLA conference tomorrow.
I hope to come back with lots of new information to share with all of you.

I'll post again next week!
Thanks,
Heidi

Dewey discussion

Have you heard the chatter about doing away with Dewey classification.
There is a great article in October issue of Library Journal.
The article is titled - The Dewey Dilemma
written by Barbara Fister.

If you library doesn't get Library Journal and you would like to see a copy of this article, please let me know.
Then I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Hurry, hurry, hurry

Hurry, hurry, hurry!!! There is only 1 week remaining for you to contribute your favorite recipes to be included in the NYSLAA cookbook.

Remember-this is a fundraiser to help offset some of the costs of the 2010 conference to be held in Corning. We want to be able to keep the registration costs low so that more libraries can afford to send their library assistants (YOU!) to attend this annual opportunity for continuing education and networking.

We thank all of you who have submitted recipes so far, but unfortunately we have collected only 39 recipes, not nearly what we had been hoping to receive. If we don't collect enough recipes, we won't do the cookbook, which means the conference will cost you more $$$.

Please help us out by either
emailing your recipes to blisskl@cmog.org<mailto:blisskl@cmog.org<mailto:blisskl@cmog.org<mailto:blisskl@cmog.org>> or
entering them in yourself at www.typensave.com<http://www.typensave.com<http://www.typensave.com<http://www.typensave.com>>, typing [your name] in the Contributor box, rakowcookbook in the Group Login box and d6jmf in the Password box.

We need all kinds of recipes in the following categories: Appetizers & beverages; Soups & salads; Vegetables & side dishes; Main dishes; Breads & rolls; Desserts; Cookies & candy; This & that.

DEADLINE: Oct. 9, 2009 (But please don't wait until the 9th! We need to submit our compilation to the publisher no later than October 14 in order to have the finished cookbooks back in time for Christmas)

We hope to hear from you soon!

The 2010 NYSLAA Conference Planning Committee from The Rakow Research Library of The Corning Museum of Glass.

Even better to read

And this is the reason why we should have books on our shelves!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113357239

Wow.....very powerful moving story.

Great article to read

I have a great article for everyone to read / check out.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699099.html

I would love to have your thoughts and/or opinions on this subject.

Have you signed up yet?

The Fall Support Staff Workshop is later this month.
Have you signed up yet? Currently we have 21 people signed up at attend.
This years workshop has two different parts to it.
Part one is from 9:15 - Noon and it covers, Book Repair and Advocacy.
Part two is after lunch and is a workshop about Empire State College.

Now - let me guess.....You don't think you need to hear about advocacy - right?
Well - I would have to disagree.
Libraries are in need of positive energy 100% of the time.
If you work in a library - then you need to be advocating for libraries.
Libraries are a great community access that need to be promoted as much as possible.
Plan on attending and learning how you can improve your skills from two local experts.

Support Staff workshops are great opportunity to meet other support staff from the libraries within the Pioneer Library System.
Sign up today on the PLS calendar of events!