Volume 8: March 29, 2012 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) FUNDS FOR LIBRARY SUPPORT STAFF CERTIFICATION

2) FIRST TUESDAYS – MOVING TO EVERGREEN

3) LEARNING FROM BILINGUAL COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH

4) CELEBRATE SCHOOL LIBRARY MONTH

5) LIBRARIES FOR ALL – SERVING DIVERSE POPULATIONS

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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1) FUNDS FOR LIBRARY SUPPORT STAFF CERTIFICATION

The Washington State Library offers financial assistance to library support staff participating in the American Library Association’s Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Program. The LSSC Program offers library employees the opportunity to achieve recognition for their experience and to increase skills and knowledge in areas like the foundations of librarianship, technology, and communication.

The Washington State Library will be offering five Registration Assistance Awards this spring. The Awards are for $175, one-half of the LSSC registration/application fee. To be eligible, applicants must have a high school degree or its equivalent and must have worked for the equivalent of one year (1820 hours) as a library staff member or volunteer within the past five years.

The LSSC Program is funded by a grant to ALA from the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services, and managed by the ALA-Allied Professional Association. The Registration Assistance Awards are part of this grant.

Applications are due May 1, 2012. Recipients will be notified by May 30. For more information and to apply, visit www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/LSSC-RAA. LSSC information is available at ala-apa.org/lssc.

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2) FIRST TUESDAYS – MOVING TO EVERGREEN

Have you thought about leaving your library catalog vendor in the dust for Evergreen Open Source? King County Library System did, learning many valuable lessons along the way. You can benefit from the experience of KCLS as they describe and demonstrate their implementations and share other insights, from preparing the patrons, to training the staff. Participants will leave with valuable tips on how to, and how not to, successfully implement Evergreen.

Moving to Evergreen Open Source ILS: If we knew then what we know now, is the topic for April’s First Tuesdays webinar, presented by Darlene Pearsall, Jed Moffitt, Matthew Carlson, Lisa Hill, and Maggie Buckholz, April 3, 2012, 9:00 – 10:00 PDT. For more information about First Tuesdays, visit www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/tuesdays. To join the presentation, and for instructions, go to www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/FirstTuesdays.

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3) LEARNING FROM BILINGUAL COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH

We know that the best time to learn a second language in life is to start as a baby, but why is that so? New studies are uncovering details on how experiences early in life literally shape babies’ brain and language development, and relate to other cognitive capacities. While there are marked differences between monolingual and bilingual patterns of learning, there are also fundamental similarities, observable from infancy. Whether learning one language or three, research findings can be applied to support all children’s learning, starting from their first relationships, and the quality of their interactions with adults in the first years of life.

Please join the UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) and the Washington State University (WSU) Parenting Education Series for a webinar on Early Bilingual Experience and its Relationship to Language and Cognitive Development by outreach specialist Gina Lebedeva, Ph.D. & SLP. This discussion will highlight current best evidence on early bilingual language development, key findings from early childhood bilingual brain research, and connections between executive function and bilingualism in young children.

The April 10, 2012 webinar will run from 11:50 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Registration is limited to the first 100 applicants. To register, go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/parentingApril10 and complete the registration process.

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4) CELEBRATE SCHOOL LIBRARY MONTH

Recognizing school libraries as the centers of the school community where learning, research, and collaboration happen and technologies and information resources are available 24/7, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) invites everyone to celebrate School Library Month in April. The 2012 theme, “You belong @ your library,” will highlight the role strong school libraries play in a student’s educational career. More information and resources can be found online at www.ala.org/aasl/slm.

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5) LIBRARIES FOR ALL – SERVING DIVERSE POPULATIONS

ASCLA, a division of ALA, offers expertise in serving special populations. Take advantage of this expertise: enroll in one of their upcoming webinars or online courses to gain valuable knowledge that will help transform your library’s services to Latino populations, the blind and visually impaired, and people with disabilities. These include:

• Webinar: Serving the Blind and Visually Impaired in Your Library: Thursday, April 5, 2012, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PDT;
• Online Course: Improving Library Services to People with Disabilities: April 23 – May 18, 2012;
• Webinar: Creating a Latino Friendly Library: May 17, 2012, Noon – 1:30 p.m. PDT.

Registration is open to all individuals interested in these topics, regardless of membership status, but discounts are available for ASCLA and ALA members, students, and retirees. For more information, and to register, use this shortcut: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/ASCLA-learn.

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6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

Tuesday, April 3:

• OneClickdigital for Library Staff: Tour, Administration, Promotion (Recorded Books); 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. PDT: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/RB-01;
• First Tuesdays: Moving to Evergreen Open Source ILS: If we knew then what we know now (WLS); 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. PDT;
• Introduction to the New ProQuest Platform (ProQuest); 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. PDT: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/PQ241;
• OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing-Borrowing (Amigos); 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PDT;
• You’ve Got Male: Great New Books for Boys (Booklist ): 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PDT;

Wednesday, April 4:

• Dream Big READ: Summer Reading Program 2012 (NCompass Live ); 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. PDT;
• ProQuest Administrator Module (ProQuest); 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. PDT: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/PQ240;
• WorldCat Holdings: Why They Matter and the Tools to Maintain Them (OCLC ); 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PDT;
• OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing-Lending (Amigos); 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PDT;
• Skills for the Everyday Leader (WebJunction ); 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PDT.

For more information and to register (for those not linked above), visit the WSL Training Calendar at www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/training.

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