Volume 7, August 25, 2011 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) TWO NEW DIGITAL COLLECTIONS FROM EASTERN WASHINGTON

2) GRANT CYCLE CLOSES SEPTEMBER 2 – TLA50 INITIATIVE

3) UW RECRUITING LIBRARIES FOR IMPACT SURVEY PILOT

4) FREE VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT WORKSHOP

5) DISCOVER EARTH EXHIBIT OPPORTUNITY

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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1) TWO NEW DIGITAL COLLECTIONS FROM EASTERN WASHINGTON

From Lincoln County’s Channeled Scablands to the Horse Heaven Hills along the Yakima River, two new digital collections from the Washington Rural Heritage initiative feature early agricultural communities in Eastern Washington’s dramatic landscape.

The Odessa Heritage Collection, a project of the Odessa Public Library in partnership with the Odessa Historisches Museum, depicts the farming families who settled Southwest Lincoln County and transformed the area into one of the most productive wheat-growing counties in the United States. The collection can be viewed at www.washingtonruralheritage.org/odessa. Read more about the project on the State Library blog at www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/Odessa.

Prosser Heritage, a project of the Prosser Branch of Mid-Columbia Libraries in partnership with the Benton County Museum & Historical Society, provides a photographic history of this important agricultural center on the Yakima River. The collection can be viewed at www.washingtonruralheritage.org/prosser. Read more about this collection and see some of our favorite images on the State Library blog at www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/Prosser.

There are currently more than 60 cultural institutions (including 25 libraries) participating in Washington Rural Heritage, an initiative of the Washington State Library that provides small, rural libraries with the technical infrastructure to digitize and serve local history resources to a widespread audience. Additional collections are slated for publication this fall and seven public libraries are working on grant-funded digitization projects through summer 2012. To find out more about Washington Rural Heritage, visit www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/WRH.

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2) GRANT CYCLE CLOSES SEPTEMBER 2 – TLA50 INITIATIVE

The Transforming Life After 50 (TLA50) initiative is designed to help libraries better serve and engage midlife adults by positioning libraries as catalysts, resources, meeting places, and partners in creating opportunities for midlife adults to learn, teach, lead, build skills, prepare for new careers, and become civically-engaged.

Academic, public, and tribal libraries that serve adults over the age of 50 are eligible to apply. A minimum of five grants of $3,000 – $5,000 each will be awarded, representing a total of $25,000 in LSTA funds that are available for this initiative.

The deadline to apply is Friday, September 2, 2011. More details may be found at www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/grants. For questions, contact Jennifer Fenton, TLA50 Project Manager, 360.570.5571, [email protected].

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3) UW RECRUITING LIBRARIES FOR IMPACT SURVEY PILOT

The University of Washington, with generous support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is extending the benefits of the 2009 U.S. IMPACT Study patron web survey by making it available to all public libraries to use in their own data collection, evaluation, and advocacy efforts. Through the survey website, public libraries will also benefit from new advocacy tools, including video instruction, to help them communicate the value of public access technology to policy makers.

The University is currently recruiting 400 – 600 library systems nationwide to participate in a pilot of the survey tool and supporting materials. Pilot libraries will receive support throughout their involvement and will be asked to provide feedback via survey. A sample of pilot libraries will be asked to participate in a follow-up interview. Participating libraries will begin their flexible 2- to 4-week survey fielding period by September 12, 2011.

To take advantage of this opportunity to evaluate and demonstrate the impact of providing public access technology services in your community, register your library for the pilot by creating an account at impactsurvey.org. For more information, visit impactsurvey.org or contact the survey coordinator at [email protected] or 206.543.4324.

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4) FREE VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT WORKSHOP

Baby boomers and the generations that follow are seeking new ways to use their skills and experience to make a difference in their communities. Multiple studies have shown that Boomers’ interests in volunteerism are vastly different from those of current “senior volunteers,” and that organizations seeking to recruit them will need to adjust their volunteer engagement practices.

Successful Volunteer Engagement Strategies for Libraries: Capturing the Talent of Baby Boomers and the Generations that Follow, presented by Carla Lehn of The Lehn Group, will show participants how to start or “re-tool” a volunteer engagement program that will not only capture the talents of these potential volunteers, but will reap the benefits of ongoing support for the library that comes from having these persons meaningfully engaged. This course will provide tools, techniques, resources, and models for volunteer engagement so that participants will be able to:

• Understand the potential for engaging high impact, skilled volunteers from the Baby Boom generation and those that follow, to assist libraries;
• Engage this talent to extend the library’s capacity in the community and to benefit from these new library advocates and supporters;
• Understand what motivates volunteers in order to create diverse and meaningful skilled volunteer positions to attract a broad range of community volunteers;
• Implement the elements of a successful volunteer engagement program;
• Address potential barriers to volunteer engagement, including union issues and staff resistance;
• Understand current trends and issues in volunteer engagement, including online recruitment and legal issues.

Workshops have been scheduled for nine locations:

• Tuesday, September 20, 2011, North Central Regional Library Distribution Center, Wenatchee;
• Wednesday, September 21, 2011, Mid-Columbia Library System, Kennewick Branch, Kennewick;
• Thursday, September 22, 2011, Liberty Lake Municipal Library, Liberty Lake;
• Monday, September 26, 2011, Port Angeles Public Library, Port Angeles;
• Monday, October 3, 2011, Whatcom County Library, Bellingham;
• Tuesday, October 4, 2011, Kitsap Regional Library, Sylvan Way Branch, Bremerton;
• Wednesday, October 5, 2011, Timberland Regional Library Service Center, Tumwater;
• Thursday, October 6, 2011, Everett Public Library, Everett;
• Friday, October 7, 2011, Washington Talking Book & Braille Library, Seattle.

All workshops will be held from 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Registration will close two weeks prior to each session. To register, visit www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/Lehn.

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5) DISCOVER EARTH EXHIBIT OPPORTUNITY

The ALA Public Programs Office, in partnership with the National Center for Interactive Learning at the Space Science Institute, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the National Girls Collaborative Project, is accepting applications for a new traveling exhibition opportunity for public libraries. Ten public libraries will be selected to host the interactive exhibition called Discover Earth: A Century of Change.

Discover Earth takes a global view of our changing planet and presents local earth science topics such as weather, water cycles, and changes in the ecosystem. Visitors to the exhibit will see how the global environment has an effect on their own communities, and how their local environments can affect the rest of the planet. Interactive, multimedia displays will allow exhibit visitors to interact with digital information in a dynamic way, encouraging new perspectives on our planet.

Discover Earth will tour from January 2012 to December 2013, visiting each of the 10 selected sites for a period of eight weeks. The exhibition requires approximately 500 to 750 square feet of space for optimal display. Each site will be awarded a grant of $1,000 to support public programs related to the exhibition. Each host library will be asked to join a national Community of Practice (CoP), accessible at community.discoverexhibits.org.

Online applications must be submitted to ALA by September 2 and can be found at www.ala.org/discoverearth.

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6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

Monday, August 29:

• eLibrary Student and Educator Research Tools (ProQuest); 3:15 – 4:45 p.m. PDT: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/K12PQ1;
• Advanced Searching: Beyond the Single Search Box (ProQuest); 10:00 – 10:45 a.m. PDT: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/PQ106;

Tuesday, August 30:

• 10 Quick and Painless Steps to Effective Advocacy for Libraries (ALA); 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. PDT: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/10Steps;
• ProQuest Research Library / ProQuest Platform (ProQuest); 3:15 – 4:45 p.m. PDT: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/K12PQ2;

Wednesday, August 31:

• Tech Talk with Michael Sauers (NCompass Live); 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. PDT;
• ProQuest Resource Exploration and Q&A (ProQuest); 3:15 – 4:45 p.m. PDT: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/K12PQ3;

Thursday, September 1:

• Is Self-Employment for You? Building a Business, with Pat Wagner (Pattern Research); 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PDT;
• ProQuest Research Library / ProQuest Platform (ProQuest); 3:15 – 4:45 p.m. PDT: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/K12PQ4.

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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