[Libs-Or] October Letter To Libraries Online

[April Baker]

Letter To Libraries Online
An Electronic Newsletter from the Oregon State Library.......Volume 18, Issue 10, October 2008
Library Board News

LSTA COUNCIL RECOMMENDS 13 LSTA GRANT AWARDS
At their October 17th meeting in Salem, the State Library Board will be considering a recommendation from the LSTA Advisory Council to award 13 competitive grants in 2009 totaling over $820,000. Among the grants being recommended is one to test and implement an open source integrated library system for the Sage Library System in Eastern Oregon, and another to begin the Oregon Digital Newspaper Project at the University of Oregon Libraries. Another project at the Deschutes Public Library would extend their successful partnership with K-12 schools to more schools in the county, and the Oregon Association of School Libraries is requesting a third year of support for the statewide Oregon Battle of The Books project.
In other business the Board will conduct the biennial evaluation of the State Librarian and will consider recommendations from the Talking Book and Braille Services Advisory Council about the purchase of digital talking book players for TBABS users. The Board will also take up the Library's Affirmative Action Plan for 2009-11 and set new performance targets for the Oregon School Library Information System. An Open Forum will be held at 1:30 p.m. Anyone may address the Board on any topic at the Open Forum. The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. in Room 102 of the State Library.



State Library News

GOVERNOR AND TOP STAFF WILL MOVE TO THE STATE LIBRARY
The fire at the Oregon State Capitol on August 30th resulted in serious smoke and water damage to the offices of Governor Ted Kulongoski and about 20 of this top staff. Restoration of the space has been delayed while the Legislature decides whether to have the Governor and his staff move back, or possibly move to a new executive building that has been on the drawing board. In the meantime, the Governor and his staff will move from their temporary quarters where they moved after the fire, to the State Library building. State Library staff, including the State Librarian, will be moved to the 3rd floor to allow the Governor and his staff to occupy premium space on the 2nd floor of the Library. The Governor will occupy the State Librarian's office. The moves should be completed in November. The Governor and his staff will be located at the State Library for at least a year, and possibly longer, if the Legislature decides to fund a new executive building which would take several years to construct.
SAVE THESE DATES: BCR ANNOUNCES 2008-2009 FREE WEBCAST SERIES
The following College of DuPage webcasts are being made available free of charge to staff from Oregon libraries through a statewide membership to BCR, paid for by the Oregon State Library with LSTA funds. All teleconferences are 90 minutes in length - 9:00 am to 10:30 am Pacific Time.
Soaring to Excellence 2009: Back to Basics
Reversing the Ratchet: Basic Technology Adoption Strategies for Library Workers, 
November 7, 2008 
Targeting the Ages: Programming that Hits the Mark, February 13, 2009 
An Ounce of Prevention: Health Reference Basics, April 16, 2009 

Library Challenges and Opportunities
Information Literacy for Life, November 21, 2008 
Diversity Beyond the Obvious, April 3, 2009 
Webcasts will be available live via the web and satellite downlink free of charge on the dates and times listed above. They will also be available on DVD after the webcast, libraries may purchase their own copy or ILL it from the State Library. Look for further announcements in LTLO, the libs-or email list, and Library Development's Technology Development webpage.
MANY 2009 BATTLE OF THE BOOKS TITLES ARE AVAILABLE AT TBABS!
Talking Book and Braille Services has most of the books for 2009's Battle of the Books on recorded cassette. Some titles are even available in Braille format. We have copies on hand and ready to loan to registered patrons so call to reserve your student's books today. You can reach us Monday through Friday at 800-452-0292. A friendly Reader's Advisor is on hand now waiting to take your book order.
If your student isn't registered yet for Talking Books, download an application at http://www.tbabs.org and mail in the original. We'll process the application and get materials in your student's hands within a few days. If you have any questions call or leave a message at 800-452-0292.
NON-PARTISAN VOTER'S GUIDE IS AVAILABLE IN ALTERNATIVE FORMATS
This Fall, the Non-partisan League of Women Voter's guide is available in large print, cassette, and CD thanks to the Secretary of State, Talking Book and Braille Services, and the League of Women Voters. To order a copy of the Voter's Guide for a patron, just contact Talking Books at 800-452-0292. If the individual is already receiving Talking Books, they may already be on the list to get the Voter's Guide. This guide is available to anyone needing the Voter's Guide in an alternate format as part of the Help America Vote Act. 



Other Library News

NUMBER OF TEACHER LIBRARIANS REBOUNDS IN LATEST ODE DATA
In the latest Oregon School Directory, published online by the Oregon Department of Education, the reported number of teacher librarians in the 2007-08 school year took an unexpected 17% jump from the prior year. In 2007-08 there were 454 teacher librarians ("library/media specialists") working in 1,311 Oregon schools, an increase of 65 from the previous year. In 2006-07, the number of teacher librarians hit a record low of only 389. The report also indicates that there are 492 "library/media assistants" working in school libraries. This number is down significantly from just three years ago when the ODE reported 808 library/media assistants. The data is reported annually by individual school districts, so inconsistencies in reporting could explain some of the swings in the data. The State Library hopes that the increase in teacher librarians in 2007-08 may indicate an upward trend for the future. In June the State Board of Education voted to require students demonstrate proficiency in reading and math beginning in 2012 in order to graduate. Currently only two out of three students in Oregon are able to pass the 10th grade reading test. Schools may need to reinvest in their school libraries, beginning in the early grades, as an important part of their strategy to enable all students to get a high school diploma.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY LIBRARY SELECTED FOR "JOHN ADAMS UNBOUND"
The Multnomah County Library is one of only 20 libraries nationwide that were selected by the American Library Association to host a new traveling exhibition based on a recent exhibit at the Boston Public Library. The National Endowment for the Humanities provided major funding for "John Adams Unbound" which explores Adams' personal library - a collection of 3,500 books willed by Adams to the people of Massachusetts and deposited in the Boston Public Library in 1894. The Multnomah County Library will have the 1,000 square foot exhibit for six weeks and will receive a $2,500 grant from NEH for attendance at an exhibit planning workshop and other exhibit-related expenses.
ORBIS CASCADE ALLIANCE RECEIVES NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GRANT
The Orbis Cascade Alliance has received one of 44 National Leadership Grants for 2008 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Alliance will partner with several of its academic library members on "Planning for Northwest-Wide Access to Digitized Primary Sources." The $38,844 grant from IMLS will assist the partners to plan for the future of the Northwest Digital Archives program of the Alliance, which serves archives in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana with a database of finding aids for its members' archival collections. The outcome of the project will be solutions to problems that are currently impeding the development of sustainable digital programs. 



P.S. (From the State Librarian)

We have had some interesting discussions recently with the Statewide Database Licensing Committee and the LSTA Advisory Council about the future of L-net. The L-net Coordinator, Caleb Tucker-Raymond, has been working on a proposal to have Oregon libraries share in the cost of L-net, at the request of the State Library Board. Up until now, L-net has been funded through a grant of LSTA funds to the Multnomah County Library. The bulk of the grant covers the cost of two staff to lead the project and the software to run L-net. The cost of staffing L-net is borne by over 30 public, academic, school and special library partners and even some free-lance volunteers.
L-net is now a pretty mature service that does a good business (an average of about 60 questions a day in 2007-08 and growing). Most of the users are K-12 students and college students. But what does the future hold for L-net and for e-reference service in general? This question lurks in the background when we begin to talk about Oregon libraries having to begin to make a cash contribution to the service.
At the LSTA Council meeting I shared my vision for the future of L-net and e-reference service. I start from the premise that now and in the future the #1 destination by far for information will be the Web. And if people go to the Web for information, that's where libraries have to be. There is really no alternative. If you look at it this way, the distinction between reference and e-reference goes away, as it should. L-net ceases to be a sideline for reference librarians (and an optional skill set). E-reference becomes the main event.
What I would like to see five years from now is that every library offers e-reference service for its own clientele through a variety of channels (email, chat, IM, text, VoIP, whatever is next) and that the service is heavily promoted and widely utilized. L-net can help by providing state-of-the-art software tools to enable libraries to do this. L-net has already developed an open source tool, replacing OCLC QuestionPoint, that they may make available to Oregon libraries in the near future. Because very few libraries can offer e-reference service to their own customers 24/7 on their own, this is another way that L-net can help by providing back-up service for busy times and night and weekend service. I envision all Oregon reference librarians being on call for e-reference (their local/campus service and occasionally for L-net) for a good bit of their workday, and having the skill to integrate e-reference with their other work.
It's time for all library managers to finally let go of the past and embrace the collaborative, Web-enabled future of reference service. E-reference is reference. And the sooner everyone gets on board with that idea, the sooner we will arrive at a future where libraries are able to reclaim a significant market share in the information business. - Jim Scheppke



Contacts at the Oregon State Library

Technical Assistance: 503-932-1004.

Library Development: 503-378-2525, MaryKay Dahlgreen, Mary Mayberry, Darci Hanning, Ann Reed, Patty Sorensen, Katie Anderson.

Talking Book and Braille Services: 503-378-5389, Susan Westin.

Government Research and Electronic Services: 503-378-5030, Robert Hulshof-Schmidt.

State Librarian: 503-378-4367, Jim Scheppke.

LTLO Editor: 503-378-2464, April Baker.
Letter to Libraries Online is published monthly by the Oregon State Library. Editorial office: LTLO, Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301-3950, 503-378-2464, editor: April Baker 
Letter to Libraries Online is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form on the publications page at the Oregon State Library's homepage: http://www.oregon.gov/OSL. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Oregon State Library. News items or articles should be sent to April Baker, or mailed to LTLO, Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301-3950.
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