[Libs-Or] Letter to Libraries Online - February 2010

[April Baker]

Letter To Libraries Online
An Electronic Newsletter from the Oregon State Library.......Volume 20, Issue 2, February 2010
Library Board News

STATE LIBRARY BOARD TO DISCUSS L-NET SUPPORT PAYMENTS AGAIN
At their February 26th meeting in Salem, the State Library Board will once again discuss the idea of beginning to assess partial support from larger public and academic libraries for the L-net e-reference program. A year ago the Board adopted a revision to the Oregon Administrative Rules to make this possible. However the rule they adopted was tied to payments for statewide database licenses. When the Board decided to not to charge larger public and academic libraries for half of the database costs last year, that meant that under the existing rule, they could not be assessed a partial support payment for L-net. In February, at the request of the Board, the staff will present a proposal to amend the existing rule to allow L-net payments, beginning next year. 
In other business, the Board will hear a recommendation from the Talking Book and Braille Services Advisory Council to submit a Legislative Concept to Governor Kulongoski for the 2011 legislative session. The proposal would be modeled on SB 849, a bill to fund the NEWSLINE newspaper service with universal service funds from the Oregon Public Utility Commission that failed to pass in the 2009 session. The Board will also consider a request from Oregon State University Libraries to add funds to their 2010 LSTA grant so they can follow through on a plan to digitize historical resources working with two historical societies in the state. The plan received only partial funding from the Oregon Heritage Commission, and OSU is seeking full funding for their plan which complements their LSTA-funded Oregon Digital Library Project.
The Board will meet, beginning at 9:30 a.m., on February 26th in Room 102 at the State Library. An open forum will be held at 11:30 at which anyone may address the Board on any topic.


State Library News

ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS MEET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF GALE/CENGAGE LEARNING
On January 27th representatives from a number of academic libraries in Oregon met at the Oregon State Library with representatives of Gale/Cengage to discuss concerns that have been expressed by the academic library community. The all-day meeting provided an opportunity for the librarians to give examples of technical and content issues they have experienced since September 2009 when the contract between the State Library and Gale/Cengage to provide general periodicals databases to Oregon libraries became effective. The Gale representatives took back a list of action items and will be responding to the concerns expressed in the near future. 
NEW GRS BLOG HIGHLIGHTS STATE DOCUMENTS
The Government Research Services team has launched a new blog that highlights newsworthy Oregon government documents. Read All About It, Oregon will feature Oregon documents that are in news, or about topics in the news, and link to those documents in the Oregon Documents Repository. The documents are as varied as state agency missions are, ranging from public health, voting, and natural resources to recreational opportunities. The blog combines the expertise of the eClips and Oregon Documents Depository groups.

FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC LIBRARY STAFF 
The California State Library, Idaho Commission for Libraries, Oregon State Library, and Washington State Library are pleased to announce a year-long Fellowship opportunity funded by a grant from the U.S. Institute for Museum and Library Services, Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. This year-long Fellowship will provide continuing education scholarships for selected library staff and professionals who wish to advance their library and information science skills related to improving services to and engagement with active, older adults. Up to 100 qualified applicants from California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington will be selected to participate. Fellows will be introduced to a new framework for serving and engaging adults ages 50+ that both promotes productive aging and establishes libraries as centers of lifelong learning and civic engagement. For more information about this Fellowship and for the link to the online application, go to the IMLS Western Regional Fellowship web site. The Fellowship will run from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. Deadline for submission, including a Letter of Library Commitment from the library director, is April 2, 2010. 
PLINKIT SOFTWARE UPGRADE IN THE WORKS
Plinkit, a free web-hosting solution for public and tribal libraries in Oregon, will be undergoing upgrades in February. The new software will provide the following new features for Plinkit website editors: recurring events for the library and staff calendars, additional formatting and styling options for pages, version control, link checking for local content, and portlet management. An updated User Manual will also be distributed to Plinkit libraries shortly after the upgrade. Several new Plinkit sites are already using the new software in addition to a few "early adopters" including Lake County Libraries, Douglas County Library System, and Monmouth Public Library. Currently, 50 libraries in Oregon are using Plinkit, and nationwide nearly 300 libraries are using it. More information about Plinkit for Oregon is available at http://oregon.plinkit.org/. If your library is interested in using Plinkit, please contact Darci Hanning, 503-378-2527.


LIBRARY SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGY ACT GUIDELINES AVAILABLE FOR FFY2011 GRANT CYCLE
Got a great idea for a joint automation project? Outreach program? A new use of technology? The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant program may be for you! The application packet for FY2011 grant proposals is available on the web through the LSTA Competitive Grant Program page. The LSTA program uses a two-step grant process. Short proposals are due April 16. Ideas need to support the Oregon Library Services and Technology Act Five-Year State Plan 2008-2012. Feel free to check out the proposals from past years, as there may be a project you wish to replicate. We welcome calls to talk over grant ideas, or find out about similar grants that may have been made in previous years. Contact Ann Reed , (503) 378-5027.


DIGITAL TRANSITION MOVES FORWARD
As we announced in the October LTLO, the new digital talking book machines are here and we have been very busy sending them out. We have sent over 770 players to patrons and continue to satisfy patron requests as players become available. At the current rate of new machines arriving, we are anticipating that the initial waiting list of 2500 people will be satisfied by February, 2011. The feedback we are getting from patrons has been very positive. As one person stated, "The "talking buttons" are superb and the voice quality is phenomenal." An additional benefit is that the digital talking book machine is compatible with BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download), that provides downloadable digital books from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped . So if you have any patrons at your library who qualify for Talking Book and Braille Services, please sign them up today. 
Other Library News

BAKER COUNTY LIBRARY DISTRICT NAMED A "BEST SMALL LIBRARY"
In January, the Baker County Library District was named by Library Journal as a finalist for their Best Small Library in America 2010 award. The grand prize went to Glen Carbon Centennial Library, IL. Baker County Library shares its finalist prize with the Cross Plains Public Library, TX, making it one of the top three small libraries in the country this year. A Library Journal press release states the "libraries feature the programs, tech savvy, and commitment to the community that signify the Best Small Library in America." Over 30 libraries competed for the award this year. Baker County Library's nomination came from Governor Ted Kulongoski, with letters of endorsement furnished by State Librarian Jim Scheppke, Baker County Commissioner Fred Warner, and Ken Reading, Director of the Umatilla Special Library District. Sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Library Journal's Best Small Library in America award was created in 2005 to encourage and showcase the exemplary work of libraries serving populations under 25,000. As the winner, Glen Carbon Centennial Library will receive a $15,000 cash award to support its services and outreach to the community. The two finalist libraries will each receive conference costs for two library representatives to attend the 2010 Public Library Association conference in Portland, and recognition at an award celebration. Library Director Perry Stokes will accept the finalist award on Thursday, March 25 at a PLA gala event in Portland.


NASA INVITES MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES TO APPLY FOR FREE SPACE ARTIFACTS 
NASA began offering a second round of free space artifacts to libraries and museums. Museums and libraries must first be determined as eligible by contacting a representative of their State Agency for Surplus Property in their state. Once they are determined to be eligible, institutions will receive a log-on and password so they can view available artifacts at the web site. The artifacts are free, but eligible recipients must cover shipping and special handling fees. Shipping fees on smaller items will be relatively inexpensive, while larger items may involve extensive disassembly, preparation, shipping, and reassembly costs. NASA will work closely with potential recipients, on a case by case basis, to address any unique special handling costs. Each artifact will be screened for 90 days. Once the screening period closes, and at completion of the allocation process, requestors will be notified about the status of their request. For the latest information about NASA shuttle transition and artifacts, visit the web site. 
P.S. (From the State Librarian)

I have been a big fan of Roy Tennant for a long time. Tennant used to have a print column in Library Journal and now blogs for them. His day job is working for OCLC Research. Once again Roy hit the nail on the head with his blog post for the new year and the new decade, "The Decade of Massive Cooperation". He argues that if libraries "have a prayer of surviving and thriving" in the decades ahead we have to do it together and on a massive scale. 
While we "cannot out-Google Google" (it's too late for that), neither can we fail to follow the same large-scale strategies (in our case, regional, national and global) to improve our products and services and increase our efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
State libraries have prided themselves on facilitating cooperation at a regional or statewide level. We've done that. Back in the 1970's we funded consulting work that resulted in many of the county and multi-county public library federations we still have today (CCRLS, WCCLS, LINCC, etc.). We provided start-up funding for most of the shared automated library systems in the state. We began our statewide library courier system and statewide database licensing two decades ago.
That's all well and good, but going forward we all need to do things on an even larger scale.
We've already begun. The best example, of course, is the Orbis Cascade Alliance, the first two-state academic library resource sharing network in the country, which continues to grow. Another good example is the Plinkit Collaborative, which we formed with our colleagues in Colorado, Texas and Illinois to collaboratively support the Plinkit content management system. The Collaborative now covers much of the country, including Nebraska, Michigan, Virginia, and the Lyrasis network on the east coast.
I understand that the OLA Vision 2020 Committee is focusing on greater collaboration as a major goal for this decade. That's good to hear. I think it's time to finally achieve, in this decade, a goal what was not achieved in OLA's Vision 2000 and Vision 2010. Both of those plans called for a statewide library card and a statewide library catalog. I believe, in this new decade, we finally have the technology, and hopefully the will, to achieve both. 
Again, we probably can't out-Google Google, but we must do everything we can to show Oregonians that their libraries can work together to meet nearly all of their needs for library materials and information. - Jim Scheppke


Contacts at the Oregon State Library


Library Development: 503-378-2525, MaryKay Dahlgreen, Mary Mayberry, Darci Hanning, Ann Reed, Jennifer Maurer, 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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