Membership Renewal Program Webinar

From ALA:

ALA Chapters and Affiliates leadership and staff are invited to learn
about a new membership renewal and welcome program which supports both
email and paper dues renewals, member ID cards, and orientation
messages, as well as reinstatements and membership recruitment. This
webinar is sponsored by AssociaDirect in consultation with the ALA
Chapter Relations Office. Please join us for one of two informational
sessions:

Weds, April 4, 2012 from 3:00pm - 3:30pm CDT - register at
https://owa.ala.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/222396047
or
Weds April 11, 2012 from 4:00pm - 4:30pm CDT - register at
https://owa.ala.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/177684599

Chapter and Affiliate leaders and staff will learn about how bundling
renewal communications across multiple associations can improve your
renewal cycle, save your organization money on printing and postage, and
make the whole process more efficient to for staff or volunteers.
Contact John Chrastka at AssociaDirect, 877-263-0010 x 102 or
jchrastka@associadirect.com with questions or technical concerns, or to
schedule an individual call.

Please register by the Tuesday immediately prior to either session to
receive handouts in advance. Once registered you will receive an email
confirming your registration with information you need to join the
Webinar. There will be a toll free call-in number for questions and
discussion during the event.

System Requirements:

PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

School Libraries Value Video for Advocacy

From ALA Council List post by Sara Kelly Johns:

Drs. Ruth Small, David Lankes and Barbara Stripling, faculty at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies have created a 3 minute video for use by anyone who needs to provide evidence that school librarians matter. Although it targets NYS librarians, it can be used by any school librarian anywhere. This is a valuable advocacy tool at a crucial time for school librarians.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN-snhOEDKw&feature=share

LSTA House of Representatives Signature Deadline March 14

From ALA :

Good Morning,

Last week we sent out two action alerts regarding a few important  “Dear Colleague” letters making rounds in the U.S. House and Senate.

In the House, we still need many more Members of Congress to sign the letter supporting funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) in FY13. The deadline for signatures is this Wednesday, March 14. LSTA is the primary source of funding for libraries in the federal budget and helps many libraries provide crucial services.

For more information on how your Representative can sign on and talking points, visit the Legislative Action Center. For many Members of Congress, all it takes is one call from a constituent to get them to sign on. Unfortunately, many of them have not even heard from one constituent. Please change that today!

To date, 17 Representatives have signed the LSTA letter. They are listed below:

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ)

Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI)

Rep. Gregorio Sablan (D-CNMI)

Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)

Rep. Gerald McNerney (D-CA)

Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME)

Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA)

Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey (D-CA)

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY)

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH)

Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-MA)

Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR)

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO)

 If your Representative appears on the above list, please thank them for supporting LSTA. If not, please call today as the deadline is rapidly approaching.

Two “Dear Colleague” letters that support libraries are still being passed through the Senate as well. Please call your senators  before  March 26 to ask them to sign on. For more information on those  letters,  visit the Legislative Action Center.

ALA Traveling Exhibit

The ALA Public Programs Office, in partnership with the National Center for Interactive Learning at Space Science Institute, the Lunar Planetary Institute and the National Girls Collaborative Project, announces a new traveling exhibition opportunity for public libraries. Following a competitive application process, eight public libraries will be selected to host an interactive exhibition called Discover Tech: Engineers Make a World of Difference. Public libraries in rural areas and those serving rural populations and underserved groups are especially invited to apply. Online applications must be submitted to ALA by May 1. To apply, visit www.ala.org/programming/discovertech.

Discover Tech is made possible through the support of the National Science Foundation. The exhibition and its educational support materials and outreach opportunities are part of the STAR (Science-Technology Activities and Resources) Library Education Network (STAR_Net), a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities.

Discover Tech will tour from September 2012 to June 2014, visiting each of the eight selected sites for a period of eight weeks. The exhibition requires approximately 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 also be asked to join a national Community of Practice (CoP), accessible at http://community.discoverexhibits.org, and is expected to take part in project evaluation. For more information about Discover Tech, STAR_Net and the CoP, visit www.ala.org/programming/discovertech.     

The Discover Tech exhibition will focus on a number of timely topics that are essential for understanding the nature of 21st  century technology and engineering—both high and low tech— and their potential for helping to solve many of the world’s problems. Through interactive elements and displays, visitors to the Discover Tech traveling exhibition will understand that engineers are real people who, through a creative and collaborative design process, arrive at practical solutions to help solve society’s problems in the U.S. and throughout the world. Exhibit visitors will also learn about the fundamental principles of energy, become aware of their own energy use, and understand the impact of engineering on societies over time and place.

******************************

ALA Public Programs Office

www.ala.org/publicprograms

publicprograms@ala.org

Are you a Programming Librarian?

Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study Resources

To:       State Library Directors

            State Data Coordinators

            State Chapter Directors

From:  John Carlo Bertot (Information Policy & Access Center, University of Maryland)

            Judy Hoffman (American Library Association)

Date:   February 24, 2012

The slow economic recovery continues to impact state budgets in general, and library budgets in particular. The Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study team is well aware of the need for data that will help public libraries expand and strengthen their advocacy efforts during this critical time. In response to your feedback, the team has once again created an advocacy package for use during the current legislative sessions. The package contains the newest data available, gathered from the November 2011 survey responses

Following are the new resources:

• Press Release templates (local focus, adaptable for state level)
• Op-Ed templates (state focus, adaptable for local use)
• Topic Handouts (click on your state)

Color graphics comparing your state vs. national, using new 2011-2012 study data)

• Public Libraries & Employment
• Public Libraries & E-Government
• *Coming Soon* State Profiles: Selected 2011-2012 study data comparing national and state levels (e.g., speed of connectivity, average # of workstations) as well as other state-level resources. *ETA April 1*

The topic handouts and state profiles can also be accessed through the Information Policy & Access Center at http://www.plinternetsurvey.org (make selection in “Your State” graphic).The new data presented here are based on preliminary analysis and there may be some changes to the figures reported when the final report is issued in June 2012.

The new press release and op-ed templates have been crafted with the focus on the crucial role public libraries play as strategic technology partners for digital literacy and local economic development. The templates can easily be customized for media targets at the state, regional, and local levels. We would appreciate knowing if you have success getting media placement or how these materials are being used in your advocacy efforts.

We hope you find these new resources useful, and know that more survey data will be available later this spring. ALA will present more of the preliminary survey results to the national media during National Library Week (April 8-14), and the full report will be released at the end of June.

Note: 2011-2012 survey state level data are only available for states with sufficient survey response rates. Not included: Connecticut and Oregon.

If you have any questions or feedback regarding the PR templates, please contact Judy Hoffman, 312-280-4291, jhoffman@ala.org. For assistance regarding the State data, contact the Information Policy & Access Center at 301-405-9445 or support@ipac.umd.edu.

ALA Election Guide

“Your Guide to the 2012 ALA Elections” is now available from the ALA homepage (http://ala.org/), or by going to http://tinyurl.com/2012electionguide.  A pdf version of the guide can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2012electionguidepdf.