Council and Liaison Meetings 2005

September 27, 2005
Council and Liaison Meeting Summaries

Council Meeting:

1. NIOGA and WNYLRC Announcements - Nioga had an LSTA NOVEL Training Grant in which some bookmarks were made and kits were developed. They are both available online on the Nioga web site at www.nioga.org. They are also having a workshop on October 19th on serving the disabled, all are welcome. The Western New York Library Resource Council has a new and interesting site, www.wnyinfo.org. Their Annual Meeting is on October 19th at Michael's in Hamburg and there are still reservations available if anyone would like to attend, all are welcome. A question was raised about AskUS24/7: if you ask a question through the WNYLRC from a school library, the question will be sent to a public library. Gail also mentioned the 52 public libraries in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System, 16 are closing and 100 people will loose their jobs.

2. Council Membership - Karen Doktor from Lewiston-Porter volunteered to serve as Council Chairperson.

For informational purposes the other terms are listed below::

WNYLRC, Dr. Gail Staines 2008
NCCC, Jeanne Tuohey 2008
Albion, To be asked, 2008
Niagara Falls, Liz Brooks, 2008
Starpoint, Chris Parker, 2008
Lewiston-Porter, Karen Doktor 2007
Royalton-Hartland, Mary Jane Murphy 2007
Lyndonville, Laurie Bradley 2006
Newfane, Jennifer Ray 2006
Niagara Falls, Patrick Kuciewski 2006
Nioga, Marie Bindeman 2006
North Tonawanda, Susan Smith 2006
Stella Niagara, Nancy Mastroianni 2006

Reminder - We need more people from other disciplines on the Council.

3. 2004-2005 Annual Report - The Annual Report was reviewed.

4. SLS Budget - The list of SLS budget codes were discussed. BOCES pays for 25% of Molly's salaries and benefits because she is doing work for Media Servies. There was no 5% reduction this year, so we have enough money for the Storytelling Festival this year.

5. Interlibrary Loan Policy - It was decided at a previous meeting that the listserv could be used for requesting books on a certain subject area but not for multiple copies of a specific title. School librarians continue to prefer posting their multiple copy requests to the listserv rather than using the union catalog. It was decided that it should be permissible, for the elementary level libraries, as long as the requester has first verified in the Union Catalog that enough copies actually exist to fill their request. A separate listserv for elementary libraries would greatly help to alleviate the problem of too many emails being sent out. Molly will again look into setting up listservs for the different academic levels. Also, the librarians should put the level of the request in the Subject Line. (A side note, the WNYLRC will host library lists for a nominal, very small charge, so within a few weeks an elementary, middle and high school level will be created.)

6. Large Print Books - It was decided that a survey needs to be distributed to better determine what the needs are for the large print books. Jill Persio, a BOCES teacher is willing to provide a workshop for the librarians on working with the visually impaired student. She suggested that rather than libraries buying large print books, they should purchase a reader so any book could be read. Update, since the Council meeting two elementary librarians expressed an interest in having Jill speak on the topic.

7. Union List of Periodicals - Periodical requests are negligible compared to a few years back, before full text electronic databases were so widely used. The production of the Union List of Periodicals was discussed. No consensus was reached as to whether or not a print copy should be produced and/or if a copy should just be put on the web site. For the past few years, the Union List was annually updated and available both on the SLS website and in print for any school library which requested it.

A request was made for statistics regarding the periodical interloans this past year. When the liaisons returned from lunch the statistics were there so they broached the topic again and they decided that there was no need for a Union List to be produced because the electronic online databases filled the need and in the few exceptions when it did not, the listserv could be used to make a request. The Council will be presented this change at the December meeting for their approval, if acceptable. An icon directing everyone to NOVEL would also be helpful on the main page of the SLS web site.

Liaison Meeting:

1. Sharing Session - Altiris was mentioned as a software that you can use to view multiple computer screens in the library at one time.

2. Staff Development - Special needs, Blogs, Thinkbright, and author or illustrator visit were all discussed. A day in October would be best time of year for a workshop, so we have a year to plan. It was also requested that Molly inquire as to whether or not there will ever be another common conference day for all the districts.

3. Storytelling Festival - More PR is needed for the festival, a local news channel should be invited.

4. Blogs - Landmark is a good site to check out. The SLS needs to create a Blog and send out email to liaisons telling them how to join it and offer input.

5. Union List of Periodicals, continued discussion from Council Meeting - results above.

(Name tags should be brought to next meeting.)

Action to take: create elementary library listserv, survey librarians regarding large print requests, create bog and email liaisons to join and try out, plan a workshop for next October, have a link to NOVEL on the main page of the SLS web site and find out if another common superintendent conference day is going to be planned again.

Update to Council Membership: Betty Hales from Albion Central School District is now on the Council.

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December 15, 2005
Council Meeting and Liaison Meeting
Location: BOCES Conference Center

Council Meeting:

1. NIOGA and WNYLRC Announcements - Nioga is having a 14th Annual Mock Caldecott Book Discussion Meeting on Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at Nioga, to register go to the address www.nioga.org/Nioga/workshop.htm by January 4th. Marie Bindeman discussed our joint meeting with Nioga in May and solicited suggestions of topics. Some of the possibilities for presentation are: invite Paul Fackham, have a panel of local authors, Pumpkin Man, how the public and school libraries can get information out about the NOVEL databases to the general public, possibly having the school libraries do a public library card promotion with the students and censorship. Sheryl Knab discussed some workshops to be held in March and April, such as PDF/Adobe, Digitization and also the digitization plan the WNYLRC is working on.

2. SLS Budget - As a result of taking on Media Services activities, there is enough funding this year to continue all SLS activities and replace one computer. The file server also needs to be replaced, and will be when there is more State funding.

3. Storytelling Festival - Betty Skrzypek, Sandy Reynolds, Joanne Joseph, Nancy Mastroianni, and Mary Jane Murphy volunteered to be on a committee to discuss the storytelling festival and determine if there should be any changes made. There was discussion about having it in the evening so it could be held at a school and more children could participate. After looking at various possibilities and obtaining more input, it was decided to continue to hold the festival during the day. There was also the suggestion that the Buffalo News and Gazette be invited to write about the festival.

4. Listservs and Interlibrary Loan - One elementary listserv was created as requested at the last Council meeting, to date it has seen very little activity. Creating other listservs was discussed; but the conciseness was that there was not a need for any other lists at this time since there have not been any complaints, using the UB listserv for interloan and general messages should be continued. The elementary librarians can use their listserv for subject and multiple copy requests. The Interlibrary Loan Procedures were updated to include the Western New York Systems Catalog and VDX. They are already posted on the website; to read them, click here.

5. Plan of Service 2006-2011 - The outline of the Plan was shared at the Liaison Meeting. It was discussed that the Plan has to be done and that the liaisons could help write section five since it deals with aspects of the SLS which affect them most directly.

6. Other - Karen Doktor shared a concern about various periodicals appropriateness for middle school and a discussion ensued about selecting materials which are age appropriate, have characters making good choices and that there is a fine line between materials for middle school and high school.

There was also a request for a workshop presenter such as Peggy Sharp and that maybe the Teacher Center would be interested in cosponsoring it.

At their last meeting the liaisons discussed the future of the Union List of Periodicals and came up with the recommendation that it was no longer a necessary tool and did not want to have the SLS use resources to produce it. The Council accepted the recommendation.

Meeting date change: the next SLS Council and Liaison meetings will be on March 14, 2006.

Liaison Meeting:

1. Open Sharing Time - Carol Sanford mentioned Noodle Tools was a really nice utility. Sue Smith shared easybib with the group, it is a free online software which students can use to write bibliographies. A sample of a Big6 program was mentioned, several people were familiar with it. A demonstration of using WebMax was given and Molly expressed the offer to come out to any school to demonstrate it. In the demonstration was music obtained from Soundzabound, a company which distributes Royalty Free Music. In this age of M3 players and mpeg files it is a good idea for schools to make sure they comply with the copyright law.

2. Plan of Service - The Plan outlines what the SLS will be doing for the next five years, it belongs to all of the participating libraries and the students and staff they represent; therefore, input from all the districts is essential. A powerpoint presentation was given to discuss the parts of the plan and discuss what sections needed to be written by the liaisons.

After the meeting, Sue Smith and Mary Jane Murphy reviewed section five and offered input as to how it should be rewritten. A copy was emailed to the Council and Liaisons for more input. If anyone would like to see the first draft, just email Molly.

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March 14, 2006
Council and Liaison Meeting
Location: BOCES Conference Center

Council Meeting Summary:

Plan of Service - the meeting was devoted to working on the Five Year Plan of Service. The Council members went into small groups to discuss the Plan and then came back to the larger group with suggestions for improvement. The Plan was approved with suggested changes. It will be posted on the SLS website.

Liaison Meeting Summary:

Reading programs which involve the libraries were shared. Maureen Mahar presented what she is doing:

In the Wilson Middle School, we have a 25 Book Club program, where we offer incentives to students who are able to read 25 books in a year. One of our incentives is to create a ‘READ’ poster, (plus corresponding bookmarks) for each student who reads a book. I create them in Adobe Photoshop, and send the finished jpeg to the Teacher Center to get it blown up into a poster. (We also print an 8x10 for the students to keep). The finished posters are hanging in the classrooms and they really are quite impressive, when displayed together. If you’d like to view our ‘Wall of Fame’, and see some of the most recent posters, please view my homepage and scroll down to follow the link to the 25 book club: http://www.wilson.wnyric.org/t/mmahar.

Databases used in Library Media Centers were discussed. Carol Sanford provided us with a demonstration to CQ Researcher. SIRS was also mentioned as a good database to have. Several people indicated how much they liked accessing the databases on the Nioga web site with their library card. Chris Parker also shared the www.checkwithmom.com web site. It is a site teachers can use to easily incorporate technology into their classrooms.

Colleen Murphy provided a demonstration of the Grolier online encyclopedia and gave us a free trial of it for one month.

The next meeting will be at Nioga headquarters, which is about five miles North of Lockport, and just off Rt.78. Marie Bindeman will present on books and reading for girls.

May 25, 2006
Council Meeting and Presentation & Liaison Meeting
Location: Nioga Headquarters in Wrights Corners

Council Meeting:

1. Storytelling Festival - the student and adult evaluations, click here to read, were distributed and discussed. One suggestion was to change the format so that the students tell their stories prior to receiving their medals. Also the issue of having a professional storyteller was mentioned. A committee will be formed in the fall, to delve into the festival format. As for media coverage, the newspapers were notified prior to the event.

2. SLS 2006-2007 Budget - The State Legislature approved an additional twenty million dollars for libraries and we will be notified as to what that means to this system. As the budget stands now, the additional funding will cover our current expenses and possibly the means to purchase a new server and hire a storyteller for the festival, if it is decided that one should be used. Twenty five percent of the director's salary and benefits will still come from BOCES for the assistance with media services.

3. Interlibrary Loan - There were no issues brought up and everything seems to be working fine from the System office point of view. The statistics will be disseminated after June 10th.

4. Council Membership - The following terms are up on the Council: Patrick Kuciewski - Niagara Falls, Susan Smith - North Tonawanda, Laurie Bradley - Lyndonville, Jenny Ray - Newfane, Marie Bindeman - Nioga and Nancy Mastroianni - Stella Niagara Education Park. A committee of Carol Sanford, Karen Doktor and Molly Thomson will select candidates to recommend for Council Membership. We need teachers, administrators to serve on the Council, so if you have any suggestions, please contact a membership committee member. Thank you to all of the people that have served the Council so diligently. Your input is necessary and valued. Also, Sheryl Knab will fill the remainder of the Gail Staines term.

5. Calendar 2006-2007 - The first meeting of the year will be held at Niagara-Wheatfield Secondary School Library Media Center on October 11th. The remaining dates are tentative: December 12th, March 15th and May 24th. Jeanne Tuohey volunteered NCCC to be the site of one of the meetings.

Presentation:

Connecting Girls with Books! - From Middle School through High School
A presentation by Marie Bindeman, Continuing Education Consultant,
Nioga Library System

Liaison Meeting:

1. Workshop Committee - Chris Parker, Karen Doktor, and Mary Jane Murphy volunteered to serve on a workshop planning committee. A workshop will be planned for the fall of 2007. Public librarians will be invited and the committee will look into partnering with a bookstore. The committee will meet in the fall and more members will be solicited.

2. Summer Workshop - Channel 17 is offering a three day workshop in July. The SLS was going to see if we could offer something over the Summer on Think Bright, but that will not happen this year.

3. Questia Software - BOCES can get a discount on the Questia software if anyone is interested, also you only purchase the number of accounts that you will be using, so if you just want it for x amount of students, that is all you purchase.

4. Multiple Copy Collection - This year we solicited titles on the monthly Media Services newsletter and did not get any suggestions. Next year we will go back to asking the librarians for suggestions since they offer so many good titles.

5. Monk-e-mail: The meeting reminder was sent out with this software, but it was blocked, you might want to take a look at it on your home computer as it is interesting software.
http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/

6. Character Education - If anyone has a character education booklist to share please send it to Penny Baize.