[Libs-Or] Letter to Libraries Online - December 2009

[April Baker]

Letter To Libraries Online
An Electronic Newsletter from the Oregon State Library.......Volume 19, Issue 12, December 2009
Library Board News

STATE LIBRARY BOARD CONSIDERS REQUEST FOR E-BOOK GRANT
At their meeting on December 4th at the State Library in Salem, the State Library Board will consider a request from the Oregon Digital Library Consortium for a grant to fund an "opening day" e-book collection for their Library2Go downloadable media service. Library2Go is now offered by public and community college libraries throughout the state, providing downloadable audiobooks and videos. With the growing interest in downloadable e-books sparked by new e-readers like the Kindle and the Sony Reader, the ODLC believes it is time to begin to offer downloadable e-books. Earlier in the year the Library Services and Technology Act Advisory Council recommended that the Board consider funding an opening day e-book collection for Library2Go. The ODLC is requesting $100,000 for the collection. They are committing to spend $26,000 from their own budget over the next two years and approximately 20% of their collection budget in the future to purchase e-books. ODLC works with OverDrive to provide Library2Go. OverDrive offers downloadable e-books in the EPUB format that can be read on the Sony Reader and other new e-reader devices. EPUB is rapidly becoming the standard format for downloadable e-books.
PLANNING FOR THE 2011-13 BIENNIUM BEGINS
The State Library Board will kick off their planning process for the next biennium with a planning retreat on December 3rd at the State Library in Salem. Every two years the Board has an all-day planning retreat where they revisit the Library's mission, long range goals, and biennial strategies. The ideas generated at the retreat are handed off to a Board Budget Committee that will begin meeting in early 2010 to develop the Library's Agency Request Budget that will be submitted to the Governor later in the year. After the retreat on the 3rd the Board will have a business meeting on the 4th. In addition to considering a request from the ODLC to fund an opening day e-book collection for Library2Go, the Board will hear appeals of staff decisions to deny Ready to Read Grants to four public libraries. The Board will also deliberate on the assessment that the Library will propose for 2011-13 to fund Government Research Services to state agencies, and they will elect members of the Library Services and Technology Act Advisory Council and the Talking Book and Braille Services Advisory Council. The meeting on December 4th begins at 9:30 a.m in Room 102 at the State Library. An open forum is scheduled for 10:30. Anyone may address the Board at the open forum.

State Library News

READY TO READ GRANTS COMING THIS MONTH
The Ready to Read Grants will be mailed to public library directors by the end of December. Included in this mailing will be a list of the libraries receiving grants this year, descriptions of the projects they plan to implement with their Ready to Read Grant in 2009, and a sample press release. Legislators had to make many difficult funding decisions this year. The State Library hopes that public library directors will thank legislators for funding the Ready to Read Grant program and inform them how the grant is benefiting children and young adults locally. 
TBABS PATRONS READ THE NEWSPAPER OVER THE PHONE
Patrons of Talking Book and Braille Services have many exciting services at their disposal. But one in particular can connect them with up to the minute news and information: NFB-NEWSLINE. In partnership with the National Federation for the Blind and the Oregon Commission for the Blind, Talking Book and Braille Services provides free access to newspapers from all over the country to print-disabled Oregonians. In order to receive access to this informative service, eligible patrons just need to fill out an application for service and return it to Talking Books. The service is FREE and all patrons need is access to a phone line. Whenever they want to, patrons call in to NFB-NEWSLINE on a toll-free number and listen to the newspapers of their choosing. For information on how to apply, visit TBABS online.
Other Library News

MULTNOMAH AND EUGENE LIBRARIES NAMED "STAR LIBRARIES"
In November, Library Journal announced their latest Index of Public Library Service based on national library performance data for 2007. The Index lists 258 libraries in the U.S. with the best performance in four categories: circulation, program attendance, visits, and Internet use. The list is divided by the size of the library's expenditures and libraries receive five, four or three stars based on their performance in the four categories. Multnomah County Library was one of only five libraries in their group of the largest public libraries to receive five stars. They ranked third among the five. Two Ohio libraries, in suburban Cleveland and Columbus, topped the list. Eugene Public Library was among the next largest libraries to receive stars. They received four stars for their performance. This is the second time that Library Journal has published their Index. The next Index, based on 2008 data, should be out next year.
LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION! SEE A GREAT LSTA PROJECT
Take a look at an LSTA project recently completed by Multnomah County Library. The library set out to create videos to help with outreach to speakers of Russian, Vietnamese and Chinese. The Library contracted with a technical writer to write a script that demonstrated how to use the public library and translated the script into three languages. The library worked with members of the community to revise scripts to fit, and recruited "on camera" volunteers. The three videos produced were distributed to public libraries in Oregon, and can be seen through the Multnomah County website.
25 E-BOOKS NOW AVAILABLE IN GALE VIRTUAL REFERENCE LIBRARY
During the November Statewide Database Licensing Advisory Committee meeting, members decided on the 15 remaining titles to add to the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL). The group tried to select e-books that were appropriate for academic, public / tribal, and K12 library patrons and that encompassed multiple subject areas. You can access the GVRL database several ways, depending on the options you provide on your library's web page: click directly on the GVRL link or icon; click on PowerSearch and scroll to find GVRL in the menu of databases; or once you are in any Gale database, click on Change Databases at the top of the screen and scroll to find GVRL in the menu. After accessing GVRL, click on Title List for a listing of the e-books that are now available. Please note that because the 10 volumes of Social Issues Primary Sources Collection are listed individually, more than 25 titles show in the list. Click on the hyperlinked e-book titles on GVRL's opening page for a description of the book; to access the table of contents, index, and list of illustrations; or to use the Search Within This Publication feature. Questions? Contact Jennifer Maurer, 503-378-5011.
P.S. (From the State Librarian)

I imagine that many librarians can relate to this observation from the protagonist of Nicholson Baker's new novel: "I woke up thinking a very pleasant thought. There is lots left in the world to read." 
A pleasant thought indeed. Here are some books I greatly enjoyed reading this year that I wanted to recommend to you.
The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker (Simon and Schuster, 2009).
Get into the head of a minor poet whose life is falling apart in Baker's latest novel, and learn some things you didn't know about poetry in the process.
Intelligence and How to Get it: Why Schools and Cultures Count by Richard E. Nisbett (Norton, 2009)
A University of Michigan psychologist provides convincing evidence from the latest research that IQ is not predetermined by genetics, and yes, good schools and libraries can make a big difference.
The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons from the Wild on Love, Death and Happiness by Mark Rowlands (Pegasus, 2009)
What does a professional philosopher learn from living for many years with a wolf as his closest companion?
Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are by Frans de Waal (Riverhead, 2007)
A companion to Rowlands' book - the supposed divide between homo sapiens and our relatives in the animal world is smaller than you think.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Random House, 2007)
I was so happy to discover Nassim Taleb this year, an unconventional thinker who may change your thinking about a lot of things.
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture by Wendell Berry (Sierra Club, 1977)
The current critique of American culture (consumerism, agribusiness, peak oil, peak water, etc., etc.) was eloquently made over three decades ago by poet, novelist and farmer, Wendell Berry.
Imperial by William T. Vollman (Viking, 2009)
This 1,300 page tome about the rise and fall of Imperial County, California (among other things) is the strangest book I have read in many years, but it left a deep impression on me. 
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (McSweeneys, 2009)
The tragic mishandling of the Katrina disaster as told through the experience of one Syrian-American family.
Crude World: the Violent Twilight of Oil by Peter Maass (Knopf, 2009)
This book will make you feel even more guilty the next time you fill up. 
Eat Me: the Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin by Kenny Shopsin and Carolyn Carreno (Knopf, 2008)
Yes, there has to be one food book on this list. Shopsin was made famous by New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin years ago and he's still going strong at his very peculiar Greenwich Village restaurant.
Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne (Viking, 2009)
An engaging two-wheeled excursion through cities around the world by the former Talking Heads frontman.
Happy holiday reading to all of you from the staff of the State Library. - 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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