volume #3 issue#43

November 2, 2006

Prairie Views: the newsletter of the Prairie Area Library

System News

Welcome!
to two new PALS staff members as of Monday, November 6, 2006. Brian Smith (brians@palsnet.info, ext. 2704) will begin as Library Services Coordinator, working out of the Shorewood Service Center. Culley Smith (culleys@palsnet.info, ext. 3256) will begin as Web Services Coordinator, working out of the Coal Valley Service Center.

Personnel Law Posters
PALS has been receiving notices implying there have been changes in the personnel laws that require posting the changes when there have actually been no changes. Currently, there are no changes in employment laws that would require new posters for 2007. If you receive a notification from companies that sell employment-related posters and have any questions about new requirements, be sure to let us know.

If you're interested in obtaining an all-in-one poster (Illinois and Federal) which meets the requirements for posting, the Management Association of Illinois has them available for $39.95 plus s & h ($29.95 if you're a member of the Management Association). The poster is available in English and Spanish. Each full-color poster measures 27" x 39" and is laminated for durability. You can also obtain the required postings from various state and federal websites through researching the sites.

If you have questions about what is required, please contact Sandy Ringstrom @ x2710.

It's Time!
We are planning to get rid of our remaining circulating collection at Coal Valley Service Center over the winter. It consists of a lot of runs by certain mystery authors like Christie, Kurwood, Pentecost, Gardner, Creasey, Eberhart, Lockridge, Ellery Queen, Simenon, Shannon, Seifert, Stout, etc. Western runs by authors like Seltzer, Zane Grey, Mulford. We are also getting rid of our circulating Large Print and our non-fiction collection as well. All free to a good home if you come and select the items or let us know what you'd like. If you are a PALSGroup library, we'd be happy to change the LLSAP code to your library. If you have any questions please call or email Brenda Roman x3152 brendar@palsnet.info or Judy Hutchinson x3150 judyh@palsnet.info

Events/Continuous Learning
CLeO: All continuous learning events sponsored by PALS are open to all staff or representatives of member libraries. Registration is required for all PALS continuous learning programs. To register, visit the PALS CLeO at http://www.palsnet.info/events/

Information on registration, how to set up a CLeO account, and PALS procedures for continuous learning can be found on the PALS website at: http://www.palsnet.info/services/cl/default.asp

PALS Events by Month

PALSGroup Training
Numerous PALSGroup training sessions have been scheduled for the coming months and are available for registration in CLeO. Please contact Rhonda Krahl at ext. 3151 or rhondak@palsnet.info if you have any questions.

Member News

Congratulations!
Rep Mike Boland awarded the Geneseo Library a check for $25,000 for their building project! It is from the Individual Legislative Initiative fund.

Art Wall Displays
During the month of November the Bettendorf Public Library's 2nd floor art walls and display case and the 1st floor display case will highlight the artwork of local artist Jeanne Knape. The display will include watercolors, collage, photographs and handmade books.

Holiday Bazaar
The Friends of the Bettendorf Public Library Holiday Bazaar will be held Saturday, November 4 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Bettendorf Room of the library. A wide variety of handmade and interesting items will be offered by local vendors including seasonal items, floral arrangements, jewelry, specialty clothing and accessories, cross-stitch, crocheted and knitted work, homemade candies and cookies, doll clothes and accessories, china painting, spa and beauty products, quilted items, candles, and edible mixes. Free admission. A great way to start your holiday shopping!

Banned Books Week Celebrated September 23 -30, 2006, at Kishwaukee College Library
Unleash their Voices: Demand your Freedom!
The Kishwaukee College Library celebrated Banned Books Week 2006 (from September 23-30). The slogan for the long awaited celebration was “Unleash their voices: Demand your Freedom”. The slogan highlighted the significance of preserving intact one of the basic rights of human kind – freedom. A display of Banned Books was placed around the library, showing some of the most popular banned books throughout history. A short paragraph in top of each book included the reasons for each book to be banned or challenged and by whom. Famous quotations about the matter were also complementing the colorful display. The main event planned for this celebration was a conference panel of three presenters, who addressed the censorship in each one of their professional disciplines: Heather Klepitsch: literature. Carol-Lynn Swol: arts. John Desjarlais: journalism. The conference panel was named after the whole celebration “Unleash their voices: demand your freedom.” The panel hosted an informal discussion about how censorship attempts to limit one of the basic rights of human kind -- freedom. It explored, also, different attempts at censorship and how this affects practitioners in each one of their disciplines. At the end of the conference 20 minutes of questions, formulated by audience gave way to an open discussion about the controversial subject.

One of the main incentives to promote the celebration and the conference within the student community were the “Tickets to freedom.” These tickets needed to be punched three times in order to participate in the freedom raffle which took place at the Library on October 4th. In order to achieve the first two punches, patrons of the library had to check out two banned books from the Library’s collection. The third punch was only obtained by attending the presentation “Unleash their Voices: Demand your Freedom.” Once the three punches were received, the patron redeemed the ticket at the circulation desk for an entry to the raffle of a $20 gift card from the College’s Book Store. In terms of its educational purpose, the celebration was a success. Good response and fairly good attendance to the conference were the rewards for the extra effort done by the library staff, during this whole week celebration.

Missing Books - we've added a new section to Prairie Views where members are welcome to post information about materials that are missing in transit. As with all Prairie Views submissions, please send to prairieviews@palsnet.info.

CDSW SEB Lovely Bones DeKalb Public Library item in transit from Hinckley-Big Rock school, district 429

Freebies/Exchanges/For Sale/Wanted

Prairie Area Library System offers a means for members to share discarded items to needy libraries. Procedures are outlined in the Reference Member Services Guide http://www.palsnet.info/services/reference/reference_guide.asp They are also outlined below.

Libraries wanting to offer up materials can email to Prairie Views, providing the following information:
*Library's name and phone number
*Title(s) of the items discarded

A list will be compiled for inclusion in the weekly Prairie Views newsletter. Anyone interested in freebies are to contact the library directly, (no earlier than Monday following the listing). Members are responsible for making their own arrangements. The PALS van delivery may be available for transporting items, as space and time permits. Contact your Service Center Delivery Manager to arrange for delivery of large shipments.

PALS Members - please remember that you are asked to not request or release any items whether they are Free or For Sale until Monday following the publication of the announcement in Prairie Views. This gives library staff a chance to see the message and request the materials if they are interested. Thanks for your cooperation - we have had several complaints in recent weeks about items being released before Monday.

Kaplan University
has the following titles to give away:

Please contact Jennifer Smith:
jsmith@kucampus.edu
Phone:563-441-2467

Moline Public Library
has the following to give away.
* The United States Government Manual, 2005-2006 edition

Please contact Lisa Powell Williams
lwilliams@molinelibrary.org
Phone: 309-736-5748

Job Openings
Jobs can be submitted on the PALS website at http://www.palsnet.info/jobs/ or by sending them to prairieviews@palsnet.info. All jobs submitted by either method will be included in Prairie Views for one week and will be posted for 120 days on the PALS website unless the library posting the job requests that it be removed before 120 days. Visit http://www.palsnet.info/jobs/ to views all the job ads that PALS currently has posted.

Adult Services Shelver
(Part-time) Due to a promotion, the Addison Public Library seeks a part-time shelver in the Adult Services Department.
* Duties include: sorting, organizing and shelving library material, monitoring shelves for mis-shelved material, straightening fiction and nonfiction rooms, assisting in closing procedures, relieving for breaks at the public service desks in Adult Services, and other duties as assigned.
* Hours: Monday & Wed. evenings 4-9 p.m.; alternate Saturdays 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
* Requirements: Ability to alphabetize and knowledge of Dewey Decimal System. Detail oriented. Must be able to communicate effectively with staff and patrons. Ability to reach, bend, lift, retrieve and shelve library material, and to stand for extended periods of time.
* Salary Information: Salary from $6.50 per hour, depending on experience.

Application forms are available at the Circulation Desk of the Addison Public Library.
Contact:
Karen Dini
Assistant Head of Adult Services
Addison Public Library
Two Friendship Plaza
Addison, IL 60101.
Phone: (630) 458-3344. email: dini@addisonlibrary.org

Reference and ILL News
No Reference and ILL News this week.

Youth Services and School Library News

Celebrate Children’s Book Week 2006!
Children's Book Council is proud to celebrate Children’s Book Week. Join in the festivities from November 13th—19th, 2006, by encouraging young readers to discover the world through books. The theme for this year’s book week is "More Books, Please!"

2007 iREAD Summer Reading Program
Please don't forget to visit www.ila.org/iread and place your order for the Mission Read: To the Library and Beyond! summer reading program Resource Guide and reading incentive products. Next summer we are featuring the illustrations of Caldecott Award winner Eric Rohmann in a space and rocket themed program.

The iREAD program offers everything you need to implement your summer program:
* A comprehensive Resource Guide that includes themed activities, reading lists, programs and events, displays, skits and songs, games, crafts, and much more. Clip art from Eric's wonderful illustrations are included both as line art and on CD-ROM.
* Colorful and fun reading incentives that are produced by companies that do not exploit child labor.
* New for 2007: artwork and programming to support Young Adult reading programs.
* Every purchase from iREAD supports library advocacy.

This is our twenty-sixth year of developing successful and creative summer reading programs. As a not-for-profit organization dedicated to library advocacy, your support is invaluable. Based on your orders, we order the summer reading program materials in late November for delivery in January-February 2007. We want to order correctly to fulfill all orders, to fulfill our pledge to reduce product costs, and, as most frequently requested, to ship materials well in advance of the summer for planning purposes. (Don't worry about payment now. We will be happy to invoice you for payment at a later date.) If you have already placed your order, we thank you. If you haven't ordered yet, don't miss out. We're on the launch pad and ready for blast-off! Come join us at www.ila.org/iread.

2008 iREAD Resource Guide Submission Info
Though we have not even made it through summer 2007, the iREAD Committee is already looking for great ideas to go in the iREAD 2008 Resource Guide for the 2008 program, Get in the Game - READ! which focuses on sports, games, and gaming. Ideas can be submitted online by going to the iREAD section of the ILA web page at http://www.ila.org/pub/iread.htm. Deadline for submissions is March 16, 2007. If you have any questions, please contact Lori Craft at loricraft@yahoo.com.

Public Library News
No Public Library News this week.

Academic Library News
No Academic Library News this week.

Special Library News
No Special Library News this week.

Support Staff News
No Support Staff News this week.

Technology Services News

E-Rate
Schools and libraries hoping to receive funding next year under the $2.25 billion-a-year e-rate will have from November 14 to February 7 to submit their applications. The Federal Communications Commission announced the dates of the filing window October 19, the same day it released its annual Eligible Services List. http://www.usac.org/default.aspx

New Books at PALS
No New Books at PALS this week.

Library News Around the State & Nation

SYNERGY 2007
Applications are now being accepted for Synergy 2007: the Illinois Library Leadership Initiative. Synergy is the statewide library community's proactive movement to recruit and nurture future Illinois library leaders. Completed applications are due at the Illinois State Library no later than 4:30 p.m., Thursday, November 30, 2006. Please contact Patricia Norris or Vandella Brown at 1-800-665-5576 Option #1 with any questions. Application information may be found at: http://cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/whats_new/synergy2007_ann.html

E-R-XPO: Mark your Calendars Now
The annual E-R-XPO, the Illinois State Library's Electronic Resource Exposition (vendor fair), will be held Wednesday, December 6, 2006 at Schaumburg Township District Library. This event is filled with vendor presentations and demonstrations. Library staff will have plenty of time to visit vendor booths and talk to the local representatives from many companies participating in Try-It! Illinois. Register at the ISL Cleo.

"Friends of AASL" to Support School Library Media Profession's Interests
CHICAGO - The American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is pleased to announce the launch of "Friends of AASL," a new funding initiative to support the work of the association. "Friends of AASL" is a donor program for individuals and institutions whose interests include supporting the school library media profession and advocating for its place in education. "Donations made through "Friends of AASL" will supply additional funding for AASL programming that goes above and beyond traditional membership services of the association," said AASL President Cyndi Phillip. "With the goals set forth by the new strategic plan, AASL has been working to significantly improve its services to members. The Board of Directors decided to allocate the "Friends of AASL" funds to special initiatives and services that address the strategic plan." "Friends of AASL" donations will help fund such areas as guidelines and standards for school library media programs, advocacy efforts, professional development and conference programming, and community building and networking initiatives. Each donor is able to choose an area to support, and donations will be accepted at any level: Friend (up to $99), Supporter (up to $249), Contributor (up to $499), Advocate (up to $999) and Visionary ($1,000 and over). Donations are tax deductible and donors will be recognized with a mention in AASL publications and on its Web site.

More information and donation instructions are available at the Friends of AASL web pages at http://www.ala.org/aasl/friends. The American Association of School Librarians www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library media services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library media field.

ALSC Receives $100,000 Grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to Support Multicultural Literacy Campaign
(CHICAGO) The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, has received an unprecedented fourth grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for $100,000 to support its national awareness efforts and community participation in El día de los niños/El día de los libros (children’s day / book day). The grant is the largest ever received from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and will assist with ALSC ‘s work with libraries and support efforts to reach literacy-based organizations outside the library community.

Celebrated every April 30th, El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Día) spreads "bookjoy" by linking children from all languages and cultures with books, and brings hundreds of communities from across the country together to celebrate multiculturalism. Día honors children, their languages and culture, encourages reading and literacy, and promotes library collections and programs that reflect the country’s diverse communities. "ALSC would like to thank the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for supporting our efforts to promote Día to the masses," said ALSC President Kathleen T. Horning. "As our country is becoming more diverse, there is no better time to celebrate and promote the free multicultural resources libraries have to offer. We want to encourage every child and their parents to turn to their local library as a resource to learn about the world."

Librarians can host Día events of their own by taking advantage of program resources available through the Día Web site at www.ala.org/dia. Resources include bilingual booklists, free downloadable flyers and bookmarks, program ideas and much more. Additional Día resources also can be found on the Texas Library Association’s Web site at www.texasdia.org. El día de los niños/El día de los libros is an enhancement of Children’s Day, which began in 1925 as a result of the first "World Conference for the Well Being of Children" in Geneva, Switzerland. Children’s Day was designated as a day to bring attention to the importance and well being of children. It was then designated by the United Nations for November 20, by UNICEF for April 23 and by Mexico for April 30 (Día del Niño). In 1996, Pat Mora, nationally acclaimed author of books for children and adults, proposed linking the celebration of childhood and children with literacy.

News from Vendors
No News from Vendors this week.

Legislative/Advocacy News

Congratulation Notes on Election
In just a few days we can all breathe a sigh of relief that we no longer need listen to all the campaign advertisements. Please be sure to send a note of congratulations to your elected legislators whether it be on the local, state or federal level. Just a brief handwritten note, preferably on your library stationary, will do the job. If the legislator has been re-elected and was in office before, be sure to add a thank you note for his past support of libraries, invite him to stop by at the library and offer to give a tour and show all the many services that you offer to make the community in his district a more desirable place to live. If you don't have the district office address, you can find it on the advocacy section on ILA's web site, http://www.ila.org/advocacy/index.htm or just send an e-mail to Inara McGroarty at inaram@palsnet.info

New READ Poster Added!
A new READ poster of Senator Gary Dahl (Morris, Earlville, LaSalle, Peru) has been added to those previously available . Posters of PALS legislators can be ordered at http://www.palsnet.info/services/administration/posterorder.asp. These are at a low cost of just $7.50 for an 18 X 24 size poster. Other sizes are available also. It's important that you complete the order form so we know what size you're requesting and who to bill. If you prefer, you can print them yourself on your own color printer. Please e-mail Inara McGroarty at inaram@palsnet.info if you'd like the file attachment. You can display these when you've invited a legislator to be a guest reader or to tour your library.

Currently available are posters of :

Congressman Don Manzullo - 16th congressional district reading Theodore Rex (Rise of Theodore Roosevelt)

Senators:
Brad Burzynski, "Tomorrow's leaders are today's readers!" reading Speaker , Hastert's book
NEW Gary Dahl "For Illinois Libraries" reading Clifford the Big Red Dog
Mike Jacobs, "Read and live big dreams" reading :Lyndon Johnson, Master of the Senate
A.J. Wilhelmi, "For Illinois Libraries"

Representatives:
Mike Boland, "Today's Reader's are Tomorrow's Leaders" reading Skeleton Hiccups to his grandson
Tom Cross, "For Illinois Libraries" reading to children
Charles Jefferson "Reading is knowledge, knowledge is power" reading the Bible
Careen Gordon, "Reading is something that can change the world" reading To Kill a Mockingbird
Patricia Reid Lindner "For Illinois Libraries"
Frank Mautino, "For Illinois Libraries" reading Harry Potter
Jerry Mitchell, "It's more than a library. It's a community center!" reading The Horse Whisperer
Bob Pritchard, "Libraries expand your possibilities and enjoyment" reading Making Things Happen
Jim Sacia, " Keeping the mind and body active" reading Enemy Called Average
Patrick Verschoore, "If you can't read, you can't do anything" reading Illinois Jurisprudence
Ron Wait, "Power up to reading" sitting on tractor, reading The American Farm Tractor
Dave Winters, "Learn how to interact with your government through reading" reading The Fair Tax Book

The project continues and other posters will be made available.

Just So You Know
No Just So You Know this week.

Grant News
No Grant News this week.

On the Internet
Our website picks of the week are supplied by Marylaine Block, Writer, Internet Trainer and "Librarian Without Walls," http://marylaine.com/.

NEAT NEW STUFF October 27, 2006

Deaf Resource Library
This site from Prof. Karen Nakamura is unusual in featuring deaf resources for two cultures, Japan and the United States. It provides information on both ASL and JSL, and a fairly comprehensive set of links to Deaf related network resources, National/State Organizations of the Deaf, for the Deaf, Deaf Culture/Cultural Deaf WWW Sites, colleges and organizations for the deaf, resources for deaf kids and their parents, and more. Comments from readers often fill in holes in the information Nakamura provides.
http://www.deaflibrary.org/

Democracy Project
PBS Kids
This nicely done, interactive site allows kids to walk through the meetings and events of a typical Presidential day, find out how the different agencies of local, state and national governments affect their daily lives, and step inside the voting booth.
http://pbskids.org/democracy/

Grand Comics Database
a volunteer organization of hobbyists aims to create a comprehensive database of all comic books ever published, complete with info on their creators and story details, and searchable by writer, penciller, inker,
editor, colorist, publisher, story title, comic book title, and character. An evolving project that is soliciting contributors, it already contains 254,393 books and 131,273 covers.
http://www.comics.org/index.lasso

Halloween Recipes, Treats and Party Food
Food Network
Recipes for snacks like Yummy Mummy, and Spider's Nest Dip, alcoholic and non- cocktails and punches like Green Ghoulade (with or without Wormy Ice Cubes), and pumpkin recipes galore. Also features pumpkin carving and activities for kids. See also Pumpkin Carving 101 for more about the history and art of Halloween carving.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/et_hd_halloween/
http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/

Heritage Teaching Resources
Smithsonian Education
Teaching resources from all the Smithsonian collections to support the various heritage months (Black History, Women's History, Hispanic Heritage, Asian Pacific Americans, and American Indian Heritage). The Resource Library is searchable by type of material, grade level, topic, and media.
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/resource_library/heritage_resources.html

Institute for Healthcare Improvement
This organization's aim is "to engage US hospitals in a commitment to implement changes in care proven to improve patient care and prevent avoidable deaths." The site offers case studies (called Profiles in
Improvement) and How-To guides and tools on a variety of topics (preventing adverse drug events, preventing surgical infection, improving care for myocardial infarction, etc.)
http://www.ihi.org/ihi

Internet Public Library
Election 2006
Annotated links to resources, both for informed voting in the November 7 election, and for elections in
general. Includes candidate and issue info, electoral maps and calculators, weblogs, and historical election information.
http://www.ipl.org/div/election/

Lyrics from LyricWiki
Browse by artist, album title, or song through more than 240,000 current entries. One advantage of a wiki, where many people with different obsessions can contribute, is that pretty much all styles,
time periods (at least 1930s and up), and nationalities are represented here.
http://lyricwiki.org/Main_Page

El Mundo
According to E-Media Tidbits, "On Oct. 18, El Mundo (a major daily paper from Spain) opened its online archives without restrictions. This allows research in the news from 1994 up to the present." Click on "en
elmundo.es" and then on "Buscar" to call up the search engine.
http://www.elmundo.es

New York Times Newsroom Navigator
This seems to be the New York Times' annotated links to prime online reference sources for its journalists and editors.
http://tech.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/cybertimesnavigator/index.html/

OntheCommons.org
Some interesting thinkers blog here about protecting and managing the commons, "gifts of nature such as air, water, the oceans, wildlife and wilderness, and shared “assets” like the Internet, the airwaves used for broadcasting, and public lands... our shared social creations: libraries, parks, public spaces as well as scientific research, creative works and public knowledge that have accumulated over centuries."
http://onthecommons.org/

AND REMEMBER, if you haven't yet sent in your nominations for Library Journal's Movers and Shakers yet, they're due November 1. Use the online nomination form at
<http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6358087.html>, or fill out the pdf version at
<http://libraryjournal.com/contents/pdf/LJMoveShakeForm.pdf> and return it to Ann Kim, Library Journal, 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010 or fax to 646-746-6734.

Prairie Views will be published weekly on Thursdays on the PALS website. PALS member libraries are encouraged to send items for inclusion to prairieviews@palsnet.info by Tuesday of the week you would like your information to appear.

We will send an email reminder each week when the new issue is available on the PALS website. If you do not currently receive email reminders, please send a message to prairieviews@palsnet.info to have your email address added to the reminder mailing list or visit http://mailman.palsnet.info/mailman/listinfo to subscribe or unsubscribe yourself.