volume #5 issue#9

February 28, 2008

Prairie Views: the newsletter of the Prairie Area Library System

System News

Nominations for PALS Board of Directors
Nominations are being sought for one school library representative and three public library trustees for the 11 person board of directors of the Prairie Area Library System. Two public library trustee positions are for three years beginning July 1, 2008 and ending June 30, 2011. One public library trustee and the school library representative are for one year beginning July 1, 2008 and ending June 30, 2009.
The election will be held this spring and self-nominations are encouraged.
Deadline for nomination submission is April 13, 2008.
Please go to http://www.palsnet.info/about/board/nominate.asp>nominations page. to learn more about the responsibilities of a board member or to nominate yourself or someone else.

Delivery Statistics Time
It's that time again that we ask our members to do a statistical count in delivery. The weeks we are counting are February 25 through March 7. You should have received the statistics form in your delivery last week, or via email earlier this week. The delivery department thanks you for helping us with these counts. If you have any questions, please contact your delivery hub supervisor:
Coal Valley - Brenda Roman, ext 3152 or brendar@palsnet.info
Rockford - Marilyn Janssen, ext 4470 or marilynj@palsnet.info
Shorewood - Shirley Grasty, ext 2706 or shirleyg@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

Match and Catalog Class
$10 Workshop Fee
* Tuesday, March 11th at LaSalle Public Library 12:30-4 pm
* Tuesday, April 15th at the Rockford Service Center 12:30-4 pm
* Wednesday, April 16th at the Rockford Service Center 9 am-12:30 pm

This class is aimed at providing attendees with the basic matching skills to meet the following barcoders competencies from the Illinois Statewide Cataloging Standards:
• Have a basic understanding of cataloging terminology • Know where to look on the resource for cataloging information, i.e., the prescribed sources of information • Know how to interpret a bibliographic record • Know how to choose the correct bibliographic record that matches a resource

Prerequisite: none
Presenter: Jennifer Davis
$10.00 workshop fee
Jennifer Davis is retired from St. Ambrose University, O’Keefe Library, in Davenport, IA, where she was the Head of Technical Services supervising cataloging, acquisitions, serials, and processing. Jennifer believes in the importance of Technical Services to the patron – her motto - if we don't do it right, the patron won't find it.

CANCELLATION POLICY: If you are not able to attend, please cancel your reservation by 9:00 am two working days (Monday-Friday) prior to the class date or you will be billed. If you have questions, contact Merideth Willett at meridethw@palsnet.info or at (877) 542-7257 ext.3257.

Please note that this class isn’t just for people taking the Barcode Test or members of PrairieCat. It is a class to help people look for records that match the items they are adding to their library.

WebJunction Illinois Courses
WebJunction Illinois (WJ-IL) is an online portal with the mission to support Illinois library staff through online resources, community and continuing education with the goal of enhancing Illinois library staff and services. WJ-IL is sponsored by the Illinois State Library with cooperation and input from the Illinois Regional Library Systems and Illinois library staff and organizations. One of the many features of WJ-IL is a cadre of online courses which can be completed at your computer. Some courses are self-paced while others are facilitated and range from dealing with unruly patrons to wikis to copyright issues. The courses have been pre-paid by the Illinois State Library, so enrollment for Illinois librarians is free of charge. We encourage you to take advantage of this learning opportunity, however, we also ask that you follow the suggested guidelines and enroll in only one or two courses at a time.

To view available courses and for registration information go to: http://il.webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=442. If you are unable to access this page, go to http://il.webjunction.org/do/Home, click on Courses at the top, scroll down and click on WebJunction Course Catalog. You must be registered with WebJunction Illinois in order to use the Course Catalog. If you decide to take any courses, please provide input to us when you've completed each course. There is also a discussion forum (WebJunction Illinois Course Reactions and Suggestions) on the site where you can provide your feedback and suggestions on any course that you take, or see what others have to say about the courses.

Member News

Best wishes
for a speedy recovery to Barb Peterson, librarian at Riverdale Elementary School.

Princeton Public Library
Poetry Program Set for Princeton Public Library, please click here for detailed information.

QC Libraries Coordinate on Money Smart Programs
As part of an effort to help consumers prevent Identity Theft, area libraries are cooperating to offer educational programs and “community shred days” during Money Smart Week Quad Cities, April 5-12. With the help of nationally certified shredder Document Destruction and Recycling Services of Davenport, consumers can reduce their risk with free, confidential and secure destruction. Participants may bring in up to 100 pounds of paper documents for shredding (about three copy-paper size boxes.) This program is limited to paper only. No plastic cards, disks or CDs will be accepted. After monitored shredding, the paper is recycled for a safe and green solution. Document Destruction collection trucks will be available at the following libraries:

Saturday, April 5, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive and from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Davenport Library, Fairmount Street, 3000 North Fairmount.
Wednesday, April 9, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., Rock Island Main Library, 401 19th Street. (Enter via the south entrance on the ground floor.)
Saturday, April 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Rock Island Southwest Branch Library, 9010 Ridgewood Road.

Presented by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in conjunction with local libraries, non-profits, financial institutions and other partners, Money Smart Quad Cities is a public awareness campaign designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances. A calendar of events will be available at area libraries and online at www.moneysmartweek.org/quadcities in early March.

Tame the Paper Monster – and Protect Your Identity, Too
How quickly could you find your family’s vital documents when needed? Where and how are they stored? Every family must keep certain vital paperwork, such as birth certificates, insurance policies, and credit card numbers, but it’s sometimes hard to know what other papers to hang onto – and for how long. As part of a lead-in to special activities for Money Smart Week Quad Cities, the Rock Island Public Library is sponsoring a free program called, Record Keeping—What to Keep and Why, at two times and dates.

The program will be offered at the Rock Island Main Library Community Room, 401 19th Street, Rock Island, at
10:30 a.m. on March 6 and again at
6:30 p.m. on March 20.

Missing Books - members are welcome to post information about materials that are missing in transit. As with all Prairie Views submissions, please send

No Missing Books this week.

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.

Oswego Public Library
2007 National 5-digit Zip Code and Post Office Directory (2 volumes)

If interested contact:
Peggy Tegel
Phone: 630-554-3150
Email: ptegel@oswego.lib.il.us

Manhattan Public Library District
has an old Minolta RP605Z microfilm reader to give away for parts. Must pick up by March 14, 2008.

If interested, contact
Barb Hnetkovsky
815-478-3987 ext. 204
barbh@mpld.org

Give-Away
Available “free to a good home” from the Bartlett Public Library District, Bartlett IL.
Purchased from Bradford Systems Corporation: 1988 Spacesaver High Density Storage System model EC300 Includes:
1, 1-sided shelf (wall-mounted) 16”d X 8’h(includes raised floor w/tracks) X 18’long
3, 2-sided movable shelves, 30”d X 8’h (includes raised floor w/tracks) X 18’long
1, 1-sided shelves (wall-mounted), 15”d X 8’h (at highest point, shelf height varies) X 20’ long
(Note: These shelves are not integral to the system, only the control unit that is mounted to the shelf top.)
4 tracks mounted on 12’8” raised floor
Power Override Battery Pack

Currently functioning and mounted in a 13’10” wide area of the building. Pictures available upon request.
Recipient is responsible for loading of system and transportation to your location.

For more information contact:
Susan Westgate
swestgate@bartlett.lib.il.us
Phone: 630-213-5024.

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.

School Library Media Specialist / Head Librarian
Bishop McNamara High School, located in Kankakee, Illinois, seeks a professional librarian to fill the open position of School Library Media Specialist/Head Librarian for the 2008-2009 school year. The librarian will serve a school of 500 in a solo capacity at the Francis and Jean Smith Media Center at Bishop McNamara High School. Librarian duties include, but are not limited to: reference, bibliographic instruction, circulation, interlibrary loan, statistics and budgeting, collection development, database instruction, computer lab moderation, computer troubleshooting and media room rental within the school. This position is on a nine-month renewable contract running from August through June.

Minimum qualifications: Applicants must have either an ALA accredited Masters degree in Library and Information Science, or hold a Type 09 Teaching Certificate with a School Media endorsement. Strong technological skills are required. Youth services and bibliographical instruction experience is preferred.

Qualified applicants are urged to submit a cover letter, resume and three references to:
Jim Laurenti, Principal
Bishop McNamara High School
550 West Brookmont Boulevard
Kankakee, IL 60901

or email them to Catherine Yanikoski, Librarian, at cjyanikoski@palslib.org. Closing date for applications is April 15th, 2008. The chosen applicant will be encouraged to train for the new position prior to June 1st, 2008.

School Library Media Specialist
Hoffman Estates High School, in District 211, will have a Fall opening for a school library media specialist. This is a busy high school library serving 2,200, facing relocation into newly remodeled space. Our website is at: http://www.hehs.d211.org/media/
The person in this position will collaborate with teachers to plan and present lessons on information literacy, as well as supervise high school students, assist with collection management, and promote reading. Minimum requirements inlcude a Type 09 Teaching Certificate with an 18 hour Media Endorsement. Graduate degree in Library and Information Science preferred.

Please send a resume as an attachment to:
Email: mspevacek@d211.org
Apply online at http://generalasp.com/d211/onlineapp/home.htm

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

Youth Services and School Library News

Read Across America
Grab Your Hat and Read With the Cat! Read Across America Day is almost here, and millions of kids, teens, and adults are busy making plans to join the nation's largest reading celebration on March 3, 2008. The National Education Association (NEA) annually sponsors Read Across America. Approaching its tenth year, NEA's Read Across America focuses the country's attention on how important it is to motivate children to read in addition to helping them master basic skills. NEA launched the Read Across America program in 1997. The nationwide reading celebration takes place each year on or near March 2, the birthday of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss, who epitomizes a love of learning. Dr. Seuss's use of rhyme makes his books an effective tool for teaching young children the basic skills they need to be successful. The NEA webpage has more celebration ideas than we could fit in a newsletter!

Public Library News

Dan Cain Webinar for Directors on Working With Your Board
Well known authority on Not-for-Profit Boards, Dan Cain, is offering a webinar for library directors with tips and techniques on Working with Your Board. For the convenience of member library directors, PALS is offering this session on a cost recovery basis at the three service centers using the polycom and projector. This program deals with the director-board relationship. Dan identifies the board’s role and the director’s role. He zeroes in on some of the issues in this area, offering advice on helping the trustees understand their role, identifying the major reasons that trustees may be confused about their role, and suggesting strategies that work to counteract problems like micromanaging.

The webinar is available at Shorewood and Coal Valley Service Centers on Tuesday, March 11th, 11-Noon and at the Rockford Service Center on Tuesday, March 18th, 1-2 PM. There is a $10 charge to allow cost recovery. Participants are welcome to follow the webinar with further discussion on the topic among themselves.

Go to http://www.palsnet.info/events on the appropriate date and for the appropriate location to register.

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
No Technology Services News this week.

E-Rate Corner

Yesterday, USAC issued approximately 2000 letters to applicants that submitted a form 471 before the close of the window but neglected to certify the form. If you received one of these letters, you have until March 12, 2008 to postmark a paper certification in order to allow the form 471 to be considered in-window. This certification must be submitted so don’t forget this important step.
The form can be submitted three ways – by email
attachments@sl.universalservice.org
by fax: 973-599-6511
or by mail to:
SLD Forms Form 471 –
Item 21 Attachment
PO BOX 7026
Lawrence, KS 66044-7026

If you need help with this or any other E-Rate question, contact Marilyn at PALS – Rockford at 815-229-4470 or email marilynj@palsnet.info

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

Library News Around the State & Nation

IOUG Annual Meeting
Join us at the Illinois State Library for the IOUG (Illinois OCLC Users Group) Annual Meeting on Friday, May 9, 2008. The theme of this year's meeting is "Back to the Future: The Technological Evolution of Libraries Revisited." Registration and a continental breakfast will start the day at 8:00 a.m. Opening remarks will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the day's events will end at 3:00 pm. Please go to www.islcleo.org to register.

Presentations include:
Eric R. Childress, a Consulting Project Manager in OCLC Research. Eric is a speaker, writer, and reviewer in the area of metadata standards, systems, practices, models. He is frequently asked to present updates on OCLC Research projects, and provide presentations that identify key trends, and interpret information from various environmental scan OCLC studies. Eric will speak about OCLC's latest study, "Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World".

Aaron Schmidt is the Director of the North Plains Public Library in Portland, Oregon. Aaron is a nationally sought after and dynamic speaker on technology and usability and has made presentations for both Internet Librarian and ALA Conferences. Aaron will speak about web 2.0 and its applications for libraries.

Beth Davis-Brown is the Executive Secretariat, Office of the Associate Librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress, and special assistant to Dr. Deanna Marcum. Beth has been intensely involved with the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control as Coordinator/Liaison to the Group. She brings years of cataloging expertise and knowledge of the challenges facing librarians in our vastly changing digital world. Beth will update the audience on the aftermath of the final report of the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control at the Library of Congress.

Other presentations at the Annual Meeting include: -WorldCat Local Update - Lincoln Trail Libraries System staff -Ask?Away Update -Natalie Tagge -IOUG Report -Charlotte Johnson -CARLI Report - Susan Singleton -OCLC Members Council Report - Illinois delegates -Illinois State Library Report - Suzanne Schriar

The $45.00 registration fee for this event includes lunch. Feel free to contact the ILLINET/OCLC Services Office at 217-785-1532 if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you in Springfield on May 9th!

News from Vendors

Illiana Educational Products Announces Spring 2008 Specials
Special pricing on Compton's Encyclopedia and several other encyclopedias. Offer includes free shipping to PALS member libraries. Deadline for ordering is June 1, 2008. Review the flyer for complete information and how to place an order.

Legislative/Advocacy News

Library Bills - What Do They Mean to Me?
Briefing With Kip Kolkmeier via OPAL
On Friday, April 4, at 11 am, Kip Kolkmeier, ILA lobbyist, will walk us through bills introduced in Springfield this year and explain in layman’s terms exactly what they mean to us. Among the bills is removing IMRF from tax caps. Some of the other bills introduced to date:

HB 1727 - proposes mandated Internet filters at all public libraries.
HB 2527 - would provide additional funding for public library equalization grants and school libraries.
HB 4518 - would provide a mechanism for dissolving libraries that fail to actually conduct library activities within three years of creation.
HB 4202 - allow greater flexibility for academic libraries to sell surplus materials.

If you have any questions, please contact Inara McGroarty at inaram@palsnet.info or at 877-542-7257 x4452

Please register on CLEO.

Illinois Library Day Website Updated
Have you registered for Illinois Library Day? The Illinois Library Day website, with information about the April 10 event in Springfield, has been updated. Check back periodically for all the latest information. To make your participation as easy as we can, PALS is offering transportation at no charge from all three service centers for both the same day round trip or the day before so you can attend the dinner and briefing with Kip Kolkmeier, ILA lobbyist. Registration for the dinner is on the DuPage web site and you’ll need to make hotel reservations for overnight lodging.

Register for transportation for either April 9 or 10 at http://palsnet.info/events/
Register for the dinner at http://www.dupagels.lib.il.us/calendar/detailpages/1198094907.html
ILA no cost registration for attending (http://www.ila.org/events/index.htm) with an optional legislative breakfast and lunch

Speak up for bills exempting IMRF from tax caps and other library issues.

Grant News

FY09 Letter of Intent
The Letter of Intent is the first step in making a formal application for FY09 LSTA grants. Wednesday, April 2nd is the deadline to submit the Letter of Intent (submitted online). Information is now available on the Illinois State Library website about all of the FY09 LSTA grant offerings. The State Library is also inviting library staff to nominate themselves for consideration as a grant reviewer of FY2009 LSTA grant applications. If you are interested in helping the State Library recommend LSTA grant applications for funding, contact Karen Egan at kegan@ilsos.net or 217-782-7749 for details.

LSTA Grants - Opportunities to Learn More About the FY2009 Offerings
PALS has scheduled four opportunities to learn about the FY2009 LSTA grant offerings:

Tuesday, March 4th you can see and hear, the Illinois State Library’s LSTA grant guru, Karen Egan, explain the new offerings in detail via videoconference from any of the 8 PALS neighborhood & service center sites. Karen will be live at the Shorewood Service Center. Joining Karen via videoconference from Springfield will be Alyce Scott who works with the digitization grant projects. Paul Mills, Technology Director at PALS, will also be present to field questions about llsap membership as it applies to the Value of Resource grant opportunity.

Thursday, March 6th, a brief overview of the grant offerings especially related to school libraries will be offered at the School Librarians’ Updates and LSTA Grant Workshop at the Rockford Service Center. Norma Applegate and Jane Lenser will present.

Thursday, March 20th, there will be a face to face session at Centennial Elementary School in Polo. PALS Library Services Coordinators Jane Lenser and Nancy Smith will walk you through the FY2009 grant offerings, point out important aspects, note the differences from previous years’ requirements and offer tips and techniques to help make your applications more effective. This in person setting will allow opportunities to interact with other participants, sharing ideas and finding grant partners.

Monday, March 24th, PALS Library Services Coordinators Jane Lenser and Nancy Smith will use OPAL to walk you through the offerings while you sit comfortably at your desktop. They will point out important aspects and note the differences from previous years’ requirements or procedures as well as discussing tips and techniques to make your grant application(s) more effective.

You can register for any of the presentations above by going to the appropriate date on CleO— http://www.palsnet.info/events. If none of the above events meets your need, feel free to contact Jane (janel@palsnet.info or x4461) or Nancy (nancys@palsnet.info or x4466) about scheduling an LSTA workshop. All PALS staff members are available for consultation on projects in their area of expertise and are willing to read and review rough drafts, etc. We just ask that you contact us prior to the week the grants are due.  Letters of Intent are due on April 2nd and the Applications on May 12th.

Grant offerings can be found at: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/what_we_do/lsta2009.html.
To look at grant ideas submitted in previous years, go to http://www.palsnet.info/services/consulting/lsta.asp on the PALS Website or http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/what_we_do/wish.html on the State Library website.

Just So You Know

Illinois Minimum Wage Reminder
For budget planning, please remember that Illinois state legislation increased the state minimum wage to $7.50 per hour on July 1, 2007 and will increase it again to $7.75 on July 1, 2008. Additional increases: $8.00 on July 1, 2009; and $8.25 on July 1, 2010.

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.