Speak Up, Speak Loudly

An excerpt of Kimberly Lynn 's testimony before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means on February 27 is available in the Spring issue of Bay State Libraries and well worth reading. Kim makes a strong argument for continued financial support of the libraries and offers many great examples of how libraries are impacting the lives of Massachusetts residents.

State of America’s Libraries Report

Here's a video presentation (7:58) of ALA President Loriene Roy and ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels discussing the state of America’s libraries report, 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqBGNpqneeU

The full report, State of America’s Libraries report, is available at: http://www.ala.org/ala/pio/presscentera/piopresskits/2008statereport/2008statehome.cfm

Libraries Solve Problems! Computers in Libraries 2008

Opening Keynote Address: Libraries Solve Problems! Lee Rainie. 9:00 a.m. +
Wonderful keynote presentation on library use across America by Lee Rainie, Pew Internet & American Life Project. The good news: libraries and the service of librarians is in demand, and the demand is growing. Survey Findings: Library users both high traditional and electronic resources. Those who use libraries are young and most likely to be library users in the future. Fifty-three (53)% of market share isn't all that bad. Awareness is key. Marketing of services to helps tell the library story to users and potential users. It's a public eduation opportunity. There a lots of success stories to talk about. Build awareness. Make it comfortable to use the services. Make it clear that what libraries do helps users solve real world problems. Training and outreach are also key builders of awareness and use. More later. -- Richard

5 Traits You Will Need on Your Way to Becoming a Leader

The Dumb Little Man blog has an interesting post today by Jay White entitled: "5 Traits You Will Need on Your Way to Becoming a Leader."

LLMA Testimonial

For those of you who are reading this blog to decide if you want to apply for the 2009 LLMA Institute, I’m thrilled to say my participation as a candidate in the 2007 Library Leadership Institute was a fantastic experience! Everyone I met at the institute, from the consultants to the LLMA committee to my fellow candidates to the hosting librarians, shared a diverse and colorful repertoire of stories and experiences. It was truly a diverse group in many ways: gender, age, experience, race, aspirations and type of library. At the end of the institute, I left there feeling energized and enthused. Not only did I become friends with some of the other candidates, but I am absolutely convinced that the LLMA Institute was instrumental in helping me transition from a schedule of 3 part time jobs at 3 different libraries at 2 different institutes to a full time permanent position as the Science Librarian at Holy Cross College—a position I was offered and accepted six months after LLMA!