Basic Online Reference Tools

The blog,” Speak Quietly: Ramblings about libraries, writing and everything in between”, written by Scott Douglas had a very interesting entry on ways to reach our community members.    Here are some of his thoughts and supporting data  (combined with some of mine) regarding ways to reach people through technology.  More and more people are using hand held devices to access information.  How do we reach parts of our population who want information to come to them, rather than having them come into our physical spaces?

His discussion touches upon texting reference questions, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Podcasting, iphone applications, Meebo. 

What do you think?  Which of these tools are you using now or would considering using in the near future?

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Promise Neighborhoods Grant

The Department of Education has $10 million for planning grants for the Promise Neighborhoods program as part of the Fund for the Improvement of Education.

These planning grants for $400,000 to $500,000 each are for the planning purpose of what will be a program to improve significantly the education and development outcomes of children in distressed communities.

This is a heads up for school, community college and public librarians to REACH OUT NOW to eligible entities which could be non-profit organizations or institutions of higher learning who might be applying because they operate a school; partner with a school or Local Education Agency; currently provide a solution to cradle-through-college-to-career in a distressed neighborhood or represent a neighborhood being proposed for service.

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Embracing Change and It HURTS

It is no secret that library use in our region continues to rise.  At the same time, many libraries (and SALS) are seeing cuts in local and state aid.  Library staff and boards are faced with very difficult decisions.  What are the best uses for limited funds?  What services are most important to our individual communities?   What will get our patrons to return, use our resources and be an advocate for us?

Getting started is difficult but here are some suggestions when starting this process.  Explore current library services – what is the circulation by format?  Is the collection budget appropriate for the use?  Is money still allocated to collection types that are not being used or needed?

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