We are pleased to share that the Connecticut State Library Board has hired Deborah Schander as the new Connecticut State Librarian. She will join the Connecticut State Library on Monday, January 4, 2021.

Schander was most recently the Executive Director of the Peter W. Rodino, Jr. Law Library Center for Information & Technology and Associate Professor of Law at the Seton Hall Law School. Prior to joining Seton Hall Law, Schander was Associate Director of the Law Library and Lecturer in Law at Vanderbilt University’s Alyne Queener Massey Law Library in Nashville, TN and a librarian and member of the faculty at Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta, GA.

She is an active member of regional and national law library associations and is past chair of the Professional Engagement, Growth, and Advancement special interest section of the American Association of Law Libraries as well as past president of the Atlanta Law Libraries Association. She has written and spoken on a variety of topics within her areas of expertise including legal research instruction, legal information literacy, professional development, and library outreach. Schander holds a J.D. and an M.L.I.S. from Florida State University (2007) and a B.A. in English from Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, MD (2003).

We are pleased to extend a warm welcome to Deborah!

The CSL Transformation for Libraries: The Futures School project was made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant # RE-95-17-0068-17, in the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.

The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (LB21) supports developing a diverse workforce of librarians to better meet the changing learning and information needs of the American public by enhancing the training and professional development of library and archives professionals; developing faculty and library leaders; and recruiting educating, and retaining the next generation of library and archives professionals.

A key requirement of the grant award is that it have national impact, as with many State Library IMLS grants across the country we all benefit from these projects such as Colorado State Library's RIPL Project, Maine's STEM Leadership project to create replicable programs to share with our library communities. Recently IMLS' Associate Deputy Director, Grants to States, Teri DeVoe, shared "CT's capacity to do this work is a real gift to the field."

For more information on how to participate, contact Dawn La Valle at dawn.lavalle@ct.gov.

All CT library directors will be receiving an extremely important survey in the month of December. Informed by six Conversations on Digital Inclusion with Connecticut library staff grouped by their IMLS locale code identification as urban, suburban, or rural, the survey will quantify the work done by libraries to close the digital divide. Quantitative questions should reveal the kinds of new digital inclusion services and practices that Connecticut libraries want to develop and the kind of support needed for these advances. The data gathered will create a foundation for the development of new resources for public libraries responsible for communities with under-connected residents. The analysis will substantiate the central role of libraries in the campaign to end information redlining and highlight the importance of funding libraries so that they can carry out this task. The survey has been developed in collaboration with Dr. Brian Real, a professor at the Southern Connecticut State University Department of Information and Library Science and an expert in the field of libraries and digital inclusion. Please plan to set aside fifteen minutes before the end of the year to respond to the survey for the good of all.

For more information visit Professional Development and Continuing Education.

Ready to register? Interested in more workshops? Visit our calendar.

For questions and more information please contact Professional Development Coordinator Gail Hurley at gail.hurley@ct.gov or (860) 704-2223.

As we shared back in August, OverDrive acquired RBdigital earlier this year. We have been advised that the shutdown of the RBdigital platform will occur no later than December 30, 2020. That means that ebooks and audiobooks on RBdigital will no longer be accessible from the RBdigital app and website.

Once this process is complete, the only way to access Connecticut State Library ebook and eaudio content will be through the SimplyE app. We are working with Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) to migrate RBdigital content over to DPLA to be made available in the SimplyE app. This will take place over the next few months. 

We appreciate your patience as we navigate these changes. Please reach out to Brad Bullis at bradley.bullis@ct.gov to determine your status in SimplyE and take the next steps to go live in the app.

In November, two eGO CT Information Sessions were held - view the recordings.

With more CT public libraries going live in SimplyE and rolling it out to their patrons, the Connecticut State Library has purchased 4,360 new items so far this year. Altogether, there are a total of 26,627 items now available to you and your patrons in SimplyE from the CSL and our partners.

Interest in eGO and SimplyE continues to grow with 42 libraries that have gone live in the SimplyE app. Of the 191 public libraries in Connecticut, 143 are configured in the SimplyE app, the first step before going live to their patrons. 

Interested in joining SimplyE? Contact Brad Bullis at bradley.bullis@ct.gov.

Browse this growing collection, including the titles below, accessible using the SimplyE app.

You can reserve book sets yourself! Check out the titles below and browse the full collection.

The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman (New!)

Searching for Lottie by Susan L. Ross

Blended by Sharon Draper

From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue park

Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

Efren Divided by Ernesto Cisneros

Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds

Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

Slay by Brittney Morris

Pine Island Home by Polly Horvath

Wink by Rob Harrell

Free Lunch by Rex Ogle

These are just some highlights! Browse more new professional development titles.

Interested in borrowing any of these titles? Contact Judy Crooks at judy.crooks@ct.gov.