Your monthly news & updates
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It's a Wrap! EXCITE Cohort 1 Wrap-Up
Connecticut State Library in partnership with Innovation Builders, “EXCITE Transformation for Libraries” grant project, culminated in a project pitch session similar to the television show “Shark Tank” where EXCITE library teams made their project pitch for seed grants to implement innovative and creative library programs. Teams from the State Library of North Carolina; Charles County Public Library, Maryland; Ossining Library, New York; Springfield City Library, Massachusetts; Hall Memorial Library, Ellington, Connecticut; and Burritt Library, Central CT State University vied for grants of up to $3000 each. Each team concept was created with the collaborative input of their respective communities resulting in customer driven projects.
Projects include:
Adulting 101
- Hall Memorial Library, Ellington, CT
Young adults 23-29, missing social connections, feeling lonely and insecure. "Adults without a handbook." Series of interactive workshops of their choosing in a conversational, non-lecture approach in a comfortable setting to learn together.
ConnectU: Fall Into The Library
- Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT
Focus on Junior Faculty. Repeatable series of discussions in the Fall semester among faculty on issues important to them in a comfortable and relaxed setting in the library
Drop the Mic Recording Studio
- Charles County Library System, MD
Recording Booth with media software for recording music, podcasts and programs. Themes will be designed by the teens and they will have ownership of their creativity to showcase to the public. Shared vision with Board, Youth Services Dept., and non-profit youth organizations.
Parent Connections
- Ossining Public Library, NY
Connecting parents with their children, themselves and their community. Parents were feeling overwhelmed, having no time, guilty being away from the kids, isolated, etc. This is a three part program where parents and their children start with "Together Time" which may entail a storytime or short activity to do together. This is followed by a "Learning Time" and "Social Time" geared towards the parents.
Forward Together
- State Library of North Carolina, NC
Librarians wanted a way to address complex community issues and form meaningful partnerships wtih their community. A 2.5 day intensive seminar will be developed where library staff will attend with a community partner to look at an issue in depth. This will be followed up with virtual meetings.
Unite Teens
- Springfield City Library, Springfield, MA
Springfield teen mental health survey showed teens felt sad or hopeless, engaged in self-harm, seriously considered suicide or attempted suicide. The library could provide a safe space with consistent staff to lead them in team building or inspirational activities and make connections with community members and organizations.
EXCITE Transformation for Libraries is a unique, intensive team-based experiential learning program that teaches collaboration and innovation skills, resulting in programs and services that respond to community input and demonstrated needs, lead to cultural change at libraries, and sustain project impact through extended training. This IMLS grant funded project was developed in response to ALA’s Libraries Transform campaign, recognizing that librarians require non-traditional skills sets to lead innovation at their libraries. For more information:
https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/
.
EXCITE panel innovators representing libraries, higher education, and business entrepreneurs, evaluated and scored presentations, ultimately awarding $3,000 grants to each of the six teams.
Peggy Cadigan, Deputy State Librarian for Innovation and Outreach, New Jersey State Library, said “I recently participated as a judge for the current cohort of Connecticut State Library's EXCITE Transformation for Libraries project. What an incredible opportunity. The projects devised by the teams were solid, but the process used to design the projects and create team synergy was what really impressed me. Each project involved interviews with community members and continuous iteration based on feedback from stakeholders. The team did not enter this program with a project in mind - they came into it as a disparate group of people, but developed the tools to learn how to collaborate, innovate and trust. This is the best team-building program I have ever seen.”
The EXCITE project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
About IMLS: The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's approximately 120,000 libraries and 35,000 museums and related organizations. The agency’s mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Its grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive. To learn more, visit
www.imls.gov
and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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New Virtual Reality Resources
In addition, the following titles have been ordered for the Middletown Library Service Center and should be available in our collection by mid-June:
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Augmented and Virtual Reality in Libraries by Christine Elliott 2018
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Defying Reality by David M. Ewalt 2018
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Learning Transported by Jaime Donally 2018
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Teaching and Learning in Virtual Environments by Patricia C. Franks 2016
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Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality by Bruno Amaldi 2018
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Virtual Reality for Dummies by Paul Mealy 2018
Oculus Rift demos are available by appointment at the Middletown Library Service Center for those considering purchasing an Oculus or wanting to try the virtual reality experience. Contact Gail Hurley if you would like to stop by. Gail.Hurley@ct.gov 860-704-2222.
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Construction Grants Available for 2018
The Connecticut State Library will be accepting construction grant applications this year from public libraries for library expansion, new buildings, major alterations, remodeling, accessibility, code compliance, emergency preparedness, and energy conservation. Available funding is expected to be approximately $9 million.
Library construction grants fund one-half of total project costs up to a maximum of $1 million. The minimum grant is $30,000 (total project cost of $60,000). All interested libraries MUST submit a “Notice of Intent” form by June 30. Applications will be due by September 1. The new Notice of Intent form and other documents explaining the grant program are available on our Construction Grants web page here:
http://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/dld/construction/constructiongrants.
Please contact Tom Newman, Construction Grants, at 860-757-6573,
tom.newman@ct.gov for more information.
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LSTA Planning Grants
Applications for LSTA Planning Grants will be accepted on a rolling basis every two months, with the next deadlines on June 25 and August 27. These six-month planning grants will provide up to $5,000 to assist libraries with planning initiatives to explore new services, assess and address the needs of changing population and patron bases, develop partnerships and collaboration, or write new strategic plans or long-range master plans.
All potential applicants must attend an information session about the assessment and planning tools available from the CT State Library as well as grant application instructions, regulations, and fiscal management. The next session is scheduled for:
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Wednesday, July 11, 9:30-11:30, Middletown Library Service Center
Register online.
Additional information sessions will be offered bimonthly in the fall and winter. If you would like to host an information session at your library, please contact Maria Bernier, LSTA Coordinator, at
maria.bernier@ct.gov
or 860-704-2204.
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findIT CT Update
Thank you to all the libraries that have submitted their updated holdings for inclusion in the findIT catalog. Now that we have the updated holdings we will begin importing and integrating them into findIT, a process that will begin shortly after June 1 and will take time to complete.
Note: If you are unable to send us your holdings by the June 1 deadline, please contract Gail Hurley,
Gail.Hurley@ct.gov
as soon as possible. Note: if your library is part of Bibliomation, CONNcert, Library Connection, LION, or SECONN, we will get your library’s holdings from your network.
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requestIT CT Update
Steve Cauffman will be offering a session called
The Dos and Don'ts of requestIT CT
. The session is for those who have been trained on and are currently using requestIT CT. Steve will review the FulfILLment system and updating process, show some of the newer features, and talk about ILL workflow. The session will include demonstrations and will not be hands on like the requestIT training sessions. This session will be repeated about once per month at various locations in the state.
The first session will be taking place at the Middletown Library Service Center on Wednesday, June 13 from 9 am to noon. To register for this session, go to
https://cslib.libcal.com/event/4249524
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Nutmeg Winners and Nominees
researchIT CT added copies of 2018 Nutmeg award winning titles to its RBDigital collection in eAudiobook and eBook formats. All 2019 Nutmeg nominated titles available from Recorded Books were also added in both formats to the collection. To view titles, see
https://iconnct.rbdigital.com/. The eResource Advisory Task Force selectors will select other titles to add to the collection in June.
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Development Update
LYRASIS has successfully installed a total of 16 public libraries in each of the three regional library systems' eGO circulation managers and will continue to add more libraries. The eGO coordinator has been gathering technical contact information from Connecticut VERSO libraries as well as selected urban libraries for development when the regional library system libraries are nearly finished.
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) continues with its Open Bookshelf initiative that will furnish access to open access eBooks to libraries in SimplyE in the future. The Open Bookshelf Curation Corp has selected from titles available in eBook form from the Government Printing Office to add them to the Open Bookshelf.
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A date has been set for
Everyone Included, Part 2: LGBTQIA+, a program for children's and teen library staff. Robin McHaelen, of
True Colors: Sexual Minority Youth and Family Services, will be the main speaker for the program which will be held from 10AM-3PM, October 24, 2018, at the Wallingford Public Library.
We are looking for library staff to participate in a panel discussion. Are you LGBTQIA and interested in participating? Please contact Linda Williams at
Linda.Williams@ct.gov.
Watch the listservs for registration information.
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Professional Development & Training Opportunities – June
Human Resources (Library Management Series)
In person workshop
Monday, June 18, 9 am to noon
Middletown Library Service Center, 786 South Main St., Middletown, CT 06457
Cost: Free
Customer Service in the Trenches
In person workshop
Tuesday, June 19, 9 am to noon
Middletown Library Service Center, 786 South Main St., Middletown, CT 06457
Cost: Free
Hands-On Legal Reference for Public Librarians
In person workshop
Monday, June 25, 1 pm to 4 pm
Southbury Public Library, 100 Poverty Road, Southbury, CT 06448
Cost: Free / Limit of 10 attendees
For more professional development opportunities,
visit the Division of Library Development’s Continuing Education Calendar at
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Reminder: MLSC Hours – June 2018
A reminder that in addition to 8 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday, the Middletown Library Service Center’s hours for May will include:
Saturday, June 2:
Open 9 am to noon
Thursday, June 7: Open 8 am to 8pm
Questions?
Contact us at 860-704-2200, our main phone number.
Contact Grace or Judy Crooks (
judy.crooks@ct.gov
) to pull general selections of children’s books or
Books on CD in advance of your visit.
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