This Month at CLC: March 2020
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DIRECTOR'S CORNER:
Putting a value on CLC membership
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By now you have probably seen our
year-at-a-glance infographic
with data on savings, membership, program attenda
nce and more. But do you know where these figures come from?
Our contracts with vendors include two important conditions to protect and add value to your membership:
- Non-CLC member Connecticut libraries cannot get the same or better terms on the same products and services from that vendor.
- Vendors will gather and report sales and savings figures to CLC twice a year.
CLC sends an updated membership roster twice a year to our vendors (with a signed agreement to use it only for reporting purposes). Our vendors use this list to confirm your membership before they give you the CLC discount. We also send them regular notices of any new members.
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Behind the total savings figure we provide you is a lot of tedious number crunching. Christine Sarrazin diligently tracks down sales and savings reports from vendors, and compiles the more than 40 submissions into individual reports for each of our over 800 members. Also included in your savings figure is the value (less price paid, if any) of select CLC events your library's staff attended, as well as CLC services, such as job postings, that your library utilized. The total annual savings figure for your library that we included in your renewal letter represents a labor of love and a lot of diligence. If you have questions about you
r savings, please contact your CLC Member Relations Manager (
Jen V.
for public & special libraries,
Julie
for school & academic libraries).
We take your membership investment very seriously - it is with your support that CLC is able to continue to negotiate and sign contracts that meet CT and federal purchasing regulations (see Jackie's column below), manage and promote over 35 different roundtables, and deliver unique training like our Advocacy Bootcamp, Storytelling Intensive Training, and Trendspotting events. There is a lot of work behind the numbers, but we think this is critical to the fulfillment of our mission and our promise to you.
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Jennifer Keohane
Executive Director
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DON'T WORRY - WE HAVE YOU COVERED!
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Jacqueline Cashin
Vendor Relations Manager
Hello library friends! We have had a very busy February 2020! After awarding
WT Cox
the subscription management bid in January, we have been talking to you, our members, about this exciting opportunity. We are also undertaking the implementation of the new federal procurement guidelines or “
2 CFR § 200.318 - General procurement standards
” for all entities (including libraries) that get federal funding of any kind. Here are the guidelines in a nutshell. The non-federal entity must:
- Document its procurement policies.
- Conform to all applicable federal laws and standards.
- Maintain oversight to ensure that the contractors perform in accordance with terms, conditions and specifications of their contracts or purchase orders.
- Use designated procurement thresholds.
- Maintain written standards of conduct.
- Maintain written standards covering organizational conflicts of interest.
- Avoid unnecessary or duplicate items.
- Try to enter into state and local intergovernmental agreements or inter-entity agreements where appropriate for procurement or use of common or shared goods and services.
This is where CLC can help.
CLC’s contracts
are not only state compliant, but they are compliant with all federal regulations. That means that when you use a CLC contract, you can be sure that you are meeting all the requirements for purchasing that you are obligated to. We make it so easy, and the contracts are available for your procurement departments to see at any time. There are other requirements in the law that are too long to be listed here, but if you have any questions about these or any other purchasing rules just email me at
jcashin@ctlibrarians.org
.
In other news, we have several bids coming up this year that we are very excited about. A couple of them will be going out in March, and I will update you then. We are all looking forward to not only the new products and services that are coming down the pike but also the warm days to greet us in the coming month! Happy spring!
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SEE YOU AT THE CASL UNCONFERENCE
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Julie Yulo-Medeiros
Member Relations Manager, School & Academic Libraries
Jennifer Keohane and I will be at the
Connecticut Association of School Librarians (CASL) UnConference
on Saturday, March 28. Besides having the opportunity to talk to us and ask any questions, you'll see us facilitating the readers advisory crowd source discussion and the roundtable discussions by grade level. We're looking forward to it.
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Some key things to know about CASL’s UnConference:
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And just so you know, an UnConference is a participant-driven meeting. Often a big board is set up with grids, and participants put in topics they would like to discuss with others. Nobody needs to be an expert, though sometimes the person setting up the topic has experience and wants to share their knowledge, insights, and concerns with others that are thinking of adopting the technology, product, and/or technique. It’s very informal and a great opportunity to ask questions and meet like-minded peers. I remember being at an UnConference several summers ago when we were all talking about Google Classroom. The product hadn’t been released yet, but we put together a working knowledge based on what everyone was sharing. From that session we made connections with peers and left with the feeling we could reach out to each other as we learned more about Google Classroom and started using it in our schools and districts. UnConferences are empowering because you are more in control of your learning and sharing than traditional conferences.
Hope to see you at CASL UnConference on Saturday, March 28th. And p
lease reach out to me any time with questions, or just to say hi: 860.344.8777 x102 or
jyulo@ctlibrarians.org
.
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FINDING OUR VOICES ... TELLING OUR STORIES
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Amanda Stern
Events & Special Projects Manager
My parents have told me that I didn’t talk until I was three. I
could
talk, but I had an extremely chatty older sister who was happy to say everything for me. It was only when she went off to school that I discovered I had a voice. And that I liked to use it. My mother jokes that once I started talking, she couldn’t get me to stop. I had a story to tell about
everything
.
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I’ve always been fascinated by storytellers, those talented people who can captivate audiences with their spoken word. I dreamed of being among their ranks, so when the opportunity presented itself to take a storytelling course in library school, I jumped on it. That’s when I learned that storytelling – real storytelling – takes effort. It wasn’t like telling a charming anecdote about my day over the dinner table. Getting up in front of an audience was scary. So I didn’t do it. I did just enough to skate by in my class, but I missed a real opportunity to build a skill I desperately wanted.
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Imagine my delight when I found myself in a meeting with our partners at the
Connecticut Storytelling Center
planning an intensive storytelling training for librarians! I knew this was something I needed to participate in, something that would help make up for my missed opportunity. I became one of 11 librarians who met together in a four-week series to learn from
Jennifer Munro
(pictured), an award-winning professional storyteller. We discovered the art and process of learning a story, talking about what makes a good story, how to choose a story that works for our voices, how to break down a story into its different components to make it easy to learn. We explored different types of stories – folk tales, personal stories, transforming picture books into a storytelling experience. We did exercises to help us find voices for our characters, talked about movement and eye contact. We had homework, learning stories to perform in front of our peers.
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Our last day together was devoted to performances. Words cannot describe the feelings I experienced as I listened to my brave colleagues tell their stories – many of them original and personal. I found myself hanging on every word. I even – a decade after my first disastrous storytelling experience – stood in front of the group and shared my story, one I call
The Year My Mother Didn’t Get a Cake
. I was nervous, yes, but somewhere between walking to the stage area and declaring the title of my story, I found the magic. I opened my mouth and my story told itself through my voice.
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As a capstone project to our training, we will be presenting our stories in a showcase we call
CT Librarians Tell
. It's on Thursday, March 12 at
Best Video Film and Cultural Center
in Hamden. We have a collection of favorite and original stories to share that we hope you’ll love as much as we do. Experience the magic of storytelling with us! This event is free and open to all. I really hope you will come and bring a friend!
Register today
.
And if you'd like to get more involved with storytelling yourself, we have more opportunities for you:
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Jennifer Van Nostrand
Member Relations Manager, Public & Special Libraries
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This month, I’ll be celebrating my 1-year anniversary of working for CLC. Time has truly flown by, but when I look back at all that’s happened in this past year, it feels like I’ve been here for a lifetime! I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I am so grateful that CLC’s “boots on the ground” approach is welcomed and celebrated in our library community, as it’s my favorite part of the job and the best way I know how to connect with all of you. I’ve traveled near and far to libraries in all four corners of Connecticut and had the opportunity to meet so many our members along the way! In the short year I’ve been here, I’ve visited almost 50 towns, and I can’t wait to hit all 169 in short order. The miles on my little blue Hyundai are racking up, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
I have always believed that the best way to get a sense of a town’s personality is by visiting the library – yes, I am that nerd who goes to check out the library while on vacation. During my visits, besides being able to take in each area’s unique vibe and main street scene, I’ve been listening intently to the concerns, challenges, and ideas that have arisen because of lively discussions, especially at our roundtables. Many times, I am just soaking in the magic that happens when you get a group of librarians together – the collaborative nature of our profession and our willingness to share ideas is truly inspiring. Librarians understand better than anyone that by lifting each other up and helping each other succeed, we are empowering both our own work and our communities.
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CLC is all about harnessing this power of togetherness and support, and it’s the reason I left my beloved colleagues in Glastonbury to come work here. I look forward to another year’s worth of life lessons from our wise, compassionate, creative library world. I’m always learning how CLC can help our state’s librarians be the best versions of themselves, whether it be by helping you save money on a vital database or service or being an ear to listen to your ideas and suggestions. Chances are, if we haven’t met yet, I will be at your library soon! In the meantime, feel free to call or email me anytime – you help the people in your towns all day long, and you deserve some of that support in return.
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DISCOUNT HIGHLIGHTS
CLC has current offers from these vendors and many others. Please visit our website to learn more!
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Training and Q&A Session
Thursday, March 12 @ 10:00am
Wallingford Public Library
If you'd like to get more out of your current ReferenceUSA subscription, OR if you're looking for a new business and consumer database, this free, interactive training/Q&A session is for you.
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Order by March 20
Now is a great time to order a new AWE digital learning workstation or tablet. CLC members save 10% + $50 off each unit, plus an additional $150 off for new customers. Trade in your older unit and save $150 off a new one.
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ROUNDTABLE ROUNDUP:
Takeaways from some of last month's meetings
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Couldn’t make it to roundtables last month? Here are some takeaways you can use!
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Attendees at the
New Directors Roundtable (2/7/20) enjoyed a presentation on “Beating the Budget Blues” from Cheshire Public Library director Beth Crowley. Many of us are in the thick of budget season, which can be especially daunting for a new director. Among many other helpful tips and strategies, Beth taught us how to make the C.A.S.E. for your library: Be
Clear (don’t use library jargon, plan for your audience),
Accurate (double check math, spelling, dates),
Similar (keep the same format year to year so your finance department or board can compare), and finally, remember to
Expand (include a cover sheet and make sure it explains any requests for increases or why certain numbers or percentages look abnormal).
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Readers’ Advisory Roundtable South
(2/10/20) focused on Urban/Street Fiction. Denise Lyles from Ferguson Library presented on the topic. Urban fiction includes socio-economic realities, drugs, violence, and sex, and contains vivid descriptions of the inner city and everything that happens in and around the street. These books typically feature young adult protagonists who use African American Vernacular English (AAVE), hip-hop slang, and/or American regional dialects. Urban fiction typically features appealing book covers with a double entendre. Popular in prisons, urban fiction books are also the most stolen books in public libraries, so providing digital copies on platforms such as Hoopla or OverDrive may help with this. Popular authors include Iceberg Slim (Donald Goines) and Sister Souljah.
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ROUNDTABLE ROUNDUP:
Coming Attractions
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Monday, March 9, 10:00am
Trumbull Library
UNPOLITICAL
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How do you present unbiased information and find resources to support your community for the upcoming election? During this session we will discuss strategies to engage your community, share speaker and program ideas, and tips for managing micro-aggression that may pop up during a program.
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Tuesday, March 10, 10:00am
Middletown Library Service Center
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CLC, CSL, CLA - what do these mean? If you are confused by all the acronyms, please join us for a panel discussion with representatives from some of the professional organizations that exist to support you and your library. You'll learn what they have in common, how they differ, and most importantly, how they can help you and your library grow and thrive.
Brought to you by the New Directors Roundtable - open to any member of the CT library community.
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Formerly the Valley-Shore Library Directors Roundtable
Wednesday, March 18, 9:30am
Deep River Public Library
MARIA BERNIER, STATE DATA COORDINATOR
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Please join us for this newly-expanded roundtable for public library directors in South Central CT as we talk generally about issues of interest and concern in our region. Maria Bernier from the CSL DLD will be our guest and will speak about the state annual report.
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Thursday, March 26, 9:30am
Guilford Free Library
DIGGING DEEPER INTO PROPERTY HISTORY
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Join us on Thursday, March 26 for another meeting of the Genealogy Roundtable as we discuss resources for property history. The Genealogy Roundtable is open to anyone interested in exploring and sharing resources and strategies for genealogy and family history research.
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These are just a few of this month's roundtables - there are
19 meetings
scheduled for March alone! Don't miss out ... visit our continuously-updated calendar and make plans to attend a roundtable today.
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