September 2019 Newsletter
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National Events & Initiatives
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VTLIB @ 2019 National Book Festival!
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VTLIB's Jason Broughton and Jennifer Johnson, along with Wendy Martin of the Vermont Center for the Book (VCB), made the trek to Washington, D.C. for the 2019 National Book Festival! The festival is held annually at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and is organized by the Library of Congress. And in fact, Jason had the opportunity to attend a reception on August 30 where he met Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress!
Wendy and Jennifer spent most of the festival on August 31 at Vermont's booth in the "Parade of the States," where they stamped "passports" and conversed with members of the public. Visitors of the Vermont booth also had the opportunity to take a photo in our "photo booth" with characters from the 2019 Red Clover Book Award winner
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors
by Drew Daywalt & Adam Rex.
Thank you to the Institute of Museum & Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) for making the Parade of the States possible!
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State Librarian Jason Broughton with Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden!
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Two youngsters taking advantage of the VTLIB photo booth!
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For the first time, VTLIB will be participating in Burlington's annual Pride Festival! While most of the nation celebrates Pride Month in June, Burlington's festival will be held on Sunday, September 8 at Battery Park.
Stop by the VTLIB tent between 1:00-4:00pm to say hello, grab some swag, and celebrate Pride with us!
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VTLIB presents another speaker for the state employee speaker series "Tuesday Talks." This month the event will be on September 17 from 12pm-1pm at the Pavilion Auditorium. Recordings of Tuesday Talks will now be made available through a partnership with ORCA. Previous months' recordings and information about future Tuesday Talks are available on our website:
https://bit.ly/2jYZma1
.
In September, Brenda Gagne, Coordinator of the Abenaki Circle of Courage Youth Group for 22 years, will speak about this innovative program, contemporary tribal perspectives and indigenous language preservation. The Circle of Courage is a highly regarded after-school initiative fostering the tenets of belonging, generosity, independence, and mastery in Swanton and Highgate.
For more information, please see the event poster here:
https://bit.ly/2krujDW
. Please feel free to share the poster and event information in your departments. For more information please contact April Shaw (
april.shaw@vermont.gov
).
Tuesday Talks is a speaker series presented by VTLIB during the lunch hour one Tuesday each month. The topic and speaker will change each month, but will always be relevant to events or trends in Vermont that affect State Employees. All Tuesday Talks are open to members of the public as well.
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News from CLIC, the Public Law Library
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Help Promote CLIC!
Although our location in South Royalton is a trek for some, one of our outreach goals is to educate all Vermonters about the legal reference services available. Most services are walk-in only, but there are great resources available online, which we hope to expand based on requests and responses.
Please contact CLIC Coordinator Kassie Tibbott (
ktibbott@vermontlaw.edu
) for a package that includes pens, flash drives, magnets, flyers, and free copies of the United States Constitution to distribute at your location. Constitutions available in English and Spanish.
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LearningExpress Library Now Available for Free to All Vermonters
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The Vermont Department of Libraries is excited to announce that EBSCO’s LearningExpress Library is now available to all Vermonters at no charge through their library. LearningExpress Library (
https://bit.ly/2BWDoeC
) provides a comprehensive selection of academic and career-related solutions available in one platform. It includes skill-building in reading, writing, math, and science, college admissions exams, occupational licensing tests, workplace skills improvement, career exploration, and much more. The subscription includes Job & Career Accelerator, a job and career platform where job seekers can explore occupations, find career matches based on interests and skills, search for jobs and internships, search for scholarships, write winning resumes and much more. Also included is computer Skills Center, where one can learn the fundamentals of using a computer, the Internet and popular software applications with these self-paced, easy-to-use online tutorials —in beginner to advanced levels.
LearningExpress Library is a deep and broad tool that has something for everyone, from prep for the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) exam, nursing and medical testing prep, job interview and resume writing, computer skills, SAT, LSAT, and GRE test prep, to interactive tools to help someone choose a career. It can help someone choose a pathway in life or provide the tools to get a better job.
LearningExpress Library is available through libraries of all types in Vermont: academic, public, and school libraries all have authentication to use it. The Department of Libraries is rolling the product out over the next couple of months, with well-timed trainings specific to target audiences, including academic, school, and public libraries, and Vermont state employees.
Vermonters: contact your local library about LearningExpress Library and start using this great tool today!
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Registration Open: Red Clover Book Award Conference
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Registration is now open for the 2019 Red Clover Book Award Conference! The conference will be held on Friday, October 11 from 9:00am-3:00pm at VTLIB in Barre.
The fabulous Minh Lê (
www.minhlebooks.com
) will be joining us as our keynote speaker, and there will be three sessions of dynamic, engaging workshops focused on the 2019-2020 Red Clover nominees and topics surrounding early literacy.
Registration is $60 per person and includes a light breakfast, lunch, a set of the 2019-2020 Red Clover nominees, and all conference activities. We look forward to seeing you!
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Vermont Fairy Tale Festival: A Celebration of Vermont's Public Libraries
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It's almost time for the Vermont Fairy Tale Festival! The Sherburne Memorial Library in Killington is once again hosting the festival, which features some incredible Vermont public libraries showcasing their favorite fairy tales, in addition to:
- Storytelling
- Music
- Games
- Food & Craft Vendors
- Costumed Characters (including a VTLIB staff member dressed as a king!)
- Free books & prizes
...and so much more!
The festival will be held rain or shine on Saturday, September 21 at Sherburne Memorial Library in Killington from 10:00am-4:00pm. Admission is free, but donations of canned goods for the local food bank or humane society are appreciated.
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Continuing Education & Small/Rural Libraries
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2019 Public Library Director Summit
October 23, 2019 - 9:00am-4:30pm
Vermont State House, Montpelier
The Public Library Director Summit will be an interactive, intimate experience for public library directors, senior managers, and leaders to discuss library services, listen to updates and notifications, connect with VTLIB employees, and meet fellow colleagues from across Vermont. During the summit public library administrators and top managers will be exposed to some exciting new projects, state government information, and hear from fellow directors who are doing innovative things within their communities.
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VTLIB Continuing Education
Fall VTLIB workshops are in full swing! Check our website for schedule and other details:
https://bit.ly/2CNeUot
Joy is always looking for new things to add to the list of webinars, so please let her know if you’ve taken a good online workshop from someplace not listed on it (especially if it was free or the topic was technology, as those are frequent requests from librarians.) Email her at
joy.worland@vermont.gov
.
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The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization “Welcoming America” is inviting public libraries to participate in their annual “Welcoming Week.” Held September 13-22 this year, Welcoming Week is a series of events held all over the country with the goal of building community connections and promoting the spirit of unity and inclusiveness. The Welcoming Week website (
https://bit.ly/2bjFEjz
) has more information, including links to informational webinars, a toolkit for hosting events, marketing templates, and a place to submit your event if you want it posted on their site.
September 24 is National Voter Registration Day. EveryLibrary offers tools to help libraries remind their community members to register and to make it easy to do so. Especially useful are these instructions for how to embed voter registration forms on library websites:
https://bit.ly/2lvokhR
And of course don’t forget September is Library Card Sign-Up Month! Go here for more information:
https://bit.ly/1s6TZh7
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Special Populations & ABLE Library
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CLiF's Rural Libraries Conference
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Special Populations Consultant Vincent Livoti will participate in a workshop about Drag Queen Story Hour at the Children's Literacy Foundation's (CLiF) Rural Libraries Conference on September 20.
The theme of this year’s daylong conference is “Sharing Our Best Ideas” and it will have opportunities to learn about best practices for tackling issues relevant to small public libraries in our region.
For more information, please visit:
Registration for the conference closes on September 10.
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- Ms. Magazine: “The Feminist Lens: Why Michele Meek Celebrates a Diversity of Icons in Film” - https://bit.ly/2kuhJ6S
- Medical Express: “Behavioral Therapy, Physical Strengthening May Prevent Disability in Minority Elders” - https://bit.ly/2jYt8vx
- Forbes Magazine: “The New Faces Of Disability: Busting Stereotypes and Bending The World To Fit Their Needs” - https://bit.ly/2jX2uDi
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Regional Trustee Trainings
VTLIB is excited to announce that we have scheduled three regional trustee trainings around VT for trustees who:
- may not have been able to attend the Annual Trustees & Friends Conference in Burlington this past May, and/or
- are interested in networking/connecting with other trustees in their region, and/or
- want to learn more about strategic planning, community engagement, and other topics.
Dates:
- 9/28/19, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro, VT
- 10/12/19, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Rutland Free Library in Rutland, VT (with a break for lunch)
- 10/21/19, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Cobleigh Public Library in Lyndonville, VT
Description:
Area library trustees are invited to join Governance and Management Consultant Lara Keenan for a special regional trustee training. Trustees will gather to meet, network with, and learn from other area trustees. Lara will offer a quick basic trustee training (new for some, a review for others), followed by a deep dive into community engagement, the Harwood Institute Method, and strategic planning ideas. Interested trustees should indicate when registering other topics they would like to discuss, as Lara will use those suggestions to fill out the agenda.
Community Engagement
- The article focuses on the efforts over the past 9 years of the Sno-Isle Libraries in Washington to host community forums in response to expressed community needs.
- From the article: “Through these events, the library extends its neutral stance to enable civil, open discourse on controversial topics with the guidance of several panelists and a program moderator.”
- The article discusses:
- Challenges to implementing this type of program – especially in a time of contentious, uncivil national debate
- How they choose topics
- Nuts and bolts to implementation
- Tips
- Promoting this type of event
- Measuring outcomes
- Future efforts
- And more!
Though this type of program may not be right for all communities, it can offer a powerfully-effective way for libraries to bring people together, address community needs, and establish the library has an important center for civil civic discourse.
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Total number of interlibrary loan requests made in July 2019:
5567
Books: 4886
Videos/DVDs: 463
Audiobooks: 199
Articles: 8
Music CDs: 10
Music Scores: 1
Some of the most interesting titles I spotted:
- Ply-Split Camel Girths of West India
- Whirligigs: Design and Construction
- Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner
- Detectives in Togas
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Top 10 most requested book titles (with most requested at the top):
- Where the Crawdads Sing (Owens)
- Educated: A Memoir (Westover)
- Open Season (Mayor)
- The Stars are Fire (Shreve)
- The Book of Speculation (Swyler)
- The Inn at Lake Devine (Lipman)
- The Invited (McMahon)
- Dead Wake (Larson)
- And Then There Were None (Christie)
- To the Lighthouse (Woolf)
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From Our Neighbors at the Vermont Historical Society
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Vermont History Trivia
September 14, 1:00 to 2:30 pm
Vermont History Museum, Montpelier, VT
Do you know about the unusual animal fossil discovered in Charlotte in 1849? What about how Vermont got its name? Put your knowledge to the test and learn some fascinating new history facts with an exciting afternoon of Vermont History Trivia! This family-friendly event is open to individual players and teams, history buffs and novices alike! Trivia is included with the price of admission at the Vermont History Museum (free for members!)
Repeopling Vermont: The Paradox of Development in the Twentieth Century
Community Conversations
September 17, Brattleboro Free Library, 6:30 pm
VHS's newest publication,
Repeopling Vermont: The Paradox of Development in the Twentieth Century
by Paul M. Searls, is a thought-provoking examination of many of the central tensions in Vermont’s history and culture over the last hundred years. In partnership with the Vermont Department of Libraries, we have been hosting a series of Community Conversations with Paul Searls around the state centered around the themes in the book.
The Brattleboro conversation is the last in our series, but many libraries & other organizations around the state are hosting their own conversations. More information on scheduling your own is event is available here:
https://vermonthistory.org/community-conversations
Support provided by the Vermont Humanities Council and Northern Vermont University.
Fall Meeting for School Program Volunteers
September 19, 9:00 to 10:30 am
Vermont History Museum, Montpelier, VT
It's back-to-school time at the Vermont History Museum! Join current school program volunteers to learn more about leading Hands-On History Programs for students at the museum. All are welcome to join the meeting! RSVP to Victoria Hughes, Museum and Education Manager, at
victoria.hughes@vermonthistory.org
or (802) 828-1413. Can't make it to the meeting but want to learn more about volunteering? Let us know! New volunteers are welcome to start training at any time.
Third Thursday: New Discoveries and Insights in Vermont Archaeology
September 19, 12:00 pm
Vermont History Museum, Montpelier, VT
In conjunction with Archaeology Month, Vermont State Archaeologist Jess Robinson will provide a review of the most current research being done at archaeological sites statewide. Third Thursday lectures are free & open to everyone.
Smithsonian Museum Day at the Vermont History Museum
September 21
We'll also be hosting an open house and reception that day for the exhibit
Norman Rockwell's Arlington: America's Home Town
on view now in the Local History Gallery. Visit our website for more details.
Before Your Time: Green Mtn. Grab Bag
It’s a Green Mountain Grab Bag! We’ve gathered up some of our favorite bits that didn’t make it into our Before Your Time podcast with the Vermont Humanities Council and mixed them together in our latest “grab bag” episode. Everything from beer to bikes, pewter to piecework, and a look at one of the most unusual items in our collection-- a cape made of milkweed "fluff." Listen at
www.beforeyourtime.org
181st VHS Annual Meeting
September 29, 2:00-3:30 pm
Capitol Plaza, Montpelier
The program will include the Election of Officers & Trustees; Treasurer’s Report; Executive Director’s Report, the presentation of the Richard O. Hathaway Award and the presentation of the annual League of Local Historical Societies & Museums Achievement Awards. More information here:
https://vermonthistory.org/annual-meeting
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