This Month at CLC: September 2019
|
|
DIRECTOR'S CORNER: How Was YOUR Summer?
|
|
One of the upsides of having 3 Jennifers working at CLC is I inadvertently get to speak with members calling for one of the other Jens. These misdirected calls yield lots of news about record-breaking summer reading attendance, new community partnerships, organizational challenges and changes, and just a chance to find out what libraries across the state are up to. For a couple of minutes, I get to step away from what I’m doing and step into your world – returning to my own tasks with renewed purpose and context.
This summer, I’ve been behind the scenes as I worked on a set of goals identified as critical to strengthening the organization and our member value. CLC was formed via
state statute
to enable Connecticut libraries to be able to purchase the goods and services they need while complying with state, municipal and organizational purchasing rules. As funding has gotten tighter, efficient and legal purchasing has become more important. We’ve hired a part-time procurement specialist/Vendor Relations Manager, Jackie Cashin, to help us revise our contracts and bid process to fully comply with current state purchasing law. With Jackie’s help, the CLC staff have all learned about Connecticut’s purchasing regulations and what our members need to follow. We will be doing more training for members, including at the upcoming
NELA conference
, to help all of you understand the complexities of rules around purchasing. Via phone calls, face-to-face meetings and emails, we’ve strived to increase vendor awareness of CLC’s important role in helping members comply with state, municipal and organizational procurement rules. In addition, we’ve created a new vendor fee structure that helps diversify our income without increasing membership dues or decreasing member value. Renegotiating every contract in our three public bids was a huge project, but critical to our long-term sustainability.
So now that summer is winding down, we are ready to open the pipelines and let in the flood of new products, training, programs and partnerships. Read below to discover all that we have planned for you. Our summer projects have created a strong foundation of processes, relationships, and most importantly, a skilled team that believes in our mission and in YOU!
Jennifer Keohane
Executive Director
|
|
Hello to all our amazing Connecticut libraries! I am CLC's new Vendor Relations Manager, and I’m so excited to be the newest member of the Connecticut Library Consortium team. I have worked in many aspects of local and regional government, from accounting to contract management and even as a local assessor. All of these wonderful experiences have allowed me to really appreciate the hard work and dedication of our teachers, our consortium friends, and our librarians in keeping costs down, circulation up and maintaining a fair and free environment for our patrons to visit, learn and grow.
I will be working with many of the suppliers that you have grown to count on, and I look forward to meeting all of you at one of the many events attended by and/or sponsored by the Connecticut Library Consortium.
Jacqueline Cashin
Vendor Relations Manager
|
|
HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING!
|
|
Even though I haven’t been a student in nearly a decade, I can’t help but look at the end of summer wistfully while sharpening my pencils for the start of a “new year” in September. This busy summer was the perfect way to hit the ground running in my new role at CLC. We are strengthening our relationship with our existing contracts, bringing more of your favorite products under CLC pricing, and increasing the value of your membership. An eventful and exciting year has already begun!
WE NEED YOUR VOICE.
Member feedback plays a crucial role in the process of choosing vendor partners. We get so many great ideas for companies and products from conversations at roundtables, your emails and calls, and a wonderfully active CONNtech listserv, but your involvement doesn’t stop there. In the next few days, we’ll be sending out a call for members from each library type to serve on evaluation committees to help us assess certain products and services. This is the most important part of the process for a variety of reasons:
- CLC doesn’t just partner with any library vendor who approaches us. We take into careful consideration the interest of librarians and the varying needs of patrons in communities across the state.
- It shows our vendors that CLC truly represents the opinions of CT librarians, which strengthens our position at the negotiating table.
- While we work very hard to ask the questions we think matter to you, at the end of the day, YOU are the ones on the front lines who may have comments or concerns about a particular product. Serving on a committee is your chance to get those questions answered and concerns addressed.
If you’d like to be a part of the CLC behind-the-scenes decision making, email us at
members@ctlibrarians.org
or call 860-344-8777. Your input and expertise is crucial to the bid process.
As a reminder, we are here any time you have an idea for a new vendor partnership or to act as an intermediary between your library and an existing vendor when things aren’t going as smoothly as you hoped. In the coming year, we’ll be working on ways to help you navigate the library marketplace even more, regardless of your library’s size or budget.
|
|
HITTING THE ROAD.
On that note, I’ll be attending the sold-out
Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) conference
in Burlington, VT at the beginning of September. Did you know Connecticut has 64 public libraries serving populations under 10,000? If that designation applies to you, I’d love to hear from you! What topics/services are you most interested in? Who would you like me to visit in the exhibit hall? It’s my goal to represent our coalition of small libraries the best I can and bring back information that is relevant and helpful to you and your communities. Please feel free to call or email me with your suggestions.
Jennifer Van Nostrand
Member Relations Manager, Public & Special Libraries
|
|
You know it is back to school time when you have your first back to school dream. Mine usually arrive in early August. When I first started teaching, I thought these dreams had to do with the fact that I was so new. When the dreams continued into my second, third, and fourth decade of teaching, I knew they were more about the excitement and anticipation of a new school year.
This summer was a busy time to make sure members requesting subscriptions to
Turnitin
and
Scholastic Digital
products were signed up and ready to go. The demand for both was high, and it’s not too late to take advantage of the savings CLC has to offer. New this year: We are partnering with Turnitin to offer their extended help desk feature for FREE. And Scholastic has two exciting new products available at a great CLC discount:
- Teachables is an online database of tens of thousands of searchable and printable educational materials for the Pre-K-6 grade population. It includes differentiated instruction with 200+ leveled learning collections to help accommodate the learning requirements of all students.
- Watch & Learn is a library of hundreds of nonfiction videos with real-world footage to build science, social studies, and social-emotional knowledge. Perfect for grades PreK-3, in English and Spanish. Watch & Learn supports ELL, Spanish-speaking students, and beginning readers.
Please reach out to me to learn more or get a quote on these and other products.
|
|
This summer also featured a very unique Maker Roundtable event (see photos). Co-chairs Susan Ray (Simsbury Public Library) and Carrie Seiden (North Branford Public Schools) decided to host their "meeting" at Stony Creek Brewery in Branford, and asked participants to bring a maker tool or project to share from their library’s own makerspace. The turnout was huge, attracting an energetic mix of school, public, and academic librarians. Everyone had fun trying each other’s maker toys and equipment, and it was a comfortable place to experiment with something new without worrying about mastering it. What struck me the most about the success of this event was the conversation. Everyone was enthusiastically picking each other's brains for ideas, procedures, and experiences. Many attendees requested that we do more events like this in the future. I have no doubt that we will.
I wish you the very best as you start the new school year! Please reach out to me with questions, or just to say hi.
Julie Yulo-Medeiros
Member Relations Manager, School & Academic Libraries
|
|
|
LET US FILL UP YOUR CALENDAR!
|
|
My two favorite times of the year are January and September, because those are the most obvious and easy times for setting goals and making plans. This year is no different for me, except that I’ve been at CLC long enough to be tasked with a big project: preparing this year’s professional development and special events calendar. It’s going to be a busy year!
With more than 30 roundtable groups, there is usually something going on at CLC; in September, we have
15 roundtable meetings
on the schedule already! But this year you can expect even more from us. Here are some highlights:
|
|
Advocacy Bootcamps
–
Every library has a compelling story. Discovering that story, and learning to tell it the right way, can yield powerful benefits.
Julie and I will be traveling across the state presenting this ALA Advocacy Bootcamp, teaching members how to tell stories from your libraries that you can use to help build community support. Join us on
9/12 in Vernon
or
10/8 in Westport
. Click either link to learn more & register.
|
|
|
Meeting Facilitation Training
– We’ve all sat through plenty of bad meetings. Join CLC and consultant Kim Crowley on 9/16 in Wallingford to learn what it takes to run a great one! This is practical training that nearly everyone can use. Open to anyone associated with your library/school - trustees, administrators, faculty, Friends.
Registration is open!
|
|
|
Exclusive Partner Event
–
On 10/22, right after the NELA conference, we’re partnering with Mystic Seaport Museum to bring you a unique CLC member event connected with the Seaport's
visiting exhibit by J.M.W. Turner
, on loan from the Tate Museum in London.
Enjoy exclusive access to the exhibit, a special curated talk, hors d'oeuvres and beverages, and the chance to win one of five free Mystic Seaport memberships for your users to enjoy all year - all free for CLC members!
Registration is open!
|
|
|
Trendspotting
- You heard it here first - our signature
Trendspotting symposium
will return on Tuesday, October 30! Join us at Baci Restaurant in Cromwell for a full day event designed to prepare you for the Next Big Thing. More info and registration coming soon - please save the date!
|
|
|
And that's not all.
We're planning some exciting full-day learning opportunities, exploring such issues as library marketing, patron privacy, and trends in publishing. We'll be presenting and exhibiting at various professional conferences this fall - look for us at
NELA
,
CASL/CECA
,
CLASS
, and more. You know we'll have something fun, practical, and inspiring for you there. We'll be working with the
Connecticut Storytelling Center
to promote storytelling and build storytelling skills. And there’s already talk about doing more work with
Goodspeed Musicals
. The opportunities will keep on coming.
We’d like to think our
professional development calendar
offers something for everyone. Is there a topic you want to learn more about? Do you have an idea for a
roundtable
that is needed in our library community? Contact me and share. Looking forward to seeing you at an event soon!
Amanda Stern
Events & Special Projects Manager
|
|
ARE OUR INVOICES FINDING YOU? :)
|
|
Here we are in the waning days of summer. While some of you were enjoying some well-deserved time off, the CLC office has been busy reviewing our member subscriptions. We have been sending quotes, compiling responses, and yes, sending out invoices.
If you have ordered products, directories, or subscriptions within the past six weeks, chances are you have been invoiced. We have found that invoices can be misdirected, caught in spam, or sent to email addresses that are non-existent.
If by chance you have not received an expected invoice for your order, please feel free to contact me at
accounting@ctlibrarians.org
. I will be happy to resend to you. Not just now, but if you have any billing questions at any time, please do not hesitate to reach out. If I cannot answer you immediately, I will ferret out the information and get back to you in a timely manner.
Enjoy these last few days of summer. And as always, thank you for supporting CLC, and being a part of the POWER OF WE!
Tracy Monterville
Office Administrator
|
|
Our
July issue
featured a lovely photo of (most of) our Board of Trustees, taken at our annual meeting in June. Your editor must have been suffering from a case of summer brain, because somehow she made a dreadful error. In the back row, 5th from the left, or 4th from the right depending on how you like to look at things, is trustee
Priscilla Ubysz
of Pratt & Whitney Information & Library Services - not the mysterious "Patricia" Ubysz as our caption stated. CLC regrets the error, and is committed to getting everyone's name correct from here forward!
--Ed.
|
|
|
|
Friday, September 20, 1:00pm
For JobNow subscribers
|
Your library subscribes to
JobNow
, but are your users getting everything out of it that they can? Join a live JobNow webinar with Brainfuse and CLC - perfect for new staff or for anyone who wants to get the most out of their library's JobNow subscription. Our Brainfuse representative will demo the product and its features. We'll also offer tips on marketing your JobNow subscription to your users, review usage stats, and take your questions.
Join us - register today!
|
|
|
|
Connecticut has a new
plastic bag law
that requires retailers to charge 10 cents for most plastic bags. Help your users go plastic-free by offering our handy "I Love CT Libraries" reusable totes! These cheerful, surprisingly roomy bags help library users carry their materials, support the environment, comply with the law, save 10 cents, AND show their enthusiasm for Connecticut libraries. What's not to love? Order any quantity. Pricing begins at $1.15 per bag. Visit
ctlibrarians.org/bags
for complete pricing, terms, and ordering info.
|
|
|
|
If your school or district is considering subscribing to Turnitin®, CLC will save you money!
Contact Julie at
jyulo@ctlibrarians.org
. We have the guaranteed lowest price available to K-12 schools. Free extended help desk too. It's not too late to subscribe for the school year. Visit
ctlibrarians.org/turnitin
to learn more.
|
|
KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL MEETING FACILITATION
A custom workshop for CT library leaders
|
|
Monday, September 16
12:30pm - 4:30pm
Wallingford Public Library
|
|
- Have you ever led a meeting that didn't go as you planned?
- Do your meetings sometimes wander so far off on tangents that you're not sure how to get back on track?
- Have you found yourself struggling to get "that person" to stop talking and let other people have their turn?
- Are you mystified by how to get the quiet folks to contribute?
During this interactive training program, you'll learn and practice key preparation tools, strategies to get all participants equally invested, and tips to keep your meetings on track. After participating in this carefully crafted mix of instruction and practice, you'll walk away confident and with greater leadership ability! Suitable for all library types. Invite your trustees, administrators, faculty, Friends - everyone associated with your library gets the CLC member rate! $55 for CLC members, $75 non-members.
LEARN MORE
|
|
TELL ME A STORY:
LIBRARY ADVOCACY THROUGH STORYTELLING
An ALA Advocacy Bootcamp
|
|
Thursday, September 12
10:00am - 12:00pm
Rockville Library, Vernon
|
|
Tuesday, October 8
10:00am - 12:00pm
Westport Library
|
|
Every library has a compelling story. Discovering that story, and learning to tell it the right way, can yield powerful benefits. At this ALA workshop conducted by Julie & Amanda from CLC, you will first uncover and hone your library's story. Then, you'll learn narrative techniques to help you secure funding, turn your staff into advocates, and send a consistent message that your library is a smart investment! Suitable for all library types. $10 for CLC members, $15 non-members.
LEARN MORE
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, September 10, 2:00pm
Wallingford Public Library
|
We will be discussing speaker possibilities for the LGBTQ section of the next CLA Conference Bring ideas and opinions. We will also discuss any issues, topics, or programs that attendees would like to address in an open forum, and determine topics for deeper exploration at future meetings.
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, September 18, 10:00am
Westport Library
|
All public, academic and special librarians are welcome to join us at the next Business Librarians Roundtable. We will tour the new, "transformed" Westport Library, and will also discuss current issues facing business librarians. Join us! And please help shape this year's meetings by completing this brief survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DDJXXWC
|
|
|
|
Thursday, September 26, 9:00am
Middletown Library Service Center
HOW DO I TEACH
THAT?
|
Come to the new Genealogy Roundtable to brainstorm, share ideas, and learn about topics, trends and experiences in genealogical research! At this meeting, we will discuss program development and explore teaching practices.
|
|
These are just a few of this month's roundtables - there are 15 meetings scheduled for September alone! Don't miss out ... visit our continuously-updated calendar and make plans to attend a roundtable today!
|
|
You have received this newsletter because your library is a CLC member or partner, or you signed up for our mailing list. To adjust your CLC email settings,
log into your CLC account
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
