Working Group on the Status of Libraries in Vermont | |
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On May 20th, the Working Group on the Status of Libraries in Vermont convened its fourth meeting on the topic of Technology. As in previous meetings school, public, and academic librarians from around the state shared testimony with the Working Group. In addition to live testimony during the meeting, the working group also received written testimony on the topic.
During this May 2022 meeting, the Working Group established that moving forward, it will convene regular, recurring meetings on the 4th Friday of every other month for the period beginning Friday, July 22nd, 2022, through September 22nd, 2023. Meetings will continue to be held via Microsoft Teams (with an on-site option at 60 Washington Street in Barre, VT) and will be scheduled between the hours of 9:00am and 3:00pm with a recess for at least one hour at noon. The Working Group also decided to convene special meetings on November 18th, 2022 and November 17th, 2023 to avoid conflicts with the Thanksgiving Holiday.
We encourage members of the Vermont Library community to join the Working Group for some or all of our meetings, which are open to everyone! For those who miss the live meetings, videos of each meetings of the Working Group can be viewed in their entirety online. Links to the recordings, agendas, minutes, and any supporting documents can be found on the Working Group’s website: https://libraries.vermont.gov/services/projects/working_group
All written testimony submitted to the Working Group is also available to the public and can be found online here: https://libraries.vermont.gov/services/projects/working_group/testimony_record
You can contribute your knowledge and expertise to the Working Group’s study! While the Working Group has already met on a number of topics, we are still accepting written testimony from the public and members of the library community on the topics of Technology, Facilities, Collections, Programming, and Staffing in Vermont’s Libraries. Please visit the Working Group web page for information on how to submit testimony.
The next meeting of the working group will be held on July 22, 2022 on the topic of Staffing. A call for live testimony for the July meeting will go out in June.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me and others at the Vermont Department of Libraries with questions, suggestions, and concerns!
Catherine Delneo
State Librarian and Commissioner of Libraries
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Photo courtesy of Jeb Wallace-Brodeur, Times Argus | |
Welcome Jessie Dall, Executive Assistant, Department of Libraries | |
Jessie Dall joined the Vermont Department of Libraries team on May 23rd. Jessie comes to us from the Vermont Historical Society, where she served as Membership and Operations Associate. Prior to her time with VHS, Jessie worked at Northern Vermont University-Lyndon, as a faculty assistant to the Visual Arts and Mountain Recreation Management department. She has an undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke in art history as well as a master’s degree in medieval art from Christie’s in London. Jessie loves libraries and is a substitute at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier.
Photo courtesy of Augie, Age 4
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VTLIB Consultants Kick Off Tour | |
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The Vermont Department of Libraries Consultant Tour kicks off this month with a June 14, 2022 visit to libraries in Caledonia and Lamoille counties. Consultants from the Information & Access and Library Advancement Divisions will visit multiple area libraries in the morning and hold a Meet & Greet in the afternoon for all libraries in the region at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum. We'll be following this up with a series of similar visits to libraries throughout the state from June until September. It is an exciting opportunity to meet in-person, and to learn more about the unique libraries throughout the state. Registrations for the Meet & Greet portions are requested for planning purposes and can be made by clicking on the appropriate calendar links on this page.
Photo credit: motorcycle-vermont.com
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ABLE Library & Inclusive Services | |
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ABLE Book Club
Join the ABLE Library book club on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. We will be discussing 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith (Sound recording book number: DB64303). Participants can join on their computers or over the phone. ABLE Library patrons can contact the ABLE Library to find out how to get a copy of the book and register for the discussion. Email lib.ablelibrary@vermont.gov or call (802) 636-0020 or (800) 479-1711.
ABLE Library Statistics for April 2022
Total number of checkouts: 9,494
Digital cartridges: 7,479
Large pint: 707
BARD app (audio or braille books downloaded by patrons): 1,308
Top 5 Most Popular Books:
1. The Red Palace by June Hur (DB106804)
2. Steal by James Patterson (DB106928)
3. Let’s Get Lost: A Matthew Scudder Story by Lawrence Block (DB105968)
4. The Human Comedy: Selected Stories by Honoré de Balzac (DB105483)
5. No Grater Crime by Maddie Day (DB106595)
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Vermont Adaptive Charity Challenge | |
Photo credit: VT Adaptive Sports | |
Join ABLE Library staff on June 18 at Killington Resort for the 12th annual Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports Charity Challenge. This is an opportunity to support adaptive sports while engaging in an outdoor activity. Visit Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports’ website for more information. | |
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Memorable Times Café
We are excited to be celebrating community with an in-person summer gathering at the Vermont Historical Society on July 20, 2022, from 1:30 to 3:00 pm! Music, friendly company, refreshments, and pleasant times will be shared. Barb Asen from the Central Vermont Council on Aging will lead us in Ageless Grace activities – “playing” with seated movement and imagination paired with favorite songs. Memorable Times Café participants will get to see each other once again and welcome new friends. The ABLE Library staff will be on hand with resources for enjoying books in new ways. This is a dementia-friendly community activity open to all who are interested. Please register in advance by contacting Barb Asen at 802-476-2681 or basen@cvcoa.org.
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Strategic Planning & Consultant Office Hours | |
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Many libraries throughout the state are working toward a strategic plan. VTLIB is working toward providing support and assistance to the libraries with mindfulness on their varied stages of planning and their unique needs. Be on the lookout for more information on strategic planning.
Summer and its hectic schedules are here. To accommodate the busy schedules of librarians and trustees, Tonya Ryals (Consultant for Governance and Management), is holding virtual open office hours. This time will allow library directors and trustees to ask questions in an open, virtual setting at their convenience. Office hours will be held June 13 and 27 from 2-3 p.m. Evening office hours will be held June 9 and 23 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Can’t make it to the hours? No problem – email and calling options are always available: tonya.ryals@vermont.gov or 802-798-2480.
Image by macrovector / Freepik
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USB Microphones Available to Libraries | |
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There are still high-quality USB microphones available for public libraries to add to their collection through a Department of Libraries partnership with Fletcher Free Library and Big Heavy World. These microphones are easy to use and have potential to expand library programming, attract new people into libraries, and explore creative audio experiences such as writing and recording music or poetry, podcasting and audio journalism, and more. Requests for microphones can be made here.
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Vermont Youth 2022 Book Award Announcements | |
We want to thank all the Vermont students, teachers, and librarians who participated in the 2021-2022 book awards! We had over 18,400 students submit votes for the awards this year. We also want to shout-out all the fabulous committee members who work tirelessly to curate the amazing lists of nominated books each year! | |
The Barnabus Project by Terry Fan, Eric Fan, & Devin Fan, is the winner of the 2022 Red Clover Award! The Red Clover Book Award is Vermont’s children’s-choice picture book award created to honor excellence children’s literature. Vermont students in grades K-4 read 10 nominated books during the 2021-2022 school year, and then voted for their favorite. You can find more information and a break-down of the votes on the Red Clover Book Award page. | |
Millionaires for the Month by Stacy McAnulty is the winner of the 2022 Vermont Golden Dome Book Award! The Vermont Golden Dome Book Award is Vermont’s children’s-choice middle-grade book award created to honor excellence in children's literature. Vermont students in grades 4-8 read 25 nominated books during the 2021-2022 school year, and then voted for their favorite. You can find more information and a break-down of the votes on the Vermont Golden Dome Book Award page. | |
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the winner of the 2022 Green Mountain Book Award! The Green Mountain Book Award is Vermont’s teen-choice award created to honor excellence in young adult literature. Vermont students in grades 9-12 read 15 nominated books during the 2021-2022 school year, and then voted for their favorite. You can find more information and a break-down of the votes on the Green Mountain Book Award page. | | |
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Universal Class Has a New Address
Important News – Universal Class has a new address (whether registering or logging in) - https://www.universalclass.com/vermontstate. The old address will continue to work for now, but please update any links you have on your site.
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Online Database Usage for April 2022 | |
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We’d like to share the April stats for the online resources offered by the Department of Libraries. Learning Express and Vermont Online Library are free to all libraries (public, school, or academic), while Universal Class is only available to public libraries.
Learning Express
Provides training for workplace, academic, and job-hunting skills. It offers training for occupation exams, skills for school, exploration of careers, resume and interview help, and more.
Sessions – 56 | Registrations – 23
Tests – 8 | Tutorials – 2 | Computer Courses – 1 | eBooks – 15
Job Searches – 2
Most Used Resources:
- Tests – GED Practice Test in Spanish, ACT English, Real Estate Salesperson
- Tutorials – Algebra, Basic Math
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eBooks – Chemistry Review, GRE Test Prep, Becoming a Paralegal, Career Changer’s Manual, EMT Exam, Federal Jobs Guide, GRE Vocabulary, Pharmacy Tech Exam
- Computer Courses – Intro to Computers
Universal Class
Universal Class offers a wide range of online courses (from business to cooking, computers to social work) that are led by a real instructor, and that can be completed at your own pace.
New Registrations – 60 | New Courses Started – 279 | Login Sessions – 1,424
Lessons Viewed – 8,526 | Videos Watched – 5,894 | Student Submissions – 3,748
Most Active Classes – Accounts Payable Management, Basic Math, Medical Terminology, Accounting, World War II, Lifetime Wellness, Typing, Bartending, Marine Biology, Ecology, Cosmology, Call Center Customer Service.
Vermont Online Library
Covering everything from magazine and newspaper articles to DIY car repair and business help, Vermont Online Library can help with any topic. Users can (with a bit of work) even read articles by issue from some popular magazines, such as The New York Times, Economist, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Highlights for Children, National Review, and Runner's World.
Sessions – 35,480 | Average Session Length – 14.12 minutes | Text Retrievals – 21,320
(Note about Sessions – This number is a bit misleading, as it counts multiple sessions when a user searches multiple databases at once)
Most Used Databases – Academic OneFile, Opposing Viewpoints, US History, Biography, Virtual Reference Library, General OneFile, News
Chilton Library Retrievals – 57 | Peterson’s Career Prep Sessions – 21
Read more about Learning Express, Universal Class, or Vermont Online Library, or email Josh Muse with any questions.
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Department of Libraries Awards Certificate of Public Librarianship Certificates | |
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The Vermont Department of Libraries celebrates and congratulates the 2022 recipients of the Vermont Certificate of Public Librarianship. The certificate program’s goal is to create and sustain consistent professional standards throughout Vermont public libraries. This is done by providing training to those new to the field and those who have not had other professional library training, and strengthening the work already being done by library staff throughout the state.
Certification requirements include four core areas: Cataloging, Collection Development, Information Services, and Public Library Administration. There are additional credit requirements in Library Technology and Electives.
The 2022 recipient cohort comprises twenty people from ten different Vermont counties. They represent one of the largest public libraries in the state, a few of the smallest, several in-between, and an academic library. Their roles at their libraries include library director, associate and assistant director, youth services librarian, technical services, circulation, technology staff, library trustee, and volunteer.
A full list of recipient names and libraries can be found on the Department of Libraries website Certificate of Public Librarianship page: https://libraries.vermont.gov/services/continuing_ed/certificate.
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Total number of requests: 4914
- Books: 4550
- Videos: 254
- Audiobooks: 89
- Music CDs: 6
- Articles: 14
- Music Scores: 1
Top 4 requested audiobooks:
- A Gentleman in Moscow (Towles)
- Rules of Civility (Towles)
- The Alice Network (Quinn)
- Troubled Blood (Galbraith)
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Top 10 most requested book titles in April 2022 (with most requested titles at the top): |
- The Lost Apothecary (Penner)
- A Gentleman in Moscow (Towles)
- Bag Balm and Duct Tape: Tales of a Vermont doctor (Conger)
- Braiding Sweetgrass (Kimmerer)
- The Color Purple (Walker)
- The Girls I’ve Been (Sharpe)
- West With Giraffes (Rutledge)
- The Lincoln Highway (Towles)
- The Calculating Stars (Kowal)
- Carnegie’s Maid (Benedict)
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Record keeping for municipal libraries with VSARA | |
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Vermont State Archives and Record Administration (VSARA) has begun monthly meetings with Municipal Public Librarians to discuss municipal libraries records management. During our second meeting we reviewed record inventories for administrative and accounting records, which serve as the building blocks for the draft administrative and accounting record schedules which will be reviewed during our next meeting.
Our next meeting is scheduled for June 9, 2022, 9:00-10:00am. If you are interested in joining, but that time does not work for you, please let us know and we will look for alternatives! To join in on the discussions or if you have any record management related questions, please contact us at SOS.RIM@vermont.gov or 802-828-3700.
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From Our Neighbors at the
Vermont Historical Society
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A New American Globe Opening Sunday, July 3rd at the Vermont History Museum in Montpelier
James Wilson of Bradford created the first commercially available globes in America. Beginning in 1810, he produced and sold terrestrial and celestial globes for home and classroom use, advertising them as superior American-made products. Wilson's path to globemaking was far from obvious, and he has been celebrated as a unique Vermont genius.
How much of what we know about him is anecdotal and hearsay, and how much is based in close examination of quality archival sources? Join us in Montpelier on July 3rd for the exhibit opening with free admission to the Vermont History Museum.
Good Citizen Challenge 2022
Looking for some educational family fun this summer - and a chance to win a free trip to Washington, D.C.? Help the kids in your life take the Good Citizen Challenge, an interactive, nonpartisan civics activity. It recognizes participants for learning about communities, keeping up with local news and taking action to help others.
Organized by Seven Days and its parenting publication KidsVT — with help from the Vermont Historical Society and the Vermont Community Foundation — the nonpartisan Good Citizen Challenge is open to all K-12 students.
This summer's challenge is timed to coincide with an exhibit at the Vermont History Museum, opening July 3, that explores the life and work of the first commercial globe-maker in the Americas, James Wilson of Bradford; he made his first globe in 1810. Wilson's globes helped people in the U.S. understand more about the world and their place in it.
This summer's Good Citizen Challenge includes 25 activities, such as:
- Visiting the Vermont History Museum (participants and their families get in free)
- Picking from James Wilson, Daisy Turner, Abby Hemenway, Stephen Bates, or Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, and learning about their life
- Drawing or designing a map of a place you know well
- Visiting a state historic marker
- Picking a Vermont place name and finding out its origin
- Visiting a memorial in a Vermont town - find out who it honors and why
- Picking an object in your life that could be in a museum and writing a label for it
For more information and to download your bingo card, visit https://vermonthistory.org/goodchallengevt.
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