July/August 2020 Newsletter
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Celebrating a Summer of Resilience
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PPE Distribution to Vermont Libraries
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The third week of July was busy for VTLIB. In an effort to support safe reopening, we used CARES Act funding to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to public and academic libraries throughout the state. In total, we distributed 115 sneeze guards and almost 250 gallons of hand sanitizer at our Barre location as well as in four geographically dispersed satellites. Those of us involved in the distribution enjoyed the opportunity to see our library colleagues again in person—albeit masked and distanced—and to catch up on what folks are doing out in the field. What we are hearing is that library staff are working harder than ever before and are connecting with their patrons much more deeply. We’re amazed by the creative approaches libraries are taking to keeping services going. The increased demand libraries are seeing during this pandemic is a testament to their continued importance in the communities they serve. We would like to thank the staff at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, Putney Public Library, the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library (Williston), and the Poultney Public Library for hosting our satellite distributions. This program was made possible by funds through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS.)
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Aldrich Public Library's (Barre) Garrett Grant picks up PPE from VTLIB, assisted by VTLIB's Vance Asselin and Tom McMurdo.
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Distribution set up at Poultney Public Library.
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VTLIB's Janette Shaffer distributes PPE to librarians at St. Johnsbury Athenaeum.
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State Librarian Jason Broughton takes a selfie at the distribution of PPE at Putney Public Library.
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Library Services & Status Survey
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VTLIB is offering a resource to track the current reopening status and services of public libraries in the state. The information is meant to give individual libraries better context from their peers when making their own decisions, as well as to give a broad overview of what is going on. You can find the information below on our website here:
https://libraries.vermont.gov/covid19/status_survey
- Questions - There are 26 questions, most of which are yes/no or multiple choice.
- Link to Questionnaire: https://bit.ly/vtlib_covidstatus
- Link to Submitted Data (Google Sheets): https://bit.ly/30V0kp5
- Schedule - We update the spreadsheet on a weekly basis. Submissions that come in before 2 pm on Tuesday will make it into the weekly update, which goes out on Wednesday morning.
- Updates - Please remember to update us if there is a change to your reported services or status, or if you notice an error. If you have small updates, free to email them to Joshua Muse (joshua.muse@vermont.gov); if you have larger ones, please submit them through the form.
Thanks to everyone who has submitted their information. The more libraries who can submit (and update) their information, the more useful will be to everyone. We encourage all public libraries to submit, even if they are not open. Find more information on this page on our website:
https://libraries.vermont.gov/covid19/status_survey
*Posters and rack cards featuring the image in this article are available by request. Please email
jennifer.johnson@vermont.gov
for more information.
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Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance's "Suffrage Scramble!"
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The Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance (VSCA) and Central Vermont Runners are presenting the Suffrage Scramble, a Virtual 5K to commemorate 100 Years of the 19
th
Amendment. Run, walk, stroll, roll or paddle on the route of your choice and at any pace between Saturday August 8 - Saturday August 15th: primary week in Vermont.
Event proceeds will be donated to the Rutland chapter of the NAACP to increase voting access for all citizens. For information on how to sign up and participate, please go to:
cvrunners.org/cvr-races/suffrage-scramble/
VTLIB is a member of the Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance and has supported VSCA initiatives that relate to libraries since the Alliance formed. And, unrelated to libraries, the Suffrage Scramble has inspired at least one VTLIB staff member to run in public spaces for the first time since…the latter part of the century the 19
th
Amendment passed.
The 5K is only a small part of the work the Alliance has done and is continuing to do, including lectures, exhibits, and a parade (postponed to 2021 due to COVID). Their website contains information about American history, women’s rights, and educational resources. Of particular importance is coverage of the complexities of the suffrage movement, a perspective often not included in the narrative of the 19
th
Amendment as a victory:
https://vtsuffrage2020.org/incomplete-legacy/
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One of the best features of having a Vermont State Library card is access to RB Digital, a resource with eBooks and eAudiobooks. These titles are available on any device and can be streamed or read online, or downloaded to your computer or mobile device.
VTLIB recently increased the titles included in RB Digital with several titles on the topic of racial and social justice. Covering a wide age range, some of the new titles are:
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
- Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
- Full Cicada Moon by Mary Hilton
- The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon
- We are Not Yet Equal by Carol Anderson & Tonya Bolden
- A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross
- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
- White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
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Reimagining Your Fundraising
VTLIB Consultant Lara Keenan – seen here with her current read
This is How You Lose the Time War
by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone – will use “escapism through reading” to enjoy her staycations this summer. Lara will “win the time war” by losing track of all sense of time as she delves into the fantastic realms of sci-fi and fantasy novels.
Many libraries have used this idea of “staying home and reading” to reimagine their annual fundraisers. Rather than hosting an in-person gala, they’ve encouraged their donors to dress up and party at home – in whatever style suits them best – while making a donation to the library for the usual cost of the fundraising event. These “Stay at Home and Read” Balls/Galas use whimsical themes that capture the imagination, provide several methods for participants to donate and share images of their creative celebrations, and often provide fun add-ons to make the experience more festive – such as raffles, live-streaming entertainment or speakers, and awards for various categories of participation.
A selection of examples and ideas:
- “Oh the Places You Won’t Go” fundraiser – with creative levels of giving: “Oh, I’m afraid I won’t go to the Bahamas, as my time is fully booked at the wading pool in my backyard”: Donation $25; “Oh, I’m afraid I can’t join you at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as I’ll be busy sipping tea at the dining room table as I gaze at the art on the fridge”: Donation $50.
- Grape Expectations: Stay at Home and Read Edition by the Long Beach Public Library Foundation: https://bit.ly/LongBeachPL
- LA Times article on suggested attire for the LA Library Foundation’s annual Stay Home and Read a Book Ball: https://bit.ly/LATimesRead
- This year’s Book Ball: https://bit.ly/LABookBall
- Vermont’s own Manchester Community Library’s “Stay at Home and Read” fundraiser: https://bit.ly/MCLRead
Other online fundraising ideas to inspire you:
- Tech Soup offered a webinar recently on moving fundraising events online - a link to the recording: https://bit.ly/TechSoupFund
- Try a Facebook Live Online Book Sale Event. People watch your Facebook live event where you present books/sets of books with a price and a number, and the first person to comment “SOLD + [the number]” wins the books at the stated price. For an example of this in action, watch: https://bit.ly/OnlineBookSale
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Special Populations & ABLE Library
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New Large Print Titles Available
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ABLE Library has recently added many new large print titles to our collection, including a fresh selection of westerns, romance, and cozy mysteries. ABLE Library is fully operational and ready to accept your deposit collection returns and supply you with fresh, new large print titles to supplement your collection. For information about setting up a deposit collection in your library please contact ABLE Library
at
lib.ablelibrary@vermont.gov
or (802) 636-0020 or (800) 479-1711.
ABLE Library also has available for distribution many pamphlets and brochures about the National Library Service Free Braille and Talking Book Service. We would be happy to supply you with these items for display to interested patrons.
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There have been several updates made to Clover, and VTLIB has been hard at work creating tutorials to help those navigating Clover. The video tutorials to cover some of the basic steps to log in and request items in Clover. The tutorials and the most recent Clover webinar are available here:
https://bit.ly/2WZ1r6k
. Please email April Shaw at
April.shaw@vermont.gov
with any tutorials you would like to see added.
Recent updates to Clover:
- All request forms now include a Y/N field to indicate if you would like the request to go out of state. This is an easy way to let us know that if there are no copies available for lending in state that you want to wait until there are copies and do not want an out of state request made.
- Hiding e-resources in search results. I had this automatically enabled for all Vermont libraries, but if you would like your staff or patrons to be able to see e-resources in their search results you can change the settings via the UX Admin menu.
- Borrower/Lender emails are included in all requests (if the borrower/lender has put an email in their contact information in their Participant Record).
- You can set the default number of Multiple Copies needed when using the Multi-Copy form. This setting can be found in your Participant Record.
- Borrower Notes, Patron Notes, and Lender Notes fields are now in larger, bold font and have a more emphasized border around them to improve their visibility when looking at the full details of the request.
- The lender list now builds based on ISBN or control numbers rather than matching title, author, and publisher.
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County-wide COVID-19 Recovery Visits: From Recovery to Renewal and Resilience
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The Local Support and Community Action Team of the Governor's Economic Recovery Task Force is launching a series of virtual forums, facilitated by the Vermont Council on Rural Development, in every county across the state to: Share challenges and ideas for community recovery; connect to others working to respond, recover, and build long-term resilience; and meet with a “visiting team” of state, federal, business, and non-profit leaders who will share recovery strategies from across the state, and ideas for resources and support. Each forum will consist of a brief opening session, followed by four 90-minute breakout sessions into topics chosen by regional leaders and representatives, and conclude with a short closing session and share out. All are welcome and encouraged to participate in their county's forum; registration is required.
Click here for more information, dates, and to register in your county:
https://www.vtrural.org/recovery
Registration will open within 2 weeks of the forum date. If you need assistance with registration or have questions about the forum or how to join, please contact
info@vtrural.org
or call 802-223-6091.
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Vermont Summer Reading Challenge on Beanstack!
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Every library and resident in Vermont now has free access to the Vermont Libraries Beanstack platform! Beanstack is a mobile-friendly website where Vermonters can participate in statewide challenges like summer reading, and other reading-based initiatives for all ages. For staff, Beanstack makes it easy to register patrons, view and edit reading and badge activity, and produce extensive reports.
Here is the 15 second Beanstack spot that began airing on WCAX on Monday and will continue through the week! Feel free to share it with your patrons:
https://youtu.be/2zBXHm-jUDU
.
Now that the our Beanstack site is live, we encourage you to share it with your patrons! The URL for the site is:
https://vermont.beanstack.org
. This is also the URL library staff will use to login to admin accounts.
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Please join
us for mid-late summer programming on the topics of community health in rural settings, mindfulness, cannabis literacy, and libraries and dementia services.
These workshops are made possible by a grant VTLIB received from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Cooperative Agreement with the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester. Details about these and all of our CE are on the CE page of our website (
https://libraries.vermont.gov/services/continuing_ed
)
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There is no scheduled reopening date for CLIC at this time, but we will let everyone know as soon as a decision is made. We continue to receive requests via our Ask a Law Librarian line, although not all of our resources are available, as many of our offerings are for walk-in use only. Fortunately there are multiple online resources available and we are suggesting those as often as we can!
As you might remember, CLIC Coordinator Kassie Tibbott recorded a webinar for Vermont’s public librarians, which discusses the various legal reference resources and tools available for helping a patron. This webinar is now in a LibGuide format and also provides the framework for how to assist a patron with a legal issue. Access it here:
https://bit.ly/2Sl0tyK
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From Our Neighbors at the Vermont Historical Society
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Genealogy Workshop
Join our final virtual Summer Genealogy Workshop and learn about using newspapers to research your family tree! Workshops are 90 minutes on Zoom and registered participants have access to workshop recordings on YouTube. Limited online consultations appointments will be offered following each class. Free for VHS and VT Genealogy Library Members. $10/session or $25/series for non-members.
Saturday, August 8: "Using Newspapers for Genealogy"
Previous Workshops:
- Saturday, June 13: "Genealogy 101" - AVAILABLE TO WATCH
- Saturday, July 11: "Using DNA for Genealogy" - AVAILABLE TO WATCH
These workshops are provided at low rates thanks to the support of a generous donor whose passion for genealogy spans over 35 years.
Vermont Women's History Database
In 2004, the Vermont Commission on Women started the Vermont Women's History Database with a mission to promote the understanding of the diverse experiences of women in Vermont history. In 2010, the Vermont Historical Society took ownership of all project materials and continued to host the research database on its website. In summer 2020, it was revised and updated again as part of the celebrations for the centennial of women’s suffrage.
When Women Lead: Governor Madeline Kunin of Vermont
This brand new exhibit examines the life and political career of Madeline Kunin, the first female governor in the state of Vermont, through text, images, and inaugural gowns. The exhibit will be on view in the National Life Gallery of the Vermont History Museum beginning July 25. Visit
https://vermonthistory.org/museum
for more information.
Discovering Black Vermont
VHS is reprinting educator and historian, Elise Guyette's 2010 book,
Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburg, 1790-1890
, under their own imprint. The book was originally published by University Press of New England, which has since shut down. The book will be available in late July in the VHS bookstore and online:
We Are Open!
The Vermont History Museum and store in Montpelier is open with modified hours. Visitors are welcome Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm. Current exhibits will be open. Visitor guidelines and requirements are made in conjunction with mandates and recommendations from the State of Vermont and are subject to change. Visit
https://vermonthistory.org/museum
for more information.
Exhibits at the History Center in Barre will remain closed until September 1 or later.
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