Your monthly news & updates
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Steve Cauffman Retirement
"I am sad to make a bittersweet announcement that after 20 years with the CT State Library, Steve Cauffman, a stalwart foundation of the Division of Library Development has decided to retire from state service. We are sad that Steve is leaving but extremely happy that he will enjoy a well deserved retirement and we are confident that Steve's cat, London will be extremely happy as well. While Covid-19 will not permit an in person celebration, we encourage all of you in the library community who have had the pleasure of working with Steve to congratulate him on a happy retirement." Dawn La Valle
"Steve and I were hired at the same time by the CT State Library 20 years ago. He started a few weeks ahead of me and I always remember that he called me at the current job I had to introduce himself and tell me that we were going to be working together. I immediately knew I had made the right move, and knew right away what a great colleague he was going to be. And I was right! Steve is intelligent, capable, funny, patient, and an all-round great person.
It just won't be the same for me here,
and I am going to truly miss him." Gail Hurley
"
Steve is like our work big brother – he gently teases everyone at MLSC while always looking out for us and having our backs. He lightens the day with humor. He’s always willing to slog in and do the tedious work, whether it’s straightening up a website, cleaning out the MLSC garage, or reviewing old files. He believes in leaving things better than he found them. Steve very much deserves his retirement, but I sure will miss working with him." Maria Bernier
"Steve Cauffman was one the first people that I met at the Connecticut State Library when I started my professional career in libraries over 21 years ago. I had just started at the New Haven Free Public Library and one of my responsibilities was to manage the Interlibrary Loan department. I reached out to Steve for some much needed assistance and he responded with immense kindness and a great wealth of knowledge. We interacted often over the years and he was always so helpful, personable, and happily shared his expertise with me. When you speak with librarians across Connecticut and you mention Steve, they all light up. Everyone in the library community has such great respect and affection for Steve. He will be missed by all." Brad Bullis
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Congratulations to our CT Futures School Applied Foresight Accelerator program graduates! This is the first of its kind foresight training specifically designed for librarians.
Librarians from Avon; Bethel; Danbury; Fairfield; Ferguson; Granby; Hamden; Middlebury; Monroe; Rye, NY; Stamford; Simsbury; Waterford; Weston public libraries and Gateway Community College, Central CT State University; CEN and DLD participated in a 6 day, live online Applied Foresight Accelerator training.
With tangible results and a repeatable framework, they are on their way to developing a foresight mindset and skill set, ensuring CT libraries are primed for market-leading innovation, successful opportunity development, and revenue-generating futures intelligence. They learned a strategic framework that enables them to continuously learn-unlearn-relearn to lead discussion and action in the transformation of libraries.
Here's what some of the participants had to say:
"Incredible opportunity for the Connecticut library community. Thank you for providing this training. I am looking forward to seeing how this rolls out more broadly. I do hope that distance learning opportunities similar to this one will be pursued to complement in-person workshops."
"My key takeaways - applying it to your personal development and then applying to the organization - this helps us chart our own journey in relation to the organizations we will serve. Lots of great tools to rethink our perspective on libraries of the present and future. I am extremely grateful to be part of this learning journey. Thank you for including me."
"Now that I've gone through the training, I'm excited to actually go through the process - actually use the tools, etc. - with a group of people who have also been trained. I'm not ready to lead a whole group of untrained staff members in the process... I need to use it to use it on my own!"
"What a brief survey for such an expansive course! I am coming away with a much more enlightened approach to strategic planning and am well equipped with tools to engage my stakeholders well into the future. Thank you - excellent job!"
"Thank you so much for getting the necessary funding to bring this important program to fruition. It certainly has widened my perspective and I have gained new insights. I hope that with this newly gained knowledge I can be helpful and instrumental in moving and transforming our library towards a bright and promising future."
"The framework for thinking long-term about what is coming for libraries was a revelation. By envisioning multiple alternative futures, we can build not only our resilience, and adaptability but actually exercise our agency and help determine the best future possible. External pressures become a context for agency not a cage."
Stay tuned for more Natural Foresight opportunities in 2021!
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Summer Reading
Please remember that we have a variety of resources to help you through Summer Reading.
While READsqaured does have videos to walk you through some of their features, we have made videos to address some of our libraries specific concerns, you can find here:
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The Healing Library
Join Megan Schadlich, author and creator of The Healing Library on
Tuesday, July 7 from 10am-2pm
, where you'll learn about Social Emotional Learning and library services.
Moving forward librarianship will require new approaches and you may feel programming feels like a moving target at this stage. Focusing on the wellness of our communities and lifelong learning of our patrons can coexist. Through this workshop you'll learn:
- What is Social Emotional Learning
- How to perform a Social Emotional Learning audit of your programming (and other services)
- What is The Healing Library
- How The Healing Library can assist in the Social Emotional Learning of your community
- How to utilize The Healing Library in preparing "Take Away" programming for families this summer
All participants will be supplied a workbook to perform their programming audit as well as access to grant language helpful in obtaining your own Healing Library kits. For more information on the Healing Library visit
https://www.thehealinglibraryus.com/
.
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2020 Public Library Annual Report
This year's Annual Report form contains new questions about library services during the COVID-19 pandemic; new questions about virtual programs, attendance, and recording views; and clarifications about Annual Public Service Hours, Library Visits, and Interlibrary Loan. Recordings of past information sessions about these changes, plus the presentation slides and a full list of changes, are online at
https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/dld/stats/annreport
.
The 2020 Annual Report form will be released in mid-July and will be due on November 16. A new webinar on "How to Complete the 2020 Public Library Annual Report" is scheduled for Thursday, July 16, 10:00-11:00. This session will be especially useful for new directors and for library staff who are new to collecting and entering data in the form.
Register online
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Services to Veterans and Military Families Collection eBooks
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eGO CT Update
As the number of libraries that are live in SimplyE grows, we continue to purchase additional content. Recent purchases have focused children and YA titles that support the school curriculum and summer reading:
- A collection of 51 titles from TIME's Teacher Created Materials was added from Bibliolabs.
- DLD purchased 91 new eAudio and eBooks to support the Governor's Summer Reading Challenge. Visit the Connecticut State Library's RBDigital site where many of these titles are highlighted on the front page.
- DLD added 263 Spanish language titles. These include Summer Reading titles as well as Nutmeg Award winning and nominated titles from current and previous years. Patrons will see another lane added to the SimplyE interface labeled Spanish Language where these titles can be accessed. A sample of Spanish language titles can be viewed here.
- Also, in response to feedback from a recent DLD survey, we added 40 biographies to the Connecticut State Library collections available in SimplyE. You can view a sample of those titles here.
DLD has now added a total of 3,226 items to SimplyE this year for a total of 24,214 items that are made available to public libraries and their patrons from the Connecticut State Library.
There are now 38 libraries that have rolled out SimplyE to their patrons.
If your library is interested in rolling out the SimplyE app, please contact Brad Bullis (bradley.bullis@ct.gov) .
For more information about eGO CT, visit our website at egoct.org.
eGO CT is a project from the Connecticut State Library that includes acquiring digital content, such as eBooks and eAudio, and making it available to users statewide, primarily through the SimplyE app.
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Upcoming July Virtual Workshops - Seats are still available!
July 7 from 10-2
The Healing Library. For more information and to register, please click here:
July 9 from 2-3
Follow-Up: Governor's Re-opening Rules for Public Libraries
. For more information and to register, please click here:
July 16 from 10-11
How to Complete the 2020 Public Library Annual Report.
For more information and to register, please click here:
July 21-22 from 11-12:15
Living Through a Pandemic: How to Stop Burnout and Improve Customer Service - Parts 1 & 2.
For more information and to register (please register for both parts), please click here:
If you are looking for a particular type of training for yourself or staff, please contact Gail Hurley,
Gail.Hurley@ct.gov or leave a message at 860-704-2222.
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New Professional Collection Books
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Contact Judy Crooks
judy.crooks@ct.gov
if you are interested in borrowing any of these titles.
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MLSC Hours – July 2020
MLSC is open by appointment only, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4 pm, for the foreseeable future.
MLSC will be closed on Friday, July 3 in observance of Independence Day.
MLSC staff, whether in the office or telecommuting, will be responding to voicemail and e-mail during business hours of 8 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday, except for state holidays.
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