PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 62 No.3 Spring 1998

ALASKA

People

Barbara Sokolov, director of the University of Alaska Anchorage Consortium Library, will retire at the end of May.

Judy Monroe, formerly of the Alaska State Library has resettled in PNLA country. After a sojourn in Texas, Judy and her husband have retired to Victoria, BC.

Jim Tindall will be leaving the Petersburg High School Library for a new home in Washington and a new job in the Portland area.

Nancy Ferrell, author, AkLA member, and friend of Alaskan libraries, has a new book in the works. Destination Valdez will be published by Lerner in April of 1998.

Steve Smith of the Computing and Communications Department of the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has taken on a new role for the University of Alaska system. His new title is Interim Chief Information Officer.

Leaving UAF is Mary Ann Larson. Formerly with the Oral History Program, she will become the Senior Oral Historian at the University of Nevada Reno.

Kelly Skogseth is the new University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan campus librarian.

The new head of Adult Services at Anchorage Municipal Libraries is Carrie Keene. Peg Thompson is the new Branch Librarian at the Samson-Dimond Branch of AML.

Janice Sanford, the Palmer Public Library director, is a new mother. Ryker Sanford was born February 8th.

Al Root has joined the staff of the McGrath Community School Library.

News

The Alaska Library Association annual conference was held March 4-8 in Ketchikan. New officers for the association are President Charlotte Glover, Vice-President Bill Smith, and Treasurer Debbie Kelvee. A special election will be held to choose the AkLA PNLA Representative.

People

Connie Hall is the new librarian at the Alberta Education Library in Edmonton. Previously, Connie was the Information and Instruction Librarian at Medicine Hat College Library.

Jim Carter is the new librarian at the Alberta Vocational College in Lac La Biche.

Patrick Lawless has been appointed Director of the Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives at The Banff Centre. The library supports the Centre's arts, mountain culture and management programs.

Fran Noone has left the Buchanan Library at Lethbridge Community College for a position in Trail, BC.

Edmonton Public Library has restructured its administration into an Executive Team comprised of Director Linda Cook, Associate Directors Keith Turnbull (Community Relations and Corporate Development) and Pat Jobb (Public Services), and a contractual Associate Director for Management Services yet to be named.

News

The Government of Alberta has passed the Libraries Amendment Act following a consultation process thatbegan with the Public Library Review in 1994/95. The Regulation is expected later in the spring.

The School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta has created a listserv, JEROME-L, to foster communication among librarians, information professionals and friends of libraries.

In Calgary, 13,000 grade six students are participating in a literacy program, Reading--Give It a Shot!, sponsored by the City, the newspaper, several corporations and the Calgary Flames. Students receive a bookmark featuring a Flames player for every 100 minutes of reading.

The University of Calgary Library has received a complete set of Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner satellite imagery mosaics of Canada as a gift, The collection constitutes an historic satellite record of the Canadian land surface in the early 1970s.

Alberta Library Conference, April 30-May 3, features keynote speaker Ben Wicks, Alberta authors Helen Forrester, Lois Hole and David & Barb Poulson, and a wide range of workshops and social activities. The Board of The Alberta Library Library will hold its annual general meeting immediately prior to the conference and the pre-conference is Library Advocacy Now! training. The Alberta Library Conference is co-sponsored by the Library Association of Alberta and the Alberta Library Trustees Association.

The Library Association of Alberta Board has initiated a strategic planning process that will result in reaffirmed or revised vision, mission, goals and objectives and a long-term plan of action.

People

The UBC School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies hosted a reception in honour of Peter Simmons upon his retirement from the position of Professor on January 29. Speakers at the reception recalled Peter's many contributions to the program and to the field of library science along with the good humour that he brought to every situation.

Barb Janzen was appointed to the position of Coordinator of Library Services at the East Kootenays College of the Rockies. Barb replaces Heather Schneider who became Dean at the college.

Jenny Kwan was appointed the new Minister of Municpal Affairs for British Columbia in February. She will carry responsibility for public libraries in the province.

The BC Library Association appointed Patricia Sutherland to its newly created Executive Director position in January. Patricia came to the association with a library degree and experience in the non-profit sector including documentation and information work for Amnesty International.

News

By now PNLA members will have received the program brochure for the Canadian Library Association (CLA) Conference to be held in Victoria, one of Canada's most beautiful cities. The 1998 CLA Conference will also be the site of the BCLA and BCLTA annual meetings and awards event. Paul Whitney, CLA president, assures us that the conference will be "literally a once in a (professional) lifetime opportunity to combine the stimulation and entertainment of a CLA Conference with the many attractions of Vancouver Island." CLA is generously offering member registration rates to all current members of PNLA. So don't miss this great chance for education and enjoyment at a reduced conference rate--join us in Victoria, June 17-21, for a great conference!

The Kootenays Conference for libraries and library workers in the East and West Kootenay region of BC is scheduled for April 3-4, 1998. These conferences are organized to bring continuing education closer to home for people who are often not able to attend provincial or national conferences.

Prince George, BC will be hosting the 2nd Beyond Hope Conference on April 24-25, 1998. Beyond Hope refers to the entire area of British Columbia that lies beyond the city of Hope just outside the lower mainland of the province.

People

Lynn Melton, director of the Boise Public Library, resigned at the end of January to pursue personal interests.

Anne Abrams joined the Idaho State Library staff this fall as Special Projects Coordinator and has worked on the Libraries Linking Idaho (LiLI) project. Anne has a strong library background including an MLS and most recently worked as the marketing director for the Boise Parks and Recreation Department.

Pat Hamilton will become the library director at the Weiser Public Library, as Heather Mather, current library director, begins graduate school at the University of Idaho.

Ann Adamson is the new library director at the New Plymouth Public Library. Ann brings storytime and outreach experience to the library and plans to streamline the Interlibrary Loan process. Ann previously worked at the Parma Public Library, Parma, Idaho.

News

The citizens of Eagle passed a bond election in February that will allow for the construction of a new public library. Library construction will begin this spring and the library plans to automate.

The Kuna School/Community Library will seek a bond approval in May for 1.2 million dollars. Successful passage of the bond would allow the district to construct a separate facility for the public library and ease overcrowding in the shared high school library.

The East Bonner County Free Library District hopes a May 26 bond election will pave the way for a new central library and other needs throughout the library district. The bond will include bookmobile services to outlying areas and a new building for the Clark Fork branch library (Bonner County Daily Bee).

The Idaho State Joint Finance Appropriations Committee approved Governor Batt's recommended state budget which includes funding for the state library's Libraries Linking Idaho (LiLI) project. LiLI will fund a website with links to full text databases and electronic indexes for all publicly funded libraries in Idaho. The do-pass recommendation from JFAC means that passage by the full legislature is nearly certain. Other bills of interest to the Idaho library community this legislative season include a bill that would allow an income tax credit for donations to the state library and a bill that would increase state library board membership to five and increases the length of terms to five years. The state library initiated this legislation.

Friends of the Plummer Public Library, a group of 20 volunteers, received grants and donations and raised money through fundraisers for a new automation system. Completion of the project is still more than a year away (ISL Newsletter)

The Idaho Council of the International Reading Association donated 1200 books to Garden City Public Library's Bells for Books Bookmobile. Books will be loaned and given to hundreds of children in neighborhoods where children have few books of their own. Last summer, Bells for Books checked out 6444 books to families (The Idaho Statesman).

Idaho Library Association (ILA)

ILA sponsored Legislative Day on January 21 as members of the association and the library community sponsored a breakfast at the state capitol for legislators. The major lobbying effort was the state LiLI project and other library related legislative issues. ILA officers and members also attended the JFAC hearing on the State Library budget and LiLI. JFAC members noted that the budget and LiLI received very enthusiastic support from librarians and citizens.

Plans continue to develop for the joint ILA/PNLA conference to be held in Sun Valley, Idaho on August 12-15. A preconference by Karen Schneider on Intellectual Freedom and the Internet will start the conference. Other programs in the tentative stage include children's author Penny Coleman, Library Advocacy programs by Susan Silk, the YRCA banquet, and a variety of informative sessions. Reservations are now being accepted at the Sun Valley Lodge, Sun Valley, Idaho. Call or email me for more information. Members will be receiving registration packets in late spring.

ILA is also proceeding with plans to develop an ILA website this year. The association plans to hire a web master to create and maintain the website.

People

Alma Jacobs, former Montana State Librarian, passed away in Bozeman on December 18 at the age of 81. Alma was the director of the Great Falls Public Library from 1954-1973. She was named State Librarian in 1973 and retired from that position in 1981. Alma was instrumental in the development of library federations in Montana.

Three staff members have left the Montana State Library: MaryJane West, Administrative Assistant; Allan Cox, Directorof NRIS; and Sandra Jarvie, Director of the Talking Books Program.

Dana Ruby has been hired by the State Library as the technology consultant who will serve the Tamarack and Broad Valleys Federations. Ruby was employed at the South Dakota State Library as a library consultant for the past five years.

News

State Librarian Karen Strege and the chair of the MLA Public Library Division Renee Goss are writing a draft of proposed standards for Montana public libraries. This draft is the result of input from a committee composed of librarians across the state who participated in four teleconferences to discuss the contents of this important document. This draft will be discussed at the spring federation meetings and at a workshop at the MLA conference. A resulting final draft will be presented to the State Library Commission for approval. There has been and will continue to be a lot of discussion on the need or purpose of standards and whether the standards will be voluntary, recommended or have funding strings attached.

As of March 12, Montana Senator Conrad Burns has proposed using local-appropriate internet-use policies as a substitute for required filtering in libraries and schools in order to be eligible for e-rate. This is a more acceptable alternative to Senator John McCain's bill which would REQUIRE installment of filters in order to be eligible.

Montana Library Association (MLA)

The 1998 MLA conference is in Missoula from April 29 through May 2. The theme is Librarians: Celebrating Successes, Challenging the Future, & Embracing the Past. Featured speakers and events include: local authors panel Dorothy Patent, Jon Jackson and Jeff Shaara; Judith Krug, Director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, ALA; Frank Charles Winstead, former director of Educational Media in Georgia; Hannecke Ippisch, author of Sky; Joanna Yardley, illustrator of the children's book The Bracelet; and The Blue Moon Beggars, a local original theater company.

Pre-registration deadline is April 2. Send for registration packets to: Rita Smith, Missoula Public Library, 301 E. Main, Missoula, MT 59802. PNLA members may attend this conference at local rates.

People

Ernest Perez, Group Leader for Technical and Information Services at the Oregon State Library, participated in a staff exchange program with the Fujian Province Library, Fuzhou, China, from February 19 through March 28, 1998. He worked and consulted in the areas of library automation, Internet and database management, and library management.

Anne Fox, Western Oregon State University, has been elected as Vice-President/President Elect of the Oregon ACRL. New members-at-large are Anna Beauchamp, Southern Oregon State University, and Nancy Henderson, Oregon Graduate Institute. New private college representative is Arlene Weible, Willamette University. Current Oregon ACRL President is Janet Webster, Hatfield Marine Science Center Library.

Governor John Kitzhaber has appointed Elaine Day of Salem to serve on the State Library Board of Trustees. Day is a member of the Talking Book and Braille Services Advisory Council and is employed by the State of Oregon as a manager with the Insurance Division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services.

Patricia Heringer has retired as Director of the Driftwood Public Library in Lincoln City and was honored by the Friends of the Library and the City of Lincoln City with a High Tea on February 22.

News

The Oregon State Library distributed checks in December to libraries in two programs. The Ready-to-Read grant program, a state-funded aid program to public libraries for children's programs, reflected the increase to $ .75 per child approved by the 1997 Oregon Legislature. The Oregon LINK Net Lender Reimbursement program, funded with federal funds, reimbursed libraries of all types who loaned more items on ILL than they borrowed during the last year. New rules for this program are proposed that would create a two-tier reimbursement system recommended by OLA whereby net loans within shared automated resource sharing systems would be reimbursed at a rate of $1.00 per net loan, and net loans generated outside shared systems would continue to receive a $4.00 per net loan reimbursement.

The Multnomah County Library received several honors recently for its outstanding public relations program. The judges of the Portland chapter of the Public Relations Society of America gave two awards to the library for activities surrounding the re-opening of the Central Library after a two-year remodeling and rehabilitation project. Come Home: the Return to Central Library campaign received a 1997 Merit Award, and The Library Gala Celebration: A Moveable Fete received a 1997 Spotlight Award. The library also received its third John Cotton Dana Public Relations Award since 1990 this year for the Come Home to Central Library campaign, cited for "an exceptional total annual coordinated public relations program."

The Friends of the Curry Public Library, serving Gold Beach and the surrounding area, has received a grant for $4,500 from Trust Management Services to purchase reference and children's books for the library. The Lakeside Public Library in neighboring Coos County received a $5,000 grant from the same source to expand the children's department in the library.

The thirty-two public libraries of the ten-county Eastern Oregon Library Association (EOLA) are seeking consultant assistance in identifying financial alternatives for a consolidated ten-county library system plan and in designing efficient service options for the system plan.

The leadership of PORTALS and Orbis have announced the formation of the PORTALS/Orbis Joint Task Force on Collaborative Issues. PORTALS, a multi-type library consortium of 16 libraries in the Portland area, provides access to several databases, offers continuing education opportunities, and supports reciprocal borrowing among member institutions. Orbis, a consortium of 13 libraries at 4-year academic institutions in Oregon and Washington, maintains an online union catalog and patron-initiated borrowing system and licenses databases for member libraries. In November and December, there were 8,000 loans/month on Orbis, more than Ohio Link. The task force will examine the potential benefits of a closer relationship and identify ways to collaborate more fully.

Southern Oregon State University Library received funding from the students' technology resource fee for two projects this year. The first consisted of replacing all public terminals that access the online catalog with PC's. The second, currently under development, will establish an Information Technology Center.

Beginning February 23, Eugene Public Library returned to Monday service hours, thanks to budget restorations resulting from greater revenue than projected after passage of Measure 50. Library hours and funding were the pick of the Eugene City Council from a long list of proposed service restorations. EPL had begun a shortened, five-day schedule October 5 and was open 44 hours Tuesday through Saturday in the interim.

Oregon Library Association (OLA)

People and News

At the University of Washington Karen Liston started as head, Resource Access, on December 8, 1997. This new position manages the main interlibrary lending and borrowing operations for the University Libraries. She most recently was team leader for Information Access at the University of Arizona Libraries. Also, Carolyn Aamot, Gift Processing; Irene Joshi, International Studies; Sandra Kroupa, Special Collections; and Janet Schnall, Health Sciences Library and Information Center were nominated in November 1997 for the University of Washington Distinguished Staff Awards.

Betty Bengtson, director of Libraries at the University of Washington, has been elected as vice-president/president-elect of the Association of Research Libraries, an association of the top 121 North American research libraries. She will serve as president in 1998-1999.

Spokane Public Library opened the last of six new library buildings funded by the 1990 Municipal Library Bond Issue. The Indian Trail Branch Library serves the north Spokane community and is a 10,600 square foot building which opened March 7, 1998. The staff for the new building includes Clarie Steigleder, branch manager, Dennis Bergstrom, reference librarian and Jill Young, children's librarian. The opening of the new building meant new hires for Spokane Public including Merri Hartse as branch manager at the East Side Branch and Jennifer Meyer as the new children's librarian. Merri was previously Circulation Librarian at Gonzaga University in Spokane and Jennifer was Electronic Resources Librarian at Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande, OR.

The ballot is out for leadership in the WLA and the following people have been nominated: Carol Gill Schuyler for Secretary, Mary Carr for Coordinator of Communications, Kate Carter and Diane Cowles for Coordinator of Continuing Education and Susan Odencrantz for Coordinator of the 2000 Conference.

Washington Library Association (WLA)

Full agendas have kept the WLA Board busy at its last meetings. Items for discussion have ranged from procedures for internal communication to conference planning and legislative issues. At the February meeting the Board received the results of a survey on conferences that was included in the membership renewal packages. Tom Moak, Tri-Cities, Coordinator of the 1999 Conference, presented the results to the Board. The survey pointed out once again that there is not one thing that is essential to a good conference but it did provide the conference planning committee with some highly relevant information to use in their planning. As a result, the 1999 conference will not have a name key note speaker but will focus its resources on a greater number of strong, small programs. Details of the conference survey can be found at the WLA website. The Board also approved a significant change in conference procedure in that there will be no formal exhibit hall due to space limitations. The Conference Committee will work with the vendor community to integrate vendors into the conference.

In other conference business, the Board approved May 17-19 as the dates for the 2000 conference to be held in Tacoma, WA and April 4-6 for the 2001 conference to be held in Spokane, WA. The 2002 conference will be a joint WLA/OLA conference and will be at Jantzen Beach, OR April 17-19. The conference for this year will be held in Wenatchee, WA April 15-18 with the theme Celebrate Differences.

The WLA Board also received the new, revised version of the Washington State Public Trustee Manual which was published by the Washington State Library. The new manual covers all areas of concern for library trustees.