The BBB Blog has Moved

The Blah, Blah, Blah Blog has moved to the new NEFLIN website at
http://neflin.org/category/news/

Get the same fabulous content, but now with more visual appeal and less calories.

Alachua Media Specialist Honored with National Award

Judith Weaver, media specialist, High Springs Community School, has been honored as one of twenty educators nationwide by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Judith demonstrated a commitment to advance ecoliteracy and brought environmental sustainability into her school.

Congratulations, Judith!

Nassau County Main Library Construction

Join us for a Groundbreaking Celebration!  Construction of the new wing and renovation of the Fernandina Beach Library will soon begin.  Join us Thursday, Feb 27, 4-5pm.  25 N. 4th St, Fernandina Beach RSVP by Feb 22 to info@fernandinaFOL.org

NEFLIN Annual Survey

Please give us your input on NEFLIN training and services by taking our online Annual Survey.

The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete and will be available until January 31, 2014.

We value your comments, which will help us improve our services in the future. 

Thank you for your input!

RDA for Copy Cats webinar

RDA for Copy Cats:  2 part NEFLIN webinar (April 1 and April 3, 2014)

Copy cataloging is becoming somewhat more complicated, as various important creators of MARC records gradually switch from following AACR rules to following RDA instructions for the records they make. RDA/MARC records certainly look different than AACR/MARC records, and so do the Hybrid AACR/MARC records that are also showing up for you to copy. But the good news is that there are some straightforward patterns in the RDA instructions that will help clarify the changes that RDA brings to our copy cataloging process.

More information and registration
 

NEFLIN Interest Groups

Upcoming NEFLIN Interest Group Meetings:

 

Outreach: Wednesday, November 13, 10:00 - 11:00 am Online, Leader: Ted Hornoi-Centerwall

 

Staff Development: Thursday, November 14, 2:00 - 4:00 pm at Alachua Headquarters Library, Gainesville, Leader: Chris Culp

 

Children's Services: Friday, December 6, 9 - 4 pm at Suwannee River Regional Libraries Headquarters, Live Oak, Leader: Laura Minnich

Technical Services: Friday, December 13, 9:00 - 10:30 am Online, Leader: John Lucy

October Newsletter

The October issue of the NEFLIN Newsletter is now available.

2013 Annual Meeting: NEFLIN Award Winners

NEFLIN now has multiple awards that were presented at the Annual Meeting. 

Information about each award winning project.

Member of the Year Award

Ann Lindell
University of Florida

 









Innovation Award

Courtenay McLeland
University of North Florida

 
Library Champion Award

Helene Kamps-Stewart, President
Murray Hills Friends, Jacksonville

Distinguished Career Award

Betty Frederick
St. Johns County Public Library

Group Shot (i.e., one without Brad)

Golden Apple Award
Alachua County Library District
(Chris Culp, ACLD, on left)

2013 NEFLIN Annual Meeting

NEFLIN celebrated its 20th Anniversary this year at the University Club in downtown Jacksonville.  

Photos are here.  (Thanks go to Rosemary Szczygiel for taking these photos!)

Give us a few days to add highlights and other info to this space.

Jim Morris Continuing Education Fund Announced

The Jim Morris Continuing Education Fund (JMCEF) was announced at the NEFLIN Annual Meeting on September 12. It will provide an opportunity for individuals employed in NEFLIN member libraries to apply for a $100 stipend to be used towards library related conferences, training, professional development or classes that contribute to the continuing education (CE) of the applicant. It was created by the 2011-12 NEFLIN Board of Directors and is dedicated to the memory of Jim Morris.

JMCEF Application

Applicant Guidelines:

1. Applicant must be an employee (full time or part time) of a NEFLIN member library.

2. There are four application cycles per calendar year:
Cycle 1: October 1, 2013 - January 1, 2014 - applications accepted. Events need to take place January - June 2014.
Cycle 2: January 2 - April 1, 2014 - applications accepted. Events need to take place April - September 2014.
Cycle 3: April 2 - July 1, 2014 - applications accepted. Events need to take place July - December 2014.
Cycle 4: July 2 - October 1, 2014 - applications accepted. Events need to take place October 2014 - March 2015.

3. The NEFLIN Board of Directors will consider completed applications received by each deadline date and will award funds based on the following criteria:
a. Application is complete and received by deadline date
b. Applicant is eligible for this award cycle
c. Appropriateness of the event to applicant’s continuing education
d. Assessment of applicant’s statement explaining the need and benefit of the continuing education event

4. Stipend may be used for registration fee or travel expenses for library related continuing education.

5. Award notifications will be made by the end of January, April, July, and October. Funds will be disbursed after the applied for CE event takes place and all documentation is received.

6. Following the event, stipend recipients are required to:
a. Submit documentation (ie, registration receipt, travel receipts, agenda and/or certificate of attendance) as proof of attending the event.
b. Write a brief summary (approximately 250-500 words) of their experience at the event and how it benefited them or their library.

7. A maximum of one $100 stipend will be awarded per applicant per calendar year.

8. If an application is not selected for an award, the applicant may apply again in the next awards cycle.

9. The NEFLIN Board of Directors will award funds at their sole discretion.

Examples of eligible Continuing Education Event expenses include:
*ALA, FLA or other library conference registration fee or travel expenses
*Travel expenses to NEFLIN Continuing Education classes or special events
*Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute registration fee or travel expenses
*Other appropriate library related continuing education events

The JMCEF is supported by the NEFLIN Silent Auction and donations. Thank you for your support.
To make a donation to the JMCEF, click on DONATE below. Note: You do not need to have a PayPal account.

August NEFLIN Newsletter

The August issue of the NEFLIN Newsletter is now available.

Info on our Silent Auction and iPad Mini raffle at the Annual Meeting are not to be missed.

New Webinar: Who's Afraid of the ACA (Affordable Care Act)? September 24

Tuesday, September 24, 10-11 am ET
On your DESKTOP
Details and Registration HERE

Have your patrons started to ask questions about the Health Insurance Marketplace and open enrollment? How much is it going to cost? Will I be able to afford insurance? What will my options be? 

The federal health care law known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will bring many changes, especially for people who don't have health insurance now. During Open Enrollment (October 1, 2013 through March 31, 2014), Floridians will use HealthCare.gov. to apply for coverage, compare plans, and enroll.

Learn how to access the tools and resources you need to help your patrons find answers to their questions and understand their health insurance options. There will be plenty of time for you to ask questions.

Trainer: Pam Thompson, E-Government Consultant, Division of Library and Information Services, Bureau of Library Development

Register at: http://a3.acteva.com/orderbooking/bookEvent/A336977

_______________________________________________________________

• This is a Live Online webinar. You will be emailed access information. 
• Two or more people at the same location may watch this together. Register ONCE under one name, then notify NEFLIN [register@neflin.org] afterwards of who viewed it. Include the name and date of the webinar and the names of the attendees.

RegistrationNEFLIN classes are free of charge to Florida Library Staff. Registration is required for all classes, and NEFLIN members get priority.
Cancellation deadline for this workshop is 9:00 am Friday, September 20.
Otherwise, no show fees may apply. See cancellation deadline policy at bottom. See all NEFLIN CE policies at http://www.neflin.org/cepolicies.

Tour of Mumford Library Books - August 13

Tuesday, August 13, 3:00 - 4:00 pm
7847 Bayberry Road, Jacksonville

Join Doug McNamara and his staff for a tour of this popular book vendor, and then stay to shop their over 21,000 titles! For 32 years Mumford has provided the service of "Hands On" book selection to over 3,000 public libraries, K-12 schools, and academic libraries.

Host: Doug McNamara, Mumford Library Books

Register at: http://a3.acteva.com/orderbooking/bookEvent/A335127

Mother Goose on the Loose Trainer in Florida

Trainer Betsy Diamant-Cohen will be presenting "Mother Goose on the Loose" for NEFLIN at the Deltona Regional Library in Volusia County on Monday, October 21 (registration coming soon). She is available for other dates in Florida that week and it would reduce the cost for her to book another class. If you are interested please contact Betsy at info@mgol.org.  Below is the description of the class.

Mother Goose on the Loose

This one-day workshop teaches about early literacy and school readiness, explores scientific findings regarding child development, shows how to easily plan and present successful library programs for children under age three and their caregivers, and inspires participants to begin offering programs at their libraries.

• Understand the applied research on childhood brain development
• Experience a hands-on Mother Goose on the Loose session
• Master the structure and principles of Mother Goose on the Loose
• Learn how to create high quality early literacy programs
• Acquire techniques for engaging infants and toddlers
• Discovery new ways to educate and involve parents and caregivers
• Interact with colleagues to share knowledge and ideas.   

Trainer: Betsy Diamant-Cohen, Mother Goose on the Loose

NEFLIN Annual Meeting 2013

NEFLIN's 20th Anniversary

Thursday, September 12, 2013
9:30 am - 2:30 pm

University Club, Riverplace Tower, 27th Floor
1301 Riverplace Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32207

• Keynote: Richard Harwood, The Harwood Institute
• NEFLIN Annual Report
• Walk Down Memory Lane
• Awards
• Lunch and Networking
• Silent Auction (proceeds to benefit the Jim Morris Continuing Education Fund)

$35: Includes lunch and parking
Register Here 

• NEFLIN Library Directors registration only through August 9
• NEFLIN Membership registration opens August 10
• Registration deadline August 23

Envisionware added to NEFLIN Discount Program

New Vendor: Envisionware 

Product: Library Document Station with Coin & Bill Acceptor bundle

Discount amount: Normal price for this combination is $9290.00. EnvisionWare is offering a 15% discount when purchasing these 2 products as a bundle.

Product Information: The Envisionware Library Document Station allows patrons to scan any document to Email, Smartphone, Tablet, Fax, Google Drive, Print or USB. This product can be integrated with the EnvisionWare Print Management SoftWare (LPTOne). This integration is not a requirement and should you not be an LPTOne user, we will simply not enable this feature. 

More information can be found on NEFLIN's vendor discount page.

The Awesome Box

From the July BLD Newsletter.

Looking for a different way for customers to recommend their favorite books or media? Try something like the Awesome Box project at the Somerville Public Library (Somerville, Massachusetts).

All a person has to do to recommend a title is drop the book in the Awesome Box rather than the traditional book drop. After staff scans it as returned, they scan it a second time. It then pops up on the library's "awesome page." This is a quick, inexpensive way to highlight favorite titles that combines the power of social networking with the physical step of returning an item.

  

If you have a simple idea popular with your customers that you would like to share, contact Sandy Newell, Library Administration Consultant, at sandy.newell@dos.myflorida.com or 850.245.6624. 

NEFLIN Technology Conference

For those who couldn't join us for the NEFLIN Technology Conference (and you know who you are) here is a link to the presentations.

It was a great day of fun and learning.  We were pleased that the event was so popular that we had to increase capacity to accommodate 125 members.

Keynote speaker, Lee Rainie, was fantastic.  If you get an opportunity to hear him speak...do so.  I liked his self-description as "a fast talker that could have had a second career as a prescription medicine side effects reader" (you may have to think about that for a bit).

Thanks go out to the Florida Division of Library and Information Services for funding this conference.  We look forward to bringing this event to you again in 2015!

FSU Information Institute Library Hurricane Preparedness Web Portal updated

The Florida State University Information Institute’s Hurricane Preparedness & Response for Florida Public Libraries web portal has been updated and now features the 2013 NOAA Hurricane Outlook and recent Hurricane Preparedness workshops offered by Institute staff. 

The web portal was created with the support of the Florida Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center at FSU’s College of Business to assist public libraries and local communities better plan for, and respond to, hurricanes.  
This web portal serves as an excellent resource for public libraries and assists them with:

• Providing hurricane-related information resources, services, roles, and best practices related to hurricane preparedness;

• Developing model plans, standards, guidelines and recommendations for hurricane preparedness; and

• Discovering existing strategies that libraries use to assist state and regional government with disaster coordination; and

• Discovering Hurricane Preparedness training and organization opportunities and events sponsored by the Information Institute, the American Red Cross and other agencies. 

Since many public libraries are underutilized community assets in disaster response, the web portal helps improve community hurricane preparedness.

Utilizing the service role of the public library, as part of a team of emergency responders, libraries aid a community’s hurricane response by doing the following:

• Among public librarians: Encouraging public library managers and staff to better understand the roles, best practices, tools and resources available to them as they shape their library’s efforts to aid their community’s hurricane response and to aid the roles of their fellow responders, particularly emergency management, local government leadership, and other agencies;

• Among fellow responders: Educating other responders such as emergency management, local government leadership and agencies, nonprofits and businesses about the roles public libraries may play, as part of a team, to aid in community hurricane preparation and recovery; and

• Among residents and evacuees: Communicating to residents which hurricane preparation and recovery services they can count on at their public library.

Learn more about the project here.

Visit the web portal here.

Laura I. Spears
Doctoral Student, School of Library & Information Studies
Florida State University College of Communication & Information

Graduate Research Associate
FSU Information Institute
(561) 632-1740

NEFLIN's June Newsletter

NEFLIN's June Newsletter is now online.  

All the news that is fit to print.

ALA Virtual Conference July 24 and 25

NEFLIN has bought a Group Registration for the ALA Virtual Conference. NEFLIN Members may register HERE to be one of up to 15 site locations to receive the access information. 

See ALA Virtual Conference program details at: http://www.learningtimes.net/ala13/program/. 
Do not register yourself with ALA - register with NEFLIN and we will send the access information to you.

See technical requirements at http://www.learningtimes.net/ala13/technical-requirements/.

NEFLIN Interest Groups Scheduled

Click on each Interest Group below for more details and to register.

• Contact each Interest Group Leader with input or to get on a mailing list.
• Interest Groups are open to NEFLIN Members Only.

Technical Services Interest Group with Leader John Lucy Thursday, July 18, 9 - 10:30 am Online

Leadership Interest Group  with Leader  Harold GeorgeThursday, July 18, 2 - 4 pm Online

Young Adult Services Interest Group  with Leader  Michelle FordeFriday, July 19, 10 - 11 am Online

Staff Development Interest Group with Leader Chris Culp Monday, July 29, 2 - 4 pmat Alachua County Library District Headquarters Library, Gainesville
AND remotely online

School Librarians Interest Group with Leader Jenny EasonThursday, August 1, 9 am - 12 noon at NEFLIN in Orange Park

Library Technologies Interest Group with Leader Otto Pleil Friday, August 2, 1 - 3 pm Online

Outreach Interest Group with Leader Ted Hornoi-CenterwallWednesday, August 7, 10 - 11 am Online

Children's Services Interest Group with Leader Laura Minnich Wednesday, September 25, 9 am - 4 pm at Millhopper Library in Gainesville

Mentors Needed

Have you been thinking about giving back to your colleagues, and profession?  What better way than to mentor a fledgling leader in our upcoming Leadership Institute!  

You are matched up with a mentee that is extremely interested in having a mentor.  You're also provided with a framework to meet within that will assist you in having success.  Interested?  Keep reading.

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The Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute (SSLLI) prepares individuals to lead libraries today and into the future. Each participant is expected to select and work with a mentor during the 10-month Institute.

Mentors work one-on-one with their mentees to:

• Identify professional development goals.
• Provide guidance on the design, implementation, and evaluation of a library leadership project.
• Master the Institute's leadership competencies.

If you are interested in serving as a mentor during the 2013-2014 program year that begins in October and concludes in July, please submit a letter of interest that includes the following: 

1. Contact information - name, title, organization, telephone number, email address.
2. Brief outline of your area of expertise based on the Institute's competencies.
3. Reason(s) you would like to mentor a Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute participant. 

We recommend that your letter be no longer than two pages. The letter will be available for program participants to review on a closed wiki. It should provide basic information to help newly-selected participants decide whether they would like to explore the opportunity of forming a mentoring relationship with you based on their professional development needs.

Please submit your letter of interest by August 1, 2013, to Jill Canono at sslli@dos.myflorida.com.

For additional information contact Jill Canono, Leadership Development Consultant, at Jill.Canono@dos.myflorida.com or 850.245.6648.

New NEFLIN Summer Schedule Announced

July-August-September
Complete CE Schedule

Webinars include:
4 RDA Trainings
Supporting the Distance Learner
Working with Vendors
HTML for Beginners

Face to Face classes include:
Technology Road Show - 4 locations
Lean Library Management
Thrifty Ideas for Adult Programming
Succession Planning

NEFLIN Interest Groups

See all NEFLIN Classes HERE

NEFLIN Award Nominations Open

Nominations are now being accepted for the annual NEFLIN awards.  This year the NEFLIN Board has added two new awards, bringing the total to four. 

• Member of the Year Award  (New)
• Distinguished Career Award  (New)
• Innovation Award
• Library Champion Award

The deadline for nominations is June 14.  Detailed information and the online nomination forms are available at  http://www.neflin.org/awards