News & Views April 27, 2007

News April 27, 2007 (mp3 file; 3:44 min.)

Book Reviewed by Marcia This Week:

Gaming & Libraries: Intersection of Services, by Jennie Levine, Library Technology Reports, Vol. 42, No. 5, September/October 2006.

News & Views: Trustee Continuing Education

News April 20, 2007 (mp3 file: 2.97 MB, 3:08 min.)
Trustee continuing education; book on blogs & rss

At the top of the ‘cast today: Trustees.

At SWILSA we’re trying to expand our support of trustees—boards seem to be finding “On the Boardtalk” useful (oh, and I’ll be sending out the next one, on trustee continuing education and development, early next week). We have the ICN session, “Influence at the Leadership Level” with Pat Wagner on June 12 and we have a couple more things coming down the pike.

Informed trustees are in a better position to chart the direction of the library, and to represent the library to the community, and the community to the library.

First, we are going to develop a series of short, online modules about technology trends and tools in libraries, starting with blogs. Each piece will use slides and narration to describe the tool and how it might be used in libraries, then show examples of the tool in action in libraries. These modules will be short enough to show at board meetings, but can also be accessed by the trustees from home or office or wherever.

Next, we are building a website with links to resources for Iowa library trustees—we hope it will be a one-stop shopping place, or at least a hub, for finding information and keeping informed—“keeping up.” Links will include online “courses” or modules specifically for trustees, but also some not just for trustees that they might find helpful.

Finally, though this may yet be a bit down the pike, we are planning some basic orientation-type modules for Iowa library trustees. These modules which can, again, be viewed at a board meeting or accessed at home, will discuss public library trustee roles and responsibilities, and might serve as a part of a library’s new trustee orientation.

Stay tuned for these new trustee support pieces and, as always, if you have suggestions or ideas for how we might better serve trustees, please let me know.

Links to sites mentioned in today's podcast:

• Resources for Iowa Library Trustees

Book reviewed by Marcia this week:

• Blogging and RSS; a librarian's guide, by Michael P. Sauers, 2006.

News & Views April 13, 2007; Workshops, travel questions, intellectual freedom books

News April 13, 2007 (mp3 file: 7.58 MB, 8:05 min.)
Workshops, travel questions, intellectual freedom books



Links to sites mentioned in today's podcast:

• SWILSA Useful Sites
• THE Pathfinder Project
• Librarians' Index to the Internet
• Virtual Tours
• Virtual Tourism Blog
• Open Culture

Books reviewed by Marcia this week:

• Defusing censorship: guide to handling censorship conflicts. Frances M. Jones, 1983.
• Trust your children. Mark West. Neal-Schuman, 1997.

News & Views April 6, 2007: Computerside Chats; CCBC Choices

News April 6, 2007 (mp3 file: 3.6 MB, 3:50 min.)
Computerside Chats


Book reviewed by Marcia this week:
CCBC Choices 2007. Kathleen T. Hroning, et. al., 2006.