This message will be brief because the State of the Association
Report provides a final report of the association's activities during
the 1994-95 year. I just want to extend my thanks to everyone who worked
in any capacity on behalf of the Montana Library Association this year.
I was glad to see so many of you at the annual conference in Billings
and especially to finally meet those of you with whom I communicated by
phone or e-mail throughout the year. I would especially like to commend
the Conference Planning Committee and the Local Arrangements Committee
for executing a conference that will be, especially for me, a memorable
culmination of the association's work this year. I was particularly
pleased by the large attendance at the keynote session, the Wednesday
evening leadership session, the library issues forum, and the general
membership session. You have reinforced my belief that our members want
to be active participants in maintaining the organizational
effectiveness and vitality of our association. I have enjoyed being
president of the Montana Library Association. I learned a lot and got
to know many fascinating folks. Thanks for giving me this opportunity!
Susan Nissen
This issue of Montana Library Focus will be my last issue as editor. I have enjoyed the challenge of editing Focus, and it has certainly been an interesting few years in MLA. I would like to express sincere thank to all the division chairs, interest group chairs, book reviewers, and other MLA members for their many contributions. I especially would like to thank Sue Nissen for her voluminous contributions and for her patience and perseverance in learning to send the submissions electronically.
Liz Kearney, the librarian at the West Yellowstone Public Library, will be taking over the editor's hat with the September issue. I'll let her introduce herself in the next column.
This issue, like the last one, is also available on the Focus World-Wide Web page. So if you'd like to see the conference pictures in color, just point your graphics-capable browser at http://www.lib.montana.edu/~notess/focus/.
Greg Notess, Focus editor
At the MLA conference in Billings this spring, MLA President Sue Nissen and President-elect Mary Bushing led an informal evening program called something very close to "Leadership training for MLA leaders -- and those who aspire to be." Heeding the call of volunteerism, I attended, and in the midst of that roomful of library enthusiasm (who could resist Mike Schulz doing the "wave"?), approached Sue Nissen afterward and said, "I could help with the newsletter."
Which just goes to show what you can get yourself into when you get all pumped up at MLA!
I do look forward to participating with the Montana Library Association, and I am excited about the opportunity to work with many librarians from all around the state. Living in West Yellowstone, it's pretty easy to feel far away from just about everywhere: I hope to forge connections among the Montana library community through Montana Library Focus.
Everyone is welcome and strongly encouraged to submit news,
views, issues, features, tidbits, helpful hints, and/or letters to the
editor. My snail mail address is P.O. Box 370, West Yellowstone, MT
59758. We hope to have an e-mail address in place and publishable in
the September issue. I look forward to hearing from as many of you as
possible.
Liz Kearney
The e-mail address is now active! Contact Liz at focus@wln.com.
So here's the committee list as it stands with notes as to where volunteers are especially needed:
Again, to add to or change any of the listings above, contact Beth Furbush, at 406/444-3598; Montana Legislative Council Library, State Capitol, Room 138, Helena, MT 59620-1706, e-mail: mtlegco@wln.com or CL0444%zip01@ email.mt.gov.
Beth Furbush
Montana Legislative Council Library
BUDGET. While concerned that the 1995 conference in Whistler, British Columbia will not garner as many attendees (it's a resort and off the beaten track), members were pleased to learn that the 1994 Eugene conference was a financial success. Like many similar organizations, PNLA cannot relax its efforts to attract members and encourage conference attendance. Sites were discussed for future annual meetings. The 1996 PNLA conference will be held in Fairbanks, Alaska; 1997 - Seattle, WA; 1998 - possibly Sun Valley, Idaho; 1999 - possibly Calgary, Alberta.
PNLA QUARTERLY. The costs of publishing this award-winning journal were discussed. Along with thanks to Kappy Eaton, dedicated editor, the Board asked Eaton to investigate cost-cutting measures such as desktop publishing.
Anyone interested in submitting articles to the Quarterly is invited to contact Eaton at 1631 E. 24th Ave., Eugene OR 97403.
PNLA LOGO. The board agreed to consider a new logo for the library association. Brainstorming resulted in numerous suggestions concerning what various members felt the logo should portray. President Anne Haley will contact an appropriate firm to begin this process.
ELECTION. Montana's own Karen Hatcher is running for PNLA First Vice-President, President-elect. Hatcher is the Dean of the Mansfield Library at the University of Montana. She has been an active PNLA member since the 1970s and has participated in the myriad of changes the organization has faced. "The international opportunity provided through PNLA by joining with state and provincial librarians is one of PNLA's strengths. We need to encourage more librarians of all types to take advantage of this uniqueness. The new information highways do not see geographical boundaries."
LISTSERV. PNLA's listserv can be subscribed to by sending e-mail to: listserv@wln.com. Leave the subject line blank. Your message should contain the following words: subscribe PNLA-L [your first name] [your last name] This listserv discusses items of interest to librarians of the Northwest including Young Reader's Choice Award information, job openings, and other issues.
ANNUAL CONFERENCE. As mentioned above, the 1995 PNLA conference
will be held in Whistler, British Columbia - a resort area just outside
Vancouver, BC. Conference dates are August 9-12. The keynote speaker is
Canadian humorist and former librarian Bill Richardson, who is
described as charming, riotous, and sometimes outrageous. The
preconference will be an all day session in evaluating library services
presented by Doug Zweizig from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Other programs include media literary, storytelling, picture books for
older readers, re-engineering reference, the Internet and libraries,
collection management, electronic library networks, Canadian children's
books, and more. Featured authors include Sarah Ellis (children's
author and librarian) as well as the two winners of the 1995 Young
Reader's Choice Award, Peg Kehret and Lois Duncan. See you in Whistler!
Bette Ammon
PNLA Representative
The Arizona Library Association Planning Forum is scheduled for May 18. It will be followed by an executive board meeting the next day. The association will be looking at new revenue streams and considering alternate sites for the annual conference. Regional forums are replacing mid-year conferences. These are hosted by the county libraries and offer opportunities for the library community to become familiar with resources and personnel throughout the state. They also give regional librarians who may find it difficult to get away for travel an opportunity to interact with ALA Executive Board.
At its April meeting, the Colorado Library Association Board was briefed on Draft #1 - Strategies 2001: Strategic Plan for Library Services in Colorado. For the past year, 22 people, representing a broad spectrum of the library community, have been developing a strategic long range plan for Colorado libraries. Their assignment has been to articulate what the 21st century holds for libraries and library service in Colorado and to make suggestions as to how the library community can arrange its service priorities and delivery methods to meet those conditions.
The Colorado Library Association Board also heard from Nancy Allen, Dean of Libraries at the University of Denver on DU's new Master's Degree of Library & Information Services program. The program will begin in the Fall of 1995. In putting together this program under its University College, the committee that worked on the curricula looked at a variety of universities to ensure that it was designed to integrate the many changes that have occurred in the library field over the last 5 years.
The Kansas Library Association has declared October as Kansas Library Month. The Governor signed a formal proclamation April 6 designating the month. Activities in libraries, a promotional document, and graphics featuring noted Kansans speaking to the importance of libraries will be used as the focus for the month.
The Kansas Library Advisory Commission established a Telecommunication Futures Committee. This planning group will explore the needs and aspirations of libraries of all types and geographic locations in the state to see how electronic access can be most effectively delivered to libraries. This comes at a time when private providers of Internet and other data services, telephone companies, cable companies, wireless providers and many other types of information seekers are exploring options. The Kansas Library Network Board prepared a document released at Triconference and updated through the KanLibL listserve to alert libraries to as many possible providers as possible.
The 1995 North Dakota legislative session drew to a close on Friday, April 7. Library funding was cut in every area but multitype library authorities, which were funded at $100,000. A concurrent resolution directed the Legislative Council to study the library system in North Dakota, including the role and mission of the State Library, cooperative library ventures, and research and information systems to determine if the citizens of this state have access to essential library services that are delivered efficiently.
Librarians in Wyoming initiated a new DRA circulation system after months of intensive preparation. Staff in public and community colleges had actively been involved in the last 20 months' discussing needs, bidding, purchasing, re-wiring, fund-raising, and finally training (intensive). Principle decisions were jointly made by the Wyoming State Library and the WYLD User's Council with special problems worked out in additional committees. The extensive planning has paid off as conversion from the outmoded GEAC systems went quite smoothly.
The Wyoming State Library has developed a new publication which will highlight continuing education opportunities in the form
of courses from regional universities or area seminars and workshops. Corky Walters would welcome receiving information from
you to place in that bi-monthly, Coming Attractions.
Darlene Staffeldt
MPLA Representative
The Montana Library Association has established this scholarship fund to honor the memory of Sheila Cates, a Montana librarian who gave outstanding leadership to Montana libraries through her career both in the Office of Public Instruction and through the Montana State Library. It is the board's intention that the person selected to receive an award from this fund should show potential for emulating Sheila's contribution to Montana libraries.
Gail is the librarian at the Veteran's Administration Center in Miles City and is currently chairperson of the Montana Library Association's Health Science Libraries Interest Group and is a member of the Montana Library Futures Task Force.
She began working on her Master's Degree in the fall of 1992 and commuted weekly to the MSU-Billings campus to attend classes. She gives credit to Montana librarians, especially those in Billings, for making it possible for her to obtain her degree. She especially enjoyed meeting weekly with her classmates, who greatly enriched her learning by sharing their experiences gained in special, school, academic, and public libraries.
During her employment at the VA Medical Center, Gail received a Grateful Med Outreach grant from the National Library of Medicine, which provided much needed access to medical literature for health professionals in Sidney, Miles City, Scobey, and Glasgow. She is presently working with the Pacific Northwest Region of the National Network of Medical Libraries to get SLIP/PPP access to the Internet.
Gail lives in Miles City with her husband Larry, an elementary
school teacher, and her two girls Lindsey and Haley. She is a Sunday
School teacher, a volunteer youth soccer coach, and a neighborhood
worker for the Montana Lung Association and the American Cancer
Society.
Peggy Kimmet
Membership renewals are due July 1. Renewal forms were printed in the September Montana Library Focus and the
conference pre-registration packet. Renewal notices will be mailed shortly after July 1.
John Thomas
Bringing the exhibit to Billings was the brainchild of the Yellowstone Project to Promote Tolerance, a group that included clergy, business people and educators who felt impelled to take a stance against discrimination after a number of well--publicized acts of vandalism against minorities in the Billings area. This group, aided by the sponsorship of the Billings Gazette, Coca Cola Bottling Co. West, Rocky Mountain College, the United Church of Christ, and Parmly Billings Library, worked for approximately one and a half years to bring the exhibit to Billings.
The arrival of the Anne Frank exhibit coincided with the 50th anniversary of the death of Anne Frank in March of 1945, something that added a great sense of poignancy to an experience that had a profound effect on those who attended.
The exhibit consisted of some 700 images from photographs that were reflected on dozens of large panels. The exhibit itself took up most of the library's third floor. The photographs traced the development of Nazism and its persecution of minorities from the early 1920's until the end of World War II, with special emphasis given to the treatment of the Jewish population. Within this background, one could follow the life of Anne Frank and her family and watch her growth from her childhood in Frankfurt until her capture and confinement in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
The exhibit proved especially attractive to students. Not only did virtually all of the schools in Billings book tours to the exhibit, but students from Bozeman, Livingston, Great Falls, and northern Wyoming also attended.
When it was over, the staff at the library felt proud to be a
part of one of the most important exhibits ever to come to Billings.
Jim Peters
Parmly-Billings Library
"The Library Show", which began production last September, gives library staff members an opportunity to talk about ongoing children's and adult programs at the library, discuss new books or audio visual materials, and interview local guests who will give programs at the library.
Last summer, library staff began to examine additional ways to advertise the services and programs at the library. During the recent successful campaign that the library waged to increase its mill levy, KSVI-TV 6 produced two 30-second commercials for television and the library worked with Community Seven to produce a 40 minute tour of the library. The success of these efforts prompted the library to look seriously at a weekly television show.
Twice a month two shows are taped that will be shown over four Monday evenings. Since the library building is wired for cable, and the television studio is across the street, the program is filmed and produced on the library premises at one taping. Three library staff members share the honors of being the host for the show. Others on the staff take turns discussing new books or audio visual materials.
Each program is divided into three parts. The first part consists of the host talking with a staff member about upcoming children's and adult programs. The second part consists of reviews of new library materials. In the third part, the host will conduct an interview with a local author or someone who will be presenting a program at the library. Guests who have been interviewed on past shows include authors Gary Svee, Earl Murray, Sandra West Prowell, and program presenters have included John Colburn of the Magic City Fly Fishers, Susan Kennedy of Kennedy's Stained Glass, and Paul Zalis of the Big Sky Radio Show.
Since beginning production of "The Library Show", over 20 programs have appeared on channel 7, and we have found that this has been another successful means of advertising our services. For more information, call Jim Peters at Parmly at 657-8251.
Jim Peters
Parmly-Billings Library
On March 15, Vicki Terbovich, Technology Consultant with the Montana State Library, met with the group at the Miles City Public Library to develop a mission statement and begin the process of looking at where we are and where we want to go with technology.
Members of SLATE (Sagebrush Libraries for the Advancement of Technology for Everyone) met again on April 21 at the Glendive Public Library. Andrine Haas, Library Director at Dawson Community College, led the group through short and long range goal setting. Renee Goss of the Sidney Public Library was selected as chair and Karyn Brown of the Fallon County Library as secretary. Several work groups were identified.
The group recognized the need to do an assessment of current uses of technology in the federation area as a starting point for future work. Means of performing such an assessment are in the planning stages.
Watch for further news of SLATE in the future!
Andrine Haas
Dawson Community College
dcclib@wln.com
Last year's institute was held July 11-15, 1994 at Montana State University-Bozeman. It was organized, coordinated, and facilitated by Kathy Kaya and Kay Carey, reference librarians at MSU-Bozeman. The institute addressed the unique needs of tribal college libraries and librarians in meeting the information requirements of their diverse user groups. The librarians provide the only library service to a patron population that includes tribal officials, health care providers, educators, the elderly, children, the disadvantaged, as well as students and faculty.
Their collections and services may support literacy programs, economic development and programs for the preservation of culture, language, artifacts, or records.
Last year, funding from a U.S. Department of Education grant made it possible to invite participants from all members and affiliates of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). Attending were 26 librarians, including six from Montana, from 21 AIHEC institutions across the country and Canada.
Last year's institute concentrated on electronic communication
with an emphasis on Internet access and training. A special electronic
conference was created for tribal college librarians on MSU's Outreach
Network in order to encourage continuation of the dialog begun in
person in Bozeman. A major component of the grant was funding to
provide a toll-free number for the librarians to dial in to the
Outreach Network. In addition to the intense electronic training,
outstanding speakers gave presentations on relevant and timely topics
and stimulated lively discussions. The keynote speaker was Dr. Cheryl
Metoyer-Duran, nationally-known librarian/educator from the University
of California-Riverside, who discussed her research on tribal college
libraries and provided a role model as a Native American scholar,
teacher, and librarian. Dr. Henrietta Mann and Dr. Frank Rowland made
complementary presentations explaining and advocating understanding and
sensitivity to the cultural context in which the educational process
operates and to which it belongs.
Kathy Kaya
Kay Carey
MSU-Bozeman Libraries
1996 Helena April 24-27
1997 Great Falls April 23-26
1998 Missoula April 22-25
The 1999 annual conference is planned as a joint conference with the Mountain
Plains Library Association. The MLA Board of Directors has selected Big Sky as the site for this
conference. MLA and MPLA will negotiate a mutually satisfactory date for the 1999 conference.
1. Claims for Reimbursement
Claims should be submitted within four months of the date the expenditure was made or before the end of the fiscal year in June, whichever comes first. The Budget Committee must be notified of any exceptions to the above prior to the end of the fiscal year in question. All claims must have receipts attached.
2. MLA-Issued Checks
All checks issued by the Association should be cashed by the recipient within four months of issue. Outdated checks no longer honored by the bank will not be reissued by the Association.
3. President's Claims for Reimbursement
Claims submitted by the Association president must be approved by the secretary/treasurer for payment.
4. President's Discretionary Fund
Expenditures of more than $300 from this fund need to pre-approved by the Executive Committee.
Terri Dood
MLA Secretary/Treasurer
An Affirmation of the Right to Information
We affirm the right of every Montanan to freely and confidentially access information and ideas, and to be afforded the opportunity to select from a variety of materials relating to the widest possible spectrum of issues and points of view.
Committee members have agreed to create a number of working groups to address various aspects of statewide library technology. These groups, with the mission statement as a guide, will provide specific guidelines, recommendations and strategies, consistent with their charges from the committee.
Committee members are: Vicky Terbovich, State Technology Consultant; Nancy Szofran, MSU-Billings Library; Debbie Schlesinger, Lewis & Clark Library, Helena; John Meckler, Plains School Library, Plains; Barbara Crain, McLaughlin Research Institute, Great Falls; Peggy Smith, Skyview High School Library, Billings.
The 18 working groups will be chaired by a committee member and composed of people from across the state. The issues they will deal with are:
The Proposed time line for completion of the committee's charge is:
The committee will compile the Statewide Library Technology Strategic Plan and create a draft copy. Public meetings will be held
to get input on the draft plan, and a final report will be issued by January of 1996.
Peggy Smith