A Virtual Meeting for Colorado Association of Libraries

CAL SLIG will be holding a meeting at its new Second Life location on Etopia Prime Island next Tuesday, 8 September at 8pm. We will be discussing future events/meetings/programs, as well as what needs to be done in preparation for the CAL Annual Conference.

After the meeting, the owner of the Etopia Islands (who happens to reside in Boulder in RL!) will be giving us a tour of the islands and a bit of history and the purpose of this vibrant, green sustainable community.

So, put on your avatar, and come join the fun at CAL's Sustainable Living Library! SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Etopia%20Prime/69/181/24 (Note: Log into Second Life before using the SLurl).

Virtual Program Streamed Live into Real Life

I am excited to say that CAL's Sustainable Living Library, located in the virtual world Second Life, is hosting a green workshop on Photovoltaics - and I'll be able to extend this great program to MPL patrons!

The workshop will focus on the basics of solar electricity and how it applies to reversing the damage done to our environment due to human activity. The presenter, Phil Friedman of Solar Energy International (SEI), has been working in the solar electricity field for years, and is currently an online instructor for SEI.

You can find out more information about the program on the Sustainable Living Library's blog here.

While attending the program, helping with any technical difficulties, and answering questions about CAL's Second Life Library, I will also be streaming the program live to the Mancos Public Library's patrons in Real Life.

This is a perfect example of the benefits that virtual worlds have to offer. To learn about the ins and outs of Photovoltaics from a respected green industry worker and instructor, we won't have to drive the 350 miles to Denver - we'll be able to enjoy and learn in our small, rural area.

Photo: Patrons in CAL's Sustainable Living Library in Second Life
Credit: Plautia Corvale

CAL SLIG Now on Colorado Association of Libraries Website!

I cannot believe that I haven't posted anything yet on the new Colorado Association of Libraries Second Life Interest Group (CAL SLIG). I guess when you're busy in the middle of something, it can still slip under the radar.

My co-presenter at CAL '08, and friend, Eileen Dumas, and I have been working on forming a new Second Life library; in addition to creating a new library beneficial to Second Life residents, we wanted this library to be a way for Colorado librarians to become more involved in Second Life.

The first step was to formulate a library concept. With so many Colorado libraries (including my library, the Mancos Public Library) building green buildings, and no libraries in Second Life currently of this type, 'green' was a natural fit. Eileen and I worked on a mission statement for the library, and the Sustainable Living Library was born.

We then needed to explore a way to excite interest in the project amongst Colorado librarians. After speaking with a few librarians, we were pointed to Martin Garnar, then the President of CAL. I had recently met Martin at a Town Hall meeting, so I felt comfortable 'cold calling' him. He was wonderful, and enthusiastic about the project. He recommended coming to the November Board meeting and presenting a proposal to start an Interest Group.

To start an interest group, a statement of purpose needs to be drafted, explaining what the benefit is of forming the group. Also, a petition with 8 signatures of CAL members needs to be attached. Being scattered all over the state, getting the signatures posed a problem at first, but we finally ended up with 15!

At the board meeting, our proposal was greeted by much excitement. Some people even wanted us to further our scope into other virtual worlds! It was discussed that if this initial project is sucessful, a Virtual Worlds Division of CAL would be considered.

Voting was conducted, and the board returned an unanimous vote in favor of forming the Second Life Interest Group. I just found out today that SLIG now has it's own page on the CAL website. We're official!

CAL Leadership Institute

I'd like to share a bit with you about the new Colorado Association of Libraries Leadership Institute. In it's inaugural year, 25 Colorado librarians were chosen to participate in this year long program. A co-worker of mine from the Mancos Public Library and I were lucky to have been chosen for this Institute. Over the course of the next year, we'll be making 4 trips to Denver, and participating in virtual sessions in between. We will be learning about Colorado librarianship, and how to take part as a leader.

Our first session coincided with the CAL Annual Conference. Pat Wagner, of Pattern Research, led the first session, and was amazing. While I've met Pat before, I have never attended any of her talks or workshops. She created three group activities, the first of which began the 'bonding' process with all of the members. Her energy, examples, and stories made the workshop content easy to understand and fun! This was a great way to start the Institute, and the group activities were a fun and informal way to meet and learn about the other members.

Our member group has a wide range of experience, education, come from all types of libraries and have many different job descriptions. What's better, everyone is excited to learn and get the most out of the Institute. I've already had several conversations with some of the other members, and we've all found common ground. The networking opportunities alone make this Institute worth it.

And our Leadership Institute Task Force members - not only are they a great bunch of smart and fun people, they are all library leaders themselves! We will have a lot to learn from them in the next year.

Something I love about the Institute is our online group Ning. It is a wonderful way to communicate with the other institute members. Most of the members are many hours away by car, so in the times in between face-to-face workshops, I can still chat with them about Leadership topics and other things.

Another thing that I love, is that I'm in this with a co-worker, Charlene Swansen. Being from such a remote area of Colorado, we have someone readily available to discuss the Institute; we can really talk in-depth easily, and quickly bounce ideas and thoughts off each other.

Here is a picture of our Leadership members, taken on the day of our first session:

Jessamyn "Librarian.Net" Blogger at CAL Annual Conference

Last week I had the pleasure of hearing librarian, blogger, and techie Jessamyn West speak at the CAL annual Conference. She spoke about open libraries; how through using Web2.0 tools, libraries are creating a culture of transparency and what this means to us and our patrons.

She was a very entertaining speaker, and got some non-tech people revved up about what 2.0 tools they could implement at their libraries.

And, I even got to meet her afterwards! :-)

She has posted the notes and slides from the keynote on her blog, Librarian.Net.

Jessamyn, thanks for coming to CAL!

My Upcoming Activities at CAL '08

Gearing up for several events at the Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) Annual Conference has me speeding around in a blur!

Besides collaborating on a presentation for the conference (Everybody Needs a Second Life!) with Eileen Dumas of the Aurora Public Library, we are preparing a proposal to the CAL board to start a Second Life Interest Group (SLIG). The general buzz behind the scenes sounds good, so we are very hopeful. Eileen and I are starting a new model for a Second Life library - a state association backed library! As far as we know, there are no other state library associations out there owning their own virtual world library. Also, within Second Life, our library is a new concept. The Sustainable Living Library will focus on all things 'green' and sustainability. While there is one sim in SL focused on the environment, and various exhibits scattered around, there is no one library focused on sustainable living.

If the Interest Group is formed, CAL will be partnering with the Alliance Library System of Illinois and TAP Information Services, a library consulting firm from Missouri. CAL, Alliance, and TAP will be working together to form the Emerald City sim, and entire island in Second Life devoted to all things 'green'. The Sustainable Living Library will find it's home on Emerald City, and will be the main library on the sim.

Exciting prospect!

While in Denver, I will also be participating in the inaugural "CAL Leadership Institute" (CALLI). 25 CAL members were chosen for this year long institute; sessions will be held in person and virtually. Wo0T! This makes it possible for participants like me in a rural area (8 hours away from Denver) to attend and benefit. The first session begins the day before the conference. Looking forward to learning and meeting all my fellow CALLI members!

And if that ain't enough, I'm actually going to have to squeeze in attendance at the various conference sessions... lol

Colorado Town Hall Meetings: Durango

Town Hall Meeting
21 August 2008
Town Hall Meeting Wiki

Introductions

Martin Garnar, President, Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL)

Valerie Horton, Executive Director, Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC)

Gene Hainer, Director, Colorado State Library (CSL)


Introductions were also made by all attendess. Many different libraries represented: Mancos, Dolores, Durango, Bayfield, Cortez. Many different positions: directors, staff, friends of the library, board trustees, advisory boards, fundraising committee members...


What we came to the meeting to find out: We also went around the room and listed our thoughts on what we’d like to accomplish at this meeting.

• Future of libraries,
• Downloadable music consortia,
• Cooperative purchasing,
• Networking,
• What is the state is up to?,
• Coordinating a state-wide ILS,
• To be informed,
• Want a new focus,
• How the 3 entities work

Overview of the three entities

All their goals: explore overlap and the uniqueness of the 3 entities, explore challenges and opportunities, work for libraries

CAL

Martin read CALs mission & vision statement. The three main parts of their statements are:

1. Advocate for quality library services (lobbyists),
2. Support access to information (work w/lobbyists, intellectual freedom,)
3. Professional development (school, public, academic, special libraries).

He also spoke of the Colorado Leadership Institute.

CSL

Gene explained that there is a state library in every state; not all are the same, for instance, some are connected to different entities within the state. Colorado State Library is a unit within the Colorado Department of Education, and has been since the inception of the Colorado Constitution. Office of State Planning and Budgeting – this generates the discussion about how we can get money for libraries, the discussion then goes to the Joint Budget Committee. This was how we got money for the AIRS database package. They are involved w/legislation, but they don’t do most of the politicking – CAL does. Initiatives start locally, and then libraries change. They also consult for school and public libraries, including youth, technology consultants, and have historical newspapers, and their own ILL system.

State-wide ILS update: Jim Duncan of CSL and others formed a state committee: looked at Georgia Pines model (open source Integrated Library System [ILS]). They put out a white paper about a month ago; a second small committee has now been formed to deal with issues that this paper brought up. About the time of publishing of the white paper, BCR held a summit in Idaho about an open source ILS. CSL is now working with BCR to hold a Colorado summit to take this process to the next level – a small in-state summit in the works.

CLiC

Valerie spoke of how they value the success of libraries through consulting, conferences, continuing education, and cooperative purchasing. They also help libraries save money – even help individuals save money! Recently they helped a librarian save a lot of tuition money by finding her a certificate course on Web Junction that had cheaper tuition than the online university that she had originally registered for. Their regional consultants helped answer 10,000 questions from libraries last year.

Valerie also talked about the Red Feather Lakes success story. The library is in such a remote area, that they could not get on a regular courier delivery for ILLs. CliC helped them find a solution, and now an outside blood draw courier also delivers their ILL books. The ‘blood and books’ courier!

What Works

Attendees all spoke of our successes, such as:

• An afterschool reading program,
• Several new library buildings,
• $20,000 LSTA grant through CSL,
• Successful home school program,
• $500 ALA/PBS grant received through Second Life,
• Renaissance Faire with over 3,000 attendees,
• Successful storytimes.

Gene pointed out that no one said, “We checked out 6,000 books last month”; our successes are all about the people.


Challenges, and What would help you?

We all spoke of our challenges, and the CAL, CliC, and CSL representatives responded:

• Getting votes to approve a bond issue in this time when libraries are considered “passé” because of technology
o Valerie spoke of an OCLC study done to see what gets bond issues passed. CliC is working to get this study ‘out there’ in an effort to increase the number of passed bond issues. This study will teach us how to speak to our communities and motivate them. You can find the study on the pb wiki.
• Workshops are costly in this time of economic downturns
o BCR has free Friday forums…
o Also, nothing wrong w/getting local people together and having brown bag lunches – free event to teach ourselves,
• In our community, the middle and high school no longer have a library
o CAL is working on this crisis w/lobbyists – about half of the school districts in Colorado do not have school libraries
• Lack of board training
o CLiC can provide trainings

One attendee suggested using Camila Attins (sp?) and her star power to bring attention across Colorado.


Where do you want to be in 2020?

We broke into groups of 2 or 3 to discuss the future of libraries in southwest Colorado. Here are the ideas:

• Coordinate a strong Regional group – training, resource sharing, nurturing mutual respect between all library workers, enhancing the personal aspect of libraries,
• Regional high-speed internet access available across ALL rural areas; Benefits: distance working, distance education,
• Delivery of databases in one desktop (federated searching), as well as offering services that people want,
• Community center – more broad-based teen/YA and all age groups,
• Bridge to new technologies, other organizations, arts and culture,
• Cultural center, outreach, community gardens,
• Ways to use buildings in new directions,
• Meeting the needs of users that cannot come to the libraries.

Joannie of Cortez asked: What will happen when Referendum C & D comes out?
• Savings Account For Education (SAFE) CAL is researching all angles of the referendums. They are hoping to be a supporter… Hoping that this will help all communities…

How do WE get there?

• Be stronger; we are getting to the point where all our building projects will be completed,
• Increase networking opportunities, build on current SW efforts,
• Getting a marketing person in, increase marketing (hire locally?),
• Encourage extended sessions with other boards,
• Find ways to get the community to see “us”,
• Create more opportunities for people to work,
• Directors meet and talk about what we need and talk about regional issues and successes,
• Build a community infrastructure so everyone knows what is going on and is better informed,
• Increase casual interaction opportunities,
• Hold “unconference” (free, informal conference) session in SW,
• Boards work with community leaders – communicate regularly,
• Say thank you for successes – tell how it’s going,
• Work together for cooperative purchasing, network and find out these technology opportunities.

Informational Listserves:

• CPLD listserve – valuable resource for the directors
• SW Listserve – great resource for all library workers

Please contact CLiC for information on how to get to these listserves.

We ended the meeting with a +/ Δ session for the meeting itself:

+/: thank you for coming, good time (not too short, not too long), good communication, good energy of presenters AND attendees,

Δ: (Somehow I think we skipped this part. :)


Contacts:

Martin Garnar: mgarnar@regis.edu , 303.964.5459
Valerie Horton: vhorton@clicweb.org , 303.422.1150
Gene Hainer: hainer_g@cde.state.co.us , 303.866.6733