Pennsylvania Library Association

Lehigh Valley Chapter

Spring Conference

May 19, 2005

NCC Center

Northampton Community College

Bethlehem Township, PA

Featured Speaker:

Peter Pearson,

President, Friends of the St. Paul Public Library

"Advocacy:

It's Everybody's Business"

(Registration form and Flyer in PDF Format)

Schedule of Presentations

 

REGISTRATION AND COFFEE 8:30-9:00

 

CONCURRENT SESSIONS 9:00-10:15

 

  1. Storyriders, Joy Newswanger, Berks County Public Library. Storyriders are preschool program specialists. They engage the youngest patrons and their caregivers in a unique public library outreach. Storyriders make libraries fun! Storyriders get preschoolers excited about literature by conducting interactive story times.
  2. Replacing Ourselves: Recruiting and Training Our Successors, Connie Paul, Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative. Replacing ourselves as librarians and as leaders is everyone's job! And that part of our job starts on Day One. What are some steps we can take as individuals and as organizations to ensure that we find the best people, get them involved, and develop their potential as leaders?
  3. Blogs and RSS Feeds, Kelly Alice Robinson, CNN Washington, D.C. Curious about blogs because of all the recent hype? Don't even know what one is? We'll talk about blogs, their relationship to libraries and our profession, and all the hullabaloo about RSS.

 

CONCURRENT SESSIONS 10:30-11:45

    

  1. Legal Research on the Web, Dan Giancaterino, Jenkins Law Library. Government agencies are major Web content providers. It's generally easier and quicker to obtain government publications and statistics online rather than in print no matter what type of library you work in. Learn about trusted, high-quality Web sites for:
  2.  A Faculty/Librarian Inquiry-Based Course:   “Is it Science or Pseudoscience?” Dorothy Glew, Reeves Library, Moravian College, and Lori Toedter, Department of Psychology, Moravian College. Learn about an inquiry-based, resource-based course in which a librarian and faculty member engage students in an exploration of the difference between science and pseudoscience. In the process, students sharpen their public speaking, research, and critical thinking skills. The presentation will include many ideas for fusing content and information literacy.
  3. RFIDs: A Revolution in Library Material Handling, Anne Salado-Chaufaille, TAGSYS. Don't know much about RFIDs (radio frequency identification systems)?  An introduction to the RFID process and how it is used in all kinds of library settings to automate the book handling process including checkout, inventory maintenance, and check-in. When combined with automatic or computer assisted sorting equipment, RFID facilitates and speeds up book sorting.

 

LUNCH & BUSINESS MEETING 12:00- 1:30

 

Luncheon Speaker: Peter Pearson, President, Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library.

"Advocacy: It's Everybody's Business"

Find out how this Friends group provided over $1.7 million to the St. Paul Library through its fund-raising and lobbying efforts.  Learn what roles the library director, staff, trustees, Friends, and volunteers can play in advocacy efforts.  Garner some tips for conducting lobbying campaigns that fall within the legal IRS limits.

Hear the case history of an advocacy effort that turned an underfunded library into a strong and stable library. Learn a few keys to developing an effective local advocacy effort.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS: 2:00-3:15

 

  1.  Reel American History: An Archive Built By Novices, Ed Gallagher, Lehigh University.  Description of an ever-expanding Web site dedicated to in-depth student research projects designed to stimulate critical thinking about the ways that movies construct our history, about how the "reel" makes the "real."
  2. Web Sites for Patrons from 4 to 84, Beverly Benfer, Distance Learning & Instructional Technology, Lehigh Carbon Community College. Your patrons ask daily for recommendations of good Web sites. Join us to explore a wide variety of sites for everyone from your youngest to your most elderly patrons.
  3. OpenWorldCat and GoogleScholar: Outreach Opportunities. Suzanne Butte, OCLC Systems. OCLC member libraries are more visible on the Web now with the OCLC Open WorldCat program and their catalogs are more accessible from the sites where many people start their search for information. The presentation will show how this exciting new service helps promote the value of libraries to users on the Web and much more.

 

Fee (includes refreshments and lunch):

Questions about registration can be directed to Martha Stevenson at  484-664-3601 or msteven@muhlenberg.edu

This conference has been partially funded with Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries.

 

Commonwealth Libraries will recognize 4.5 hours of continuing education credit for public library staff who attend the full conference.

 

Accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. If you have questions or special needs, please contact the chapter chair, Lynn Snodgrass-Pilla, at lynnsp@nazarethlibrary.org or 610-759-4932

PaLA Lehigh Valley Chapter website: http://www.lehigh.edu/~inpla/