CONTENTS 1. Executive Board Reorganization 2. Summer Focus 3. Service Updates:     Spotlight on INFOLINK Committees     Delivery Service Reminder     Incubator Contract Award     2008 COSAC Award 4. Did You Know...? - ListenNJ.com, Autism Project, and more... 5. Fall Continuing Education Updates 1. Executive Board Reorganization At its July 16, 2008 meeting, the INFOLINK Executive Board elected the following Board members to positions as Officers for FY2009. Congratulations to all!! President: Roberta Bronson Fitzpatrick, UMDNJ-George F. Smith Library, Newark Vice-President: John Malar, Cranford Public Library Secretary: Carolyn Ryan Reed, East Orange Public Library Treasurer: Judy Gardner, Alexander Library, Rutgers University Libraries Assistant Treasurer: Pat Reilly, Hudson County Community College John Hurley (Woodbridge PL) remains as INFOLINK’s Library Network Review Board Representative. Board meeting dates and contact info for Executive Board members are online. [ back to top ]   2. Summer Focus As in your own library worlds, there are no “slow” periods in the INFOLINK Office during the summer. Staff — primarily Business Administrator Nanette Cox — prepared for our annual audit which is required as part of our contract with the New Jersey State Library. A new phone system was installed and our QuikBooks software was upgraded. Mi-Sun Lyu developed and promoted a wonderful summer CE mini series that Carol Fishwick kept on track. Carol, with our part-time Rutgers senior Gina Quinones, also updated delivery statistics, contacted libraries in “stat” arrears, and updated delivery spreadsheets so we could determine eligibility for the FY09 service. Our FY09 committees came together. We do appreciate the dedication of those volunteers who rejoined and the new librarians who came on board. School and public library response to the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) discount offer last June was a happy surprise with purchase orders, invoices and payments filling Nanette’s inbox all summer. Gale offered webinar training and has scheduled more this fall. Current GVRL customers are the primary audience for this training. Staff also managed the Regional Library Cooperative discount offer and set up the FY2009 Book Evaluation programs. Please rely on the collective experience of your INFOLINK staff to help you: Mi-Sun Lyu, Program & Services Coordinator; Carol Fishwick, Member Services; and, Nanette Cox, Business Administrator. Executive Director Cheryl O’Connor continues on the New Jersey Library Association Executive Board and the VALE Executive Committee as RLC liaison. She was invited to serve as the RLC rep on the statewide Portal Task Force to review the vendor bids for JerseyClicks. This summer Cheryl was appointed (RLC rep) to the statewide NJKI Task Force which is considering contracts for new business resources in addition to RefUSA and Academic Search Premier. This team is moving FAST! [ back to top ] 3. Service Updates: Spotlight on INFOLINK Committees INFOLINK’s four committees are working to fulfill plan activities for FY2009. We will provide detailed updates as time progresses. Here’s a quick overview: The Diversity Committee, chaired by Ingrid Betancourt (Newark Public Library), will assist members to redefine library services to older adults by replicating and/or revising the Senior Spaces project. Look for an RFP and a workshop — Your Community is Aging! Is Your Library Ready? Members will also evaluate the impact of the Diversity Initiative Series and target GLBT issues. The Technology Committee, chaired by Jerry Holtz (Woodbridge Public Library) is already working with Mi-Sun Lyu on Tech Day speakers (May 14, 2009, Alexander Library, SCC, Rutgers University) and will consider topics for Tech Talks. A task force of this group will investigate CJRLC’s Gaming in Libraries Pilot Project. The Advocacy Committee, chaired by Phil Israel (Westfield Memorial Library) will continue programs for library trustees in collaboration with other library organizations. Members will also develop and implement a road show on core advocacy skills in collaboration with other state library organizations. The Planning Committee, chaired again by Melissa Kopecky (South Orange Public Library) monitors the implementation of the FY2009 activities. Besides working on our FY2010 focus, members will complete and assess the value of the SWAP program to the members and will develop and conduct a miniseries on How to Foster Change and Innovation in Libraries. If any of the committee charges inspire you, contact the office. We’d be happy to add a few new members. Deadline—Sept 30. [ back to top ] Delivery Service Reminders Delivery to School Libraries started Sept 9. Those INFOLINK school libraries eligible for delivery service should see their driver soon. Call us if this does not occur. Fax in all outstanding delivery stat sheets to INFOLINK. Your service eligibility is determined in a large part by the documented statistics of your use. Low stats may result in service curtailment. Take care in writing labels with the correct address and delivery number. We have had reports of items delivered to the wrong library. The INFOLINK office works with the delivery vendor to correct errors. INFOLINK and Velocity want to know about patterns of misdelivered items. Should service be sporadic, report each and every missed stop in a TIMELY fashion to the office. You may call or email carol@infolink.org. We need to rectify things for your users. In addition, INFOLINK deducts payment for services not provided. Velocity has goals to provide consistent service for our member libraries. Communication directly to the INFOLINK office about issues or problems is more than a request. It is our responsibility to you and your responsibility as a service recipient. [ back to top ] Incubator Contract Award INFOLINK awarded a $10,000 contract to the Plainfield PL for its proposed incubator project called Literacy Links. Other partners include Cranford PL, Elizabeth PL, Rahway PL, Roselle Park Veterans Memorial Library, and the Literacy Volunteers of Union County. The focus is to establish a comprehensive online referral system that connects libraries with literacy services.  It is the goal of the Plainfield Public Library to serve library patrons more efficiently and effectively by pooling the strengths and resources of the collaborating partners. Elizabeth Gloeggler, Executive Director of the Literacy Volunteers of Union County shares, "We are all so excited about how the new system will revolutionize the way we connect patrons and literacy services." [ back to top ] COSAC congratulates the 2008 award winners. Cheryl O’Connor accepted the Community Partner Award for INFOLINK. http://www.njcosac.org/cosac2/CONFawards08 [ back to top ] 4. Did You Know...? That …. INFOLINK and CJRLC’s downloadable books project, ListenNJ, just completed sign ups for its fourth year of service?  105 libraries will be in the cost-shared service in January ‘09. Welcome to our five new members: Berkeley Heights Public Library, Cranford Public Library, Kearny Public Library, Newark Public Library, and the Springfield Public Library. Updates are on the ListenNJ wiki.  Link available at http://listennj.pbwiki.com. That …. the NJ Association of School Librarians invited INFOLINK’s Welcoming Library Spaces for the Autism Community & Their Families contract reps to present at the NJASL Fall Conf. (Nov 13-15, Hilton East Brunswick)? We are on the agenda (so far) for Sat, Nov 15, 8:30am. That …. INFOLINK is partnering with BCCLS (Bergen County Cooperative Library System) and the Highlands Regional Library Cooperative on a World Language Fair? Venue is Bergen County Community College, Paramus, March 16, 2009. Save the date! The first fair was a classic and got rave reviews. That …. INFOLINK and CJRLC just completed sign ups for the NextReads project? Twenty-six of the thirty-two libraries are members of INFOLINK. This EBSCO readers’ advisory service gives libraries a way to email their readers lists of books in genres that they preselect. This is an RLC subsidized service @ $250 per library. That …. nine libraries and thirty-eight staff completed a four-part Continuous Improvement program under the direction of Sara Laughlin and Ray Wilson of Sara Laughlin Associates? Expect an online summary report of expectations and results from these enthusiastic colleagues representing Brookdale Community College Library, East Brunswick PL, Irvington PL, Long Branch PL, Monroe PL, South Brunswick PL, South Orange PL, South Plainfield PL, and South River PL. That …. seven libraries completed the spring 2008 Diversity Initiative Workshop Sseries including action plans and programs scheduled in Aug-Sept. We will share the target audiences and project results from the East Orange PL, Edison PL, Hillside PL, Irvington PL, Old Bridge PL, South Brunswick PL, and the Middlesex County Law Library. [ back to top ] 5. Fall Continuing Education Updates Mi-Sun Lyu, Program & Services Coordinator The fall is officially here… well, at least to me. Many Asian cultures celebrate their Thanksgiving holiday tradition or autumn festivals around this time of the year, which means it is now the harvesting and rich mood of colorful fall.  I am also one of those people who greet the beautiful season with our own holiday, ‘Chuseok’ (Korean Thanksgiving Day).  Koreans observe Chuseok on the 15 of August by the lunar calendar, and it is September 14 this year on the solar calendar. Just like Thanksgiving Day here, Chuseok is one of the most important holidays in Korea. Women in the family start several major grocery shopping even weeks before Chuseok, and families and relatives gather from around the nation, in spite of the horrifying holiday traffic all over.  After surviving the chaos of traffic hell and days of sweating to prepare holiday food, at the dawn of the morning on Chuseok we offer a memorial service to thank our ancestors for helping us have another good harvesting year and for looking after their descendents. Then everyone in the family gathers around the morning table full of delicious food. One of the must have foods on Chuseok is ‘Songpyeon’, stuffed rice cake steamed on a layer of pine needles. Songpyeon is one of the very few things that men help prepare the day before Chuseok. If newly- weds are planning to have a baby soon, they better make pretty Songpyeon since their baby may look like the Songpyeon they make. My favorite Songpyeon is stuffed with ‘sesame seed’ that my mom makes. Since my husband Won and I are a  Pacific Ocean and an American Continent away from home, we will not be able to satisfy our voracious appetite of Chuseok this year. It is emotionally painful, but I know at least it should be good for my diet. Songpyeon Even though I may miss the fun of Chuseok, I spent the last days of the summer to put our Fall CE classes together instead with the same mind that Koreans prepare their festive Chuseok dishes. This Fall, INFOLINK once again introduces a series of great new workshops with the focus on strengthening and improving library staff skills, library services, promoting current trends in Technology and their relation to library services. Programs newly introduced this fall include but are not limited to ‘Just When I get Comfortable, Everything Changes’, ‘Open Source Toolbox for Libraries’, ‘Cultural Awareness’, ‘Facebook for Librarians: Connect with Your Customers’, ‘Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data’, and many more.  For all CE course listings and program descriptions, look for our Fall CE brochure and program flyers on our Website at http://www.infolink.org/services/education_and_training/ One workshop you do NOT want to miss is Just When I get Comfortable, Everything Changes (Oct. 17 @ East Brunswick PL) presented by Andrew Sanderbeck, the founder of The People-Connect Institute.  Andrew Sanderbeck is a recognized expert trainer and author who has been featured on television and training networks including PBS for his program “Managing Team Excellence in Times of Change”. He will talk about how important it is to understand that we as individuals must come to grips with the underlying psychological effects of major change, and will discuss how change can be managed effectively. For School Librarians, we offer Curriculum Standard Time (Saturday, Nov. 8 @ Old Bridge PL) with Hilda Weisburg who has offered successful workshops for the INFOLINK School Group.  Hilda will talk about how the AASL  Standards for the 21st-CenturyLearner. The NETS-S (for students) and the NETS-T (for teachers) can make you a building leader.  Participants will practice on modifying one (or more) of their favorite lesson plans to incorporate these new standards.  We also bring your favorite workshops back, including ‘Book Repair’, ‘A Perfect Fit: Programming That Fits Your Community And Your Budget’, ‘New Reference: Delivering Reference Services in the 21st Century’, and Dreamweaver CS and Photoshop CS hands-on trainings. In response to your strong demands, we continue to offer onsite training programs with CAM Consulting LLC (Program Flyer).  In addition to the scheduled Fall CE programs, we are also considering offering online workshops in collaboration with other Regional Library Cooperatives of the New Jersey Library Network. (TBA) If our scheduled Fall CE offerings do not work with your schedule or you need to offer different topics for your library staff, we can help!  Please contact us to discuss possible onsite workshops, and we will help you arrange onsite training at your library. You pick your topic, and we will work with you from there.  Suggestions?  Questions? Contact us at 732-752-7720! Fall CE Schedule and Workshop Descriptions at: http://www.infolink.org/services/education_and_training/ CE Online Registration at: http://www.infolink.org/services/education_and_training/registration_form/ [ back to top ]   INFOLINK The Eastern New Jersey Regional Library Cooperative 44 Stelton Road Suite 330 Piscataway, NJ 08854 www.INFOLINK.org Phone: 732-752-7720 or 1-866-505-LINK FAX: 732-752-7785 or 1-800-793-8007 Staff Cheryl O’Connor, Executive Director Mi-Sun Lyu, Program & Services Coordinator Nanette Cox, Business Admin Carol Fishwick, Members Services Executive Board Roberta Bronson Fitzpatrick, President Phyllis Aronowitz Sheila Fitzgibbon Judith Gardner Elizabeth Gloeggler Mark Jackson James Keehbler Dorothy Key Mary Lewis John Malar Lina Podles Caroyln Ryan Reed Pat Reilly JoAnn Tropiano