BCLTA WEEKLY BULLETIN – July 03, 2009
CONTENTS
Announcements
Featured Grants
Featured Resources
Upcoming Events
Member Information Requests
Advertisements
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- BCLTA is currently unable to offer free Trustee Orientation Program (TOP) Training due to a temporary freeze on PLSB grant monies. PLSB has generously funded TOP since 2006 – enabling BCLTA to offer these sessions free-of-charge to trustees in all areas of the province. We hope to continue providing this exceptional service to our members, but we cannot do so without government funding. If your board is interested in scheduling a TOP session, we invite you to contact the BCLTA office at admin@bclta.org or 604-913-1424 to discuss your options. Essentially, you can either hold off scheduling a session until we hear from PLSB this Fall, or we can organize your session on a cost-recovery basis ($175/person or $150/person for a minimum of 7-10 people), with a refund provided in the event that government funding comes through for 2009.
[Please note: despite the lack of funding for 2009, BCLTA has already provided TOP training to over 100 trustees in ten communities throughout BC this year – including Burnaby, Fort Nelson, Kimberley, Midway, Pemberton, Prince George, Tumbler Ridge, Vancouver, Vanderhoof and Victoria.] .
- Volume 1, no. 3 of the BCLA Browser: Linking the Library Landscape is now available online at http://bclabrowser.ca/index.php/browser. In addition to regular Features, Executive Reports, and reports from Sections, Committees and Interest Groups; this issue includes numerous reports from the 2009 BC Library Conference. The BCLA Browser is an online, open access quarterly publication communicating BCLA activities to members and non-members around the province.
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FEATURED GRANTS
- Has your library taken advantage of a grant or funding program you’d like to pass along to the rest of the trustee community? If so, please contact Errin Morrison at execdirector@bclta.org with the details.
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FEATURED RESOURCES
- The Board of Trustees. This WebJunction resource provides an overview of what trustees do and also addresses advocacy, planning and training activities for library trustees. Login to, or create, your free WJBC account to access this document online.
- Competency Index for the Library Field. WebJunction has aggregated and synthesized competency definitions from a number of library organizations, subjected them to vigorous subject matter expert review, and compiled them into a Competency Index for the Library Field. The Index can be used by libraries of all types and sizes to build competency sets to meet their organization's needs – i.e., provide a foundation on which to increase the knowledge, skills and abilities of current employees and/or recruit employees to fill existing gaps in the organization.
As an example from the Index, overall competence in the area of “Budget & Funding” requires the following basic competencies – each of which is accompanied by a detailed list of associated skills and knowledge:
- Understands and employs basic budget and finance concepts and terminology;
- Establishes effective financial management processes and services, using sound business and financial judgment; and
- Identifies and pursues multiple funding sources for the library.
Login to, or create, your free WJBC account to access this document online and feel free to distribute widely, re-mix, and re-purpose as you see fit.
- What do WebJunction Courses Look Like? Have you been curious about the online training offered by WebJunction but would like to know more about what a self-paced course looks like? Watch this demonstration video, which takes you on a tour of the three major types of courses you’ll find in the WebJunction catalogue. Watch the video...
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UPCOMING EVENTS
- July 22 – Free WebJunction Webinar: Living Libraries, Understanding Diversity
Join us for a free one-hour webinar, Living Library Project: Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover. The Living Library is a unique event that brings together people who have special interests, beliefs or experiences to share their personal story with members of the community. In this innovative program, participants can "check out" Living Books for a personal conversation. Join project leads Rebecca Judd from Kitsap Regional Library System (WA), and Julie MacDonald and Rachel Foyt from Santa Monica Public Library (CA). Hear how they planned and implemented the project in their libraries, and find out how you can create a Living Library in your community. For more project information, read this BlogJunction post from last fall. Register for the webinar…
- October 1 – BC Library Reception at UBCM
As in years past, BCLTA and partners (BCLA and ABCPLD) will host a Library Reception in conjunction with the annual Union of BC Municipalities Convention. This year's reception will be held at the Vancouver Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in the MacKenzie Room from 4:30-6:30 pm. This is an excellent opportunity for members of the library community to meet informally with UBCM delegates from around BC and to celebrate local government support of public libraries. We welcome all UBCM delegates and members of the library community to join us. If you would like additional information about the reception please contact admin@bclta.org.
BCLTA welcomes the submission of upcoming events of interest to trustees. Please send notice to Errin Morrison at execdirector@bclta.org to have your event included in next week’s bulletin.
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MEMBER INFORMATION REQUESTS
- BCLTA is interested in gathering examples of small library budgets to establish a best-practices repository for member use. If you would be willing to share your budget for use as an example, please contact Errin Morrison at execdirector@bclta.org. Anonymized budget documents are welcome.
Do you have an information need, issue or concern you’d like to put to the larger trustee community? If so, consider submitting a member information request to Errin Morrison at execdirector@bclta.org. Often our best resource is each other!
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ADVERTISEMENTS
Advertising in BCLTA’s Open Door newsletter, weekly member bulletin and website is now available to businesses, consulting firms and others who provide goods and services of interest to library trustees and public libraries. Please contact Errin Morrison at execdirector@bclta.org for information on BCLTA advertising criteria and pricing.
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